Reviews with content warning for Vomit - Das Reich der sieben Höfe - Flammen und Finsternis

Absolutely incredible. Much better than the first one. This was just on another level of wonder and adventure and I loved every second of it. It deserves the hype.

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kim_gzt's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional funny mysterious sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

Finally the story starts to develop after the first book! We get to know other Courts, what they are and how they act. I loved the new characters and their backstories. They are such broken and morally grey, yet lovable and amazing characters. Of course the romance in this book was electrifying!

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egdarallanhoe's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

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lingoreads's review against another edition

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fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes

5.0

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m_parker9612's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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tiernanalexandria's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful reflective sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Flawless, absolutely flawless.
It’s been a LONG time since I’ve been so involved with a book that I was able to cry from a characters heartbreak (no spoilers though).

I’m not even sure what to put. Maas brings us deeply into worlds we never knew but now wish existed. There was never a detail missed that we wanted.
So many of the characters blossomed. We dove deeper into relationship and lingered on rumors of war.

Now from the outside looking in, it may seem like just a love story, but this book is full of War, Magic, Fighting, Male Logic, Death, Darkness and more.
It’s a thrilling tale with twists of love that ANY body would enjoy.

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louisepea's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional funny hopeful inspiring mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

It's been a few months since Feyre defeated Amarantha, freed Prythian, and broke the curse on the Spring Court. Now back home in their country estate, Feyre, Tamlin, and Lucien are focused on rebuilding the Spring court and preparing for a wedding, but life is far from sunshine and roses. Feyre and Tamlin are both traumatised by what they did and endured Under the Mountain. Tamlin is terrified of losing Feyre again, which leads to an unhealthy need to protect her and some pretty shocking controlling behaviour. Feyre feels stifled and alone, and her guilt and depression see her wasting away into a shadow of her former self. As the wedding arrives, she finds herself screaming for someone to rescue her, and who should choose that moment to make a grand entrance and invoke the deal they made Under the Mountain (a week with him at the Night Court every month) but Rhysand. (Best wedding gate-crashing ever)! He whisks her away to the Night Court, and as furious as Feyre is, she's surprised to find it isn't what she expected. That Rhysand isn't who she expected. And he seems to want to help. From there, we go back and forth between the Night Court and Spring Court, between Rhysand and Tamlin, and see Feyre start to thrive in one, and wither away in the other. As Tamlin struggles with his terror for Feyre whenever she's taken away, his need to control and protect only intensifies, until he does something extreme that changes their relationship forever. After being rescued by her new friends in the rival court, Feyre remains in Velaris to sort her head out. With the help of Rhys and the Inner Circle, she slowly learns to heal, and discover where her heart truly belongs. while finding her place in the world, and learning to use her new High Fae powers to her advantage. And with new threats and an impending war approaching, she soon learns what she's capable of when she's not held back, and how far she'll go to protect her family and friends and the home she loves when they need it most.

*

Wow, what a sequel, what a story! I loved this book so much, I've barely thought of anything else all week- to the point I've woken multiple times every night still thinking about what I read. Cauldron boil me, it was so good, it might just be one of my favourite sequels ever.

I adored the first book, A Court of Thorns and Roses so much, and even though A Court of Mist and Fury was so different in so many ways, I think I enjoyed this book even more.

There was just something about this story that had it digging its Illyrian talons in to me, caressing my mental shields to let it in, and burrowing right into my heart. It was such a powerful, devastating, empowering read that broke my heart before piecing it back together and warming it up again. It made me laugh out loud and it made me cry real tears, feel the pain from the characters' trauma, the love, the despair, the rage. Basically, if there's an emotion, this book made me feel it.

It's no surprise since this book had so much going on; everything you could ask for in a NA enemies-to-lovers faerie fantasy romance- and more. It's 624 pages of action, suspense, betrayal, battle, twists and turns, love, heartache, romance, sexual tension, sex, magic, female empowerment, trauma, real life issues, bad-ass females, loveable hot faerie males, despicable villains... It has it all, and so much more. And let's not forget that shocking ending. Ahhhh, so good!

The story continues a few months on from ACOTAR, but it's far from a continuation of what we got in the first book. S0 much had changed and improved since we saw the characters last- everything from the tone of the book to the plot, and the settings to the characters- and it's a seriously impressive transformation.

Gone is the happy, humorous, carefree tone from Feyre, Tamlin, and Lucien in the Spring Court. Instead, this book has a more melancholy, dark, depressed feel for much of the story, one laced with pain, fear, sorrow, and rage and suited to the aftermath of trauma. It takes a while for the narrative to lighten again, but as life changes for certain characters, and they slowly begin to heal, the tone gradually becomes lighter, flirty, and fun again, with less and less darkness. (But always some).

We see such a change in Feyre, Tamlin, Lucien, Rhys, Nesta, and Elain because of what they went through and, for some characters, how they worked to overcome it. The biggest surprise for me was in Rhysand, and discovering he wasn't at all like the Rhysand we met Under the Mountain, and I loved learning more about him, and his and Tamlin's pasts. We also got introduced to so many new characters and creatures, and I couldn't help but fall in love with Rhys' Inner Circle- Cassian, Azriel, Mor and Amren, who along with Feyre, were just the most bad-ass, funny, wholesome little family of misfits. Where can I get myself one of these gorgeous bat boys, and a group of friends just like them?? I love them!

I think the book and characters had so much more depth and heart than in book one, which was not just because of the amazing character development, but had a lot to do with how the story focuses on the aftermath of trauma caused by real life issues like sexual abuse, murder, torture, imprisonment, and control. We get to see how the characters navigate life as survivors dealing with mental health conditions like PTSD and depression, the need for control, suicidal thoughts, and strong emotions like guilt, fear, and self-loathing. The author touches on each character's trauma beautifully and sensitively, and in a way that, magic aside, was realistic and relatable. She navigates the aftermath of trauma so well, and shows the sad reality of what it and mental health issues can do to us and our relationships if we don't share the burden with our loved ones, and ask for help. In Tamlin's case, being unable to talk about what he was going through led to anger issues, and an unhealthy need to control and protect, which Feyre bore the brunt of, and destroyed their relationship. Feyre, meanwhile, mentally and physically wasted away to a shadow of her former self and contemplated suicide. We see how sometimes loving someone isn't always enough, and loving someone too much can be worse than loving someone too little. The pain the characters felt was so raw and moving that it broke my heart. I must have spent half the book in tears over Feyre, Rhys, Tamlin, and Azriel's pain.

There was a huge jump in character development from the last book. Never has my opinion of so many characters changed so drastically from one book to the next. This story left me hating characters I loved in ACOTAR, like Tamlin, who I'm genuinely sad Maas ruined by making him in to a possessive, controlling, belittling b*stard. Why did he have to go from a sweet romantic, writing poetry and loving Feyre so much he sent her away to keep her safe at the sacrifice of his own freedom, to locking Feyre up in the manor, knowing she was struggling to deal with the horrors of being locked in a cell Under the Mountain for three months?? It was as if, just like Under the Mountain, he was completely oblivious to Feyre's pain and suffering and her needs, and was blinded by his own feral desires, and thinking he knew best. It's sad that while he loved her, he didn't see her, and only seemed to want to fight for her when she was taken away from him. I wonder if it was down to his own trauma, or because his masculinity had been threatened when Feyre saved him, but perhaps the red flags had been there from the start. The anger, the orders, the disapproval when she wore trousers instead of a dress or spent time alone with Lucien... so many red flags. I hoped he might redeem himself, that losing Feyre after what he did might have been a wake up call, but the betrayal and how condescending he was to Feyre near the end had me hating him more. B*stard.

I also found myself loving characters I disliked before, like Rhysand, who it turns out, is not the cruel psychopath he appeared to be Under the Mountain, but quite possibly the sweetest, most selfless, funny, cocky, loveable character in the history of characters. After ACOTAR, I didn't understand why everyone loved him so much, but it only took a page or two for me to fall in love with the male behind the mask, and understand completely. The High Lord of the Night Court is an absolute treasure! Learning what he did to keep Feyre, his friends, and his people safe warmed my heart, and broke it in to so many pieces at the same time. His backstory, his pain, his trauma, was so heart-breaking it made me cry- more than once. Enduring fifty years of sexual abuse to keep everyone else safe? Unimaginable. That sweet, selfless male. :'( I also adored the way he helped Feyre to heal in every way he could, empowered her, and encouraged her to reach her potential by teaching her to read, write, defend, and fight, without coddling or forcing her before she was ready. The polar opposite to Tamlin. I especially loved how he kept p*ssing her off on purpose to make her feel something other than her pain or nothing at all, knowing it was what she needed because it also helped him. His respect, awe, and pride of Feyre- and the other women in his life- melted my heart. I wish all men treated women so well. And their banter, friendship, flirting, sexual tension, and relationship were everything. God, I love this guy. He's perfection. Why are all the best men not real?!

Then there was Lucien, who was a big disappointment for not trying harder to do the right thing time and time again, and making excuses for his friend's controlling behaviour, even when Feyre begged him for help, and he saw her get locked in the manor by Tamlin. I thought he was better than that, but he apparently swapped his morals and sense-of-humour for cowardice and enabling. In trying to be a loyal friend to Tamlin, he left Feyre to suffer alone, and while I think he was afraid of Tamlin's temper and magic- probably more so since he was flayed Under the Mountain, and probably felt like he owed him for saving him from his brothers, it doesn't excuse the way he didn't do anything to rescue her when she was trapped. Yes, he tried to stick up for her at times, but he always backed down after one glare or growl thrown his way. Then there was the fact he tried to bring her back to Tamlin against her wishes, and chose to tell Elain she was his mate while she was still lying on the floor in Hybern, utterly traumatised, after being forced into the Cauldron. Learn to respect the word 'no', stand up for yourself, and how to judge a room, Luce, you beautiful russet-eyed push-over.

And Feyre... Feyre was an absolute queen, but the change in her from ACOTAR just about ripped my heart out of my chest. It was devastating reading how depressed, broken, and alone she felt and how haunted she was by the things she did and experienced Under the Mountain to free Tamlin, and all of Prythian. To see her waste away and turn in to a shadow of her former self, become suffocated by being coddled, placated into a dutiful little trophy girlfriend, viewed as less-than by her partner, and treated so badly she thought she deserved it and gave up on pushing back was so sad and rage-inducing. It was awful knowing how hard she had fought for her loved ones, only for no one in the Spring Court to fight for her or see that she wasn't a weak, helpless female in need of protection, despite the fact she'd been the one to beat Amarantha and free them all when even the High Lords couldn't. Especially after she'd opened up about how hurt she was when her family didn't fight for her in book one. The scene in the manor when Tamlin locks her inside and she has a panic attack was particularly powerful and heart-wrenching, as was the build up to their wedding. But I loved seeing the change in her when Rhys took her away to The Night Court, and gave her what she needed to help herself, start healing and become her best self. As she learned to read and write, fight, harness her new Fae powers, and begin to realise how badly she had been treated, she transformed in to such a strong, determined, funny, and bad-ass character, and definitely one of my favourite female characters ever. I adored her relationship with Rhys- especially all the flirting- even if I might have been a little bit jealous. She shows it's possible to survive controlling relationships and hitting rock bottom, and come out the other side stronger than ever, without needing a man to fight your battles for you, just be there to cheer you on, believe in you, and share the ups and downs. It sends such a powerful and empowering message.

I'm not even going to get started on how much I hated Ianthe. Maybe in the next review...

As for the world-building... that was on a whole other level. Maas made all of the many settings in the book come alive in beautiful detail. I could imagine myself trapped in the rose-covered manor of Tamlin's Spring Court, chilling with the Inner Circle in the stunning Night Court, exploring the vibrant city streets of Velaris, and taking in the ocean views from Tarquin's palace in the Summer Court. Whether we were exploring the Court of Nightmares, meeting the Bone Carver in an underground prison, visiting Feyre's sisters in the mortal world, or heading out in to the wilderness to train, Maas built her settings so flawlessly, and sucked me into every scene. We got to explore so much more of Prythian then before, and I only wish it was real so I could visit Velaris, Rhys' townhouse, and The House of Wind because they were amazing.

Some of My Favourite Bits
*Rhysand gate-crashing the wedding with a greeting of 'Hello, Feyre darling.'
*Feyre throwing a shoe at Rhys' head.
*Meeting the Inner Circle.
*Feyre having a panic attack when Tamlin locked her in the manor. -Horrific, but so powerful.
*The flirty note-sharing. 'Look how lovely your hand-writing is.'
*All the flirting.
*Rhys and Feyre comforting each other after nightmares.
*Learning Rhys' sent the music in to Feyre's cell Under the Mountain.
*The sexual tension in The Court of Nightmares.
*Starfall.
*Feyre's stand-off with Lucien.
*Chapter 54- Rhys' story / confession was so moving it made me cry.
*Chapter 55- if you know, you know.
*Cassian promising Nesta he'd go in to battle for her and the humans when war came.
*Nesta going down swinging in to the Cauldron.
*Feyre deceiving everyone in Hybern to save her family and get revenge.

Overall, A Court of Mist and Fury was one of the best books I've read in ages. It had it all- great characters, an emotional and exciting plot, brilliant settings and world building, a complex love triangle, the romance of the century, twists and turns, one hell of a cliff-hanger ending, and so much more. It now lives rent-free in my head, and I don't see it vacating it any time soon. I'm not even sorry.

I can't wait to see where the rest of the series takes Feyre, Rhys, and all my other favourite characters from Prythian.

5 glittering stars out of 5- but if I could, I'd give it 10.

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