Review by oliviabrcka - A Court of Silver Flames

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oliviabrcka 's review for:

A Court of Silver Flames by Sarah J. Maas

2.5

dark emotional reflective tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Complicated

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

I am very well aware of all the SJM haters out there, and I completely understand why they aren’t for everyone, but I have always enjoyed reading her books and have been quite entertained by them. However, I have to say, I felt quite underwhelmed by ACOSF. Although I felt like there were great concepts and ideas presented, there was just not enough attention given to each idea (despite the nearly 750 page book). Although I was still entertained, I just feel like this book pales in comparison to SJM’s other ones.

My FAVORITE part of the whole book was the friendship between Nesta, Emerie, and Gwyn. I loved every scene with them and I feel that SJM’s storytelling shines best when she depicts the three friends. Their relationship was the only part of the story that really was focused on, and in return, I found myself rooting for all of them. I loved the Valkyrie plotlines and how they were intent on rewriting history and becoming warriors in their own right. I think that this friendship is where the feminist plotlines SJM likes to use works best, and I wanted so much more of their frienship!

I also really liked Nesta’s character development. Don’t get me wrong, Nesta certainly isn’t my favorite character, but after reading this book I really resonated with her story. From the first few chapters on, it becomes glaringly obvious that Nesta is simply just depressed. It explains a lot of her behavior, and well I certainly don’t tolerate the way she treats people, I can understand why. I appreciated her journey of ups and downs before she really is healed. In the acknowledgements, SJM mentions her ups and downs with mental health, and her journey is definitely reflected in Nesta’s (from what i can guess). Although I didn’t like that she depended on Cassian for her healing, once again, I can see where she is coming from.

Unfortunately, the negatives outweighed the positives in ACOSF. Like I said earlier, despite having 750 pages of content, ideas were simply not explored. I have always found SJM's writing to have a good blend of description of minor details and plot lines, but this book had a major imbalance. I feel like half of this book was spent describing overall unimportant things and left many major plot points and events with half-thoughts. It almost feels like Sarah tried to change her writing style since this is marketed as an adult book, but in the process she lost her ability to create and describe an engaging plot.

********spoilers ahead

Another major issue I had with this book was the chain of events. The last 100 pages felt so rushed, especially after a first 650 pages with very little actual conflict. The major three events in this book (The Blood Rite, Feyre giving birth, and dealing with Briallyn) should have been much more separated and should have ultimately just been written differently. In my personal opinion, Sarah should have shortened the training and had the Blood Rite far earlier in the book, then moved on to Feyre giving birth, and then have the overarching threat of dealing with Briallyn come last, with Nesta finally able to fend for herself and feel confident. Instead, we were left with an incredibly messy plot and so many loose ends. I can let the loose ends slide, given this is the first installment of this part of ACOTAR, but the plot really just was bad. Good concepts, poor execution.

On a side note, I hated how Nesta was so involved in Feyre's birth. It was so obnoxious to always have things coming back to Rhys and Feyre, especially since it was Nesta's book. This just felt so unnecessary, and I feel like the whole pregnancy plotline should have been a side thing instead of a main idea.

Even beside all of this, I was so underwhelmed with Nesta and Cassian's romance. In all of SJM's books, I can look past the flaws and just live for the romances she creates. I was so looking forward to this book because of that. I really don't love Nesta as a character (though I do relate to her quite a bit) but I do love her and Cassian together, and I was excited to see how their relationship would play out. Unfortunately, even the romance fell way below the mark. The whole relationship lacked banter, something that I was expecting plenty of given the nature of Nesta and Cassian together. I also just felt like there were no events or scenes that made me want to root for them as a couple. When I am reading, I need small moments with the couple learning about each other and spending time together in order to love them. There was virtually none of that here, which just made me not care about them. Overall, the romance did nothing to make me more interested in the book.

Although I can say that I read this book in about 8 hours and didn't put it down once, I just was overall unimpressed by ACOSF. I just know Sarah can do better! Here's to hoping that the next book will make up for this one!

Content Warnings