Reviews - The High Mountain Court

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2.18k reviews for:

The High Mountain Court

A. K. Mulford

3.69 AVERAGE

mollyandherbooks's review against another edition

5.0

adventurous emotional 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

cuppieeecakes's review against another edition

3.0

Overall, I found the book to be just okay. I really enjoyed the overall story, however, there were multiple points in which I felt that the writing was lacking. Close to the end several jumps were made that didn't make much sense to me, or the flow of the text made me backtrack because it felt as though I missed an important detail. The "big reveal" moments didn't feel as grandiose as the author intended... Instead felt rushed just to get the plot moving.

Can't say I'm invested enough to continue the series, but I do wish Remy all the best in her quest!

jaelynq's review against another edition

2.75

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: No

rahellarad's review against another edition

3.0

No shit, within the first twenty pages I KNEW this was going to be a spicy book just from the way it was written and how our main character interacted with the world- AND I WAS RIGHT. This brought me the absolute bare minimum of satisfaction though, as it wasn’t particularly well-spiced in my opinion.

There was just a little too much going on with everyone else in this book, and not quite enough going on with Remi and her head-empty-no-thoughts protagonist mind. Yet another case of things just happening to someone and them not actually doing all that much to influence or change their own trajectory. And you can argue with me all day long that that was the entire point of her character arc, and I’m still going to hit you with my killing blow: Just because that’s the point doesn’t make it good writing. There was absolutely no payoff for me when comparing start-of-book Remi and end-of-book Remi. To be honest, I’d actually have preferred if Mulford hadn’t

Spoiler

made Remi be fae herself and kept her as just one of the last Red Witches of the High Mountain Court instead. I really do think that story would have been more interesting and much less predictable. Sorry guys but I saw this reveal coming from a country mile away.

Dithering for literal years over doing nothing and then being bitter that you didn’t do anything… isn’t a fun thing to read about? Also more importantly, we didn’t need to be reminded of it every second chapter either, and how ~anguished~ and ~tortured~ Remi is about being cowardly. And that’s to say nothing of Hale being completely unlikeable and also a massive dickwad for perhaps 70% of the book for *checks notes* absolutely no reason.

In terms of plot devices, what wasn’t used? There were so many tropes and devices at play that at some points this honestly felt like reading a piece of FanFiction. Enemies to lovers? Check. Fated matches? Check. Lost royal family? Check. Broody man hates his father? Check.

Spoiler

False betrayals?

Check. There’s two of them and only one bed? Check. Sassy side characters convincing a main character to give another MC a chance despite their glaring terrible behaviour? Check. Having said that, some of the supporting characters’ personalities were absolutely outstandingly brilliant, to the point where I’m mad they only got used as plot grease and we didn’t actually get to learn more about them - Bri, honey, I’m so sorry they did that to you, one day you’ll get the recognition you deserve. But one thing does bear mentioning, purely by merit of it being so annoying I just can’t let it slide: There is nothing, nothing more annoying than watching two characters intentionally misinform each other, and then get mad about it when they find out the other person was doing exactly the same thing. THIS WHOLE THING WOULDN’T HAVE HAPPENED IF EVERYONE HAD JUST SAID EVERYTHING THEY KNEW FROM THE START. Yeah I know there were several reasons given why they couldn’t, and I get why Remi didn’t, but Hale? There was a whole bunch of stuff he could have fessed up to that would have spared us like half a book.

The one redeeming quality is that it didn’t have an absolutely crap ending. It was actually nicely tied together apart from

Spoiler

Remi’s brother being dead, then magically alive, then haha sike, dead again

and I didn’t have grief with it sitting on a cliffhanger or sloppily sweeping up loose ends to finish on. Actually, I think the setting up for the second book was done very nicely and in such a way that you don’t actually have to read the rest of the series if you don’t want to.

3/5 for being predictable and using weird and stupid descriptions of men and their voices (thunder over velvet anyone?), but having a decent ending and being not altogether awful.

dalek_caan's review against another edition

4.0

adventurous emotional 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: Complicated

This book made me feel a lot of emotions. It was definitely a can't-put-this-book-down kind of book. I will definitely be reading the next one!

Content Warnings

rhiaintheclouds's review against another edition

2.0

slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: No

Diverse cast of characters: Complicated

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

nerdylitmajor's review against another edition

4.0

adventurous emotional medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

This book pulled me out of a reading slump and into an obsession! Red witch Remy is a snarky badass whom I loved going on an adventure with, and her slow burn romance with Fae prince Hale is H.O.T.! This series opener is compelling, dark, surprising, and filled with fascinating characters whose exploits I can’t wait to follow in future books!