A review by bookslikegranola
A Court of Mist and Fury by Sarah J. Maas

1.0

I did not enjoy the first book, but was told that the second one improved, so I kept reading.  However, the improved writing and plot only served to emphasize how incoherent the characters and romance was. 

 

Feyre (and Tamlin) is deeply traumatized from the events of the first book. Not only is she not getting better, the confining responsibilities of her new position and the strange powers of her new body begin to completely break Feyre. Whoever could come to her rescue? I initially had high hopes for this book. It felt a lot more honest about Feyre, instead of being constantly told she is a competent, survival-at-all cost huntress (when she is constantly stupid and incompetent), the story tells us that she is a deeply traumatized woman who is in over her head and deeply naive about court politics. It seems to set up a critique of her book 1 whirlwind romance that was based on lies and emphasizes the inherent cruelty of patriarchal monarchies. The problems start when the plot finally kicks off and Feyre is rescued by Rhysand. I get that he was doing his best, but redeeming the character from book 1 who had to use tactical sexual assault to “protect” Feyre is a hard lift for me. Especially because Rhys feels like he’s three separate people: randomly cruel and overbearing, deeply sensitive and supportive, and an adventuring ally who lies/soft betrays all the time. His character seemed to shift rapidly depending on the needs of an individual scene. He truly didn’t make sense to me and zero sense as a love interest. I could also nit-pick a lot of other things that rubbed me the wrong way (why do they host the queens in Nesta’s house-can’t they just rent property elsewhere? What exactly does Mor’s truth magic do?), but clearly Sarah J Mass just isn’t for me. I will say, I did appreciate how Rhys was willing to let Feyre fight (even if it was lukewarm), as I hate the trope of a woman love interest having vast magical powers yet being kept from the battle because of the male lead’s “protective instincts”. 

 

I really don’t recommend this series. There are better fantasy and way better romance. But, I’m clearly missing something as a lot of people love these books, so take this with a grain of salt.