A Court of Mist and Fury by Sarah J. Maas
I read ACOMAF the day after I finished ACOTAR! I was hooked and just needed to know what happened next! Let me start this off with warning that you should not be reading this post if you haven’t read the first book of the ACOTAR series, A Court of Thorns and Roses, as some pretty important events have already transpired there.
At the end of ACOTAR, Feyre has saved Tamlin and the rest of Prynthian from the wrath of Amarantha Under The Mountain and it seems like the stage is set for her to get married to Tampon… I’m sorry, Tamlin… and become his wife and rule over the Spring Court. Except there’s that tiiiiny detail about her whole arrangement with Rhysand, Lord of the Night Court. She has a tattoo on her hand to prove it’s not going away, even if the rest of her nightmare UTM seemingly is.
Let’s not forget the world this series is set in: fairies are real, known as Fae, and rule most of Prynthian north of the wall. Us mere mortals live south of the wall, and grow up fearing the Fae because of their pointed ears and magic. There is even more of this Fae world-building in ACOMAF, and again, as new things such as bat wings were casually sprung on us, I had some WTF moments. I got over it fair early in this book, though, and I have grown to just deal with the weirdness and fantasy tropes that I usually don’t go for because I just love the storytelling of this series, and I hope you will, too.
ADD TO YOUR LIBRARY
IF YOU HAVEN’T READ THE BOOK, STOP READING NOW! SPOILERS AHEAD!
ACOMAF starts off with Feyre as a Fae back in the good ole Spring Court with Tamlin and Lucien. Life should be good, but for our Feyre darling, it’s not.
Remember when I said Tamlin was problematic? Yeah, that feeling escalated quickly into me hating his guts. HOW DARE HE? I have friends who defend him and think Maas “ruined” him just to introduce a new love interest, as they say she did in her Throne of Glass series (I have not read it because, again, fantasy usually isn’t my thing). I do understand that Tamlin was also subjected to trauma UTM, and I do not want to diminish that experience for him as a character, as it colors his every action in this book. However, when you and your loved ones go through something traumatic, you need to address it, try to help one another, and more than anything, let them know they aren’t alone. Tamlin isolated himself emotionally, and therefore, cut Feyre off from the love and support she needed to get through what happened UTM, and he ended up hurting her even further.
There’s a passage later on where she tells Rhys that Tamlin does love her, but Rhys answers that Tamlin loved her too much if it made him act so rashly and caused so much additional pain. The Tamlin Redemption friends of mine argue that if given time and adequate space to heal, perhaps Tamlin could evolve. I don’t necessarily disagree, and I am all for Tamlin having a personal redemption arc, but I definitely think that he and Feyre cannot be in a healthy relationship after how he acted. There really is no going back from that, regardless of her next love interest.
Backtracking a little: I kind of knew in ACOTAR that there was more to this whole Rhysand thing than we knew, especially with the convo at the end, but Feyre saying the eye was moving was when I was like oooooh shiiiiit! The wedding scene was well done, IMO.
So our Feyre darling goes up to the feared and notorious Night Court with Rhysand… this is where the fun starts!
The Inner Circle. I love them. They are the best. Before I dive into them more, it’s probably important to note here that Feyre, her family, and the Spring Court are all very obviously white, but the Night Court and other courts seemingly hold more diversity. The architecture and traditional dress of the Night Court make me think of 101 Arabian Nights, and with their character descriptions, I picture Rhys and Bat Boys as Middle Eastern. Amren’s description is more vague, but I picture her as Asian. I’ve read a lot of white-washed books recently, so I appreciate that the IC is diverse in not only thoughts and backgrounds, but ethnicity.
As I was saying, I love the Inner Circle! Azriel and Cassian are so sweet and pure (ok, maybe only Az). But they really were integral in Feyre (and me as the reader) falling in love with the Night Court.
It was interesting to see Feyre with the IC, her family, and then everyone together. Elain and Nesta may be her sisters, but the IC is the family she chose.
I could write pages about the plot of this book, because it’s great, the Summer Court part is also great, but I really want to talk about Rhys and Feyre’s relationship. I have never shipped two characters more (except Dramione, but that is another post entirely). The mutual respect and adoration! The honesty! The “move mountains for you” type of love! And Rhys MAKING HER A HIGH LADY? I stan. It was beautiful to read. When he finally tells Feyre his side of things, I had tears in my eyes. It was perfect. Chapter 55 is *spicy* and I have seen so many TikToks referencing that they want a Ch. 55 type of relationship now, hahahahah. Anyways.
Also, S/O to the Suriel.
I loved seeing Feyre step into her role as a boss ass B, not because of her relationship with Rhys, but because of who she is at her core. It makes their love story that much better. It truly is a match of equals.
Again, could talk forever about the plot after Feysand get together, but they and the IC are brilliant and come up with what should be a fool-proof plan, but then!!! Hybern! I was flipping pages so quickly and was sick to my stomach with anxiety reading this at 2 am, haha.
And THE CLIFFHANGER AT THE END!!!! My heart!
Roses
- Rhys. I stan a man who treats his woman as his equal, especially when that is not the norm. I can look past the bat wings and other faults for the feminism
- I am really glad there was a large part of this book spent on Feyre’s mental health and how she at first failed to move past her trauma due to Tampon & Co but Rhys and the Inner Circle helped her and she gained a new family <3
- Feyre is a boss ass b and I love her
- I feel like there were so many poetic passages that were just beautiful to read
- chapter 55 😉 ok but also 54 was good too because *heartfelt*
Thorns
- Tamlin embodies male fragility
- again… some lines during heated moments made me cringe
- not really a bad part but come on, the cliffhanger??? ugh
Who is shocked to find out that the day after I finished this, I downloaded the next book, A Court of Wings and Ruin, on Kindle and began reading? No one? Ok cool.
ACOTAR
1: A Court of Thorns and Roses
