Reviews with content warning for Body horror - A Court of Silver Flames

This might have been my favorite in this series. We finally get to know Nesta and all her flaws, insecurities, fears and hopes, strengths and weaknesses. She is far from perfect, but she feels real and that is a refreshing twist to the perfect fantasy girl trope.

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tinyarthoe's review

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

Plot- or character-driven? Character
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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chaoticbookgremlin_'s review

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challenging dark emotional inspiring reflective tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

A Court of Silver Flames: 5/5 stars

"Your power is a song, and one I've waited a very, very long time to hear."

Synopsis
A Court of Silver Flames starts months after A Court of Frost and Starlight (I think maybe about ten months later?). It follows the story of Nesta and Cassian, told from their perspectives.

Nesta was broken from the events that occurred during the war, and as a result, has spiraled out of control. Living in a tiny, broken-down apartment, she spends her time drinking and sleeping with strangers.

But then Feyre decides enough is enough, and sends her to live in the House of Wind with Cassian, in the hopes of forcing her into living her life again. Of course, Nesta resists this at first, but she warms up to the idea eventually, even starts to enjoy herself.

And when the Human Queens on the continent start stirring up trouble again, Nesta and Cassian are thrust right in the middle of what may be the start of yet another war.

Oh, and there's a ton of explicit sex scenes. This is definitely the spiciest book in the series.

Writing and Plot
I actually think the writing in this book was better than the other four. It was told in third-person perspective, alternating between Nesta and Cassian, so that might have made a difference.

The plot - like, the human queen plot - I actually kind of kept skipping through, since I didn't really care too much about them. Compared to Amarantha and Hybern, the queens are really just a nuisance by this point.

I was MUCH more invested in the relationship between Nesta and Cassian.

The word "male" was, of course, repeated frequently, but "mate" didn't show up as much - during most of the book. Towards the end, it was there more often.

I really liked Nesta's character arc - I did NOT like her at the beginning, but I freaking love her now. Seeing her thoughts for myself made my able to sympathize with her more, and understand where her previous actions came from.

One of the few things I didn't like was Feyre and Rhys' whole storyline (I hate the pregnancy trope sooo...). It felt forced and I found myself cringing every time it was brought up.

The ending felt a little rushed as well, and you really expect me to believe that Gwyn, Nesta, and Emerie beat a bunch of Illyrian warriors that have been training since birth? Wayyyy too easy.

Characters
Like I said before, I love Nesta. I find her every interaction with Rhys hilarious. There were a few times where I wanted to hit her over the head with a chair, but that's to be expected. Her character arc was fantastic, as was the slow-then-rapid build-up of her relationship with Cassian.

Speaking of Cassian, I like him more in this book than I did in the others. To be fair, I DID adore him in the other books, but I like him more from Nesta's perspective... and his own.

Oh, and I found Azriel VERY amusing for the majority of this book. Also, I am now shipping him with Gwyn. If he ends up with Elain, I'm going to set his book on fire, then yeet it off a bridge. A Court of Yeeting and Bridge-Fires.

I FREAKING LOVE GWYN!!! I loved Emerie as well, but not as much. (I ship Emerie with Mor). I love Gwyn to the point where I hope she has a perspective in the next book. I don't approve of anyone else for Az.

I didn't like Rhys as much in this book as I did in the others. I actually found him quite annoying, though that may be because it was in Nesta's perspective and she hates him. But he seemed too overprotective of Feyre (remember what happened the LAST time somebody was too overprotective?)

And, weirdly enough, I felt bad for Tamlin. I kind of want a redemption arc for him, though I also kind of want him dead.

Conclusion
My second-favorite book in the series overall. The plot was a bit chaotic, but I enjoyed this book. Can't wait for the next one!

First Time Reading: May 2021

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