Title: A Court of Mist and Fury
Author: Sarah J. Maas
Publisher: Bloomsbury Childrens
Publication Date: May 2016
Genre: Young Adult Fiction/Fantasy
Series or Stand Alone: Series, Book Two
Synopsis can be found here.
I purchased this book
Review:
STOP!
THIS REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS. CONTINUE READING AT YOUR OWN RISK.
Feyre has survived the trials to save her love Tamlin. Now she is half High Fae and half human, and all guilty for what she had to do to live. And she has a price to pay. Rhysand, High Lord of the Night Court, is ready to collect. One week in his Court for helping save her. The Night Court is not everything she thought it was. And neither is Rhysand.
This is hard for me to review. Don’t get me wrong, I love Maas. I love her world building, her writing, her kick ass female characters. This book is no exception. There’s a lot of action and fighting and manipulating. There’s lots of magic and flying and tortured characters. There’s so much to love.
And this story is amazing. Yet, it almost seems like it belongs in a different series. There are two large things that bothered me about this book and it’s purely creative.
First off Tamlin. Tamlin is unrecognizable in this new installment. He’s barely in it at all (for good reason) but what we do see of him, and learn about him, is so very different from the Tamlin we fell in love with from the first book. I know, I know. Feyre’s view of him changes and therefore so does ours. But this almost feels like a forced plot twist and I’m still not used to it, months after I’ve finished the book. Sure, maybe he’s not the love of her life. But it has swung so drastically to the other side. It left me feeling a little angry that I invested in him as a character only to see him be totally and utterly destroyed.
Second off, Feyre and Rhysand. Yep, I know. Rhysand is awesome. I’m not disagreeing. But What? Now he’s her Mate? Like forever Mate? Like meant for him? I really don’t like this. Not because I don’t think Rhysand deserves her (he does) or nurtures her (he does) or loves her (he does). He is in fact the best choice for Feyre now that Tamlin has been shown to be cray-cray.
My problem is that by making Feyre his mate, it takes away Feyre’s choice. It makes it seem like she was always meant to be with Rhysand, that Tamlin was never going to be a good partner. It takes the power of choice on who to love and who to be with away from Feyre and that really irks me. I’d rather her have a thoughtful and loving choice between two honorable men she loves. Instead we get the man she was with becoming a total tool, and That’s Right!, you were only meant to be with this other guy anyway so why bother fighting fate?
That said, there’s a lot of fun stuff in the book. New characters are introduced and a lot of twists propel the story forward at a fast pace. By the end my jaw was hanging down and I so wanted to read the next one! Overall, you can’t go wrong with Maas. I’m eager to see where the series takes us next!
If you’re not reading Maas, you should be. She is a killer YA Fantasy writer, one of the best. She will lead you far away from your everyday world, and not let you go.
I recently purchased this book and am looking forward to reading it. Thank you for your review!
Oh, wow! Sounds fantastic. I read the first one and loved it. I’ll be reading this one soon. Thanks.
WHAT?! Rysand?! REALLY? Bleck. I LOVED ACoTaR and honestly didn’t feel like we needed a second book but was happy to continue in Fey’s and Tamlin’s world. Now, not so much. I almost don’t know if I want to read it. I’d rather be ignorant of what goes on next and live in the first book instead.
Maas is fabulous. Thank you for reminding me that there are other parts of this story that will keep me hanging in there because I have been afraid to read this books for months now. I really appreciate the reviews that pertain to books that bring so many emotions especially when they are not always good.
I am a huge fan of Sarah Maas as well. I haven’t had the chance to read this book yet but i’m looking forward to. Great review!