A Court of Mist and Fury
by: Sarah J. Maas
5 (MILLION) stars
I started this series strictly on the referral of friends. That's actually how I was introduced to Sarah J. Maas in the first place. After I grew to love the TOG series I was told about this series and was nervous because I didn't know how anything could live up to TOG. While ACOTAR didn't wow me the same way the TOG series did from the very start (but I still really enjoyed it!), this book...this book topped almost all of the TOG books.
I've said it before and I'll say it again, SJM is a master of character development. This book was a slow build yet so thrilling at the same time. Sorrowful, yet somehow joyous. This book even made me appreciate ACOTAR that much more. She added so much detail, made little things make sense. She built Rhys into an even bigger hero, somehow, by filling in all the details of his backstory.
But Feyre. Feyre is the soul of this book. I loved her in ACOTAR but I wept for her in ACOMAF. I cheered for her. I felt her joy, her sorrow, her emptiness. I care about her in the same way I care about Aelin (TOG), which I didn't think I would, after the first book. And her friendships! I loved all the supporting characters and ate up every little detail that SJM sprinkled out about their back stories.
One thing that I will say is that I've never been a romance book reader and while this is very much in the fantasy realm--there are some pretty intense "love" scenes. There were really only a couple of times where I felt it was a bit much--but I had gotten a taste of that in the TOG books. But SJM really took her "romance writing" to a different place in a couple of scenes in this novel. It all worked but it was definitely...intense.
Ok. I don't know if I can review this book fully until I have more time to recover. I just finished reading and I'm in a serious book withdrawal. I still have quite a wait for ACOWAR from my library and I don't know what to do with myself. I wish I could give a book more stars...but a solid 5 stars. I don't give 5 stars lightly and this book deserves it. Suspense, adventure, love, magic, friendship. It really did have it all.
xo Sara
Curious about how I rate books? Read about my scale here. Warning: it's super scientific.
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