#there would be a whole plot about aelin trying to save Feyre from rhysand

[manonslayme]

I’m will never stop thinking about how if rhysand and the IC were in TOG universe they would all be antagonists and hated by Aelin and her court

The whole plot would be about Aelin trying to save Feyre, Nesta and Elain from Rhysand and his bat bros and fix the Hewn City up

Manon would kill the bat bastard for not doing anything for the women Illyria

[thereyouareivebeenlookingforyou]

ACOSF Thoughts - SPOILER WARNING

(ACOTAR series, ACOSF, and Kingdom of Ash spoilers are all below along with my thoughts after finally finishing A Court of Silver Flames!)

Was SJM trying to get me to hate Rhysand in this book? And kind of Elain and Amren? Even a teensy bit Feyre? Don't get me wrong- I love Rhys. ACOTAR and ACOMAF Rhys is one of my favorite characters and my literal favorite book boyfriend EVER. So could someone please draw me a map to where the hell he went because that Rhys was NOT IN THIS BOOK?!?!?

Rhysand in ACOSF was every bit the territorial fae bastard in this book that Tamlin was in ACOMAF. He lied to Feyre about something HUGE. Nesta shouldn't have told her like that, but someone needed to tell her. And the way he treated Nesta sucked.

And Feyre was every bit the pretty bride who blushed and had lots of sex and had a male who shielded her from what was really going on (you know, her impending death?) that she accused Tamlin of wanting to make her into. What the fuck was happening with them in this book? It's great to make Feyre a High Lady, but then she should be treated like one, not lied to?!? It's fine to make her more domestic, she deserves peace and happiness, but not at the expense of her autonomy.

And while we're on it, I kind of hated Feyre's pregnancy storyline. The thing about writing immortal characters is that you have so many chances to play with time. There is no reason that 500+ year old Rhys and 21 year old Feyre who were together for like one year?!?!? needed to have a pregnancy story here. They are IMMORTAL. Why can't they have time together, just the two of them, before introducing a pregnancy? What's the rush? They are immortal High Fae who will be alive for CENTURIES to come. Forget years, give yourselves a few decades together first! Your whole relationship so far has been 50% trauma-recovery and 50% saving the world/trying not to die!!!!

Feyre's pregnancy felt like the author showing through and overshadowing the characterization—I have to think some of this is SJM becoming a mother in the last few years and wanting to write that into their story, but still. (SJM also did this with Yrene and Chaol in Kingdom of Ash - is the eve of a huge war really a great time for a pregnancy? Wouldn't a healer know how to not get pregnant accidentally?) I also didn't love that a Feysand pregnancy was this huge part of Nesta's story. Can she not have five minutes of the spotlight? Feyre already got 3 books. (Sorta kidding.) (You know what I'm not kidding about? Not liking the name Nyx at all...but who cares I guess.)

If it's so well-known that Illyrian baby delivery is basically a death sentence for High Fae females, why would Rhys not be like 'omg Feyre, yes, let's have a baby, but let's not have sex while you're in that form which is optional for you like is he this 'the most cunning high lord' or not?!) (Also they wouldn't even have Feyre try shifting her body to give her Illyrian hips when otherwise she would FOR SURE DIE like try it?!) All that magic and no one's invented the cesarean?!?

(On a separate pregnancy note, y'all realize the Kingdom of Ash scene where Aelin falls through the worlds and sees a 'heavily pregnant' fae whose mate throws his night-like power towards her to slow her fall have happened during the timeline of this book, right?!? Wild.)

I love Nesta. I love her. I love her arc. I've loved her this whole time, but her coming to terms with herself was great. Her finding peace was great. I was already in the she doesn't need a redemption arc, she needs a therapist and time to herself away from her sisters camp before reading ACOSF, and I only feel more strongly after reading it.

I honestly think time away from her sisters and Rhys with people who weren't constantly judging her (Cassian, Azriel, Gwen, Emerie, Clotho, the House) was just as healthy and necessary for Nesta's healing arc (NOT a redemption arc, a healing arc) as giving up some of her more harmful vices like nonstop drinking and complete isolation was.

So much sex. Like as one of my friends put it, 'this book is filthy, y'all!' It was kind of overkill, like I was already sold on their relationship, but sure, why not. But if nearly all those scenes cut away instead of getting super descriptive, I would have liked this book just as much. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

The part with the Mask and the kelpie was so good! It was crazy, and creepy, and her rising up with this army of the dead was so great. Also when they went to the prison for the Harp!!! So good.

A couple weird 'repeats' from ACOMAF... 1) Nesta 'knowing' that Cassian 'needed to hear' her say the exact phrase "You're mine" which is right out of the mating bond acceptance chapter from ACOMAF stuck out to me, especially combined with hearing that Nesta had never told another person she loved them as we found out in the scene where she saved Feyre at the end. I was expecting 'I love you,' especially with them starting out in a 'just sex' relationship. 2) That 'just sex' thing and how obviously Cassian was into her and she was into him but she says she wants 'just sex' also reminded me ACOMAF, when Rhys and Feyre are at the inn and she disappoints him/lies to herself let's be real by telling him she wants just "fun."

Loved getting more of the Night Court palace on top of the Hewn City mountain. Dream house. That bathtub. Swoon.

I may really be in the minority here, but I did not like that Cassian and Nesta are mates. Tamlin tells Feyre in ACOTAR that it's rare for people to have mates at all. And honestly, I see why accepting the mating bond was so hard for Nesta as someone who didn't want to be fae in the first place, and I do not think she needed Cassian to be her mate to choose him forever. I wish they had CHOSEN each other and not also been mates. I think it would have been just as strong, and healthier for Nesta. (And also...if not everyone is mates, why can't they just fall in love? He won her heart, she chose him. I was fine before they were mates. I also think that would have nicely set up Elain rejecting the mating bond later, which she clearly wants to do/has basically done (did y'all read the Azriel extra chapter?! Anyway)

At the end of the day, the Inner Circle (except Cassian/Azriel) bothered me with their treatment of Nesta, even the intervention at the beginning. Was Nesta in need of help? Yes. Were they kind? No, especially not Rhys/Amren. Elain was just as traumatized/self-destructive for a while. She hardly ate, she spoke to no one, she lay in bed all day, Nesta checks that the high windows don't open because she thinks Elain is suicidal, etc. Nesta is also traumatized, but her trauma presented more angrily, less beautiful/sad woman lies around being beautifully sad (like Elain in ACOWAR or Feyre in ACOMAF), and she's entirely condemned by the IC for it (and by a lot of this fandom, let's be real).

I love Cassian. Love him. Looooove him. He stood up to Rhys for Nesta, defended her, was honest with her, accepted her, forgave her for what she actually did wrong (belittling him for his background/hurting him on purpose), but told her she herself was not wrong or broken (@ Rhys, @ Amren, @ Feyre, @ Mor, are y'all taking notes? Cassian and I said she was not broken. Not in need of fixing or redemption.) He kept reaching out his hand.

Plot wise, I also loved that Nesta/Gwen/Emerie ended up doing the Rite! That twist surprised me in a good way. Devlon and any other Illyrians who doubted them can suck it. VALKYRIES!!!

And finally, I LOVED the Nesta/Gwen/Emerie friendship. It made the book (it Made it, y'all. Pun intended). I loved reading about Nessian and I love Cassian, but these three and their friendship was my favorite part of the book, hands down. So great. I love female friendship - it's so underrated as a concept - and this one was amazing, and I'm glad it was such a focus of the story.

This was long, so thanks for sticking with me if you did! Not really interested in angry/anon discourse, but I'd love to hear y'all's thoughts!!!

[blackthorncurse]

A Court of Silver Flames (Spoiler version)

Overall Score: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/5

Disclaimer: THIS REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS FOR A COURT OF SILVER FLAMES READ AT YOUR OWN RISK!!!! You have been warned don’t hate me if you get spoiled and that goes for the rest of the ACOTAR books too!! There is also some spoilers for the Throne of Glass series mentioned!

“Power lay in her hand. Death gripped her by the other.”

“The first time I saw that look on your face, you were still human... and I nearly went to my knees before you.”

So I wanted to do two versions of my review so that people could avoid spoilers and so that I could also gush about parts of this book that made me feel SO many things!! There is also a lot to talk about in this book so it might be a bit long sorry in advance! To be honest it’s more of a discussion than a review!

First of all, I loved this book. I did not expect to because I didn’t particularly like Nestas character, I felt like she was kind of mean to everyone for no reason and was just plain rude. However, after reading this book I can definitely say I like her a lot more now but maybe not as much as I was hoping. This was mostly because even though I loved all of the new found friendships and found family stuff that was going on with Nesta, Gwyn and Emerie but I couldn’t help but feel like she could have directed that towards Feyre and Elain (and even Amren) instead. Nesta kept complaining that Amren and Elain had chosen Feyre over her but then didn’t really do much to try and make up for all the stuff she’d said and done to her sisters. However this was probably because Nesta was saying that it felt good to become friends with these girls because they knew nothing about her and so would not judge her for the things she had done in the past so I can accept that, but it did annoy me a little. I’ll come back to that thought later because I want to go through some of the notes I made while reading.

The first thing I noted was that I loved the dynamic between Cassian and Nesta. I loved how in the beginning of the book, Cassian was genuinely so nervous to go and get Nesta from her home and take her to Feyre. Like this big bad ass general was shaking just to go to her house and I loved that. I loved the sheer power that Nesta held even before they discovered that her power was death itself. I also loved all of the pining and sexual tension that was between these two I mean they were both horny as anything for each other and I did not expect SO MANY sexy scenes between then but I am not complaining about that. I am however complaining about the fact that this book practically confirmed that the original threesome scene was going to be between Nesta, Cassian and Azriel (we were truly robbed) as Nesta had some dirty thoughts about being in between the two males.

The next thing that I noted was after Nesta had begun working in the library. I was trying to keep a keen eye out for any links to Throne of Glass and Crescent City as sjm had confirmed that they were all interlinked in some way. When Nesta was helping Gwyn with the books for Merrill, Gwyn said that Merrill was once researching the theories of different worlds and dimensions I originally had thought that this was a nod to the tog and cc worlds but after Nesta found the harp and discovered that it had 26 strings for the 26 dimensions theorised by Merrill’s research I wasn’t so sure but it was interesting to think about. Also, linking to this point, I wondered if the falling red star that was pointed out toward the end of the book was a nod to the part in Kingdom of Ash when Aelin is going through all of the worlds and sees Rhysand and Feyre on a hill. I could have been clutching at straws here but Feyre was definitely pregnant in that scene so it could have been. Lastly on the point of all the books being linked, I wondered if the symbols that were found in the prison and in the archway later on in the book were Wyrdmarks from the tog universe. It would make sense as they formed a barrier that only Nesta could pass through as she was cauldron made and we think Aelin has something to do with the cauldron and no one knew what they symbols meant?

The next thing I wanted to talk about was Nesta’s newfound friends Gwyn and Emerie. I love these girls they are so strong and badass and I loved the idea of Nesta wanting to train up some more of the females from the library to defend themselves. I also reveled in the idea of them training to become Valkyries and cutting the ribbon, going through all the courses and then the blood rite together. There was certainly enough female empowerment in this book to keep me satisfied. I also had to have a wonder if Gwyn is to become Azriel’s new love interest and if Emerie is to become Morrigan’s? I could definitely see something between these couples and I’m excited to see where it goes.

Coming back to the amount of power that Nesta holds, I loved how the plot would often come back to the part where Nesta was made a high fae in the cauldron and pointed at Hybern as a final warning to him. When she points at anyone during this book they all seem to shy away from her as if they all remeber the power she held in a single finger and I thought this was a really cool thing. I also enjoyed seeing Nesta become more and more powerful physically and mentally through all of her training. Even though parts of it could have been seen as slightly repetitive with the training and the 10,000 stairs, it still held my attention throughout and I was rooting for Nesta to become stronger and make it down the stairs! (Also she stabbed an Illyrian warrior in the balls during the blood rite and I thoroughly enjoyed that)

The last point about Nesta and Cassian I wanted to touch on was them finally discovering that they were mates (FINALLY!!). I mean everyone kind of guessed it already but it was definitely nice to have it confirmed. The book teased it at multiple points in the story but like sjm does it wasn’t confirmed until right near the end of the book and Nesta got thrown into the blood rite straight after which had me biting my nails for their relationship! I would have liked the story to further explore Cassian being under the control of Briallyn and the whole scene where she shows up and Nesta kills her felt extremely rushed. I would have preferred the book to either have cut out some other scenes to make doom for more development there or made the book longer.

Finally, relating to to other characters I was definitely not expecting Feyre to be pregnant in this book. I mean I was maybe expecting the extra Feysand chapter at the end to reveal that she was pregnant but I certainly wasn’t expecting her to be pregnant AND give birth to her son in this book. The whole pregnancy story gave me so much anxiety with how she might have died and then Nesta revealing this to her and Rhysand going apeshit over it. But of course, this is a sjm book and Nesta saves Feyre right at the last moment from not only her dying, but rhysand and the baby by giving back her powers to the cauldron (although I’m sure some of them remain). Although it was predictable and I knew that they would never really die, I still found myself sobbing at the thought that they could have. Also can we talk for a second about how cute of a name Nyx is for Feysand’s son I mean come on I’m so happy for them! My very last point I wanted to make was that Azriel was not in this book nearly enough for my liking. I was so so sure that this book was going to set up Azriel for a book of his own but now I’m not so sure, he was hardly in it and I missed him a great deal.

Overall, I think this was the quickest I’ve ever read a 750 page book. I could not put it down I absolutely loved it and despite some disappointments, it has definitely made me re discover my love for ACOTAR which I am probably going to start re reading immediately. I’m so excited to see where sjm goes with the rest of the series and I felt like this was a fitting end for Nesta and Cassian.

[lookoverboundaries]

A Court of Mist and Fury by Sarah J. Maas My rating: 4 of 5 stars When I was reading this book, I've skimmed through some of reviews of it in here and quite a lot of them were saying that this book bears an uncanny resemblance to another book by Sarah J. Maas - "Empire of Storms" from the "Throne of Glass" series. Back then, I thought it was just because both of these books were published in 2016, so reading these books back-to-back might make them look a bit similar. But, the longer I was reading, the more I was realizing that the similarities 'girl with power and her gloomy, powerful boyfriend' aren't the only ones, and yes, I'm gonna list all of the ones I found here so !SPOILERS AHEAD! and feel free to add any others that I forgot about or haven't noticed: - Aelin/Feyre discover Rowan/Rhysand are their mates and are Shook™ - followed by "Wait, but I thought Lyria was Rowan's / Tamlin was my mate" - the plot basically centers around looking for some magical object (Wyrdlock/Book of Breathings) - there's some powerful, ominous ruler (Maeve/King of Hybern) far over the sea that waits to attack Erilea/Prythian - Ironteeth Witches/Illyrian warriors talk about how they hear "song of wind" or something like this - in the finale of the book there is some Huge Event (naval battle/school trip to King of Hybern's castle) - the Event seems to go very well for the main characters but then the Villain-Ruler-from-Over-the-Sea appears and is like, "binch, you thought" - the main characters are like *insert the star wars "it's a trap" gif here* - to make the finale more dramatic, nearly all the main and secondary characters appear in it (you thought it would be only the King of Hybern and the Court of Dreams in this castle? how about some Tamlin and Lucien? not enough? okay, have the Mortal Queens. Nesta and Elain are missing, you say? well, would you look at whom are the Mortal Queens leading among them) - then all of those people fight a tiny bit but mainly Talk™. Lots of Dramatic Revealing, bargaining and main characters trying to escape/save their skin. - The objective of the Talk™ is Maeve wanting to take Aelin to Wendlyn/Tamlin wanting to take Feyre back to Spring Court - Maeve/King of Hybern and Tamlin, of course, succeed, cue tearful scenes of Aelin/Feyre bidding farewell to their friends - at the end of the book, the main character is in the hands of the enemy (Aelin on Maeve's ship on her way to Wendlyn/Feyre in the Court of Spring) - HOWEVER, Aelin had managed to slip Wyrdkeys into Manon's pocket/Feyre had managed to give the Book of Breathings to Rhysand, so the good characters still have the Magical Object - somewhere at this point we get to know that Aelin x Rowan/Feyre x Rhysand got married the night before the Huge Event - the Good™ characters are grieving a bit over the loss of the main character but later go all "Let's Get Down To Business To Defeat The Huns" and each of them gets some kind of task and off they go BUT If we're already comparing those two books, let me just say this: The ending of "Empire of Storms" made me sigh deeply with annoyance and roll my eyes. We're on the 5th (FIFTH) book and everything seemed to go so well, Aelin & Co. would have just enough time to figure everything out, defeat The Evil™ and come back to rule their kingdoms for one more book. But now we have Aelin closed in an iron coffin, shipped on a ship straight to Wendlyn and the situation seems to be Helpless (no, that's not a Hamilton reference at all, idk what you're talking about), which means that before the things that I have mentioned before can occur, they'll have to save Aelin first. The fact that, for some reason, I was sure that "Empire of Storms" is the last book from the "Throne of Glass" series, doesn't help my annoyance for sure. The ending of "A Court of Mist and Fury" made me EXCITED for the next book. Right after I had finished reading it, I checked on Sarah J. Maas' website when "A Court of Wings and Ruin" will be released (May 2017!!!). This ending gave me hope - yes, Feyre is back in Spring Court with Tamlin The Traitor, but Tamlin thinks that Feyre was under Rhysand's spell the whole time she was in the Night Court. He doesn't know that Feyre was there bc she wanted to, that she's a mate and a wife of Rhysand AND the High Lady of Night Court and that she developed her powers. So, as opposing to Aelin The Prisoner situation we have in "Empire of Storms", here we have Feyre The Spy situation, which gives us way more hope. Stepping away from comparisons. As many other have already said it: the writing style of Sarah J. Maas is... specific and a bit repetitive, after a while it can get a bit tiring. She uses hyperboles, but not in the correct "Of course I don't mean it like this, I exaggerate a bit to put an emphasis on it" way but in "no, guys, but it was EXACTLY like that" which makes the whole world and character creation a bit unbelievable. Feyre is a bit self-centred (especially in the beginning, she goes all "woe is me") and nearly everything revolves around Feyre x Rhysand. However, I enjoyed "A Court of Mist and Fury". I really did. The construction of the world is very interesting and beautiful. I liked the secondary characters. There were some nice plot twists. I really like the Mor x Az pairing and I hope we'll see more of it in "A Court of Wings and Ruin". Is this book problematic? Yes, a bit (at least it doesn't kill off WOC as a plot device like some OTHER book series *cough cough* "Throne of Glass"*cough cough*). Is it worth reading? Yes, if you like fantasy and some very subtle references to the Persephone & Hades myth. Out of the two book series by Sarah J. Maas, this one is definitely better - the plot isn't unnecessarily dragged out, the world creation more original, you want to read the next book not because you don't like to leave a book series unfinished but because you're curious what's gonna happen next. View all my reviews