Reviews with content warning for Pregnancy - A Court of Mist and Fury

Don't read this review unless you're ready for me to be unnecessarily harsh. I don't like this book and think it's a travesty in so, so many ways. I understand I am not the target audience nor is it written to be a profound work of classic literature, but the fact remains that I feel it fails even within that tapestry of perspective.

ACOMAF picks up three months after ACOTAR and you are suddenly hit with the realization that in those three months SIGNIFICANT character development has occurred!! Offpage, offscreen. Tamlin is now major dickhead dumbass and Feyre is very sad. Reminder, this is NOT how we left them. Feyre was happy to have freed Tamlin from a curse and is getting married to him.
But in the back of her mind, sexy, sexy Rhysand (known dickhead in the first book) made her make a deal. However, he seems to have "forgotten" that deal until her (dreaded) wedding day when he whisks her away, finally reneging on her deal. They trade barbs, she bites her thumb at him, etc. When she returns, Tamlin in response to this becomes jealous and overprotective.

Right away, if you are familiar with the first book, this entire sequence should seem odd. Tamlin was sexy, sexy understandy man who valued Feyre and Rhysand was sexy man but also evil and he killed innocent people. Now the two personalities have flip-flopped--Tamlin is sexy with a bad side and Rhysand is soooo understanding and empathetic.

I'm not against this dynamic, but for 600+ page book more time could've been clearly spent on that development instead of just throwing us in the first page. Instead, we get tons and tons of scenes of characters who instantly befriend Feyre, talk about her vague powers, "training," and will-they-won't-they dynamics between the two MCs.

At the end, Rhysand's

murderous behavior in ACOTAR is justified as a combination of being misblamed/killing people who deserved it

and while it works, it's too late.

The biggest thematic issue of this series is in its inception--it is not fantasy romance, it's just romance with a high fantasy setting. Many of the fantastical elements seem to revolve around Feyre's relationship and warp to meet her expectations. The magic system in particular has effectively no rules yet it goes to be the crux of nearly EVERY plotline in the book. Yes, including the romances!

This is not really a story, this is a trope payoff with 550 pages of fluff to justify said tropes.

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autumnwitch14's review against another edition

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adventurous medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

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snackykennedy's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional inspiring mysterious tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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fullybookedlola's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful inspiring mysterious sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

This book—wow. Why did it take me so long to finish it?! This was really a rollercoaster of emotions and I was certainly not prepared for what was coming. It was written so freaking well! It was so, so good. Love, hate, everything. I wanted to trash the book (not really, love this baby) because SJM wrote it so well. Could you get through all the stages of happiness and grief in a minute. It's a ride, but it's definitely worth it. When you finished the first book, don't let it take too long to finish the second becauze I regret that part. Good thing though: I started my year and finished January with a really good book. I'm still utterly shocked that I don't know what to say except for that it was so good. And I will repeat that.

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