Reviews

A Court of Mist and Fury, by Sarah J. Maas

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kimreadsbooks's review against another edition

5.0

I highly recommend a second read-thru of this book. Especially if you like having your heart ripped out and thrown on the floor as you watch Rhys and know exactly why he does everything and OMG it's so sad and sweet and perfect. So, yeah, read it again. <3

It's been quite a while since I've found a book series I'm totally in love with and know I'll read again, ~~like right after I finish it this time~~. A Court of Mist and Fury almost made my heart explode and I'm not entirely sure I can love a character more than I love Rhysand. So. Perfect.

Pretty sure I became this girl as I read..

Okay guys, from here on it gets spoiler-y.. I don't like to hide the review, so again SPOILERS, stop now if you don't wanna know. ;)

So let's start with Tamlin... what a tool. I liked him in ACOTAR really but he's so dense. No agency at all of his own, lets himself get manipulated by a priestess and nearly kills his fiance because he keeps her trapped. And Lucien, I was mad at him too because he just didn't have the nerve to actually stand up to him like he knew he should have. But, I knew there was a reason I liked Lucien better than Tamlin overall, at least he knows its wrong even if he doesn't have the balls to fix it.

Rhys though, he saves her yet again. Yet, she's still too blind to see he's not going to hurt her which I found to be a little mind blowing considering all he did for her in the trials, but I guess that Tamlin brainwashing takes a bit of getting over. But regardless, when Rhys saves her from that wedding.... ~~I got that heart burster feeling~~ it was great. "What a pretty little wedding." Anyway, she finally leaves & the series finally really begins.

For me, the rest of this review is largely a love note to Rhys, quite easily my favorite written love interest in a book ever. Let's start with the fact that he may have been tricky and arrogant, but he was either always working for the greater good or to teach Feyre that she's just as strong as he is if only she'd let herself be that way. He leads her into danger, knowing she can get out, knowing she has to learn the hard way. He never takes her choices away, he never forces her to do anything, even if it means losing her and breaking himself. That was by far my favorite part about this series. He wasn't weak he would do anything he had to for her ~~unlike someone, here's looking at you Tamlin~~ but he also let her take care of herself.

When Feyre and Rhys finally start to get along it leaves Feyre torn because she feels like a traitor to Tamlin, which you just really want her to get over. Then the Court of Nightmares scene.. *fans self*

Another favorite scene was when Lucien comes to capture Feyre for Tamlin, he's still so sure that she loves Tamlin and was taken by the "evil" Rhys. Feyre is impressive in this scene and while she may not have said it 100% yet, this is when she really chooses herself and Rhys as the important things she should save. "When you spend so long trapped in the darkness, Lucien, you find that the darkness begins to stare back."

It's a shame Feyre's mind didn't catch on to what her body knew was right could have saved a load of angst. It's amazing though what some stress and a small room can do. She finally lets herself feel for Rhys and didn't try to shove it down. After that she saves him, and it's remarkably sad that Rhys never feels worthy of it because he's forced everyone to fear him to save his home and his people. He keeps up the appearance of being incredibly scary to manipulate those around him to do what he wants them to do. A thing I love about this character, he calculates and is incredibly intelligent, but he's not so perfect, he does mess up on occasion, which makes him feel like a real person.

Feyre traps the Suriel and learns the thing we all already knew. Feyre is Rhy's mate.

This is the only part of the story where I really got annoyed with Feyre. In that damn cabin spending so much time trying to be mad at Rhys, finding things to be mad about. I get you're mad he left out this important detail, but seriously girl, How did you not know?

Rhysand tells his story, finally lays out all he did for her going clear back to well before she saw him the first time, he gave her the night sky to paint, and she didn't know why she painted it but she did know it had something to do with where she would belong.

He shows his flaws in the jealousy he felt for Tamlin, but calls Tamlin out for not working to save Feyre, just trying to get his jollies in a closet while she was still alive.

She FINALLY sees all that he did for her, all he did to save her. While Tamlin was crying like a little bitch on the floor, okay he did rip her throat out,but still. Rhys risked his life because Amarantha was killing Feyre. He felt her die....

He saved her, and then still had to watch her fall all over the guy that literally did nothing, knew for certain she was his mate, and yet he still left her because it was what she wanted. Then he watched her suffer and wither away, until Tamlin trapped her when he finally saved her for good.
This was just the most perfect chapter, I had to read it like five times.

At the end you realize even more what an idiot Tamlin is and how desperate he is to "win" Feyre. She lets him win her to get inside. Lucien sees it, but he's quiet this time, so I have hope for him in the next book.

I know some people thought the book was too long, and I'll give them that it had a lot of extra in it that you didn't necessarily need. But, I have zero complaints about that, if I love a world I want to stay in it, even if they are just sitting around talking. I loved that this book was so in depth and let me live there for so long. And I'm sort of like most people and I'm not entirely sure this is a YA novel at this point in the game because those scenes after they bonded *wipes brow* are ~~intense?~~

Anyway - I love this book and Sarah J. Maas has made her way into my favorite authors list with it, her character creation is amazing and while I hate her for making me love these fictional people so much, I'm also glad to have yet another world to live in when the real one gets too tough, too boring, or too much to handle.

Five Stars. All the Stars. Hell, let's just say this book is the entire Night Court.xx ;)

raccoon_rach's review against another edition

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emotional funny hopeful mysterious fast-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

mirandaaaa's review against another edition

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adventurous dark tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

Did I give this 3 stars out of spite… perhaps. It’s going more for 3.5 stars I think but gods it’s SO much better than the first book. I actually willingly wanted to read this and didn’t have to rope Elinor into reading with me.

There was a small element of plot, which tbh wasn’t that much - simply Feyre and her “found family” which I low-key hate that trope but it was interesting to read and there was a lot more valid descriptions which made the book a lot more bearable, for instance the whole vibe of Velaris was cool and the look into the summer court with that guy (I cannot remember any names in these books idk why)

Feyre is still insufferable. She was acting like she’d been locked up for months and Tamlin was horrendously evil, he wasn’t they just didn’t communicate. I’m not sure what Maas created Tamlin into a bit-so-evil-evil-monster it was a complete u-turn and basically the whole of the first book is utterly useless, which does rather detract from this book. The only resemblance is the character’s names, EVERYTHING ELSE changes.

I disliked the forced love interest of Rhysand, we are made to ship him and Feyre because the descriptions of Rhys’ actions are “Tamlin would never be kind and let me speak etc” so therefore it’s rather pushed onto the reader that Rhys is the one. There’s no subtle changes seen in the hunger games, it’s just a sudden short, sharp cut.

I do think that Maas created a lot of plot holes that she poured shoddy plot repair into. I think she should work for the council pot hole department at this point, it’s just as shoddily done. For instance the sudden u-turn for love interest, Feyre’s sisters being “turned”, the whole mate concept to make Feyre not seem like a bad person. Idk there was a lot of okay… yes I guess…

Also can we please shut up about Feyre and her painting. It’s the bitches only personality trait and it’s so annoying. If I hear a “I’ll never paint it accurate blah blah” again I will scream and bite someone.

All in all SO much better than the first with a slight plot but it’s not worth reading the first book to read this book.