Politics. Power. Passion. And new evils. No world is every fully redeemed from the mistakes of the past, or ever fully free from any kind of evil. Instead, all anyone can hope for is the ability to better face the demons and protect others. Even these protectors can suffer from the politics and power of the world, and need time to recover -- time they don't fully receive as the world keeps turning. These are the stones in which Sarah J. Maas begins building A Court of Mist and Fury with. In this spellbinding sequel, Maas presents us with a struggling and recovering heroine, a world still stumbling towards redemption, and another impossible mission.Sarah J. Maas is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of the Throne of Glass series and A Court of Thorns and Roses series, as well as a USA Today and international bestselling author. She graduated from Hamilton College with a degree in creative writing and a minor in religious studies. She wrote the first incarnation of the Throne of Glass series when she was just sixteen, and it has now sold in thirty-five languages. Maas lives with her husband and dog in Pennsylvania. You can find her here, or on Instagram @therealsjmaas. If you're interested in more of my reviews of Sarah J. Maas's work, you can find them all here.
Feyre's happy ending wasn't as happy as we were led to believe. Instead, she's trapped at the Spring Court with Tamlin, who she's starting to realize can't truly love her. Luckily, Rhysand, High Lord of the Night Court, calls in the bargain Feyre made with him just in time -- one week a month, in exchange for the gift of life he gave her Under the Mountain. That's when Feyre realizes she might have harrowing powers, and a purpose in the Night Court. As she navigates between politics, power, and passion, Feyre becomes key in defeating the new evil that's appeared -- and if she doesn't defeat it, not only is Prythian doomed, but potentially the whole world.
Feyre is a much more dynamic character in this sequel. She's a true testament to how recovery (and life) is never a straight line. After the suffering she endured in Amarantha's court, she's now battling PTSD. That also comes with battling against Tamlin's demons, the ones that cause him to lock her up in the Spring Court. Feyre's not a petulant child, but that's the way the Spring Court treats her, and in turn she feels like she doesn't deserve to recover, or be a whole person. But when she transitions to the Night Court, she realizes her strength and capability. She begins to recover physically, emotionally, and mentally -- this helps her see the world as it truly is, and to begin making her own choices again. When she's with Rhysand's Inner Circle, she's treated as the warrior we recognize her as from the first novel. This is a very heroine-driven fantasy novel, which isn't always a bad thing. Here, it lets Maas document a unique path of recovery, which makes Feyre a more relatable character. We don't often see heroines who did things like Feyre did mourn and grieve and struggle as much as Feyre. But now we get to see that, and it makes Feyre more realistic as a character, and more relatable as a person.
When I was getting deeper into this book, I started to wonder about Tamlin and A Court of Thorns and Roses. I thought it was very strange that we spent so much time learning about Tamlin and potentially rooting for him, only to turn around and become invested in Rhys. I found a couple of pros and cons to this love "triangle" set-up. Let's start with the pros. One of the pros was that it made this series different than other fantasy novels, where it seems more obvious as to who the heroine is going to end up with. There's an element of surprise here, with who Feyre might choose. Secondly, it allows Maas to break away from the "beauty and the beast" retelling that A Court of Thorns and Roses really is, and to make her own story. Thirdly, it helps that we know who Tamlin is, and who Rhysand is as the threads of politics become more tangled. I absolutely don't want to give anything away there, so I'm going to transition to the cons. The biggest one was related to pacing -- we'd spent a whole book learning Tamlin, and now we have a whole book learning Rhysand. In some ways, this slows down the pace to allow for another slow-burn romance plus everything else. I definitely felt like the pace of this book was slower. The book itself doesn't truly start to pick up until Feyre's fully part of the Night Court, which was 125 pages in. I think that can be attributed mostly to the need to establish Tamlin as a character we don't like, and Rhysand as a character we can fully trust. Which, to me, that's was a necessary choice for the plot, but at the cost of the pacing of the novel, was a con.
The inside flap of the book slated the plot as one focused on politics, passion, power and evil. I was excited, because I wanted to see if we would grow out of the romance-oriented plots, but was sorely mistaken. This is a fantasy book that doesn't fully focus on the fantasy and the story, but definitely more on the romance and the politics of the romance. Often, I lost the thread of the story trying to understand all the romances contained in the sequel. I personally kept forgetting why their mission was so important, and why the main characters were determined to complete it -- I knew they had a mission, but it was clouded by the romance and the history of the immortal characters. Some other stylistic choices didn't help clear the focus, either. For instance, some of the chapters began and abruptly ended in awkward spots. This can easily cause someone to lose the thread of the previous chapter, or to understand the meaning behind a chapter ending, especially if it related towards advancing the plot. The focus bounces around everywhere, in such a way that it's hard to keep track of why specific characters are doing specific things. It's not made any better by the fact that the actual politics and history behind the characters also isn't very clear until each character spills their whole story. So while this sequel was indeed spellbinding and a captivating read, it was also a challenging one.
Luckily, the ending was redeemed some of these things for me. In fact, other than all the focus on Feyre's recovery, I'd say the ending was the best part. There was so much poetic justice and sly hints about it that it was hard not to smile as Rhysand revealed Feyre's new title. We now know the sequel is going to focus on a whole lot of espionage, and even more tangled political webs. I'm hoping that Maas sharpens the focus and keeps finding ways to make these characters interesting and unique.
And there's only one way we can find out! Check out my review of A Court of Wings and Ruin!
*This review can also be found on my Goodreads page*
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