#I would say with my own review and experiences that Tamlin is not an abuser. Thats a debated topic in the fandom and i do plan to make

[arson-09]

its very interesting to me how Tamlin is the character and High Lord that is heavily vilified (I would almost say even more than Beron strangely) when he is the only High Lord to have talked about d how he has gone about removing slavery within his court, protecting lower fae in general, and his court was open to immigration from other courts (i cant remember if its mentioned again in acomaf but in acotar fae from other courts are free to move to the spring court. example, Alis) and how overall he is a great leader. Especially when you compare him and Rhysand as High Lords.

The Court of Nightmares is well, a nightmare. Its existence is extremely strange and makes Rhysand look very odd. as well as its unclear how Rhysand gets his wealth. Velaris was a hidden city until acomaf-ish, which means it was locked (so no immigration or emigration which isn't bad per-say but does bring up how it works economically) and Rhysands inability or unwillingness to protect his citizens (not enforcing the wing clipping ban and allowing people to be abused in the CoN. and before anyone starts about him not being able to control the illyrians, why did he make it a law in the first place? It just makes him look bad) makes him look like a shitty ruler. His supposed "feminism" and friendship with the people of velaris doesnt answer these very important questions or justify the strange shit he does. Versus Tamlin, which you can refer to my opening statement for the comparison. Also to note, his rule only came into question and stability after Feyre broke into people minds (which I do feel is extremely gross and a huge violation of ones autonomy and privacy) and had to sabotage him. I won't comment how I feel about this in this post, but it says a lot that she had to go through such lengths to break him down. Especially after it was revealed he was in fact a double agent and never actually siding with Hybern.

The only time Tamlin is an arguably bad high lord is in acofas and acosf where he is in a severe mental crisis and not in a position to properly rule. But even then, it's not clear if this is actually causing harm to the land and people. It's probably not good because they don't have a proper leader but I can't believe it's a severe issue.

Its definitely a strange choice, isn't it? Cause I think anyone in their right mind would choose the anti-tyranny, anti-slavery leader who does his best for his people... and its somehow not our supposed 'hero'

"I once told you I would fight against tyranny, against that sort of evil. Did you think you were enough to turn me from that?"

Acowar, chapter 44

[wisteriabookss]

My ACOSF Review (2/5 Stars)

Please respect my opinions. Not everything I say will be praiseful or nice. While I liked a lot of this book, a lot of it frustrated and bothered me. 

This review contains spoilers. Read at your own risk. 

This review will be more of an overall impression, and I will get more in depth about certain characters in future posts. 

I eventually got into the plot of the book, but I don’t think it was as great or creative as it could’ve been. I feel like SJM recycled ideas she’s already used to create the storyline. A quest to find a magic object that can stop a war and save the world? That sentence applies to both ACOWAR and ACOSF. It’s even more disappointing when you know there were other routes the plot could’ve taken but were eventually scratched. It was the perfect set up for an Illyrian mountain setting, it was written in canon, and, unsurprisingly, SJM retconned and changed it. 

The Valkyrie plot was cool, if a bit forced and out of place. Nesta barely starts training, and all of a sudden she wants to recreate a powerful band of female warriors that we’ve never heard of in the context of this world? Honestly, it feels like SJM watched Thor: Ragnarok, and was like, “Yes, that’s what I’m gonna do.” I thought Helions winged horses would come into play with that, but I guess we’ll have to see.

I thought the Blood Rite plot was gone, but we got it in the end, even though it was rushed. The most beautiful parts of the book happened during the Rite, so I’m glad we got to see those.

The ending of Briallyn was so swift I literally had to go back a page to make sure I read it right. Literally one page, and she’s killed. I expected more. I can’t say I'm surprised by how rushed her death was when I knew the Feysand trouble was approaching, and the number of pages left was getting smaller. There wasn’t a doubt in my mind that SJM would save Rhys, Feyre, and their baby. Out of the entire ensemble in Kingdom of Ash, she only had the heart to kill Gavriel, who wasn’t too much of a main character. There was no way in hell she would do that to Feysand. 

I’m sorry, but I do not like the name Nyx. Imagine calling someone Nyx? Did she originally have it as Nick, but just needed to put an X? My eyes were rolling so hard when I read it. Just put an ‘O’ in front of it and end our misery, though I still would’ve rolled my eyes at that name too. The name just reminds me of all the blogger moms who put X’s in their child’s names for dramatic effect that ends up looking like they can’t spell.

I also didn’t appreciate the out of touch colloquialisms in this book either. Prythian doesn’t have a name for anxiety, depression, or PTSD, but they know what lactic acid means?

The amount of sex in this book was something we had been warned to expect, and I think due to the fastness of me reading this book (finished in two sittings), it made it feel like the sex was happening every other page, which it basically was. I’m not going to be mad though because a) it was well written, b) I didn’t feel like it harmed the plot too much, and c) this is the only Nessian smut we’re going to see in canon. But that threesome line with Az. . . y'all know which one I’m talking about. . . the one with the details about certain positions. . .  chile um anyways let’s move on. 

I called it months ago that Emerie would either be Mor or Azriel’s love interest, and looks like it’s going to be Mor. SJM’s writing is fairly predictable, especially when it comes to romantic ships, and she couldn’t have been more obvious about the two of them. I will write about Gwyn and Azriel in Azriel’s chapter review (cause that monstrosity needs a post of its own).

Now about Nesta’s healing arc. Some of it was satisfying and others were saddening. I’m happy that Nesta was able to find purpose in her life, and not believe herself to be worthless or pathetic, but strong and powerful. I’m happy she found Gwynn and Emerie; I love their friendship. I love how they stuck by each other no matter what, and saw the good and potential in one another.

However, even by the end of the book, Nesta still thinks herself as undeserving. Of Cassian, of love. She knows she has it, and she's so grateful for it, but she still believes she is undeserving of it, that Cassian is just so much better than her. A part of learning to love and live with yourself is knowing what you deserve, so why SJM took that from her character, I don’t know. I was continuously disappointed when said she was undeserving of anything, even after she had learned and grown from her mistakes. 

Maybe SJM thinks the belief of being undeserving of one's partner is romantic. I’m telling you now, it’s not. All that does is give unnecessary power to a person you believe you are undeserving of, and this leads to unequal power dynamics in a relationship. Rhys was the exact same with Feyre, so I’m guessing it's a theme.

Speaking of romantic themes, the repetition of the “your mine-im yours” line in this book was nauseating. Your going to make Nesta say the exact same thing her sister said when they had sex? Is there nothing else SJM could’ve come up with? It’s just so weird. And I swear to god if I see Elain do the same thing I’m gonna vomit. 

Nesta apologized to Cassian about what she said to him on Solstice in ACOFAS as if he never called her unlovable. As if he never said he didn’t understand why her sisters love her. He never apologized for that. There was so much apologizing from Nesta to Cassian about her calling him a brute, as if Cassian didn’t say he was “shackled” to her after she clearly explained how she feared she would lose her humanity if she accepted the word mate. Not if she accepted him, but the word. 

For Cassian to routinely tell Nesta to, “shut her fucking mouth,” when she used some attitude against Rhys was comical. Rhys has been bad mouthing and disrespecting Nesta this whole time, and when she shows some warranted attitude in return (not even an insult), Cassian rips into her. It doesn’t matter what he did for you, babe. Not everyone has the same experience with Rhys, so Cassian getting angry when Nesta showing anger at the way she was being treated was wrong. Her experience with him does not become invalidated just because Cassian has a good relationship with him.

There wasn’t a character arc for Cassian, which was one of the most disappointing parts of the book. He thinks of himself as inferior and undeserving as well, and by the end of the book it’s not even clear if that stance has changed. We saw him grow into the courtier persona in the meeting with Eris when Tamlin shows up, but we never see it again. I know there were instances in which he stood up for Nesta, but he also very quicky after that became silent in other moments when they were insulting her. The next book isn’t in his pov, but I’m hoping we see him become more confident in himself and make a firmer stance to protect Nesta (although I doubt he’ll need to seeing as how Rhys kisses the ground she walks on now).

Now onto Nesta’s apologies to the IC. I think Nesta apologizing to Feyre was expected, and I’m glad the sisters had that moment. I am, however, upset that there was never a moment where all the sisters sat down, and hashed it out. Talked about what they’d been through, how it affected them, and how it affected their feelings toward each other. After everything that happened between Nesta and Elain, all that hurt, you’re telling me all it took was Nesta to make Elain laugh by saying “fuck you,” and we’re good? It’s lazy writing. 

Elain telling Nesta that she only cared about how her trauma affected her did not sit right with me. Nesta sat by Elain’s side for weeks when she was in the thick of her struggles, and refused to leave her alone for fear that her struggles would eat her up alive. She constantly looked for anything that could help her sister, and never left her unprotected. Nesta and Elain didn’t communicate after the war, for reasons that we now know was because of Nesta’s guilt for Elain being kidnapped. It is not abnormal when a family member has been traumatized by things that have happened to another family member. That’s expected. Ask any family who has lost a child or had a relative go through something horrible.

Elain is acting as if Nesta has only ever been concerned with herself when she’s spent her entire life concerned with Elain. I made a post long ago about how the IC only wanted Nesta to heal for their sake rather than her sake, and there’s so much more evidence for that than for Elain. Elain’s healing process was able to be understood and encouraged by the IC, whereas they had no idea what to do with Nesta. So for Elain to come at Nesta for not caring about her trauma, a second after Nesta was trying to protect her from further trauma by telling her she didn't want her seering for the Trove, was unwarranted.

Speaking about Elain looking for the Trove, what happened there? Elain had this whole speech where she said she wanted to do something and no one could stop her and then we just. . . don’t hear anything about it again? SJM had a perfect opportunity to do something powerful with Elain there, and completely threw it away. 

Nesta’s apology to Amren was extreme, dramatic, and honestly, unnecessary. Amren called Nesta a “pathetic waste of life,” constantly demeaned and degraded her anytime her name was mentioned, and said she did all this because Nesta used her as a shield against her problems and the IC. Seriously? Nesta using Amren as a shield does not warrant that kind of verbal abuse. It doesn't make her a pathetic waste of life. Amren’s been alive for how long? And reacts like that to an obvious side effect of extreme trauma? No ma'am. Nesta getting on her damn knees was too much, and obviously just another moment, like a lot of moments, that SJM felt the need to make dramatic. And then having the audacity to let Amren say to Nesta that, “the struggle with the darkness is worth it,” when she was one of those people who contributed to that darkness is disgusting.

I didn’t like Rhys at all in this book. Even after he saw inside Nesta’s mind about her experience in the cauldron, he was still wary and rude with her. Literally anytime Nesta showed that she was changing, Rhys didn’t change anything about his attitude or behavior towards her. A moment of regret, and then he’s back to being arrogant ass Rhys. Him not telling Feyre about the baby was also extremely stupid. It’s her body, her life, her baby’s life, his life, and she had a right to know what was happening. Not telling her because you didn’t want her to be “upset,” is a dumb excuse. I thought you always promised to let her make her own decisions, Rhys? What happened to that promise? The one that was a hell of a lot better than the stupid bargain ya’ll made? Though Nesta told her out of anger, good on her for telling her sister. Should’ve happened way sooner. His apology to Nesta was the only one that warranted the dramatics. That is what you get on your knees for.

That whole scene about him becoming High King had me throwing the book. Amren telling Rhys that the swords were some sort of mother-mary-cauldron-blessed-hallelujah sign that he was supposed to be High King had me fuming. It’s Nesta’s power. It’s Nesta’s sword. That should have never been a discussion. Not everything is for Rhys. These people are so blinded by their love for him they can’t even see how arrogant he is. To write Nesta giving back Ataraxia made me so angry after we just had a whole moment where we find out it means inner peace. I just hope that all of this is not foreshadowing Rhys becoming High King. I know you love him Sarah, but please don’t.

All in all, this book wasn’t too bad. There were some great moments and some bad moments. I think SJM’s biggest issue in her writing is that she doesn’t outline, or at least doesn't seem to outline, not thoroughly. I feel like she uses plot devices willy nilly whenever it’s the easiest solution. There was never a moment where I said, “that was clever!” A lot of it was cool, but not clever. Not creative. She also has a tendency to write very dramatically, in staccato type sentences where everything is made into a big moment, which bugs me a lot. 

I love Nesta. She’s still my fav, and will probably always be my fav. This book doesn’t change that, and as you can tell in my review, most of the issues I had weren’t with her behavior, but with the behavior of other characters. I still love Cassian, even though he made me want to rip my hair out sometimes.

Will I read the next books? Probably. I can’t seem to stay away from these characters or these books, so kudos to SJM for writing them. I know a majority of people have given this book 4 or 5 stars, but I can’t bring myself to give it more than 2/5.

[fynslife]

Thoughts re Bryce x Hunt (HOEAB)

(spoilers, duh / also spoilers for TOG and ACOTAR)

TW: I do mention canonical abuse and drug use in passing

I recently finished Crescent City (HOEAB) after putting off reading it for a while given the numerous reviews about the heavy world-building in the first 300 pages or so. Safe to say I have some thoughts on the novel, namely that I think it’s the weakest of Sarah’s works when considered in the same vacuum as TOG and ACOTAR. I’ll probably do a full review at some point, but today I just wanted to say a bit about my thoughts on Bryce and Hunt as a couple, because I need to know if I’m the only one that feels this way lmao.

I think what’s bothered me most about the pairing of Bryce and Hunt aka Quinlar, is that I don’t really feel that Bryce had a choice in her relationship. Please hear me out. In their respective series, Aelin and Feyre both, in my opinion, have a good level of autonomy over their romantic choices, and I don’t feel that this is the case for Bryce. In TOG, Celaena/Aelin initially chooses between Dorian and Chaol, and then later finds love with Rowan. We see Aelin develop through her relationships, experience her perspectives and priorities change and therefore we as readers are happy with the choices she makes that eventually lead her away from Chaol, and to Rowan. Aelin grows as a person and realizes what she both needs and wants in a partner as the series progresses, which allows her to find and accept her mate. Throughout the series, Aelin has always had romantic options, so seeing her end up with Rowan feels natural and right, and comes after she has explored relationships that naturally dissolve on their own.

Similarly with Feyre in ACOTAR, while the situation is different in that Tamlin is abusive, Feyre still retains autonomy in her choice of romantic partner. Rhys doesn’t try to stop her being with Tamlin, he just works hard to give her the space to sort through her emotions and work out what she wants and needs on her own. When she does choose Rhys, we as readers know exactly why as we’ve seen their relationship blossom from her perspective, and so we support it! Feyre doesn’t choose Rhys because there are no other options – she chooses him because time and time again he has proven to be her match. Rhys earns Feyre’s love, and this is against the backdrop that Feyre is beautiful and desired by most Fae, so she really could have picked anyone!

In contrast, when I look at Bryce and Hunt I feel there’s a bit of a sticking point. At the start of HOEAB we’re presented with Connor, and throughout the novel we get insights into how Bryce feels/felt about him. Bryce’s thoughts essentially boil down to she knew they were going to end up together and she was happy and excited for that future. The only reason they hadn’t got together yet was because she wasn’t done with her party days and she was nervous about how strongly she felt for him, at least that’s how each Connor flash back read to me. It’s evident, in my opinion, that he was her mate. They knew it and so did everyone else. It was only a matter of timing, but they were unquestionably, inevitable. Bold of me to say, I know. So when Connor died (I had no idea that this was coming as I didn’t read the blurb beforehand) I was blindsided. I kept expecting him to come back somehow, as to me it was clear that he was the preferred romantic partner for Bryce. Cue Hunt’s entrance to the narrative.

If I sound a little bit salty now, it’s because I am! Hunt is introduced and it becomes clear that this is going to be Bryce’s new partner, based on that fact that aesthetically he fits the descriptor bracket of both Rhys and Rowan respectively. In my opinion, their romantic arc is a bit lazy. To link this back to what I’ve already said about TOG and ACOTAR, I feel that Bryce has essentially no choice now when choosing her partner. The relationships we saw her in before Connor died were marked as frivolous and meaningless, and her would-be boyfriend is then murdered before Sarah even tries to lift their relationship off the ground. This leaves Bryce with no significant former romantic relationships (unlike Aelin and Feyre) and really no other romantic pursuits as the book progresses. We are immediately supposed to jump aboard the Quinlar ship, even though we have no one else to root for. Hunt is (at this moment in time) Bryce’s only viable option for a romantic interest in the novel. 

Bryce doesn’t choose Hunt because he’s the best person in the line up, she chooses him because he’s the only person in the line up. Yes you can debate that once they’re friends this is a different case, but initially, and for a good portion of the novel, Hunt is the only viable male we see her interacting with with any sort of regularity. Does this not feel slightly Tamlin-esque to anyone else? Not in terms of abuse, as Hunt clearly does not display any abusive traits, but in the sense that when Feyre/Bryce are at their lowest, Tamlin/Hunt appear in the narrative, and provide them with the ‘love’ and support they both so desperately crave.

Now this isn’t to say that Bryce and Hunt don’t have some good moments, because they do! What bothers me, is that unlike Feyre and Aelin I don’t feel that Bryce has had the same space to choose her partner. I think Sarah knew that if she didn’t kill Connor right away, the Bryce x Connor ship would be too strong and wouldn’t leave the door ajar for Bryce x Hunt. I think she knew the only way she could’ve made Bryce x Hunt the preferred ship would be to completely torch Connor’s character in the second or third book, or to kill him off at a later point. I personally don’t feel that Bryce and Hunt would’ve ended up together, had Connor not been killed. I recognize that you could argue the murder is a necessary plot device, but I think it’s a lazy one! Killing off Connor is the easiest way to avoid having to resolve ship-conflict, or having to explore the idea of loving two people at once if that’s the route she wanted to take idk.

It’s possible SJM will bring Connor back in a later book, I noted that there are necromancers in this world so it’s not completely off the table I don’t think, but if she does I worry it’ll just be a throwaway plot line to solidify Bryce and Hunt.

As the novel is classified as an “Adult” read, I just wish that SJM had done more to explore grittier aspects of romance. Ie. the loving two people at once, dealing with grief and loss and seeking an equilibrium after that, or even just a more serious look at Bryce’s drug abuse?! There were so many opportunities that I feel got skipped over in favour of a hastily patched together romance (forged by trauma no less, yikes) and an at-times hard to follow murder investigation.

As I said at the start, I think HOEAB is the weakest of SJM’s books that I’ve read, which is disappointing, as we know she can do better. It’s also worth noting that I don’t hate Bryce and Hunt together, I just feel that Bryce lacked autonomy in her romantic choices because SJM quite literally killed off her only other option. I would’ve liked to have seen some deviation from the norm of love interest – I’m as much a fan of wings as the next person, but must all the key love interests be aesthetically the same just in different fonts? Could we not have run with the sexy werewolf just this once?

Anyway this was a bit of a ramble, but did anyone else feel like this? I have a lot of thoughts on the book but none of my friends have read it yet and I need to process with someone, so pls do hit me up xo

[blurrypetals]

A Court of Silver Flames by Sarah J. Maas - blurrypetals review

originally posted feb. 22, 2021 - ★☆☆☆☆

This is not Sarah J. Maas's worst book, not by a long shot, but it is definitely her least fun, most unnecessary effort, and we're talking about an author who also wrote Tower of Dawn and A Court of Frost and Starlight. I have a terrible, sordid history with Maas. I started off as a fan of Throne of Glass who was then spurned for being a fan of the story and characters she started with and, ever since then, I have never been able to view her as anything more than an amateur stumbling her way through high fantasy concepts, leaving nothing but wreckage in her wake. I really hate what Throne of Glass became and consider it to be a pretty perfect What Not To Do guide as far as writing diverse yet consistent characters, writing a satisfying, sweeping narrative, and many, many other things. This series, however, seemed at first to be a strange outlier. The first three books might be overlong, trite, and have a lot of the same issues with diversity and tryhard feminism as Throne of Glass, but at the very least, they are fun. Despite all their flaws, and despite how much shit I enjoy talking about Sarah J. Maas, the first three books are an okay guilty pleasure. I think they are disgustingly overrated and too many copycats are trying to emulate it, but they're...fine. I think the novella is unnecessary and weird, but it's mostly just fanservice that seemed to wrap up Feyre and Rhysand's story, so even if I didn't like it, it at least was short and fluffy for the most part. I think there were a lot of critical mistakes made with this book, which is a shocker considering just how definitely totally competent our author is! But seriously, past the fact that this book exists at all, the biggest mistake Maas made was putting it in the third person. I think the biggest strength of the original three books was that we were in Feyre's head, experiencing things right alongside her. One nice trick of the first person perspective is that there's a sort of built-in empathy that's sort of difficult to fuck up and it really helped sell Feyre's journey. Here, we are not necessarily far from Nesta and Cassian's heads, so it genuinely confounds me that Maas decided to change that. Why not have an alternating first person POV between the two? I just don't understand. But let's get into the meat of things. What do I mean when I say this book feels unnecessary? Well, not only does it feel a bit like we're picking open a story that felt like it wrapped up pretty nicely, but everything new that does happen feels like a foregone conclusion. It was pretty readily clear from the middle of A Court of Wings and Ruin, perhaps earlier, that Nesta and Cassian are mates. I personally have never been a fan of the whole fated mates thing in this stuff, since it sucks out any semblance of romantic tension out of things, and while I never expect Maas to do the interesting or unexpected thing, it would have been nice to have maybe one couple get together who just got together despite not being mates. That said, it isn't as if the romance would have been made better by that. These two have a little bit of chemistry that isn't so bad, but it's overshadowed by their near constant and frustratingly repetitive fucking. It's actually insane how much unsexy sex is in this book. I mean, there's something to be said for Maas finally ditching the idea that she is at all trying to write for younger readers, but at what cost? Another plot point that carries a lot of the so-called tension in the novel is that of Feyre's pregnancy with her and Rhysand's son, the truly poorly named Nyx. Everyone is certain Feyre is going to die because the baby has wings and her vag is not prepared for it (I wish I was kidding) but this is another thing that feels like a foregone conclusion on arrival because A, we know Sarah J. Maas doesn't have the fucking guts to kill anyone off, let alone her precious Feyre and definitely not Rhys, who also dies if Feyre dies, and B, we already know that their son is going to be okay because of all the business with the Bone Carver. And, other than some business with a crown, a mask, and a harp, the rest of the plot centers around Nesta recovering from her PTSD. I'll begrudgingly admit, her PTSD is actually not poorly written. That said, it is very poorly handled. In the original trilogy, Rhys is upheld as this extremely kind and generous and wonderful dude who helps the broken, has trauma of his own to reckon with, and in this book, he is a fucking cunt. It is legitimately, truly shocking how disgusting and awful he is to Nesta. Yet again, we experience Sarah J. Maas's brand of so-called character development by way of performing a personality transplant that serves the half-assed plot rather than the established character. Now, where have I seen that before? Aelin? Tamlin? Chaol? Nah, can't be. Rhysand isn't the only one who treats Nesta terribly, though, it's the entire inner circle, even her fated mate, of course! The way they all treat this grieving, traumatized, abused woman is utterly sickening, and they all are treated as if they're in the right for it! It's absolutely nuts. Even though I've never cared for Nesta as a character, no one and I mean no one deserves to be treated the way Amren, Rhysand, Mor, and the rest all treat Nesta in this book. I've said this many times before, but I'll repeat what I said in my review for the last Sarah J. Maas book I read, Kingdom of Ash and it's this: Sometimes it is better to be spectacularly, hilariously awful than it is to be utterly boring and leave your reader feeling indifferent and, while this one did make me angry at points, I was mostly just bored and tired. Apathy is the worst feeling you can leave a reader with and this is not the first time Sarah J. Maas has done this to me. I know a lot of people think Sarah J. Maas hung the moon, but I am just so tired, I just do not get it. I once understood what made her books fun, but when she shits out trite excuses for romance and fantasy such as this, I can't understand why anyone could enjoy such a mediocre example of thinly veiled porn as this. Do us all a favor, Sarah, and do better. It's just sad at this point.

[thegoddessofliterature]

A pretty long spoiler-filled reveiw of ACOMAF

-posted this reveiw on my goodreads around June and decided to share it now on Tumblr.

Reread this gem and love it even more than the first time. Of course, reading a good book for the first time is always special and you don't know any of the plot twists and turns. Not knowing what is gonna happen in a story is my favorite thing about reading. Sarah blew me away with her captivating writing style and amazing world building that left wanting more .The is the first book that made me cry and I don't easily cry in books which just proves my love for this book. Rhysand stole my heart. I just love him so much. I know most of you probably didn't like him in the first book but once you read this one you will change your mind. You can thank me later.

Moving on, let's dive straight into spoilers, if you adored this book as much as me. Most just me gushing over our precious bat boi.

Sarah did a great job at fooling me. Just like Feyre, I was blind to the red flags that displayed the unhealthy and toxic relationship between Feylin. Upon my second read, I could clearly see all the signs and read between the lines and kept thinking "why didn't I realize this sooner?''

I really liked the lesson that the author taught us about unhealthy and healthy relationships. You usually don't see the latter in most NA or even YA. And I despise Tamlin. He is everything that I hate in a man,controlling,abusive and anti feminist. I was so pissed at him for lying to Feyre that Rhys killed his family. The tool himself, had murdered Rhys family and I will never forgive him for that

Me to Tamlin “ I hope that burn..”

I could write a whole essay on professing my love for Rhysand but even that wouldn't be enough for me.

I LOVE HIM SO MUCH. He is no 1 on my fictional boyfriends list. No other male character can compare to him.

Just like Feyre, I wasn't expecting him to be the good guy. And, just as she was unaware of falling for him,I was too. I didn't even realize how attached I grew to Rhys until I got a spoiler that he was going to die. I legit got an ache in my heart and felt like crying. That's the beauty of books when a character feels real even they sadly aren't. Thankfully, he survived and if he didn't then I wouldn't have been able to forgive Sarah/

Why do I adore the Highlord of the Night Court?

He is so precious and a major feminist. He is humble and strong ( even when he has been through so much). My heart breaks for him. His story is too emotional for me to read without crying (on my second time reading). Not only did he lose his parents but his sister too. We never got to know how old she was but she was young. We never got to see his mother and baby sister. That makes my heart shatter in a million pieces but as if that wasn't enough, He didn't see his friends for 50 years. He was trapped under the mountain for so long and raped by that bitch and he endured it just to protect his city and family (the inner circle). As if he didn't have enough on his plate, he watched Feyre be taken away from him twice. He watched the girl he loved be in love with another man (his enemy who had killed his parents and sister) and yet he let her be happy (even if she was mate). After all of this torture and pain, he is still so kind and sweet and caring. He still think he isn't enough even though he sacrificed so much. He would rather put himself in torture than let something happen to Feyre or the Inner Circle.

And what I love most about him, is the freedom he gave Feyre. He isn't controlling like most men. He trusts Feyre and believes she can fight for herself but he will be there to protect if she needed him. Of course he cares for but isn't overprotective. Their relationship is so pure and healthy and I love it. I love how humble he is. Being the most Powerful HighLord of all the seven courts, you would expect him to be a rich snob but he is far from that.

I loved how much Feyre grew from that naive girl to a strong and badass woman. I could barely recognize her while rereading Acotar. It felt as there were two seperate girls in the two books. This is one of the best character development I have ever seen. My heart broke for what she went through. I could relate to her about some stuff minus the under the mountain scene (ofc). And I was so happy when she survived her depression and ptsd all because of Rhysand.

And I got so attached to whole inner circle, as if they were my family too. And I love Mor more than Amren because I could relate to her too besides the fact how sweet and strong she was

The whole book was a pure joy to read but my favorite parts were Starfall, The Summer Court and Court of Nightmares.

Starfall: It was such a beautiful celebration. Unlike, the ones in the spring court despite its pretty name. I loved the idea of stars falling down from the sky. Everyone was at their happiest. It was also sad to read knowing this was the first Starfall Rhys had after Amrantha. The fact that she knew how much it meant to him and yet she made him service her without his consent and on purpose. My hatred is like a burning sun. Moving on, I squealed at the moment when Mor and Feyre were talking and then Rhys came up behind them. My heart burst of joy when Feyre heard his voice and turned around. He took her to the balcony for her to experience Starfall at its prettiest. They had their cute moments and it was the moment when they were falling in love but didn't admit it yet to each other. Rhys hadn't laughed like that in ages, pure and a real laugh like Feyre hadn't smiled filled with pure joy ever since she was turned into a fae.

Summer Court: I loved Tarquin too. And I enjoyed the feysand moments at the court. Their constant back and forth banter and flirting. That's where the famous quote " To all the stars who listen and the dreams that are answered came from.

Court of Nightmares: This scene was so sexy and made my cheeks turn a deep shade of red. I loved how Rhys gave Feyre a choice whether she wanted to join him and the play the part or stay at home. It was her own choice that made her say " I wanna do it" and yet Rhys still felt guilty. Even when it wasn't like he forced or anything. He would never do that. I enjoyed them teasing each other. I was captivated by Rhys beauty. I love the real Rhys but I lust for the "evil" Rhys, the mask that he wears to protect his loved ones.

And that ending, I wasn't expecting that. I feel bad for those who had to wait a year or more for the next book esp after that gripping yet lovely cliffhanger. I didn't had to since the whole serious was already out. It was emotional even when Feyre was pretending to be in Rhys control. They work well so together. Rhys understood her plan through that bond and he acted so well. ( he actually deserves an oscar for his great acting of a bad guy). Tears rolled down my cheeks when the bond snapped and Feyre fell down to her knees, screaming in pain. Even Rhys. Sara tricked us but I was so grateful for that. That chapter in Rhys pov (the only chapter) was so precious. I was shook when he declared that Feyre is his Highlady and equal and the bond was never broken. It was just the bargain. And I loved how cunning Feyre. She is so smart and badass. Pretending to be in love with Tamlin (her ex), only to take him down along with his court.

This book brings me pure joy and reading it for the second time gave me a different perspective. I noticed things I didn't before. This time, I knew about Rhy's backstory so it was more emotional than the first time. And I didn't think of this sooner but I have a theory that Jurain knew all along that Rhys wasn't Amrantha's whore but was raped by her (sobs and gets angry). Esp, when he mentioned that he was forced to watch everything that bitch did due to the ring she made out of his eye. And he was the only one who was shocked when Feyre was pretending to hate Rhys. He knew since he screamed "What?'' when she told the king to break the bond.

Damn, this is the longest review I have ever written. No regrets though.

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[elliepassmore]

A Court of Mist and Fury Review

5/5 stars Recommended for people who like: fantasy, Fae, vague retellings, Persephone & Hades, found families At the start of the book, we're back in the Spring Court, though some things have changed since Feyre brought Amarantha down. For starters, there's a lot more people around than there were in the first one. We get to see a bit what court life is like in Spring and the kinds of people who reside there. They turn out to be pretty similar to what we'd think of when we think of snobby human nobility, so, naturally, they grate on Feyre's nerves. Unlike ACoTaR, we also get to see two of the other courts: the Night Court and the Summer Court. The Night Court is...definitely not what it was set up to be in the first book. Not to give too many spoilers, but it has two faces. One side, Velaris and the moonstone palace, is luxurious and vibrant, but peaceful. The other side, Hewn City, is dark and cunning and cruel, the side that Amarantha modeled her domain after. I really enjoyed seeing the stark differences between the two sides of the court, especially since they provide us with two kinds of cities, both beautiful in their own ways, but so completely different from one another. We also get to see a part of the court that's somewhere between the two, which is the Illyrian camps. The camps are mostly tents with a few stone buildings, and they fit more with the cunning and darkness of the Hewn City, but not nearly as cruel. Seeing so much of the one court definitely helps get a better grasp on the feel and nature of the place, which I really liked. The other court we see is the Summer Court, and only for a couple of chapters. Similar to Velaris, we get to see a city in the Summer Court that's vibrant, with the people there enjoying their High Lord's presence and aid in recovery. Unlike Velaris, the city feels more light. It definitely has the feel of a city on the sea in a way that Velaris doesn't, despite it also being located on the water. They have obviously different feels and tones to them, and I liked the subtle details Maas added to make these cities different despite their similarities. We also get to learn a bit more about the traditions of Prythia in this one as well. Having seen Calanmai and Nynsar in the first one, we now get to see the solstice and the Tithe of the Spring Court, as well as Starfall in the Night Court. Each holiday has its own background and their introduction through Feyre feels natural. I think there's a tricky balance when it comes to authors introducing world building to their readers and characters. Adding the information too obviously makes it feel forced, but including too little information too subtly can make it confusing. I think we get a good balance here, with Feyre having the holidays/events explained to her as they're happening or having her give a little info and brushing off the rest as "I wasn't really paying attention," the latter of which can only really be accepted because of her state of mind at the moment the holiday is occurring, but it works.

The plot amps things up a lot. If we thought Amarantha was bad, Hybern turns out to be so much worse, and they’re cunning enough to get their claws in in places we wouldn’t expect. I love how the tension was built up over the pages and there were times of ‘wtf is going on’ sprinkled throughout. Since the main showdown wasn’t until the end of the book, most of it was spent strategizing and hoping against hope that things would go right for once.

In terms of Feyre's state of mind, Maas once again does a brilliant job of showing the different ways people deal with trauma and depression. Feyre, for one, definitely has symptoms of PTSD--nightmares, triggers, feeling trapped, needing a distraction, inability to do things that once brought her joy, apathy--as well as, separately, symptoms of depression. She starts out having a pretty rough time and the switch to healing happens gradually and over months at a time, so despite her body's quick healing, Feyre isn't completely better until near the end of the book, and 'better' doesn't necessarily mean 100% okay. I especially enjoyed how Maas showed Feyre changing as she healed, because, let's face it, we're probably all aware (and it you're not, you're about to be) that trauma changes people and that, equally, healing from said trauma can also change a person. Both of these things hold true for Feyre, so she isn't the same person at the beginning of the book as she was at the end of the last one, and she's not the same person at the end of this book as she is at the beginning of it. In terms of healing, we also get to see Feyre separating from the mentality of abuse that Tamlin had her in. For physical growth, Feyre discovers she holds powers from each of the High Lords who gave her life, and it's super fun to read the scenes where she's training/experimenting with them (like most people who've read the book, I'm especially partial to the water-wolves scene). Tamlin is another character who has to deal with his trauma in this one...though maybe we should accept now that just about every character in this book has trauma they're healing/have healed from. Anyway, Tamlin desperately tried to protect Feyre in the first book, and we saw how jealous and possessive he could get, but what happened with Amarantha just pushed him overboard. He's now 1ox worse than in the first book, and basically smothers Feyre trying to keep her safe, continually triggering her PTSD and leading to the events leading into Part 2 of the book. What I like about this is that there were signs in ACoTaR that Tamlin could very easily turn into an abusive person and a lot of people ignored them or fell into the trap of believing them to be romantic--I'm not saying everyone did, but a lot of people definitely did, myself included--so his attitude and behavior doesn't come from nowhere. It's a good example of how trauma causes different people to react differently, though it's not an excuse, especially when Tamli does some pretty terrible things in this book and tries to play it off as "it was rough" or "I love you" or whatever else he says. We get to see more of Rhysand in this book, as well as more of his court. As previously mentioned, he's one of the many characters dealing with his own traumas from Under the Mountain, and we get an explanation for his actions in ACoTaR, proving he wasn't just being a massive dick to be a massive dick, but to protect people and to help Feyre bring Amarantha down without Amarantha knowing. Knowing he was against Amarantha the entire time adds a rape/sexual assault element to his servicing her Under the Mountain, which is addressed by both him and Feyre during the book. It's clear he has trauma from that, it's expressed multiple times throughout the book, and Maas handles the situation well. It isn't romanticized or trivialized, and his reservations and trauma from it are considered valid and aren't brushed aside or made fun of. Rhys ends up being a very complex character, with different sides to him, much like how his court has many different sides. He has the cunning, cruel side he shows to Hewn City; the relaxed, kind side he shows to Velaris; the warrior he shows to the Illyrians; and the caring and friendly side he gives to his Inner Court alone. Inside Rhys' Inner Court are Mor, Cassian, Azriel, and Amren. Mor is his cousin in that loose sense that Maas has when it comes to cousins being related, and grew up in Hewn City. She's funny, acts irreverent, and fun-loving. She's willing to give people the space they need, but she's also willing to go to the mat for her family or push them when they need it. Like Feyre and Rhysand, she's survived darkness and trauma and came out the other side, though her healing was done centuries ago. Cassian and Azriel are both Illyrian warriors Rhysand befriended when they were kids. Cassian is fiery and pushes, but is unceasingly caring and would do anything for his family. He's the jokster of the group, definitely. Azriel is the more quiet of the two, the spymaster, and has a quieter method of caring for his family. Amren is a creature from another world who took the form of a High Fae. She's a bit scary, definitely otherworldly, and is surprisingly understanding about what others need in order to get things done. I wouldn't say she's caring, but she definitely cares for her family and people. We don't really see a lot of Lucien, but when he is around he mostly acts like Tamlin's lackey and not Feyre's friend. Nesta and Elain are in this book a bit more than the last one, and play a pretty crucial role in the middle and the end of the book. I liked the both of them by the time the last book ended, but Nesta's reactions toward Feyre and the rest of the Night Court made me dislike her a little, though her sparring with Cassian was hilarious and I treasure their interactions. Likewise, both Elaine and Nesta showed fire when it came to protecting each other and their people from the looming threat of Hybern. Tarquin, the High Lord of the Summer Court, makes a reappearance in this one too, along with some of his still-living family members. He seems like a decent enough guy, new to the whole ruling thing, but as he himself says, he hasn't quite learned the cunning tricks and backstabbery that High Lords and their courts often employ. This one's my favorite book in the series because we get to see more of the world of Prythia and we get to meet a lot of new, pretty awesome characters. I love the Inner Circle, they all fit together so well and have different methods and ways of doing things, but it works. I also really like the Feyre and Rhys we see in this book, so different from the ones we saw in the last book, but better for it. And Tamlin....when I first heard that he and Feyre were having issues(*SPOILER* and wouldn't end up together*END SPOILER*) I was disappointed, but after I read the book for the first time, I liked how it worked out much better. It’s a vague Persephone and Hades retelling, which may or may not have something to do with why I like it so much. The P&H myth has so many different renditions from ancient times to now and it hasn’t really been all that explored by YA fiction, so I love whenever there’s a nod to it somewhere, and if you know the more popular versions of the myth, there are more than sprinkles of it in the frame of the book. Honestly though, I think this is the best book in the series. ACoTaR was good, ACoWaR was pretty good too but with an...odd ending, and ACoFaS was an awesome bit of fluff, but this one is the richest in characters, world building, and plot.