Title: A Court of Mist & FuryAuthor: Sarah J. Maas
Genre: New Adult Fantasy
Format: Hardcover
Series: Yes, Second of trilogy
Series Status: To be completed on May, 2 2017
That. Was. Possibly the BEST book. I have EVER read.
I wish I could forget it, so I could read it again for the first time.
I don't know what to do with myself! The final installment of the series comes out during finals! What am I going to do?!?!
ACOMAF is the second book in the A Court of Thorns and Roses trilogy, which is a Beauty & the Beast retelling.
I really enjoyed reading ACOTAR but ACOMAF BLEW ME AWAY! I could not put the book down. I woke up on Saturday morning, rolled over in bed, picked the book up, and didn't stop reading until dinner.
ACOMAF has none of what has come to be known as "second book syndrome." The plot never slows down. Feyre was constantly moving and discovering and fighting. The reader gets to see new (and A-MAZING) parts of Prythian, meet and fall in love with new characters, fall deeper (or not) for characters we already know and love, and we see the development of this new threat off Prythian's shores.
One disclaimer: ACOMAF definitely falls into the New Adult, not Young Adult, genre. And rightly so because it has some sexually explicit content.
Spoiler review located below.
Don't even glance down here if you haven't read the book.
I mean it.
From the second I opened the book, I was dying to see Tamlin, Rhysand, and Feyre in the same room. I kept flipping ahead to see how much farther before Rhy's name popped up.
Then you get to the wedding. OMG I loved the wedding scene. Feyre is walking down the aisle and mentally begging someone, anyone to save her. And then up shows Rhy in all his sassy glory, saying he thought the wedding was over, "At least, Feyre seemed to think so." That is the right was to get my emotions flowing at the beginning of a book.
Then we get to the Night Court and its BEAUTIFUL. And Feyre throws a shoe at Rhy, the most powerful High Lord to have ever existed. And he tells her that when he feels she is in danger through the bond, he rifles through it to make sure she is okay. I fell in love with Rhy that first week in the Night Court. I didn't even need to see Velaris. Sorry Tamlin, but Feyre and Rhysand's relationship is WAY more fun to read.
IDK if its just how Ianthe was introduced but I didn't like or trust her from her first word. Mor, though, you could tell she was gonna be the girl friend we needed in this book. I hope Mor and Feyre's relationship is more fleshed out in the next book.
The friendships built in ACOMAF were, in general, better than that of ACOTAR. Of course, I think SJM did this on purpose. It was fun meeting Rhy's friends. He has a squad. They insult each other, they fight with each other, they go out together, they stay in together. These friendships were the "homey" piece missing from ACOTAR. They made me feel at home in the world of Fae.
When Rhy told Feyre he knew history would remember him as the villain, I finally started putting the pieces together. Then Feyre goes on to tell Amren that the villain is the one who locks up the maiden. And Rhy was the one who let her out. Tamlin locked her up. Then I knew. In my review of ACOTAR, I asked where Gaston was. I wondered if he was Isaac Hale. But it didn't make sense for Gaston to have such a small part in a Beauty and the Beast retelling. I wrote it off because these are SJM's books and she can do what she wants with the characters (and I thought she might've dropped his character all together because there is no Gaston in the original Beauty and the Beast). But here, I realized. Tamlin is Gaston. SJM makes us fall in love with Gaston before we even meet the Beast. Tamlin, with his inflated sense of self. Tamlin, with his refusal to accept her rejection. He is Gaston. Well played, Sarah. Well played.
I have read some reviews where readers were upset by how SJM developed Tamin's character in this book. They say that she unmade the character she built in the first book. I disagree. Yes, the PTSD affected him but SJM didn't change Tamlin fundamentally. She gave us enough information about him in ACOTAR to think we knew him; then she added information in ACOMAF that sharpened the image. And you realize that you don't like who you see.
For example:
In ACOTAR, Tamlin had a temper. After Rhy showed up, he tore up his house in a rage. In ACOMAF, Tamlin destroys his study in a temper. The only difference is we see it first hand because he does it in front of Feyre.
In ACOTAR, Tamlin tells Feyre that she doesn't need to fight and that ends with them all Under the Mountain. He tells her not to fight in ACOMAF and, this time, she refuses to acquiesce. So he locks her in the house.
Yes, the PTSD had an affect but his problems were already evident before they ever went Under the Mountain, just to a lesser degree.
When squad gets to Hybern, there were not enough pages left in the book and Tamlin had been gone for too long. I knew it was about to get bad but I never imagined he would ally himself with Hybern. The Queens AND Tamlin? Is every ruler in this book that stupid? (Normally that would bug me but I can overlook it because the book as a whole was so great.) I can see how, if Tamlin wanted to, it would be easy to interpret all of the evidence in a way that indicates Feyre was kidnapped by Rhysand. I won't fault him for holding on to that belief. The evidence was just murky enough to justify it. I do fault him for allying himself with Hybern. Stupid, Tamlin. Stupid.
I was in hysterics when Feyre asked the King to break her and Rhy's bond. I respected her decision to make such a drastic sacrifice to protect her court but I was a mess. And then you get to Rhy's POV and, oh hey, they actually got married last night. NBD (we didn't even get to be there!!!). She is just the High Lady of the Night Court. Serving as a spy in the Spring Court.
The ending was perfect for a second book in a trilogy and I cannot wait for the next book. GAH!
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