A Court of Mist and Fury by Sarah J. Maas Review!

Author: Sarah J. Maas

Genre: YA/New Adult Fantasy

Date Published: May 3rd, 2016

Publisher: Bloomsbury USA Childrens

Page Number: 624

Synopsis: 

 Feyre survived Amarantha's clutches to return to the Spring Court—but at a steep cost. Though she now has the powers of the High Fae, her heart remains human, and it can't forget the terrible deeds she performed to save Tamlin's people.

 

Nor has Feyre forgotten her bargain with Rhysand, High Lord of the feared Night Court. As Feyre navigates its dark web of politics, passion, and dazzling power, a greater evil looms—and she might be key to stopping it. But only if she can harness her harrowing gifts, heal her fractured soul, and decide how she wishes to shape her future—and the future of a world cleaved in two.

 

With more than a million copies sold of her beloved Throne of Glass series, Sarah J. Maas's masterful storytelling brings this second book in her seductive and action-packed series to new heights.

 

Review:

     A Court of Mist and Fury is a fantasy book that will blow you away. If you were hesitant to read this book after A Court of Thorns and Roses, then rest assured that this book will leave you full of emotions and stunned at the magical world that is A Court of Mist and Fury. The first book in any series is always touch and go due to the need for in depth descriptions and heavy world building. This often results in a lull of action and adventure, but it is necessary. You may have experienced that in ACOTAR, but in ACOMAF, there is no lack of action, emotion, or adventure. Below you will witness my ramblings about my love for this book, how crazy it made me, and basically me fangirling over everything about this book.

     There really is no way for me to express how much I loved this book. This book.... man. Where do I start? This book wrecked me in the best way possible. It left me gasping for air and wishing I had just a hundred more pages left with Feyre and Rhysand. You know that feeling when a book consumes you so completely that once you finish it you are just numb? That was me after I finished this book. I have said it once and I will say it again, Sarah J Maas has a gift from the gods when it comes to writing. She can spin the most beautiful tales and the most terrifying scenes. She can take a fictional character and make her/him feel like a tangible person that could easily leap off of the page and become real. Sarah doesn't sugar coat her books. She writes it like it is, and that raw power that she has so graciously woven into her books makes them that much more magical. When you read a SJM book, you are able to feel what the characters are feeling and experience every moment of their journey as if it were your own. When you read a SJM book, you will know that the magical world of books is a powerful one.

     I started out reading ACOMAF not knowing how devastatingly beautiful it would be or the emotional journey it would take me on. In the first book, we just scratch the surface of the possible devastation that can befall our beloved characters. In ACOMAF, we finally see that not everything is what it seems and the people who are seen as monsters are the ones who are actually salvation. Feyre is put through so much in this book, and she gives so much that her generosity and strength never failed to amaze me. She survived the horrors under the mountain, barely, and she finally got a glimpse at the future she so rightly deserves only to have it taken away at the wave of a hand. The moment all of that was taken away from her I felt a rage come over me that only a SJM book can conjure.  I didn't know whether to cry or scream or both. This book had a way of capturing my emotions and playing them like a fiddle. I read this book in one day, and in that one day, I was sucked into the world of Prythian and taken on an emotional journey that I didn't think my heart would be able to withstand.

     One of the many things that I loved about ACOMAF is that it made me feel things so strongly that I forgot the feelings were driven by fictional characters in a book. This book made me feel so strongly that I forgot the physical world around me and was devoured by the fictional world. I knew ACOMAF wouldn't be an easy book to read, but I had no idea my heart would hurt so much for Feyre or how much I would hate characters I had come to love in ACOTAR. Maas has a way of twisting my heartstrings (pulling them is too docile for her) and tangling them up into a ball of emotions that range from sadness, rage, terror, and occasionally happiness. But this book had me raging from the start because Maas has a way of writing characters and stories that can piss you off so easily that it is an art form.

     Another thing that I admire about Maas and her writing in this book is her ability to address issues of abuse in such a gentle yet compelling way. In ACOTAR, we are introduced to a character that both physically and emotionally abused those around her, but we never got to see the aftermath. In ACOMAF, we get to see the fall out and how the abuse of one character can damage so many lives. This book addresses what it is like for the victims of physical and emotional abuse and how that abuse can affect them. PTSD, horrible nightmares, becoming an abuser themselves, low self-esteem, and many more topics are addressed in this book and it was eye opening to see such dark topics discussed in this book. However, the book does not focus on those topics heavily. I would suggest that if any of those topics are a serious trigger for you, then you might want to read this book with caution because even as a person who hasn’t really experienced any of those things, it was a lot to take in and it made me very emotional.

     That being said, I cannot tell you how much I loved Feyre. She is not the perfect heroine that is too often portrayed in books these days. She didn’t get things instantaneously, she had her struggles with many things including reading, and she was living in a world she didn’t understand with people who had been hiding things from her since she got there. However, despite all of that, despite the horrors she went through under the mountain, she SURVIVED. She dealt with her shortcomings and her terrible past and used it to make herself stronger. THAT is the kind of character young girls and boys should be reading about. Feyre is the kind of character that was an underdog at first, but because she refused to give up, she became stronger throughout the whole book.

     I don't want to reveal much because this is a book that needs to be discovered itself and not simply told about. Just know that as someone who has read over 2,000 books, this book is among my top ten favorites of all time. This book was full of action, romance (my God, the romance is not for the young or faint of heart), adventures, schemes, revelations, and funny moments thrown in. This book is one that you cannot and should not miss out on. Maas has outdone herself again, and while I wait for the third book in the series, I will be trying to pick myself up from this book. Is it any surprise that I give this book the five stars it deserves?

(P.S. In Night Court fashion, all I can say is that I hope that Feyre and Rhysand's enemies blood will flow like a river in the next book, and I cannot wait to see them on their knees begging for mercy where Feyre finally has her revenge.)