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Christina's Reviews > A Court of Mist and Fury
A Court of Mist and Fury (A Court of Thorns and Roses, #2)
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by
Christina's review
bookshelves: favorites
Jun 02, 2016
bookshelves: favorites
Read 3 times. Last read April 29, 2021 to June 30, 2021.
Read : June 2nd - June 14th, 2016
Re-read : May 5th - May 15th, 2017
Re-read : April 29th - June 30th, 2021
5 stars, always
This review will contain spoils for both ACoTaR and ACoMaF! If you haven't read them yet, just stop here!
My initial thought upon finishing:
Holy Shit.....
When it comes to Sarah J Maas's writing...
This is quite a heated debate but I, personally, go with brilliance!
My review of ACoTaR, the first of this series, can be seen here
Okay. *Deep Breath*. This. Book.
Where do I even begin?
So here we are in the lovely Spring Court.
They survived Under the Mountain. Amarantha was defeated and the powers were restored to the High Lords. Sounds like Tamlin and Feyre got their happily ever after, right?
Not quite.
They are both suffering from PTSD and feeling the effects in very different ways. Feyre has vivid nightmares that not only awaken her night after night, but they make her violently sick as well. She's not eating much and it's hard for her to find joy like she used to. She is allowing others to take control of her life, namely Tamlin and Ianthe (a high priestess who had been a childhood friend of Tamlin's). She is stuck in the manor and Tamlin won't listen when she pleads with him to let her out and about or to let her be more involved in his court politics.
Tamlin reacts to his trauma much differently. He keeps Feyre sequestered in the manor, out of the loop of things with only Ianthe for company to attempt to keep her safe. Even when she does manage to go out, he ensures that she has sentinels following her every move. After what happened before, he wants to assure that she will never be in any danger again.
I know a lot of people say that they feel that Tamlin is OOC for this book, but I don't think so. He was already controlling and had some epic temper tantrums in ACoTaR, he just got worse as a reaction to his stress. I think he probably felt that he was doing the right thing when in reality, he was horribly overbearing and not helping to give Feyre the tools she needed to heal.
So confession time: I was not a Feylin shipper.
Maybe kind of, in the first part of ACoTaR, but not once they were all Under the Mountain.
"I had done everything--everything for that love. I had ripped myself to shreds, I had killed innocents and debased myself, and he had sat beside Amarantha on that throne. And he couldn't do anything, hadn't risked it--hadn't risked being caught until there was one night left, and all he'd wanted to do wasn't free me, but fuck me, and--
And when Amarantha had broken me, when she had snapped my bones and made my blood boil in its veins, he'd just knelt and begged her. He hadn't tried to kill her, hadn't crawled for me. Yes, he'd fought for me--but I'd fought harder for him."
^ That sums up my Tamlin issue from book 1 quite nicely.
Lucien was the one who I was actually the most unhappy with. No character development at all for him. Poor Lucien tries halfheartedly to appeal to Tamlin about the effect he's having on Feyre, but gets shut down every time and then just kind of gives up and goes with what Tamlin says.
So with things not going all that great between them, imagine my horror when 4 chapters in, it's time for their wedding. Pretty sure I literally screamed at my book. Before the I Do's, Feyre has a panic attack and is screaming internally for someone, anyone to help her. To stop the wedding.
And then Rhysand, hearing her panic through their bond, finally comes to make good on the bargain between them.
This was probably one of my favorite parts of the whole book.
He winnows Feyre away to the Night Court.
And let me just say, that nobody does world building like SJM.
He is horrified my her unhealthy, withered appearance. They bicker back and forth and he starts to teach her how to read and how to gain control over her mental shields, so that she could, for example, block out someone with Rhys's mind powers. Feyre is also introduced to Morrigan (Mor for short), Rhy's cousin and his third in command. Rhys also tells her that there is a war coming. From Amarantha's old commander, the King of Hybern. He tells Feyre this because Tamlin has old ties to the King and Rhys wants to see if Tamlin would be willing to fight against him. He also thinks there's a chance that Feyre has undiscovered powers, unknowingly gifted to her when the High Lords allowed her to be remade. He wants Feyre to train and hone her powers.
After the week is up, Rhys winnows Feyre back to the Spring Court...back to Tamlin. And the only thing that changes is that Tamlin expects Feyre to now report intel on Rhysand and the Night Court. But when she tells Tamlin what Rhys said about war and her powers, he immediately dismisses both. He absolutely refuses to allow Feyre to train, not wanting to draw attention to any powers she may have and not wanting her near any supposed conflict.
A few more chapters in, Tamlin is preparing to leave with Lucien, to investigate some activity on the western sea border. Feyre asks to go with them and Tamlin, unsurprisingly, says no...it's too dangerous. Feyre begs and threatens to follow them.
That's where Tamlin crossed the line. He locks her in the manor, creating a shield that will allow anyone else out, except for her.
"Breathing became difficult. I was trapped. I was trapped inside this house. I might as well have been Under the Mountain; I might as well have been inside that cell again."
But Rhys, again sensing the panic through the bond goes with Mor to the Spring Court and brings Feyre back to the Night Court with them. Now this is when Feyre gets a lot of respect from me...she makes the hard decision to not go back to Tamlin and their increasingly toxic relationship. Rhys offers Feyre a place to stay if she will train with him and help him in the upcoming conflict.
Second confession: Rhysand was my favorite character of ACoTaR. He had this lovely Darkling vibe to him, but at the same time, he never hurt Feyre. Everything he did Under the Mountain was to protect her and ensure she had a good chance at surviving Amarantha's trials. He had mepretty extremely intrigued from his first appearance. You could tell that there would be so much more to his character than the monster everyone believed him to be.
So, obviously I'm extremely happy with the turn of events at this point.
Feyre meets the rest of Rhys's inner circle. There's his second in command Amren, who seems to hide a very dark power and like Feyre, wasn't originally High Fae. And there's the spymaster Azriel and commander of the armies, Cassian. They are both illegitimate Illyrian warriors...the best of the best out of the other Illyrians. So they set about training Feyre's powers and let her in on what they know and suspect about plans that the King has brewing. They take Feyre to Velaris (called also the Court of Dreams), a whole town of peace and prosperity hidden for centiries by Rhys. He used his last remaining moments of power before Amarantha took over to protect Velaris from her.
Again I have to say, that the world building is amazing. We are introduced to not just the different sides of the Night Court (the Court of Dreams and the Court of Nightmares that Amarantha had designed her own court after), but also Hybern and the Summer Court.
And throughout everything else happening we get to see Feyre and Rhysand and how they go from bickering to understanding and mutual respect for the other. Then to friendship. There's some initial attraction and flirting too, but they come to mean so much more to each other.
I've seen other reviewers not liking the way SJM changes up the love interests for her MC's so much, but I think it's actually pretty believable. People change. Relationships evolve. What was once good may not work out quite the same anymore. Seriously I can't imagine everyone getting only one shot at love and being with that first love all their lives...that thought actually terrifies me.
There was also so much great character development in this book (outside of the Spring Court anyways). Especially with Feyre. She slowly became such a strong character and it was so wonderful to see her go through all the changes she went through.
As for the sex thing...there were some pretty descriptive scenes. I've seen some pretty mixed feelings on this too. My opinion being that it probably shouldn't be anywhere near the YA section (which is where I got my copy from, just saying). I do have to applaud SJM for in these 624 pages, giving us an example of both an unhealthy relationship and sending the message that it's unacceptable and a healthy and supportive one. And yea, consensual sex in a healthy, happy relationship is all fine and dandy and should be put out there more than the alternative, but WOW did it get super erotic. But the steamy scenes weren't the main focus of the book at all, and with there only being a handful throughout this huge book, it's honestly not that terrible. I've seen about the same in the few Nora Roberts books I've read and I haven't seen such intense debates erupt over those.
That ending though...
(view spoiler)
So yea, here I am, still with a horrible book hangover. Still wondering how I'll wait all the way until next March to see how it all wraps up. I've picked out my next read but can't even imagine starting it just yet. I guess I'll just have to keep admiring fan art (Thank you to all the lovely people who put their fan art online, you are all amazing!) and counting down the days until Empire of Storms is released so I can have my next SJM fix.
Re-read : May 5th - May 15th, 2017
Re-read : April 29th - June 30th, 2021
5 stars, always
This review will contain spoils for both ACoTaR and ACoMaF! If you haven't read them yet, just stop here!
My initial thought upon finishing:
Holy Shit.....
When it comes to Sarah J Maas's writing...
This is quite a heated debate but I, personally, go with brilliance!
My review of ACoTaR, the first of this series, can be seen here
Okay. *Deep Breath*. This. Book.
Where do I even begin?
So here we are in the lovely Spring Court.
They survived Under the Mountain. Amarantha was defeated and the powers were restored to the High Lords. Sounds like Tamlin and Feyre got their happily ever after, right?
Not quite.
They are both suffering from PTSD and feeling the effects in very different ways. Feyre has vivid nightmares that not only awaken her night after night, but they make her violently sick as well. She's not eating much and it's hard for her to find joy like she used to. She is allowing others to take control of her life, namely Tamlin and Ianthe (a high priestess who had been a childhood friend of Tamlin's). She is stuck in the manor and Tamlin won't listen when she pleads with him to let her out and about or to let her be more involved in his court politics.
Tamlin reacts to his trauma much differently. He keeps Feyre sequestered in the manor, out of the loop of things with only Ianthe for company to attempt to keep her safe. Even when she does manage to go out, he ensures that she has sentinels following her every move. After what happened before, he wants to assure that she will never be in any danger again.
I know a lot of people say that they feel that Tamlin is OOC for this book, but I don't think so. He was already controlling and had some epic temper tantrums in ACoTaR, he just got worse as a reaction to his stress. I think he probably felt that he was doing the right thing when in reality, he was horribly overbearing and not helping to give Feyre the tools she needed to heal.
So confession time: I was not a Feylin shipper.
Maybe kind of, in the first part of ACoTaR, but not once they were all Under the Mountain.
"I had done everything--everything for that love. I had ripped myself to shreds, I had killed innocents and debased myself, and he had sat beside Amarantha on that throne. And he couldn't do anything, hadn't risked it--hadn't risked being caught until there was one night left, and all he'd wanted to do wasn't free me, but fuck me, and--
And when Amarantha had broken me, when she had snapped my bones and made my blood boil in its veins, he'd just knelt and begged her. He hadn't tried to kill her, hadn't crawled for me. Yes, he'd fought for me--but I'd fought harder for him."
^ That sums up my Tamlin issue from book 1 quite nicely.
Lucien was the one who I was actually the most unhappy with. No character development at all for him. Poor Lucien tries halfheartedly to appeal to Tamlin about the effect he's having on Feyre, but gets shut down every time and then just kind of gives up and goes with what Tamlin says.
So with things not going all that great between them, imagine my horror when 4 chapters in, it's time for their wedding. Pretty sure I literally screamed at my book. Before the I Do's, Feyre has a panic attack and is screaming internally for someone, anyone to help her. To stop the wedding.
And then Rhysand, hearing her panic through their bond, finally comes to make good on the bargain between them.
This was probably one of my favorite parts of the whole book.
He winnows Feyre away to the Night Court.
And let me just say, that nobody does world building like SJM.
He is horrified my her unhealthy, withered appearance. They bicker back and forth and he starts to teach her how to read and how to gain control over her mental shields, so that she could, for example, block out someone with Rhys's mind powers. Feyre is also introduced to Morrigan (Mor for short), Rhy's cousin and his third in command. Rhys also tells her that there is a war coming. From Amarantha's old commander, the King of Hybern. He tells Feyre this because Tamlin has old ties to the King and Rhys wants to see if Tamlin would be willing to fight against him. He also thinks there's a chance that Feyre has undiscovered powers, unknowingly gifted to her when the High Lords allowed her to be remade. He wants Feyre to train and hone her powers.
After the week is up, Rhys winnows Feyre back to the Spring Court...back to Tamlin. And the only thing that changes is that Tamlin expects Feyre to now report intel on Rhysand and the Night Court. But when she tells Tamlin what Rhys said about war and her powers, he immediately dismisses both. He absolutely refuses to allow Feyre to train, not wanting to draw attention to any powers she may have and not wanting her near any supposed conflict.
A few more chapters in, Tamlin is preparing to leave with Lucien, to investigate some activity on the western sea border. Feyre asks to go with them and Tamlin, unsurprisingly, says no...it's too dangerous. Feyre begs and threatens to follow them.
That's where Tamlin crossed the line. He locks her in the manor, creating a shield that will allow anyone else out, except for her.
"Breathing became difficult. I was trapped. I was trapped inside this house. I might as well have been Under the Mountain; I might as well have been inside that cell again."
But Rhys, again sensing the panic through the bond goes with Mor to the Spring Court and brings Feyre back to the Night Court with them. Now this is when Feyre gets a lot of respect from me...she makes the hard decision to not go back to Tamlin and their increasingly toxic relationship. Rhys offers Feyre a place to stay if she will train with him and help him in the upcoming conflict.
Second confession: Rhysand was my favorite character of ACoTaR. He had this lovely Darkling vibe to him, but at the same time, he never hurt Feyre. Everything he did Under the Mountain was to protect her and ensure she had a good chance at surviving Amarantha's trials. He had me
So, obviously I'm extremely happy with the turn of events at this point.
Feyre meets the rest of Rhys's inner circle. There's his second in command Amren, who seems to hide a very dark power and like Feyre, wasn't originally High Fae. And there's the spymaster Azriel and commander of the armies, Cassian. They are both illegitimate Illyrian warriors...the best of the best out of the other Illyrians. So they set about training Feyre's powers and let her in on what they know and suspect about plans that the King has brewing. They take Feyre to Velaris (called also the Court of Dreams), a whole town of peace and prosperity hidden for centiries by Rhys. He used his last remaining moments of power before Amarantha took over to protect Velaris from her.
Again I have to say, that the world building is amazing. We are introduced to not just the different sides of the Night Court (the Court of Dreams and the Court of Nightmares that Amarantha had designed her own court after), but also Hybern and the Summer Court.
And throughout everything else happening we get to see Feyre and Rhysand and how they go from bickering to understanding and mutual respect for the other. Then to friendship. There's some initial attraction and flirting too, but they come to mean so much more to each other.
I've seen other reviewers not liking the way SJM changes up the love interests for her MC's so much, but I think it's actually pretty believable. People change. Relationships evolve. What was once good may not work out quite the same anymore. Seriously I can't imagine everyone getting only one shot at love and being with that first love all their lives...that thought actually terrifies me.
There was also so much great character development in this book (outside of the Spring Court anyways). Especially with Feyre. She slowly became such a strong character and it was so wonderful to see her go through all the changes she went through.
As for the sex thing...there were some pretty descriptive scenes. I've seen some pretty mixed feelings on this too. My opinion being that it probably shouldn't be anywhere near the YA section (which is where I got my copy from, just saying). I do have to applaud SJM for in these 624 pages, giving us an example of both an unhealthy relationship and sending the message that it's unacceptable and a healthy and supportive one. And yea, consensual sex in a healthy, happy relationship is all fine and dandy and should be put out there more than the alternative, but WOW did it get super erotic. But the steamy scenes weren't the main focus of the book at all, and with there only being a handful throughout this huge book, it's honestly not that terrible. I've seen about the same in the few Nora Roberts books I've read and I haven't seen such intense debates erupt over those.
That ending though...
(view spoiler)
So yea, here I am, still with a horrible book hangover. Still wondering how I'll wait all the way until next March to see how it all wraps up. I've picked out my next read but can't even imagine starting it just yet. I guess I'll just have to keep admiring fan art (Thank you to all the lovely people who put their fan art online, you are all amazing!) and counting down the days until Empire of Storms is released so I can have my next SJM fix.
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Quotes Christina Liked
“I was not a pet, not a doll, not an animal.
I was a survivor, and I was strong.
I would not be weak, or helpless again
I would not, could not be broken. Tamed.”
― A Court of Mist and Fury
I was a survivor, and I was strong.
I would not be weak, or helpless again
I would not, could not be broken. Tamed.”
― A Court of Mist and Fury
Reading Progress
June 2, 2016
–
Started Reading
June 2, 2016
– Shelved
June 2, 2016
–
4.01%
"Wow. um yea, this definitely isn't YA...ACoTaR might've been on the border, but this just jumped way over the YA line."
page
25
June 14, 2016
– Shelved as:
favorites
June 14, 2016
–
Finished Reading
May 5, 2017
–
Started Reading
May 15, 2017
–
Finished Reading
April 29, 2021
–
Started Reading
June 30, 2021
–
Finished Reading
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Brittney
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Jun 14, 2016 06:35AM
Pretty much my initial reaction
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My mind is so blown right now...I don't even know how to begin a review!
We understand. I was just shocked and speechless when I finished the book. When I posted my review, I don't know how many times I edited it!
Bianca {Until The Last Page} wrote: "We understand. I was just shocked and speechless when I finished the book. When I posted my review, I don't know how many times I edited it!"Yes!!! That will be me! I don't know how to make any sense out of the emotions I'm feeling over this book!! I'll have to go check out your review--I didn't want to be spoiled so I've been avoiding all reviews/updates!
I love seeing other people's reactions to this book! Ugh this book threw my emotions through the roof lmfao!
McKenzie wrote: "I love seeing other people's reactions to this book! Ugh this book threw my emotions through the roof lmfao!"This book literally blew my mind. I'm still sitting here trying to figure out how to put my thoughts and feels down and wondering how I'm possibly going to start a new book now.
Fantastic review, Christine! :)
Thank you Candace :)
Excellent review hon :-)
Melissa wrote: "Excellent review hon :-)"Thank you Melissa :D
Emer (ALittleHaze) wrote: "Lovely review Christina. Personally I had way too many issues with the writing in this book but I'm so glad that you enjoyed it :))"Thank you Emer :) I'm just a big SJM fan and since I already disliked Tamlin, it made it easy to really enjoy this book ;)
I just have to say that this is a super fantastic review. I always love your reviews but I can tell how much work you put into this and it's fantastic (did I say that already?). Honestly ...awesome!!
Deanna wrote: "I just have to say that this is a super fantastic review. I always love your reviews but I can tell how much work you put into this and it's fantastic (did I say that already?). Honestly ...awesome!!"Thank you so much Deanna :D Your comment just made my day!! I was such an emotional mess after I finished this book, I literally spent my morning googling fan art for the series. It was all so beautiful, I just had to include it...this is a lot fancier that my reviews normally get ;)
