Poudelivre

I fell in love with Sarah J. Maas’ A Court of Thorns and Roses from the first moment, as evident HERE. This is the second time I read the sequel, A Court of Mist and Fury and it was even better than I remember it being. Maas is a great storyteller and this series really has captured my heart. If you haven’t read the first novel yet, but you’re curious about it then stop reading now because this review contains spoilers.

We’re back in Prythian with Feyre, now known as Feyre Cursebreaker. Three months ago, she finished off Amarantha Under the Mountain and she saved Tamlin and the rest of the land. Now she’s back at the Spring Court with Tamlin and Lucien, set to marry her love and finally get her happily ever after. But things aren’t great, despite the fact that they’re now all, finally, free. Feyre battles with everything she did and saw Under the Mountain and it’s hurting her. It’s hurting even more that Tamlin doesn’t allow her to work through it, that he instead encourages her to push it to the side. He wants her to sit by him and be silent, be still, to be the hope his people needs. But Feyre is dying inside more and more for every moment that Tamlin pushes her to be something she’s not. The only time she can breathe, truly breathe, is when Rhysand calls upon the bargain they made Under the Mountain and Feyre is brought to the Night Court. As time passes and Feyre’s relationship with Tamlin doesn’t improve she starts to wonder if the freedom she seeks isn’t with him, but rather in the Night Court. With Rhysand and his friends, in a court hated by so many but to Feyre wonderful in a way she never could’ve imagined. But despite everything, all is not well within Prythian. War is brewing and more hate and darkness is on its way. Soon Feyre needs to decide what to do – and who to stand beside.

As the title of the novel suggest, this is darker story than A Court of Thorns and Roses. While the first book was horrifying at times, especially later in when Feyre is Under the Mountain, she really has to work through it all here, in A Court of Mist and Fury. Everything she experienced is something she has to deal with now, but a big part of the novel is also dedicated to Feyre coming to terms with her immortality, her new body and strength and the gifts she’s received from the seven High Lords. They all have their own specific power and now Feyre is harnessing all of them inside her. Accepting this is not easy and Tamlin makes it so hard for Feyre when they’re back at the Spring Court, mainly because he’s afraid of losing her. But the more he tries to protect her and keep her out of harm’s way, the more Feyre hurts. I liked that Maas showed Feyre’s struggles because often I feel that heroines are made to experience awful things in novels, but they have little time to come to terms with what happened afterward, making the whole thing unbelievable. Maas didn’t do this, she let Feyre get the time she needed to heal and find herself and she wove the story around that rather than letting it be a small side-track before she continued on the path of the novel.

I loved the first instalment of this series and I could so easily sit here for hours and heap praise on the sequel. Maas has written a story I’ve been longing to read for years and it is more perfect than I could ever imagined. At one part in the novel, Feyre tells Rhys that she has unknowingly been looking for him and his closest friends – now her friends as well – for years and I feel like I’ve been looking for this story just as long. It is so rich and imaginative yet so believable. It will swallow you up in a heartbeat and not let you go, even after you put it down. It gives you action, romance, sorrow and pain, friendship and love, light and darkness, beauty and horrors. Basically, everything you could ever want from a book.

It took me months to read A Court of Mist and Fury the first time, since I didn’t want to rush it but this time I had the third novel, A Court of Wings and Ruin, waiting for me and I read the second book a lot faster, which gave me a better view over the whole story. I’m amazed by Maas and how she has crafted this story; it’s so detailed and big – I have no idea how she manages to keep every storyline separate but it really gives to novel a lot of depth. One of my favourite things remains the characters. They’re so deep and so true. I connected instantly with Feyre in the first book and I was very curious about Rhysand then as well. I didn’t believe him to be the monster everyone said he was and I was right. A Court of Mist and Fury allows the reader to get close to him and see that behind his hard exterior is a character with a very rich personality. His friends, as well, are wonderful and I love that they have their own stories that Maas touches on here and there. I can’t wait to learn more about them.

But Feyre is of course the big achievement. She’s so broken in this novel and I loved it. A Court of Mist and Fury was a nice 600+ pages and Feyre is hurting for the most part. Maybe you think that’s boring, but I didn’t. I thought it was true and real. Feyre has been through hell and back and then back again. She did horrible things Under the Mountain and had horrible things done to her. She was killed and remade into a High Fae. She was reunited with her love and then pushed away by him. She hurts for months and I love it because that’s the only thing that would be logical, in my opinion. If you would go through something like that yourself, you wouldn’t be fine after a few weeks or a month. You might not be fine, ever. Like I said earlier, Maas does not rush Feyre’s recovery and I applaud that. So many authors do, because they want to move the story forward. But this is part of the story, such an important part, and I really think it can speak to readers who feel bad themselves, for whatever reason. That it’s okay to take however much time you need to be okay. You don’t have to get over everything in a few weeks. Getting back on your feet takes time and that’s okay. This is one of the most important parts in the book, in my opinion, and I love that the novel isn’t just about whether Feyre will split from Tamlin or about her possible romance with Rhys. It’s about her health and wellbeing and I really liked that Maas put so much focus on that.

I could go on and on but I think this is a series that you should explore yourself. I really think there’s something for everyone in here and I do believe it will take your breath away. It’s so intricate and rich – really one of the best fantasy novels I’ve ever read. I’m moving on to A Court of Wings and Ruin now, with both excitement and a bit of dread. I can’t wait to find out what will happen, but I’m also terrified for all the characters. No matter what happens, I know it’ll be an adventure I won’t forget.