A Court of Series by Sarah J. Maas || Book Reviews

I have never been very good at doing reviews book by book and so prefer to do an overall review.

I have been working my way through the A Court Of… books for a little while now, and I finally finished A Court of Frost and Starlight last night. The order of these books is:

· A Court of Thorns and Roses

· A Court of Mist and Fury

· A Court of Wings and Ruin

· A Court of Frost and Starlight

This series follows Feyre (pronounced Fey-ruh) who lives in the mortal lands with her two sisters and father. The mortal lands are in the southern most point of Prythian, which are the Faerie lands that mortals never enter as the stories of faerie are brutal and gruesome.

Location

I really loved the first book, I loved the introduction to Faerie, learning with Feyre as she witnesses the lands and people for the first time, and I really liked the budding romance between Feyre and Tamlin. I think Maas does a fantastic job in building this word and imagining up some truly terrifying creatures, and I also love the magical realism. I watched Maleficent 2 the other day and I have to say that the graphics and world of Maleficent was how I imagined the work of Prythian, especially Maleficent’s wings (although I know Rhys’ wings are more like bats than feathers but you get the gist).

I love the fact that a map is included in all of the books and that with every book, where we learn more about a certain territory (the Night Court in particular), that the details appear on the map. I referred to it a lot throughout reading. I loved the idea behind the naming of the courts, they differentiate them by the Solar or Elemental courts.

Characters

There is a wide range of characters in these books, each truly and wonderfully unique with their own precious back stories. I won’t go into great deal about them all (this review is already looking quite long!).

Feyre and Rhys

This story follows Feyre as she blossoms into a strong willed and minded fae and documents her journey to finding the ultimate love and acceptance with her mate Rhys. I really liked the relationship between Rhys and Feyre, I’m a sucker for a bad boy type and Rhys definitely fit the bill to begin with!

But, the one issue I had with Rhys was I could tell Maas was trying to create the “bad boy” and then flip him into a “good guy”. So much so, that Rhys is first portrayed as this terrifying and most powerful high lord of the Night Court that has the ability to slip into others minds and tear them apart from within. But the problem was, then twisting all the awful things he had ever done in a way that he was portrayed as good and caring and anything he’d ever done came from a good place. But then there was the issue of the façade he always wore when around ANYONE other than his family or people of Valeris, which makes me wonder - why? Why does he want everyone to constantly think he is a dick? Why keep up the façade when Armathara (the evil protagonist in books 1 and 2 who had been ruling Prythian) has gone? This, I felt let Rhys’ character down, as it was as if Mass wanted him to keep his bad boy edge but make him kind and lovable. Which, in my opinion didn’t quite work, and certainly didn’t always make that much sense!

Tamlin

Now, I won’t go into great detail about it now, but I had a little rant on my IG feed regarding Tamlin in these books. Basically (to summarize) the way Tamlin and Feyre’s love is portrayed in books one and two is very grand and all consuming. Tamlin is a High Lord of the Spring Court that brings Feyre to his lands when a debt must be repaid, but he is lovely and kind and sweet and makes sure Feyre’s family is well looked after back in the mortal lands.

Somehow, and I STILL don’t know how, but by the end of the second book (and certainly to the end of the series) Tamlin becomes one of the bad guys. Now I have made my feelings on this quite clear (please refer to my Instagram) but I really feel like Maas did a massive disservice to his poor character and he was one of the major aspects about this book I DIDN’T agree with.

I’ll leave it there.

Azriel and Cassian

I really liked these characters; I loved Cassian’s playful and cheeky nature as compared to the quiet brooding Azriel. Both of their stories were never really wrapped up in A Court of Frost and Starlight so I assume they will be explored more in the yet unreleased new book called A Court of Silver Flames.

Mor

Mor was interesting, I liked the play on her looks – blonde and beautiful – as compared to her warrior-like character. Again, her story was one that was never resolved which I assume was left open for a reason.

Amaren

Now, in all honesty, I really liked Amaren! She’s small and wickedly feisty and everyone is afraid of her. I loved it!

Nesta and Elain

Nesta and Elain are Feyre’s mortal sisters that then become Made Fae. The dynamic between the sisters is interesting, and each of their characters are so different that their bond as sisters is what keeps them together. I was truly intrigued by Nesta, who comes across as the ultimate bitch (and not in the fun way as Amaren) and I was intrigued for the reveal as to why she was the way she was but was disappointed when A Court of Frost and Starlight ended and I had more questions than answer about her! But again, reading the synopsis for the new A Court of Silver Flames, it looks like this book is going to be all about her so hopefully we will get some answers!

Lucien

Lucien was a sort of smaller character than the rest, but I felt like I wanted to mention him because I think he, like Tamlin, was sadly underrated and overlooked. With him I again got the feeling that Maas wanted us to see him as a bad guy, but how? She didn’t give me a good enough reason to hate him and so when Feyre starts thinking ill of him too I was a bit annoyed at Feyre! I think he deserved a bit more recognition and a bit more active time than he was given in the story.

Overall

Overall, I like this story and all the books, but I had a big issue with the holes in characters and story lines, and at one point I was really questioning Feyre’s sanity. To me it seemed she was turning pretty dark, especially the fact that she loves the darkness (and can I say evil?) in both herself and Rhys and reflects fondly on some truly evil characters.

The mix between good and bad wasn’t done that great and I found myself disagreeing with their thoughts a lot! But, I will most likely be reading A Court of Silver Flames nonetheless and I am already ready to get stuck into Crescent City! I am hoping to find some character clarifications in there somewhere too!