A Court of Mist & Fury

Title: A Court of Mist & Fury

Author: Sarah J. Maas

Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing, 2016

Category & Genre: Adult Fantasy Romance Fiction

Page number: 624

Tropes: Enemies to lovers, slow burn, mental health struggles

Synopsis from the book jacket:

“Feyre has undergone more trials than one human woman can carry in her heart. Though she's now been granted the powers and lifespan of the High Fae, she is haunted by her time Under the Mountain and the terrible deeds she performed to save the lives of Tamlin and his people.

As her marriage to Tamlin approaches, Feyre's hollowness and nightmares consume her. She finds herself split into two different people: one who upholds her bargain with Rhysand, High Lord of the feared Night Court, and one who lives out her life in the Spring Court with Tamlin. While Feyre navigates a dark web of politics, passion, and dazzling power, a greater evil looms. She might just be the 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 in turmoil.”

Why did I choose this book to read?

I decided to read this book because it is not only the second installment in the ACOTAR series but also, according to social media, the most popular novel within the series, and I wanted to see for myself if it exceeds expectations.

What did I like about A Court of Mist & Fury?

I enjoyed the way the author tackled mental struggles after a traumatizing situation. It felt very realistic, and the characters' responses to said trauma were precisely as I would have pictured them. I loved the romantic aspects of the plot, and they were nicely executed and worked well with the lore of the created world. Foreshadowing can sometimes be very cheesy in a novel, but the foreshadowing at the very end of the book perfectly sets up the following novel. It made me excited to continue the series and see what happens next. And, of course, the portrayal of magic was done very well. The various Fae powers Feyre possesses, and her learning to use them properly are done very nicely and promise the reader just how formidable our protagonist will be. 

Where did A Court of Mist & Fury go wrong for me?

This book could have been faster, and it only really started to pick up at part three, The House of Mist, towards the end of the book. I got bored at some parts and had to push through to the end. Like the first installment of the series, A Court of Thorns & Roses, the author keeps all the real action for the end of the book. However, in A Court of Mist & Fury, everything that could go wrong for the antagonists went wrong, which made me want to pull my hair out and yell, “Come on!” I’m sure this was done purposefully, but I found it incredibly frustrating. In addition to this, I found there to be so much information dumping. It felt like the author was over-explaining and mashing everything together to avoid splitting the book into two books versus one big one. 

Here are some of my favorite quotes…

“No one was my master— but I might be master of everything, if I wished. If I dared.”

“And I realized—I realized how badly I'd been treated before, if my standards had become so low. If the freedom I'd been granted felt like a privilege and not an inherent right.”

“Many atrocities have been done in the name of the greater good.”

My character connection…

I think Rhysand deserves a lot of credit for his selflessness. He only wants the best for Feyre and is willing to allow her her liberty, even at the expense of his own feelings. He wants her to make up her own opinion of him without manipulating her into feeling this way or that by telling her things he knows will change her feelings. He never pressures her and gives her reign to make her own choices, regardless of what he needs her to do. In addition to this, he has done things he hates, things that traumatized him, to keep who and what he cares for safe and protected. And he is willing to continue to set aside his happiness for the well-being of those things.

Star Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️

Spice Rating: 🌶️🌶️

Final Verdict: 

This was definitely a slow burn. I wasn't as hooked as I was with the first story, but the lore and romance aspects made up for it. I would reread this to analyze some of the lore of the world of Prythian further. This book is a perfect catalyst for the rest of the series, and I'm excited to see what the future of Prythian has in store for its readers.