A review by fulltimefiction
A Court of Silver Flames by Sarah J. Maas

2.0

I originally gave this book 3 stars. I enjoyed it more than ACOWAR and that good for nothing novella but I was thinking about the ending and honestly it was not okay at all. I absolutely hated how a particular subplot was resolved and if it wouldn’t have an emotional effect (and not in a positive way) to readers who faced a similar issue but in human standards, I would’ve been okay with it and kept the 3 stars. But I thought what Maas did was very inconsiderate -and unimaginative. We shall discuss that in a later spoiler section.
The long-time fans will be more than ever divided about this book.

This review will contain spoilers for this series but the spoilers for this book will be marked.

ACOSF has many trigger warnings and several are related to poor mental health, off-screen rape, pregnancy -there’s a spoiler about it but if something related to this topic might affect you better know in advance

fae getting pregnant too easily (even though it’s difficult for them) and pregnancy complications magically resolved and not medically

.

Okay so let’s start!

There are 2 camps: people who love Nesta and people who hate her. I was one of the latter. Those who loved Nesta’s attitude probably won’t like this book. My opinion now of Nesta has changed but in the past, this is why I didn’t like her:
- She treated Feyre horribly. She never even taught her how to read. She used to have new things while Feyre, who was doing her best to feed her family, had old and ruined things.
- She acts like a bitch. People disagree about this point “you don’t have to like her” “trauma!!!” “if she was a man you wouldn’t have cared”, etc. The thing is, I would’ve stomached her attitude if it wasn’t for point one. No, men or women who send their younger siblings to hunt while they sit idly (this point was explained by Nesta later on) and treat them like dirt is not okay with me when they act like they’re too good for anyone and much better.

It's quite obvious honestly that ACOTAR never had future plans for Nesta. She was portrayed as a terrible sister. But later, Maas changed her mind and tried to do redeem Nesta so she can have her own story. So no, nothing would redeem that version. That being said, she actually grew on me. She's not my favorite but now I can stand her. How she SAW she treated Feyre is very inaccurate too. But again, I think if Maas had any plans for this book, she would've portrayed Nesta and Elain differently

Nesta said that she didn’t do anything to make her father do something about their situation. She never truly explained her behavior towards Feyre but she felt bad for it and kind of regrets it. Nothing justifies her attitude towards her sister in th past and I personally will never be okay with how she treated Feyre but her character development was obvious in this book and she grew on me. So I’m happy to report as anti-Nesta that I’m okay with her now.

I also loved Gwyn and Emerie. These 2 additions and the Valkyries subplot were honestly my favorite part. The plot was a bit similar to Feyre’s in a way but I really liked what Nesta did and how she found her own people too. The Valkyries, the library, and their friendship was easily my favorite thing about this book and why I wanted to give this book 3 stars.

Many will be wondering about the mental health part and I'm going to say I honestly don't know if it was done well. Actually, I'm pretty sure some reviewers will think it was done well while others say it's pretty bad. So no I'm no psychologist nor know enough about trauma survival to be able to judge. I'll leave that for people with more knowledge on this but even those will disagree. For my end, I honestly found it acceptable especially since it wasn't an easy nor fast journey, there were also drawbacks but also healing techniques used. I might have some reservations about the end version of Nesta

I never imagined I’d be saying this but it was too harsh on her

but for the most part, I found it believable. But again, I might be wrong.

I always thought for someone who reads so much romance, especially BDB books, the smut in Maas’ books is should’ve been better written. Well, while still not the best, (lots of roaring, feasting, and too many scenes) and the cringe-worthy in this book were less because no innuendos anymore at least.

Unlike most, I’m not a huge fan of Cassian (nor Az for that matter). I don’t hate them to be clear but I’m not crazy about them. I always found them good secondary characters and even really liked Az for a while (not anymore). This book made me appreciate Cassian more and he grew on me. I think he did his best to be there for Nesta. It wasn’t easy and both parties said hurtful things but overall the romance was ok. Nothing special nor memorable but my expectations were so low that I can’t say I’m disappointed. However, many moments made me roll my eyes and I was annoyed at a particular act and it’s what I usually call a historical romance thing (any HR knows what usually happens before the end). It was very unnecessary and only used to move the plot further, which could’ve been easily done in another way. Also, yes I still hate that we have mates.

The last semi-positive thing I want to say is I was seriously starting to dislike Feyre and Rhys in previous books. I didn't, here. I'm okay with them AS LONG AS I'M NOT IN THEIR HEADS (and whenever something about what goes on between them was mentioned, I cringed) so let's like each other from afar. A particular behavior of Rhys annoyed me because he had no right (will discuss this further later). but RHYS BETTER BE PREPARED FOR LOTS OF WELL DESERVED HATE. I mean feminist Rhys. Yes. Right. He deliberately withheld and important information about Feyre from her. Feyre had every right to know because it’s about her. And instead? He gets angry at Nesta and threatens to kill her for telling feyre (Nesta did not have good intentions when she did, yes, but Rhysand should have told (more like he had an obligation) Feyre once he knew).

Now to the not so good stuff about ACOSF:

Before I begin, I should mention again that I honestly read the book fairly quickly and it didn’t feel like it’s a 700+ pages book at all. I also had fun reading it (even if some things annoyed me a lot) so now I’m a bit more optimistic that Maas might still write books I enjoy but I only wish they were less problematic.

✘ The Pace:
Although I just mentioned that I flew through the book, over 700 pages for this book were very unnecessary. Like always. Sarah adding too many pages and a considerable part could've been summed up. Even in the worst of cases, I still find her books light to read (not in the topics they deal with but rather the writing style and book flow). But the book pace wasn't consistent at all either. Almost nothing happens and a very slow pace, then boom, then very slow pace, then boom, then very slow pace, then climax. It was either a plodding progress or a very fast one. I did not mind the training but lots of fillers here. It would’ve been better if ACOSF was shorter and at least the events of the book could’ve been more in harmony.

✘SJM style:
Other than slightly more bearable smut, SJM’s style sadly did not change. Beauty everywhere. Females and males used for emphasis and too many times.

"Not only male, but Fae male"

I’m honestly past cringing at these things. I’m just tired.
Several repetitions too “like calls to like” was mentioned 3 times in less than 5 pages on my kindle.
A lot of stiff backs too.
Nesta being born with “claws and fangs” but was never able to use them also was mentioned too many times. She could’ve used this fierceness to hunt with Feyre.
We also had the usual animal sounds like purring. *eye roll*
At this point, I won’t bother to go into a full SJM rant because I lost hope in any improvement.

✘Magic: The magic in SJM books never had rules. This was even more prominent in ACOSF. How this can be done? Magic. This why I have huge respect for authors like Brandon Sanderson because they create rules and stick to them. No crazy superpowers out of nowhere because of magic abilities. More in the spoilers sections.

✘The plot:
The book took a hunger games turn. and the end of let's what I shall call "arc" was unrealistic but typical. Also what followed afterward was kind of messy and underwhelming. Instead of separating things throughout the book to keep the reader engaged at every point, she jammed two things together and it would’ve been fine if it wasn’t so rushed. the plot is also similar to her previous books (ancient bad guy) and this one was set up for later books and it was apparent.
Pulling the same trick twice is also very cheap. She did it in one of her previous books and she did it again even if in a different way. I’m not impressed at all. While different circumstances and people, the situation was still similar and I don't like using the same solution twice. This will be further discussed in the spoilers section.

SJM proves again that she's privileged and doesn't know a thing about poverty. Why? I don't see Rhys with his absurd wealth doing anything about those dumps and instead of throwing money around on luxurious. I know they intend to create a shelter but it pains me to see supposedly good people just throwing money around and not implementing livelihoods and education programs. Or maybe finance research (other than the library) and science. He could build the best university in Prythian for example.

✘Final notes before the spoilers section
This more of the same that we've had before. If you haven't been enjoying her books before, you won't enjoy this one either. and if you are, you'll probably enjoy this too. Unless you like the bitch version of Nesta and want her to stay that way… If anything this book will have more divided opinions than her previous books.
I’m definitely doing to read the sequel and speaking of which, Lucien is one of the most decent characters in this series. I hate how he was used as a punchbag and Cassian treated him badly for no reason. I think the next book will be about Az who made me less than excited to read his story with this creepy chapter. I know Elain is Lucien’s mate and I wish him nothing but happiness but he also deserves better than her. I absolutely hate love triangles, hopefully, I won’t be very pissed off in the next book.

SPOILERS BELOW:

I will discuss these in a bullet points format:
► I’m going to start with the thing annoying me the most: how Feyre’s pregnancy was handled.
Fae pregnancy is very difficult. But of course, Feyre had to be a mother at 22 Years old. Immortal life and so much to discover but no:
1) she gets easily pregnant at 21
2) she’s a mother at 22
There’s obviously nothing wrong with the second part but I just wished she has soooooo many years to live. It’s like she’ll grow up with her child, this is more of an age difference between friends than parent and child... I’m just disappointed. At least SJM could’ve waited to book 6…

Rhysand decides not to tell Feyre that her pregnancy is very dangerous and will probably kill the baby and her. You see, he doesn’t want to ruin her happiness. Uhmm.. she was in an early stage of pregnancy, what if she wanted to abort? But even if she didn’t, IT’S HER DAMN BODY AND SHE HAS EVERY RIGHT TO KNOW SUCH A THING.
Fast forward to the delivery, Nesta GIVES UP HER POWER TO SAVE FEYRE AND THE BABY AND CHANGES HER BIOLOGY SO SHE CAN HAVE ILLYRIAN BABIES TOO. WHAT WHAT WHAT.

Let’s discuss why this is wrong on so many levels:
- real-life pregnancies especially before medical machines, cost many mothers their lives. It still happens in today’s world even if at a less considerable rate. Also, fetuses still die and many women miscarry before the end of their term.
>> this is very harmful to women who aren’t able to get pregnant or complete their term because FAE PREGNANCIES WERE SUPPOSED TO BE RARE AND VERY DIFFICULT. So to have a fae get pregnant so easily…

- Another thing is Nesta MAGICALLY solving everything and everyone lives yey!! (sounds familiar? Recycled plot). IN REAL LIFE THERE IS NO MAGICAL SOLUTION. SO THIS IS BULLSHIT. I’M VERY PISSED OFF. Sure this is a fantasy world but as I said before, Maas’ magic has no rules and is very random. She can do whatever she wants. In real life, there are no magic solutions, there are no sacrifices that will save the mother and child if they were in such danger.

So to have Feyre with a child and then save her magically? Why is she making it worse than it is? She could’ve gone without the whole Illyrian baby thing…

► This leads me to my other point. Nesta’s magic.
We heard sooo much about Nesta’s magic and how it is death *scary* and it was honestly all telling and there was little showing. What did do with it before scarifying it? (sounds familiar (again)?) Nothing important. I’m so angry at this. We heard about it and Amren was saying you’re not training your magic… well, it would’ve been for nothing. Just poof and it’s gone. It’s funny because her magical abilities were so hyped. SJM handled this the worst way possible.

I was saying before that I didn’t like Nesta but she grew on me. She did not need to scarify her magic to redeem herself AT ALL. AND TO CHANGE HER BIOLOGY TO HAVE KIDS. The whole thing is absurd if anything. It’s SJM’s fault only.

Solve fantasy events with fantasy solutions but don’t solve sensitive real-life events with fantasy.
►I really wanted Nesta, Gwyn, and Emerie to win the Blood Rite but only 10 did since Rhysand/Cassian/Azriel days (them included) and people training for years failed but 3 FEMALES who did train for many months yes but not nearly as much as those MALES win? Illogical.
► An important aspect of this book was planning for the existence of the parallel world. I guess we’ll have a crossover at a later point with ToG for sure.
► I also thought how the human witch arc was handled kinda underwhelming, maybe because the whole thing was very rushed considering the previous pace of the book. Also typical plot, a problem ONLY NESTA can resolve. Well, one of the next books will be about a problem ONLY ELAIN can resolve.
► I used to love Amren but I’m not impressed with her in this book. Also, what is this talk about Rhys conquering the continent?!!! NO PLEASE.

I want to end by saying many will enjoy this book but many won’t either. Whatever they thought of it, THEY ARE FREE to do so. This should be a community to share our love for books and not toxicity. ACOSF was better than I thought it was going to be and yes true my expectations were six feet under but I mostly enjoyed my time reading. I truly wish it did not have that arc towards the ending.