A review by alingtori
A Court of Silver Flames by Sarah J. Maas

challenging dark emotional hopeful tense slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
I'm gonna preface this review by saying that I'm a Nesta stan through and through. Also, no star rating this time. Read it if you enjoy healing stories, gratuitous smut, and love a bad-ass Queen and Goddess Nesta. 

That said, this was a meh book to me. Granted, I finished it in just a day because thankfully it's not as dragging as the other books (and I'm very invested in Nesta so...). I did, however, wished it was edited further. SJM's writing was too flowery and descriptive for me. I did not need to know every single detail there is in this world and it's not even essential to the story (i.e., I did not have to know how insanely gorgeous and sexy Mor is. I did not have to know how Feyre and Rhys love each other and how insatiable they are. We've already established that in the other books. Also don't get me started with the stupid and toxic promise between Feyre and Rhys). If you've removed unnecessary details, the writing would be much tighter.

Plot-wise, this is a typical (which isn't a bad thing) healing journey. The conflict wasn't much about the threat posed by Briellyn (who was easily defeated anyway), but more about Nesta's healing. The steps Nesta took were heavily borrowed from what happens in the real world from the exercise to meditation that there are times I forget that the story is set in a magical world. In my previous review, I said I don't know if that's good or bad writing-wise. After some thinking, I think it's not really my cup of tea. Is this how I pictured Nesta's healing journey? Not really. I wanted the IC (yes, including Cassian) to be held accountable at how they've treated Nesta. She was nasty, yes. But did she deserve the way she was treated? No. She was in pain, she was traumatized. She needed understanding. She needed patience. 

And thank god Nesta has found herself her own family. Just like a lot of Nesta stans out there, I'm not really fond of how the IC treated her, so it was a relief to see her having her own friends behind her back. People (and yes, that includes the House) who understand her and do not judge her for her mistakes. 

Will I read it again? I'm not sure. Again, I love Nesta but the I don't want to read through that brick of a book. There are  I know the fanfiction will tide me over, anyway. 
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