Reviews with content warning for Violence - A Court of Silver Flames

This was by far my favorite installment in the series, no questions asked. I loved every single page of this book and found myself immersed in the story from beginning to end. Nesta’s character development has to be one of the best yet in this series. I was screaming, crying, blushing, and smiling throughout the course of this book.

When we first meet Nesta, we absolutely hate her. She is unbearably cruel, selfish, and unkind to everyone. Especially to those who try to show their love and support for her. I found it so hard to like her at first, but I was prepared for this, due to my bestie telling me to just give her a chance. I continued reading, and she was so right. As the story continues, you find yourself slowing falling in love with Nesta. I found it similar to that quote from The Fault in Our Stars, (so sorry, I had to) “I fell in love with [her] like I was falling asleep. Slowly, and then all at once”. This is exactly how I felt when I was reading this book. As I got to understand Nesta as a character and be inside of her head more, hearing her thoughts and reactions to things, her behaviors made so much more sense to me. She was in pain, angry, and went through a lot of trauma since Hybern and losing her father etc. As she slowly comes to this realization, she is able to start to want to work through this trauma and allow herself to want to get better.

Then we have Cassian. MY BOY, CASSIAN. God, dare I say it, but I think Cassian is my favorite bat boy. He is just so amazing, kind, compassionate, there for Nesta, and so so sEXY. The smut in this book was absolutely immaculate. This was definitely Sarah’s most smutty book in the ACOTAR series, and I will say — 10/10. I lived for it, haha. It was written sO well and it was my first hint at one of the crucial plot elements of the book (iykyk). That has to be one of my favorite things about her spicy scenes. They are so purposeful and actually add to the plot, rather than just being thrown in there.

Then the female friendships inside of this book were just so beautiful and amazing. I love nothing more than a good female friendship. Emerie, Gwyn, and Nesta’s friendship is one that I want to have so badly in my own life. To have that camaraderie with people who have similar traumas and healing journeys to go through together, is just so beautiful and special. Especially when it is a group of girls too? Absolutely iconic. Seeing their own character development and them grow as Valkyries together was so legendary and empowering. I strive to be a quarter as strong as those girls, ha!

Then of course as always, the last 100 pages of this book were actually insane. They had me on the edge of my seat, eagerly reading to find out what was going to happen. These were the pages where I was actually screaming, crying, and freaking out as I read. I was so emotional, it was crazy. I absolutely loved the way that Sarah wrapped up this book though. All of the twists, the conflicts, the turmoil, the reveals, the emotions, the tEARS. It was my favorite ending by far, again. This book really hit it out of the park for me.

As usual I could go on for hours about this book and series, but alas, I will stop here for now. Overall, this seriously was the best installment in the series, and only increased my love for the world, all of the characters, and made me ten times more obsessed with the bat boys. I cannot wait to read the next installment when it comes out! I rate this book 5/5 stars! 🌟

Content Warnings

hereiskyra's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional tense medium-paced

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

4.5

Holy cow did that book give me whiplash. At first I genuinely considered it a chore. At least the first 15% of this book, I couldn’t wait for it to be over. I think I had such a positive attachment to Cassian alteady and such a negative view of Nesta that I genuinely could not see myself cheering for them.

That changed in a matter of like one chapter. I got a glimpse of that chemistry and it just kept getting better and better from there. Don’t get me wrong, I still wanted to smack Nesta in the forehead from time and time and say “what the hell are you doing, stupid?,” but honestly the two of them make sense and I feel like the amount of pain and time it too for them to make it work made their bond even stronger.

I was surprised how much I grew to understand and empathize with her over the course of this book. I really had a strong dislike, borderline hatred for her when I started… but, of course, trauma and the building of defense mechanisms can tend to harden a person over time and I think that’s untimately what happened to her. And she needed the right person to soften her just a little bit and allow for some trust so she could let down her guard a little. It was some of the best character development I’ve seen.

When she wielded all of the powerful things at once to save her sister, who let’s be honest - she’s been horrible to for most of her life, it gutted me. I didn’t think this book was going to make me emotional but there I was crying over what was essentially my least favorite character for 4 books.

And we’re not even going to touch on Feyre and Rhys and how utterly terrified I was for them for 15% of this book. Thanks, SJM!

And boy… this one was spicyyyyyy. 🥵

These two were horny (and dirty) as hell and I was here for it! The tension and the build up was perfect. And I loved the chemistry they had.

This series was a ride and a half. I LOVE two of these books with all my heart… I like one… and the other two almost put me to sleep. So, it’s not going to be my favorite series of all time (but I’ll definitely read the next when it come out 😉), but I enjoyed it a lot and I see the magic and the charm in it. I loved so many of the characters and the world they live in. I will miss it!

Tropes:

Forced Proximity

Friends-with-Benefits to Lovers

Spice:

3.5 🌶️

Content Warnings

kadbee's review against another edition

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adventurous slow-paced

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

1.25

Content Warnings

kaaaaaaaa's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional hopeful reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.25

I can't tell if I like this book best because it's actually better/plays to SJM's strengths as a writer or if this one just has more characters/tropes that appeal to me personally. *gestures at Nesta like I'm John Mulaney in 'Kid Gorgeous'*: My wife's a bitch, and I like her so much.

Still deducting points for the clumsy deus ex machina.

Also:

Yet another fictional universe that really needs to get around to inventing the therapist.

Much like Star Wars,

I'm supposed to believe that our main characters can heal from anything except ~~being female~~ pregnancy.

We now have two male characters named after female goddesses ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Content Warnings

ladywren890's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional inspiring mysterious tense medium-paced

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

5.0

I like that this book is transitioning the focus to other characters I am hoping the next book will allow us to meet Elain tbh she is still very vague. Nesta was severely traumatized by the war and possibly even before that throughout their childhood. We begin to see her more as the person her mother created her to be and see how her behavior has to do with unresolved issues within herself. I really enjoyed that she did a great deal of healing by befriending other survivors and learning how to fight for themselves.

I don't see a big issue with Feyre's pregnancy bc her story is basically at their happily ever after. I guess with another war still looming having a child is not ideal to play a larger role but she is not the focus anymore.

Like let them have their happily ever after. Why is it on her and Rhys to save Prythian every time? Maybe other books will include other high lords stepping up.

Content Warnings