Sarah J. Maas' Maas' original fantasy books, A Court of Thorns and Roses focuses solely on its main protagonist's perspective, whereas Throne of Glass instead includes a multitude of POVs.

Throne of Glass has a huge cast of characters — similar to ACOTAR — and Maas' use of multiple POVs helps bridge the narrative across all seven Throne of Glass books. While A Court of Thorns and Roses has an equal number of important characters, Maas instead chose to revolve the story around a single protagonist, forgoing additional side character perspectives. This can be exciting for readers as it allows the story to provide a greater number of shocking plot twists. However, with so much happening off-page in ACOTAR, the story is sometimes limited by Feyre's centrality.

A Court Of Thorns & Roses Should Have Copied Throne Of Glass' Multi-POV Storytelling

Additional Character Perspectives Could Have Expanded ACOTAR's World-Building

One of the best elements of the Throne of Glass series is its multi-POV storytelling, with the narrative focusing on several Throne of Glass characters and locations from one chapter to the next. This element makes the world depicted in the novels feel much more expansive, and, unfortunately, this is something the A Court of Thorns and Roses series is somewhat lacking. Maas' choice of writing A Court of Thorns and Roses from a single POV with Feyre hinders the stories' world-building to a degree, as it cannot explore past the main protagonist's world-view like Throne of Glass can.

The singular POV isn't necessarily a bad choice for a fantasy series, but compared to Throne of Glass, it makes everything that happens off-page in ACOTAR all the more apparent. There are several scenarios throughout the ACOTAR series that could have benefited from multiple POVs, including Lucien's journey to the continent or Rhys' experiences during battle. The inner circle is full of characters with distinct specialties and different quests, and it would have been compelling to read their perspectives throughout the ACOTAR series.

More Perspectives Would Have Solved Some Of ACOTAR's Biggest Problems

Elements Of The Story Are Impeded Without Additional POV Context

While it's likely Maas chose to restrict ACOTAR's storytelling to a single POV to create greater plot twists, additional character perspectives would have actually helped solve some of the series' bigger problems. While reading from the viewpoint of one character can be beneficial at times, it impedes the storyline in other circumstances. For instance, during the battle with Hybern in the third book, readers miss a lot of the action through only Feyre's POV, and it's only through the eyes of the cauldron that Maas explores the surrounding chaos.

With so much of the narrative happening off-page, A Court of Thorns and Roses' storytelling can feel somewhat stilted.

With much of the narrative happening off-page, ACOTAR's storytelling can feel somewhat stilted, and the high stakes surrounding the war with Hybern (and several other book moments) felt inconsequential with so little of the battle actually portrayed. A Court of Silver Flames eventually broke the four-book trend, but if Maas had decided to include additional POVs in the A Court of Thorns and Roses' series sooner, the lack of exposition wouldn't feel as apparent. And while ACOTAR still proves to be an incredible read, adding elements similar to Throne of Glass' multiple POVs would have only further contributed to its extreme success.