[The cover on my photo isn't the official cover of ACOSF. It's a cover art made by @elithienart]
Author: Sarah J. Maas
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
Genre: Adult Fantasy
Release date: February 16th, 2021
Pages: 768
Goodreads page: here
TW: depression, violence
My rating: 3/5 ⭐
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
Genre: Adult Fantasy
Release date: February 16th, 2021
Pages: 768
Goodreads page: here
TW: depression, violence
My rating: 3/5 ⭐
Synopsis
Nesta Archeron has always been prickly-proud, swift to anger, and slow to forgive. And ever since being forced into the Cauldron and becoming High Fae against her will, she's struggled to find a place for herself within the strange, deadly world she inhabits. Worse, she can't seem to move past the horrors of the war with Hybern and all she lost in it.
The one person who ignites her temper more than any other is Cassian, the battle-scarred warrior whose position in Rhysand and Feyre's Night Court keeps him constantly in Nesta's orbit. But her temper isn't the only thing Cassian ignites. The fire between them is undeniable, and only burns hotter as they are forced into close quarters with each other.
Meanwhile, the treacherous human queens who returned to the Continent during the last war have forged a dangerous new alliance, threatening the fragile peace that has settled over the realms. And the key to halting them might very well rely on Cassian and Nesta facing their haunting pasts.
Against the sweeping backdrop of a world seared by war and plagued with uncertainty, Nesta and Cassian battle monsters from within and without as they search for acceptance-and healing-in each other's arms.
My thoughts
Sooo, reviewing this book can become quite a controversial topic, but let's go.
A Court of Silver Flames is the fourth book in the A Court of Thorns and Roses series, a well-known and loved series. I enjoyed the first trilogy enough to want to read ACOSF, but to be quite honest, it's the hype and the buzz around it that made me want to pick it up. I knew I would read it at some point, and I wasn't planning to read it a few days after its release, but here we are.
This book was not surprising. I listened to the audiobook, and overall enjoyed it, but some points made me cringe and some other points made me angry.
“She would not be mastered by anything again. She was the master of herself.”First, let's talk about what I loved about this book:
- Nesta. I didn't hate her in the first trilogy, but didn't LOVE her either, but in this book, she clearly grew on me and I really enjoyed her character and her thoughts. I understood while she was behaving that way towards others, I felt her emotions and her despair, and I sobbed with her during a certain chapter that I will talk about later. Nesta was the best part of this book. Her healing journey was well done in my opinion and was very touching and emotional.
- The new friendships. New friendships formed in this novel, and I loved it. It was so touching and sweet to read.
- This goes with the precedent point but Emerie and Gwyn were great and lovable new characters.
- Cassian. He was such a kind and loyal character, always there to help people and so true to himself.
- Chapter XX. If you know, you know. All I will say about this peculiar chapter is that it made me sob. I cried reading this passage, it was so unexpected yet beautiful, so emotional and well written.
“Never again would she be weak. Never again would she be at someone's mercy.”What I didn't love:
- Rhys. And Elain. And Feyre. And Mor. And Amren. LOOL honestly SJM pretty much ruined all her characters besides Nesta, Cassian and Azriel. But the worst part was for Rhys. He became such a bad, mean and selfish character, oh my god I couldn't stand him at all. Every phrase he would say would make me roll my eyes and sigh of frustration, I clearly hated him in this book. And this made me sad because he was such a great character in the trilogy. As for the other characters, it made me mad the way they were behaving towards Nesta. In my opinion, if she was so depressed and alone was because of them. Spoiler:They didn't help her ONE BIT, they let her alone hoping she would heal by herself and then when she reached a point where it was really bad, they punished her and yelled at her and talked about her behind her back.This was SO frustrating and I swear that they do NOT deserve her.
- Also let me add the way Rhys talked about the sex he had with Feyre with Cassian and Azriel? Like what? Are you FIFTEEN? It was so cringy. And just the way he was overly protective of her, oh my god seriously, it became to feel a lot like Tamlin's behavior...
- Too much smut. I swear, this book isn't YA at all, but very much adult haha. Also the smut made me cringe a lot.
- SJM's writing style. I couldn't stand her "down and down and down. Around, around and around." TOO MANY REPETITIONS. I know it's a writing style, but man that was clearly not for me.
- The plot was non-existent? Honestly, I couldn't care less about the plot in this book and I felt like it was just an excuse to write about Nesta.
