In the beginning
And the end
There was Darkness
And nothing more
A Court of Silver Flames by Sarah J. Maas
SERIES: A Court of Thorns and Roses (Book #4)
LENGTH: 757 pages
GENRES: Fantasy, Romance, NA, Fiction
PUBLISHER: Bloomsbury
RELEASE DATE: 16 February 2021
BOOK DESCRIPTION:
Sarah J. Maas’s sexy, richly imagined series continues with the journey of Feyre’s fiery sister, Nesta.
Nesta Archeron has always been prickly-proud, swift to anger, and slow to forgive. And ever since being forced into the Cauldron and becoming High Fae against her will, she’s struggled to find a place for herself within the strange, deadly world she inhabits. Worse, she can’t seem to move past the horrors of the war with Hybern and all she lost in it.
The one person who ignites her temper more than any other is Cassian, the battle-scarred warrior whose position in Rhysand and Feyre’s Night Court keeps him constantly in Nesta’s orbit. But her temper isn’t the only thing Cassian ignites. The fire between them is undeniable, and only burns hotter as they are forced into close quarters with each other.
Meanwhile, the treacherous human queens who returned to the Continent during the last war have forged a dangerous new alliance, threatening the fragile peace that has settled over the realms. And the key to halting them might very well rely on Cassian and Nesta facing their haunting pasts.
Against the sweeping backdrop of a world seared by war and plagued with uncertainty, Nesta and Cassian battle monsters from within and without as they search for acceptance—and healing—in each other’s arms.
THIS BOOK GETS
My review for A Court of Thorns and Roses
My review for A Court of Mist and Fury
My review for A Court of Wings and Ruin
My review for A Court of Frost and Starlight
Power lay in her hand. Death gripped her by the other.
As I’ve said many times by now, I have a complicated relationship with this series of books. I think some are good. And I think that some others… aren’t.
A Court of Silver Flames was one of the former. It’s definitely one of the better books in this series, though I still preferred A Court of Mist and Fury a little more.
The Characters: Pros
Once again, I hated almost all of the characters. The exception this time was almost solely Nesta, with the exception of Eris. Sure, he’s an absolute a-hole, but I’m definitely sensing character development in his future. (He’s also done some despicable things, but considering the horrible things that the main cast has done and deemed acceptable behavior, I’m not sure how much those things matter, particularly in the long run.)
“Whatever you need to throw at me, I can take it. I won’t break.”
Nesta was a breath of fresh air after reading first person Feyre. She’s sassy, and she’s processing stuff in a relatable way. I loved reading about her journey of her grief and trauma, and how she healed and grew stronger from them. And everyone goes through grief and trauma differently, so it pissed me off how some of the other characters expected her to get her act together. Like, come on, you can try to help a little, but please let her process on her own?!?
The Characters: Cons
Rhysand once again wins the award for Most Awful Character. Everything he does in ACOSF sucks. He’s too overprotective of Feyre (nearly Tamlin levels), and he shows Feyre no respect and takes away her agency by keeping crucial information from her (worse than Tamlin levels).
Feyre already had a shield around herself courtesy of Rhys.
Feyre sucks just as much as she always has, but SJM seems to be trying to retcon a few things. These are regarding her relationship with her sisters. In the first books in this series, her relationships with Nesta and Elain weren’t very defined. Even so, it really didn’t seem like she cared about them. At all.
But here, she just won’t shut up about how much she loves and cares about Nesta, and how much she wants to help her get over her trauma. Like, where the hell did this come from? In the first book, Feyre only took care of her family because of a promise she made to her mom on her death bed, but now she’s always cared? What?!?
Anyway, Feyre sucks, that’s not new. But this time Amren sucked too, which is something that surprised and disappointed me. She was such a great character that I really liked. But no, she has to side with Rhys with his keeping of critical secrets from Feyre.
Not to mention, Rhys and Feyre’s absolutely stupid promise to die together no matter what. Guys, you have a small country to run. And people are considering appointing you guys the equivalent of an emperor and empress. What the heck is wrong with you people!?!
The Voice
“I’m talking to the House. Which is a considerable step up from talking to you.”
“It doesn’t talk back.”
“Exactly.”
The voice in ACOSF – and the POV – was much better than in all of the other books in the series. Maybe because it was third person and that’s harder to eff up, but it was definitely better.
Nesta and Cassian both had distinct feeling voices, especially compared to Rhysand and Feyre in A Court of Frost and Starlight, both of whom felt like the same character was narrating. Nesta’s and Cassian’s personalities both shone through their POV chapters pretty nicely.
The Setting and Plot
There was no answer in Nesta’s heart except one.
For the ACOTAR books, I’ve decided to combine this section from here on out. (Hopefully I’ll remember this by the time the next one comes out. Whenever that is.) There’s never much to say about either, so I thought it’d be easier.
I liked some of the world building that Maas decided to add. Though it was kind of expisition-y (as usual) it was still nice to have. And there’s a lot of interesting things revealed here.
There really didn’t feel like there was a ton of plot here, especially for a 750+ page book. (SJM had to make room for all the smut, I guess.) I added a specific colored tab to the book every time something plot relevant happened, and there were very few of them until the very end of the book.
I also hated how A Court of Silver Flames completely dropped the ball on any plot hintyed in the last book. There was definitely some potential with those plot points introduced, but I guess Maas decided on a completely different story in between releases. So most everything that was set up the last book was pretty much resolved off screen which sucked.
The Romance
It was… meh. I guess that Cassian and Nesta had some chemistry, but it really wasn’t clicking for me. And they were ridiculously horny. I have 43 tabs for every time something horny or porny happened. FORTY THREE!! That’s nearly twice as many tabs I had for marking plot stuff! Take a cold shower, you horndogs!
Az took a bite. “You let her suck your 🐓 in the middle of the dining room. At a table I’m currently using to eat my dinner.”
Thank you, Azriel! I haven’t said it before, but I’m tired of the characters banging on the table. Particularly the kitchen table, you know, the one that people eat at? Yeah, please stop.
I felt Nesta had more chemistry with her new friends, honestly. And the freaking House of Wind, which is alive I guess?
But yeah, I loved the bromance between Nesta Emerie and Gwyn. Their friendship was so sweet and one of my favorite parts of the novel.
Closing Thoughts
“I like to read. I cannot survive without reading.”
When I finished reading A Court of Silver Flames I had:
43 pink tabs for smut/horniness or whenever something remotely sex-related occurred or was mentioned.
29 orange tabs for whenever something made me angry or just when characters were being annoying in general.
18 yellow tabs for whenever “like calls to like” was used along with a few other repetitive phrases, that I noticed.
25 green tabs for whenever something plot related happened. (And that’s pretty much it.)
30 blue tabs for whenever I read something I liked of varying degrees. It could’ve been a phrase or character interaction.
So in total, I had 135 tabs in all!
A Court of Silver Flames was a fun, wild ride, and is definitely a step up from the last couple books in this series. Nesta had a strong voice, and was a much better character to follow than Feyre.
I definitely recommend reading this one if you’ve read the other ACOTAR books. It’s one of the better ones, and I think that it’s worth reading, despite its length.
Thanks for reading, and have a wonderful day/night!
See ya ~Mar