Book Review: A Court of Silver Flames by Sarah J. Maas

Title: A Court of Silver Flames
Author: Sarah J. Maas
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
Publication Date: February 16, 2021
ISBN: 9781681196282

Synopsis:

Nesta Archeron has always been prickly-proud, swift to anger, and slow to forgive. And ever since being forced into the Cauldron and becoming High Fae against her will, she’s struggled to find a place for herself within the strange, deadly world she inhabits. Worse, she can’t seem to move past the horrors of the war with Hybern and all she lost in it.

The one person who ignites her temper more than any other is Cassian, the battle-scarred warrior whose position in Rhysand and Feyre’s Night Court keeps him constantly in Nesta’s orbit. But her temper isn’t the only thing Cassian ignites. The fire between them is undeniable, and only burns hotter as they are forced into close quarters with each other.

Meanwhile, the treacherous human queens who returned to the Continent during the last war have forged a dangerous new alliance, threatening the fragile peace that has settled over the realms. And the key to halting them might very well rely on Cassian and Nesta facing their haunting pasts.

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Biggest sigh. This book was devastatingly rough. After such a beautiful arc in the first three ACOTAR books, getting through ACOSF was a mental battle. Where there was beauty, thoughtfulness, and intentionality in the first books of this series, this last novel was unnecessarily long, slow paced, gratuitous and needless in it’s representation of sex, and the characters are so vastly different from the first three books that you might as well be reading a whole different series.

First off, I think the premise is incredible, and I’m sorely disappointed that it fell flat. Nesta’s story is one of struggle and difficult, but ultimately triumph and strength. Her story is worth sharing and her trauma and struggles with anxiety and depression are so real. This is a story that so many face on a daily basis. I just think this book went about it in all the wrong ways. Nesta just didn’t resonate with me one bit. I admired her journey and her great struggles and successes, while simultaneously disliking her character. I was never able to break that barrier to connect with her.

Secondly, I know we’re seeing the other characters through Nesta’s eyes, so of course the perception of them is going to be skewed, however, the perception of Rhys and Feyre is so different from the original novels that I actually found myself hating them throughout. And it’s not just because of Nesta’s own dislike or distrust. Everything that was problematic about Tamlin in ACOTAR, we now see in Rhys throughout. He’s territorial, disrespectful, and controlling of his wife in unrelenting and unreasonable ways. We don’t see the same kindness and support that was so prevalent throughout ACOTAR. Everything we loved about Rhys and Feyre’s relationship is stripped away. Feyre as a character, and even Elain and Rhys, becomes two dimensional, falling flat in their dialogue and actions. They are nothing but background here, becoming cliches more than real characters. It’s frustrating and seems lazy.

Lastly, this plot though. Dread. It was so slow and dragged on for WAY too many pages. I thought it’d never end. The pinnacle point of action is so anticlimactic, it made my heart hurt. The action scenes are shortened in favour of gratuitous, abundant, and needlessly long sex scenes that add no value to the overall plot. There is a lot of character development that happens for Nesta, of course, but there is so much talk of conflict and war, yet that is so secondary in this story, it may as well not even be there.

I can’t understand why this book has such a good rating. Personally, it wasn’t for me. I did finish it, but was I ever glad to be done with it. I hope you’ll enjoy it more than I did.

Happy reading!