Have you ever been stumped by a riddle? You know the feeling when you desperately try to guess the answer but always come up short? It can be frustrating, especially if you consider yourself to be smarter than the average person (not to brag or anything). Riddles can confound and annoy even the most intelligent minds. But every once in a while, you come across a riddle that captivates you and pushes you to solve it. That’s exactly what happened to me recently when I read a book called A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Maas.
In the book, the protagonist, Feyre, is given a riddle by an evil fairy. The riddle goes like this:
The Riddle
There are those who seek me a lifetime but never we meet,
And those I kiss but who trample me beneath ungrateful feet.
At times I seem to favor the clever and the fair,
But I bless all those who are brave enough to dare.
By and large, my ministrations are soft-handed and sweet,
But scorned, I become a difficult beast to defeat.
For though each of my strikes lands a powerful blow,
when I kill, I do it slow…
The answer to this riddle is love. I have to admit, it’s quite obvious and somewhat cliché. Most people figure it out the moment they read it. But for me, someone who has always been blind to riddles, it took me a few pages to realize the simplicity of it all. It’s like a Beauty and the Beast scenario, where love is the ultimate answer.
I couldn’t help but feel a sense of doubt, though. Love seemed too easy, and I had suffered enough humiliation from answering riddles incorrectly. But in the end, love was indeed the correct answer, and I felt a thrill of accomplishment. Even though it made me look like a clueless fool, I couldn’t help but laugh afterwards.
Riddles can be silly and often make us question our own intelligence. But at least I know that my mind is functioning like a normal human being. In a world filled with adventures and mythical beings, books like A Court of Thorns and Roses can be both exciting and worrying. Will the sequels keep me interested? It’s a little like my experience reading City of Bones, where I loved the strong antagonist, Sebastian Morgenstern, but couldn’t stand a certain character named Simon.
But let’s not get too sidetracked. This article is about the joy of unraveling a riddle, not my personal book preferences. I must say, though, that I can’t help but obsess over the character of Rhysand in A Court of Thorns and Roses. It seems like I’m always falling for the bad guys. First, it was Joseph Kavinsky from The Dream Thieves, and now Rhysand has taken over my thoughts. I can’t wait to dive into the fanfiction and lose myself in his world. Thankfully, the sequel is coming out this May, and I’m counting down the days!
To set the mood, I recommend listening to the song “Greek Tragedy” by The Wombats. I discovered it while browsing in a store and couldn’t resist buying the album. Sometimes, spontaneity leads to the coolest discoveries.
Now, enough rambling about books. Let’s move on to the next adventure!
