Book Review- A Court of Frost & Starlight
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Dun, dun, dun, dun!
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| A Court of Frost & Starlight by Sarah J. Maas |
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Title: A Court of Frost & Starlight
Author: Sarah J. Maas
Published: 2018
Publisher: Bloomsbury YA
Genre: Young Adult, Fantasy, Fiction, New Adult
Plot: ♥♥♥♥♥
Characters: ♥♥♥♥♥
World Building: ♥♥♥♥♥
Flow: ♥♥♥♥♥
Synopsis
Hope warms the coldest night.
Feyre, Rhys, and their close-knit circle of friends are still busy rebuilding the Night Court and the vastly-changed world beyond. But Winter Solstice is finally near, and with it, a hard-earned reprieve.
Yet even the festive atmosphere can't keep the shadows of the past from looming. As Feyre navigates her first Winter Solstice as High Lady, she finds that those dearest to her have more wounds than she anticipated--scars that will have far-reaching impact on the future of their Court.
Feyre, Rhys, and their close-knit circle of friends are still busy rebuilding the Night Court and the vastly-changed world beyond. But Winter Solstice is finally near, and with it, a hard-earned reprieve.
Yet even the festive atmosphere can't keep the shadows of the past from looming. As Feyre navigates her first Winter Solstice as High Lady, she finds that those dearest to her have more wounds than she anticipated--scars that will have far-reaching impact on the future of their Court.
Review *
So I know there are plenty of people who are divided on this book. Some like it, some love it, some absolutely hate it. I've heard it called the Christmas special, a pointless story about what presents to buy your friends, or a completely plot-less waste of time.
We're all allowed to have our own feelings about this book and I understand why people would be disappointed in this book.However, I'd like to point out some facts about ACOFAS that was announced prior to it being released.
1. It's a novella. To me, I'm not expecting an action pact full adventure. I'm expecting something easier to read. For those of you who have or have not read Assassin's Blade, that is a collection of novellas. The stories have the same amount of plot and adventure as ACOFAS. I'm not surprised by the lack of adventure because I expected not alot of adventure.
2. It was announced by Sarah that is meant to bridge the ACOTAR series with the new series that happens within the ACOTAR world. Present purchasing aside, it meets that criteria. We see some closure with some of the characters we wanted it with. We get an idea of what the next books to come will be about.
To continue with the story, I did get a little frustrated with some of the characters mainly because I don't know if we'll see any closure in the future books. Rhys and Feyre are doing phenominal as a couple. I loved getting to see Rhys's POV and wish we could have had a little more. Seeing them cope with the aftermath of the war was refreshing, but I also expected it because Sarah has incorporated that into previous novels and again, it's in the synopsis.
The biggest closure for me was Feyre being able to find her happiness within herself, being able to create after so much trauma and how people utilize that to cope. It was also predictable and I believe it's because we've seen this story through Feyre's mindset so we're familiar with her character. Rhys was a little more interesting, I didn't expect his frustrations and sorrow because it's not something as apparent in the rest of the books. Sure Feyre soothes him one night from his nightmares and it's mentioned before, but it's not tied to the emotions you get from seeing things in his POV.
To conclude on Feyre and Rhy's parts of the book, I watched a review were somebody didn't like or understand why the pair was in first person but every other POV we got was in third person. It didn't bug me reading it anymore than it does to read a third person novel. I'm not as much of a fan of third person. I'm curious if that means that like the TOG series, if the continuation of the novels will be in third person and if it'd due to so many characters being in future books or if the point of the switch in view was to add closure to one story and to continue on another.
Elain and her suitors was a story line I wish I got more from. She's still keeping Lucien at a distance, which is understandable. The relationship between her and Azriel has also grown awkward rather than flourish. I'd love to be able to see insides Elain's head for even just a short story. Not just for the male turmoil she's gotten into but also to see how she's handling life as a fae in general.
Amren is doing great. Her and Varian are cute despite my previous gripe with linking everyone up. For me, it's easier to accept because the predictability of Nesta and Cassian or Elain and Azriel/Lucien has been placed on hiatus and/or not going to happen. The conversation around her needing to use the restroom was meh.
Mor was bland in this book for me. Aside from finding out about her private estate I didn't get much from her.
Now for the final couple, and coincidentally what seems to be the future of this series, Nessian. Nesta is being Nesta, I'm not surprised by her behavior in this book at all. Cassian is being un-Cassian like though.
The shift in his behavior makes sense since the next books are being set up to be about the Illyrian camps and the internal drama. Since ACOMAF we've learned that Cassian wishes to break centuries worth of tradition within the camps and allow the females more freedom. As we're aware, there has been pushback, especially with some of the more reserved camps that still clip wings. To add to the Illyrian hatred for their High Lord and his commander, they are now placing blame on Cassian and Rhysand for the lost numbers in the war and why the females wont participate in becoming equals with the males.
In the meantime, Nesta has been slumming it in all the ways possible. She wont get a job, but expects Feyre to pay her rent and still gets a salary despite not contributing to the Night Court. She's sleeping around with random men she finds in bars, which definitely deserves a raised eyebrow. Spends all of her money and time drinking at bars and betting on card games. I'm totally here for it, but only because I want to see how she comes out on the other side.
At the end of the story, Feyre desides to finally have an intervention after a year of enabling this behavior (To be fair, Feyre hasn't done anything but defend Nesta's lifestyle). Nesta is being sent to the Illyrian camps, I'm not sure why unless it's purely to scare the crap out of the camp leaders who already think she's a witch or to push Cassian to his breaking point.
In all, I will more than likely pick up the next book. Sure half of ACOFAS was a Christmas special, but it was nice to see the characters again. I'm happy for Feyre, I hope Rhys and Tamlin can grow from their last encounter, and I'm still wishing for some closure in the next few books.
Thanks for reading this far guys! If you want to leave any comments below feel free! Even if it's to disagree or agree, or point out anything I've missed.
We're all allowed to have our own feelings about this book and I understand why people would be disappointed in this book.However, I'd like to point out some facts about ACOFAS that was announced prior to it being released.
1. It's a novella. To me, I'm not expecting an action pact full adventure. I'm expecting something easier to read. For those of you who have or have not read Assassin's Blade, that is a collection of novellas. The stories have the same amount of plot and adventure as ACOFAS. I'm not surprised by the lack of adventure because I expected not alot of adventure.
2. It was announced by Sarah that is meant to bridge the ACOTAR series with the new series that happens within the ACOTAR world. Present purchasing aside, it meets that criteria. We see some closure with some of the characters we wanted it with. We get an idea of what the next books to come will be about.
To continue with the story, I did get a little frustrated with some of the characters mainly because I don't know if we'll see any closure in the future books. Rhys and Feyre are doing phenominal as a couple. I loved getting to see Rhys's POV and wish we could have had a little more. Seeing them cope with the aftermath of the war was refreshing, but I also expected it because Sarah has incorporated that into previous novels and again, it's in the synopsis.
The biggest closure for me was Feyre being able to find her happiness within herself, being able to create after so much trauma and how people utilize that to cope. It was also predictable and I believe it's because we've seen this story through Feyre's mindset so we're familiar with her character. Rhys was a little more interesting, I didn't expect his frustrations and sorrow because it's not something as apparent in the rest of the books. Sure Feyre soothes him one night from his nightmares and it's mentioned before, but it's not tied to the emotions you get from seeing things in his POV.
To conclude on Feyre and Rhy's parts of the book, I watched a review were somebody didn't like or understand why the pair was in first person but every other POV we got was in third person. It didn't bug me reading it anymore than it does to read a third person novel. I'm not as much of a fan of third person. I'm curious if that means that like the TOG series, if the continuation of the novels will be in third person and if it'd due to so many characters being in future books or if the point of the switch in view was to add closure to one story and to continue on another.
Elain and her suitors was a story line I wish I got more from. She's still keeping Lucien at a distance, which is understandable. The relationship between her and Azriel has also grown awkward rather than flourish. I'd love to be able to see insides Elain's head for even just a short story. Not just for the male turmoil she's gotten into but also to see how she's handling life as a fae in general.
Amren is doing great. Her and Varian are cute despite my previous gripe with linking everyone up. For me, it's easier to accept because the predictability of Nesta and Cassian or Elain and Azriel/Lucien has been placed on hiatus and/or not going to happen. The conversation around her needing to use the restroom was meh.
Mor was bland in this book for me. Aside from finding out about her private estate I didn't get much from her.
Now for the final couple, and coincidentally what seems to be the future of this series, Nessian. Nesta is being Nesta, I'm not surprised by her behavior in this book at all. Cassian is being un-Cassian like though.
The shift in his behavior makes sense since the next books are being set up to be about the Illyrian camps and the internal drama. Since ACOMAF we've learned that Cassian wishes to break centuries worth of tradition within the camps and allow the females more freedom. As we're aware, there has been pushback, especially with some of the more reserved camps that still clip wings. To add to the Illyrian hatred for their High Lord and his commander, they are now placing blame on Cassian and Rhysand for the lost numbers in the war and why the females wont participate in becoming equals with the males.
In the meantime, Nesta has been slumming it in all the ways possible. She wont get a job, but expects Feyre to pay her rent and still gets a salary despite not contributing to the Night Court. She's sleeping around with random men she finds in bars, which definitely deserves a raised eyebrow. Spends all of her money and time drinking at bars and betting on card games. I'm totally here for it, but only because I want to see how she comes out on the other side.
At the end of the story, Feyre desides to finally have an intervention after a year of enabling this behavior (To be fair, Feyre hasn't done anything but defend Nesta's lifestyle). Nesta is being sent to the Illyrian camps, I'm not sure why unless it's purely to scare the crap out of the camp leaders who already think she's a witch or to push Cassian to his breaking point.
In all, I will more than likely pick up the next book. Sure half of ACOFAS was a Christmas special, but it was nice to see the characters again. I'm happy for Feyre, I hope Rhys and Tamlin can grow from their last encounter, and I'm still wishing for some closure in the next few books.
Thanks for reading this far guys! If you want to leave any comments below feel free! Even if it's to disagree or agree, or point out anything I've missed.
You can find a limited edition copy of this book here!
* There may be spoilers in this section of the review. If you do not wish to be spoiled, please stop reading.
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