Reviews with content warning for Self harm - A Court of Silver Flames

This book of the series focuses on Nesta, offering a fresh perspective and delving deeper into her complex psyche. The novel explores themes of trauma, healing, and personal growth. It follows Nesta's struggles and her journey toward redemption in the rawest form.

First off, I take back every bad thing I've said about Nesta- The best thing about the book is Nesta's character development. It's no secret that she was prolly the one of the most disliked characters in ACOTAR due to her hedious behaviour throughout the series. But by the end of this novel I was in love with Ness.❤️‍🩹
Nesta is a complex and deeply flawed character, haunted by her past and battling her own demons. As the story unfolds, we witness her transformation from a broken and bitter individual to someone who learns to confront her fears and accept her own strength.

The romance between Nesta and Cassian is electric and fullll of tension. There is a lot of witty banter between them, which is adorable as well as sarcastic at the same time. The chemistry building is just excellent and their interactions sizzle with desire and vulnerability.
However, the book also explores the importance of self-love and personal growth outside of a romantic relationship, which adds even more depth & complexity to the story.

SJM'S EXECUTION STYLE IS THE AIR TO MY LUNGS. She handled Nesta's character arc with so much sensitivity, that I was left empathising with her and rooting for her as she navigated the challenges that came her way. The book has so many action-packed scenes with quieter moments of introspection. The plot has some really good and intriguing twists and turns. Plus the dialogues are filled with genuine emotions and are just soo good that I cried so many times that I've lost count.🥹

SPOILERS:
I could see the building romance between or should I say potential romance between Az and Gwyn and I absolutely love it.
Also, everytime Feysand entered the page, I absolutely cherished it. I think the only thing I didn't like was pregnant Feyre. I mean It just felt really rushed after how they wanted to take it slow and everything but still I couldn't be happier for them.😭💞

That said, it's worth noting that this book includes some really explicit content so pls look into TWs before reading.

Content Warnings

bangiebangs's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring reflective 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? Yes

5.0

Loved this so much, I finished it and read it again right away - first time I've done that. But I'm almost ready to read it again now... just a huge fan of this book!

Aside from this being deliciously spicy (would give a 4/5), the story here really spoke to me. Like the first trilogy, this is a story of healing from trauma, both childhood trauma as well as trauma caused by recent events.

Spoiler

Nesta really struggles with the fact her body was violently changed against her will. Some discussions of ACOSF liken this to a rape, and I'm not sure I would go that far, but it is definitely physically violent.

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I especially liked Nesta's development because it resonated with me a lot: the poisonous isolation she puts herself through, alienating everyone around her and keeping her distance, the lack of self-confidence and self-respect, etc. This all is a really accurate description of what some people experience. The fantasy part - to me - is having Cassian at her side, who never gives up and helps her through this, regardless of what she throws at him. I'm pretty sure, in real life, there is a limit to what people will tolerate, but here there doesn't seem to be.

Spoiler

Obviously, that is the magic of the mating bond.

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I could go on and gush about this for a while yet, but let's just say: If you like your fantasy tropes, but maybe are struggling with isolation and trauma recovery yourself, I think this will resonate with you. I found it pretty inspiring. 5 stars every time!

Content Warnings

sammipants08's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional hopeful 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? Yes

5.0

Content Warnings

shannonhans's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional hopeful mysterious medium-paced

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

4.25

This was my favorite of the ACOTAR books. I personally enjoyed Nesta's POV more than Feyre and liked that this book added a lot more depth to her character that we'd been missing.

Content Warnings

solarel's review

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adventurous challenging dark emotional reflective sad medium-paced

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

3.0

This was a fun read. I liked it more as it went on, and I pretty much started out hating nesta.

Content Warnings

hmdavis99's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional reflective 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? Yes

5.0

Content Warnings

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