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A review by kamrynkoble
A Court of Mist and Fury by Sarah J. Maas
adventurous
challenging
dark
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
2023 review:
I'm dead.
I love this so much. It was literally perfect. And all of the politics/war did not go over my head as they did when I read it as a teenager, so that's a victory!
I'm trying to write cohesive words but I am still dying inside. I read 90% of this book in bed while my husband was asleep and I think it was the Lord Himself who made me finish the last 10% while I was home alone. The sounds I made and the words I yelled were alarming.
Thanks to Danielle for receiving my million texts as I reread this one. As I said to her, I feel like I'VE been through a war but at least I don't have to deal with Tamlin.
LOVE LOVE LOVE. AMAZING. PERFECT. SPLENDID. I WILL NEVER RECOVER. EVER!
2017 review:
I am absolutely stupefied by this book. After sitting here for a good few minutes trying to think up a proper commencement for this review, I have simply given up. So here we go, on a ride that's hopefully as wild as Maas delivers in her A Court of Mist and Fury.
If you're involved in the bookstagram community at all (find me @greyzonebooks and let's connect!) you're aware of this book. You're probably also aware that everyone thinks it's better than the first one, which is quite a rare accomplishment in the book world.
This was the first time I wrote down my thoughts in my bullet journal while reading, so we're going to walk through each harrowed note step by step. Spoiler line commences here. Usually I can write professional, removed reviews without spoilers but this will just be a list/gush/chat/scream fest.
SPOILERS COMMENCING...
1. Tamlin is a boring love interest with an interesting story
Now that I've finished the book, this cracks me up a little bit for obvious reasons. During the first novel, Tamlin and I were fine. I didn't love him, but I sure didn't have a problem with him. If Feyre wanted to sacrifice herself for him, it was cool, whatever. But in the beginning of ACOMAF, I quickly grew bored with him. His background was interesting enough, but he was like a Flat Stanley whose claim to fame was merely all of the cool countries he had visited. Good riddance, I'm so thankful for Rhysand.
2. Convenient sexy situations
I could probably write a separate post only outlining the oh-so-convenient-tension-building-sexy-scenes in this novel. And you know what? I loved it. I ate it up. I am a huge hater of cheese and lazy convenience, but this interested me for some reason. Maas is one of those authors with the X-factor that makes reviewers drive themselves off a bridge trying to pin down any thoughts. You know those cliches, where the couple isn't together but you're supposed to ship them nonetheless, and they keep ending up...in convenient sexy situations. Part of the deal is you dancing around in sexy clothing pretending to be my prostitute (can we avoid the w-word in this review? We shall see)? Great. Oh, there only happens to be one bed in our hotel room where we ordered two? Fabulous. Oh, we have to pretend to be madly and love and attracted to each other, practically going at it in front of a crowd, all for show? Perfect. It's a little much. In any other book it would be too much. But somehow it works at effectively building tension.
3. Real first loves
Remember that spoiler line? You are under it. Proceed at your own risk. Feyre loved Tamlin. Obviously, as she was willing to sacrifice her whole life and sanity for him. However, he was her first love. She bravely stepped apart from the masses of typical YA/NA heroines and left him for someone better fitting. It's organic, it's natural, it's human, and I wish it didn't take faes for more authors to pick up on this when they have more than one book in a series.
4. Speaking of New Adult...
This is not YA. I repeat, this is not YA. There may be fantasy, this may appear to be for any old teenage, it may even be shelved as YA. It is not. The characters most definitely seem like adults, not teens, and here is your solitary content warning. It took a bit of strategy to read this book in school. Proceed at your own risk.
5. Pacing and War
If you've followed my reading for a while, you know that I am not a lover of epic fantasies. I don't like weird names, fake monsters, unique lore, etc etc etc. There is quite a bit of that in ACOMAF. I could deal with it because the writing and characters were so good, but the war (?) and other purely plot-based themes went straight over my head. I just couldn't focus on it. I would find myself reading four pages in a sitting. And then one part where that chilled for a little bit, I read two hundred pages in twenty-four hours. Two hundred. That does not happen for me. Maas is a master storyteller.
6. Faes are Us
We all know this is fantasy. Everyone has weird powers, this book has nothing to do with our world. But with this, Feyre comes across as a very real person. She's authentic, fresh, and just what we need in this industry.
7. TENSION TENSION TENSION
Have I said that Maas is a master of tension yet? Because she is. An absolute master. One bit of writing advice for romance that I always see is allowing feelings to develop naturally over tie, never to force it, until the reader is desperate for them to finally come together. Maas heeded this advice. I felt the torment myself.
8. Oh, that makes sense now
In case Maas needed more writing devices to master, she is also flawless at introducing details that are crucial later. She thinks these through and executes it well. This lady is most certainly not a pantser. I would give up one of my favorite fountain pens to see how this woman maps out her novels.
9. However...
For as successful as she is at #8, there were a few aspects that were a little too convenient. Particularly what's revealed in that one random Rhys chapter (I'm still not sure what the purpose of that was).
10. Abusive relationships
Returning to realistic relationships here...I love how Maas played out Feyre leaving Tamlin. While she was with him in the first book, she loved him. Neither her nor us readers expected that anything was amiss. How abusive and horrible he actually was to her is slowly revealed throughout the second novel, and it all starts to click. For someone who experienced a boyfriend-gone-amiss, this was handled tenderly, expertly, and effectively
11. Master of the Ending
Again, I have a new crown for Maas. Man, does this lady know how to hammer out those endings. Both this and ACOTAR rallied in at the end and delivered a heart-stopping climax right before the last few pages. I actually love her strategy of saying "screw it" to the falling action and going out with a bang. Well done.
12. My poor heart
I know something's good when I physically react. There were multiple occasions where I had to stop reading, grip my heart, and try to regain composure in a public setting. Well done.
13. Feminist text
Feyre's character arc is a genuine, raw, beautiful masterpiece. Her journey can most certainly be taken as a feminist one while she finds herself and her place as the High Lady of the night court. I adored how her lover could still exert his cocky "maleness" (Maas just loves saying "the male" instead of the man, I don't know either) over her, and still allow herself to be her own ruler and make her own choices. It was deliberate, it was beautiful, and I cherished it. Well done. Can I add 'well done' to the end of every single point?
I hope you enjoyed my attempt at collecting my eclectic thoughts here. Please, let's talk! Send me the lengthiest comment you can make and I will return it with fervor. One last time - well done, Maas.
I'm dead.
I love this so much. It was literally perfect. And all of the politics/war did not go over my head as they did when I read it as a teenager, so that's a victory!
I'm trying to write cohesive words but I am still dying inside. I read 90% of this book in bed while my husband was asleep and I think it was the Lord Himself who made me finish the last 10% while I was home alone. The sounds I made and the words I yelled were alarming.
Thanks to Danielle for receiving my million texts as I reread this one. As I said to her, I feel like I'VE been through a war but at least I don't have to deal with Tamlin.
LOVE LOVE LOVE. AMAZING. PERFECT. SPLENDID. I WILL NEVER RECOVER. EVER!
2017 review:
I am absolutely stupefied by this book. After sitting here for a good few minutes trying to think up a proper commencement for this review, I have simply given up. So here we go, on a ride that's hopefully as wild as Maas delivers in her A Court of Mist and Fury.
If you're involved in the bookstagram community at all (find me @greyzonebooks and let's connect!) you're aware of this book. You're probably also aware that everyone thinks it's better than the first one, which is quite a rare accomplishment in the book world.
This was the first time I wrote down my thoughts in my bullet journal while reading, so we're going to walk through each harrowed note step by step. Spoiler line commences here. Usually I can write professional, removed reviews without spoilers but this will just be a list/gush/chat/scream fest.
SPOILERS COMMENCING...
1. Tamlin is a boring love interest with an interesting story
Now that I've finished the book, this cracks me up a little bit for obvious reasons. During the first novel, Tamlin and I were fine. I didn't love him, but I sure didn't have a problem with him. If Feyre wanted to sacrifice herself for him, it was cool, whatever. But in the beginning of ACOMAF, I quickly grew bored with him. His background was interesting enough, but he was like a Flat Stanley whose claim to fame was merely all of the cool countries he had visited. Good riddance, I'm so thankful for Rhysand.
2. Convenient sexy situations
I could probably write a separate post only outlining the oh-so-convenient-tension-building-sexy-scenes in this novel. And you know what? I loved it. I ate it up. I am a huge hater of cheese and lazy convenience, but this interested me for some reason. Maas is one of those authors with the X-factor that makes reviewers drive themselves off a bridge trying to pin down any thoughts. You know those cliches, where the couple isn't together but you're supposed to ship them nonetheless, and they keep ending up...in convenient sexy situations. Part of the deal is you dancing around in sexy clothing pretending to be my prostitute (can we avoid the w-word in this review? We shall see)? Great. Oh, there only happens to be one bed in our hotel room where we ordered two? Fabulous. Oh, we have to pretend to be madly and love and attracted to each other, practically going at it in front of a crowd, all for show? Perfect. It's a little much. In any other book it would be too much. But somehow it works at effectively building tension.
3. Real first loves
Remember that spoiler line? You are under it. Proceed at your own risk. Feyre loved Tamlin. Obviously, as she was willing to sacrifice her whole life and sanity for him. However, he was her first love. She bravely stepped apart from the masses of typical YA/NA heroines and left him for someone better fitting. It's organic, it's natural, it's human, and I wish it didn't take faes for more authors to pick up on this when they have more than one book in a series.
4. Speaking of New Adult...
This is not YA. I repeat, this is not YA. There may be fantasy, this may appear to be for any old teenage, it may even be shelved as YA. It is not. The characters most definitely seem like adults, not teens, and here is your solitary content warning. It took a bit of strategy to read this book in school. Proceed at your own risk.
5. Pacing and War
If you've followed my reading for a while, you know that I am not a lover of epic fantasies. I don't like weird names, fake monsters, unique lore, etc etc etc. There is quite a bit of that in ACOMAF. I could deal with it because the writing and characters were so good, but the war (?) and other purely plot-based themes went straight over my head. I just couldn't focus on it. I would find myself reading four pages in a sitting. And then one part where that chilled for a little bit, I read two hundred pages in twenty-four hours. Two hundred. That does not happen for me. Maas is a master storyteller.
6. Faes are Us
We all know this is fantasy. Everyone has weird powers, this book has nothing to do with our world. But with this, Feyre comes across as a very real person. She's authentic, fresh, and just what we need in this industry.
7. TENSION TENSION TENSION
Have I said that Maas is a master of tension yet? Because she is. An absolute master. One bit of writing advice for romance that I always see is allowing feelings to develop naturally over tie, never to force it, until the reader is desperate for them to finally come together. Maas heeded this advice. I felt the torment myself.
8. Oh, that makes sense now
In case Maas needed more writing devices to master, she is also flawless at introducing details that are crucial later. She thinks these through and executes it well. This lady is most certainly not a pantser. I would give up one of my favorite fountain pens to see how this woman maps out her novels.
9. However...
For as successful as she is at #8, there were a few aspects that were a little too convenient. Particularly what's revealed in that one random Rhys chapter (I'm still not sure what the purpose of that was).
10. Abusive relationships
Returning to realistic relationships here...I love how Maas played out Feyre leaving Tamlin. While she was with him in the first book, she loved him. Neither her nor us readers expected that anything was amiss. How abusive and horrible he actually was to her is slowly revealed throughout the second novel, and it all starts to click. For someone who experienced a boyfriend-gone-amiss, this was handled tenderly, expertly, and effectively
11. Master of the Ending
Again, I have a new crown for Maas. Man, does this lady know how to hammer out those endings. Both this and ACOTAR rallied in at the end and delivered a heart-stopping climax right before the last few pages. I actually love her strategy of saying "screw it" to the falling action and going out with a bang. Well done.
12. My poor heart
I know something's good when I physically react. There were multiple occasions where I had to stop reading, grip my heart, and try to regain composure in a public setting. Well done.
13. Feminist text
Feyre's character arc is a genuine, raw, beautiful masterpiece. Her journey can most certainly be taken as a feminist one while she finds herself and her place as the High Lady of the night court. I adored how her lover could still exert his cocky "maleness" (Maas just loves saying "the male" instead of the man, I don't know either) over her, and still allow herself to be her own ruler and make her own choices. It was deliberate, it was beautiful, and I cherished it. Well done. Can I add 'well done' to the end of every single point?
I hope you enjoyed my attempt at collecting my eclectic thoughts here. Please, let's talk! Send me the lengthiest comment you can make and I will return it with fervor. One last time - well done, Maas.