A review by randi_jo
A Court of Mist and Fury, by Sarah J. Maas
adventurous
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
1.5
FINALLY finished. Finally. :( The burning question for this book since I picked it up was: 'is it better than book one?' The answer is yes. But the bar was set SO LOW that I think it would be very difficult for it to not be better than book one. Overall I'd give this a 1.5 but rounding down because it wasn't a good book either. It had some good moments, but they certainly did not outweigh the bad.
I think I had 3 major issues with this book:
1) Fayre is a massive hypocritical asshole. Is she traumatized? Yes, and that's okay. People are allowed to hurt and to be angry. But all of Fayre's anger is misplaced and misguided and is never, ever addressed properly except for a half sentence in chapter FIFTY TWO when she thinks 'wow, leaving Rhys in the freezing mud while wounded (whilst protecting ME no less) and refusing to listen to him and going off on a hissy fit and running away to a cabin a literal day after I told him I'd never walk away from him, was a little bit of a dick move'. Also just the fact that she never really tells Rhys any of this, just solves it in her own head and the fact that Rhys just info dumps book 1 backstory is enough to mend ~everything~ and ~prove his love~ is underwhelming. Like at least give this girl consequences to her actions, PLEASE. Instead, we're beaten over the head with "I'm hurt and broken," in lieu of any kind of proper apology or growth.
2) The inclusion of Fayre's sisters. It was unnecessary. Like at this point they're only here because SJM is into recycling characters for all they're worth? Because there could literally be no other human liaison, assuming there even needed to be one? And then to have them. Like even having Lucien attached to Elain so that he won't do something/say something about Fayre at the end is a flimsy motivation at BEST. Nesta is at least interesting, so I can get why'd there'd be a book in her POV but also... meh.
3) The setting. Why does it feel so different than book one? It's more modern than book one presented it to be. It has flushing toilets? Electricity? Team sports?? Modern mountain cabins with running water? Surprisingly this took me out of the story way more than the weak plot (which was more like an RPG side quest plus a couple fetch quests). The fact that most of these things are in filler text and offhand descriptions makes it feel like SJM was trying to hit a word count and not really thinking critically about what kind of setting she wanted to perpetuate.
Oh and I guess 4) why did SJM have to do Tamlin dirty like that? I didn't particularly like him in book one, but she turned him into a raging, borderline incel, and for what? To give an excuse for Fayre to 'break up' with him? To highlight Rhys' white-knighting and make that seem attractive? They're in a constant juxtaposition of good/evil, kind/mean, open/closed; and even when Rhys is like STOP COMPARING ME TO HIM, Fayre is just like lol no I'm not and then CONTINUES TO DO SO LIKE, Tamlin is GROSS but Rhys is BEAUTIFUL. Please stop. Why does one have to be utterly evil in order for the other to be good? Why isn't Rhys allowed to be kinda evil? Why can't Tamlin STILL BE GOOD BUT JUST NOT RIGHT FOR FAYRE? Maybe Fayre just isn't good enough for HIM?
I did like Rhys' inner circle since they seem to have interesting dynamics, though Amren is probably the most interesting and I wish there was more about her. And all the coolest places they visit seem to be underground, but otherwise some of the action scenes were fun. I wish the magic system was explained better, especially since Fayre gets protagonist bias and is OP, it would be nice to better understand just HOW she differs from all the others beyond "you have ALL the magic types!!".
The most impactful part of this book was learning that there are organized team sports in the fae lands, despite 50 continuous years of genocide and war. I wonder how long a fae's contract is to play on a team... 🤔
I think I had 3 major issues with this book:
1) Fayre is a massive hypocritical asshole. Is she traumatized? Yes, and that's okay. People are allowed to hurt and to be angry. But all of Fayre's anger is misplaced and misguided and is never, ever addressed properly except for a half sentence in chapter FIFTY TWO when she thinks 'wow, leaving Rhys in the freezing mud while wounded (whilst protecting ME no less) and refusing to listen to him and going off on a hissy fit and running away to a cabin a literal day after I told him I'd never walk away from him, was a little bit of a dick move'. Also just the fact that she never really tells Rhys any of this, just solves it in her own head and the fact that Rhys just info dumps book 1 backstory is enough to mend ~everything~ and ~prove his love~ is underwhelming. Like at least give this girl consequences to her actions, PLEASE. Instead, we're beaten over the head with "I'm hurt and broken," in lieu of any kind of proper apology or growth.
2) The inclusion of Fayre's sisters. It was unnecessary. Like at this point they're only here because SJM is into recycling characters for all they're worth? Because there could literally be no other human liaison, assuming there even needed to be one? And then to have them
Spoiler
become FAE and ALSO HAVE A VERY RARE BOND THAT MOST FAE NEVER SEE IN THEIR WHOLE LIVES IMMEDIATELY WITH LUCIEN AND CASSIAN (you cannot tell me it's not obvious that Cassian and Nesta aren't fated mates) is stupid as fuck3) The setting. Why does it feel so different than book one? It's more modern than book one presented it to be. It has flushing toilets? Electricity? Team sports?? Modern mountain cabins with running water? Surprisingly this took me out of the story way more than the weak plot (which was more like an RPG side quest plus a couple fetch quests). The fact that most of these things are in filler text and offhand descriptions makes it feel like SJM was trying to hit a word count and not really thinking critically about what kind of setting she wanted to perpetuate.
Oh and I guess 4) why did SJM have to do Tamlin dirty like that? I didn't particularly like him in book one, but she turned him into a raging, borderline incel, and for what? To give an excuse for Fayre to 'break up' with him? To highlight Rhys' white-knighting and make that seem attractive? They're in a constant juxtaposition of good/evil, kind/mean, open/closed; and even when Rhys is like STOP COMPARING ME TO HIM, Fayre is just like lol no I'm not and then CONTINUES TO DO SO LIKE, Tamlin is GROSS but Rhys is BEAUTIFUL. Please stop. Why does one have to be utterly evil in order for the other to be good? Why isn't Rhys allowed to be kinda evil? Why can't Tamlin STILL BE GOOD BUT JUST NOT RIGHT FOR FAYRE? Maybe Fayre just isn't good enough for HIM?
I did like Rhys' inner circle since they seem to have interesting dynamics, though Amren is probably the most interesting and I wish there was more about her
Spoiler
it'd be cool to see if she ever goes back to her 'true' formThe most impactful part of this book was learning that there are organized team sports in the fae lands, despite 50 continuous years of genocide and war. I wonder how long a fae's contract is to play on a team... 🤔
Content Warnings
Moderate: Sexual content
Minor: Physical abuse