Book review: A Court of Mist and Fury (ACOTAR #2) by Sarah. J. Maas

A Court of Mist and Fury (A Court of Thorns and Roses, #2) by Sarah J. Maas
Genres: Fantasy, New Adult
Format Read: Paperback
Pages: 624
Published by Bloomsbury Australia on May 3rd 2016
Book Depository

Feyre is immortal.

After rescuing her lover Tamlin from a wicked Faerie Queen, she returns to the Spring Court possessing the powers of the High Fae. But Feyre cannot forget the terrible deeds she performed to save Tamlin's people - nor the bargain she made with Rhysand, High Lord of the feared Night Court.

As Feyre is drawn ever deeper into Rhysand's dark web of politics and passion, war is looming and an evil far greater than any queen threatens to destroy everything Feyre has fought for. She must confront her past, embrace her gifts and decide her fate.

She must surrender her heart to heal a world torn in two.

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Check out my 5 out of 5 star review of the first book — A Court of Thorns and Roses

As many of you may know already, A Court of Thorns and Roses left me in a MASSIVE book hangover last year. I found myself flopping around in front of my book shelves, unable to pick my next read because I just couldn’t stop thinking about ACOTAR.

It was horrible and amazing at the same time. Do I regret it? Heck no!

Then the lovely people over at Bloomsbury Australia sent me a copy of A Court of Mist and Fury for review, and I was expecting the same to happen all over again. Yes, ACOMAF came out in early May and I only just finished it last week. Why?

I wanted the book to last, and savour ever word
I was busy, the beginning of May was nice and calm but then I was knocked sideways by all the things happening at work and in my day-to-day life
There was a bit of controversy surrounding this book

I don’t want to go into details about the controversy, but I just want to say that every reader is entitled to their own opinion, regardless of whether their opinion differs to yours. That’s what reviews are about — so readers can read honest thoughts about a book before or after they pick up the book.

I must admit, I couldn’t stay away from reading some of the negative reviews for ACOMAF that were floating around, and unfortunately, that may have impacted my reading pace. I was worried that I wouldn’t enjoy where it was going, so I essentially slowed myself down. But then I realised that I was letting other people’s opinions affect my own enjoyment of a book I’ve been anticipating all year for, and pushed their reviews out of my mind. While reviews are great to read, at the end of the day, I should be the one making the fun call about whether I like a book or not.

And you know what, I ended up really loving ACOMAF as I suspected I would.

Following straight on from where we left off in the first book. Feyre returns to the Spring Court a whole new person, and frankly, traumatised as she should be. This book explores the aftermath of Feyre’s experience Under The Mountain, and how the events have affected and changed her. PTSD is not something that should be tip-toed around, and Maas does a brilliant job portraying the effects of Feyre’s PTSD, rather than brush it off.

Feyre’s PTSD not only changes her mindset but many aspects of herself — and this was an area that a few people had issues with because it essentially affected her relationship with Tamlin, who she View Spoiler »died for in ACOTAR. « Hide Spoiler But the bigger picture is, people change because of the events in their life, and while I didn’t appreciate the way Tamlin was pretty much used as a plot point, at the end of the day we are reading the story from Feyre’s point of view and this is how the story is unveiled through her eyes. And I can definitely appreciate that.

Dealing with the most traumatising event of her life has helped evolve Feyre has a character — this character development was the best part of ACOMAF. And not only her own character development, but those of a slew of characters that are introduced in The Night Court. Rhysand, Mor, Amren, Azriel and Cassian. I cannot express just how much I adored these characters — and this love only continued to grow throughout the book. They are brave, respectful and most of all, loyal. I won’t go into too much detail as I don’t want to spoil it for anyone that hasn’t read the book, but just know that they are simply amazing. <3

And The Night Court…omg delicious. Just delicious — from the Court of Nightmares, to the Court of Dreams, all the way into the Illyrian mountains…I just could not get enough! And those steamy scenes…ooh la la! There was such a build up to it that I was extremely pleased when it reached its climax. Geddit? Haw haw.

Safe to say that I thoroughly enjoyed ACOMAF, but unfortunately I do have to knock off a star for how the characters of the Spring Court was portrayed. I just don’t think they deserved the story arc they received, but what can you do.

Thank you to Bloomsbury Australia for providing a copy in exchange for an honest review.

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Joy

Joy is the head honcho of Thoughts By J. Her favourite genres are fantasy, sci-fi, mysteries, and the occasional romance that makes her heart beat faster. You'll find she's quite sporadic with her blog posts, but will definitely find the time to reply to all your comments, and visit your blogs...it's just a matter of when.