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Rachel Reviews: A Court of Mist and Fury by Sarah J. Maas

More of the Fae realm and its troubles with a megalomaniac king, threats galore and, it has to be said, a fair amount of faerie smut

By Rachel DeemingPublished 23 days ago Updated 22 days ago 2 min read
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Rachel Reviews: A Court of Mist and Fury by Sarah J. Maas
Photo by DESIGNECOLOGIST on Unsplash

So, I have just finished reading book two of the ACOTAR series as it is known for short (the modern world loves an acronym!), which is taking the world by storm; one that has been raised with immortal magic, no doubt.

With its depiction of a realm of magical beings which threatens to encroach on the human world just next door over a wall, we revisit Feyre after the conquering of the threat of Amarantha in book one, A Court of Thorns and Roses, to see how things are faring for the characters that were left after some severe battling and maiming and torturing.

And it would seem, that it is not going too well at all. Feyre has returned to the Spring Court and her beloved High Lord, Tamlin, is doing everything to protect her. Only Feyre, and I respect her for this, does not feel like she is in need of protecting and wants to be present in whatever Tamlin is dealing with, as a good life partner should. It has been established quite decisively in book one that Feyre is no wimp and so, a spirited girl, with skills and courage, should not be locked away and dismissed as someone who cannot control her own destiny but unfortunately, this is precisely what Tamlin proposes and enforces and so, Feyre hightails it out of there, distressed and disappointed.

Enter Rhysand, the dark flirtation interest of book one, the High Lord of the Night Court and a smouldering piece of sex if ever there was one. I was, I am proud to admit, very pleased to have Rhysand appear once more as he is, by far, the singular most attractive thing about reading book one and I am further not ashamed to admit that I may have had a bit of a girly crush on him.

However, I have to say that I was disappointed with this book which is generally seen as better than the first. Not for me. I found Feyre equally as irritating. I found the developing relationship between Feyre and Rhys to be strung out. The tension that made the first book fly didn't exist for me and I mentally trudged through this, desperate to finish it, probably never to read any more in the series.

Did the inclusion of scenes verging on soft porn help? Unfortunately, no.

Not the populist view but mine nonetheless.

Rachel Rating: 3/5 stars

This review was first published on Reedsy Discovery:

My review of the first ACOTAR book:

Thanks for stopping by! If you have read this, please do drop a comment as I love to interact with my readers. If you have read the book, please do drop a comment as I would love to discuss the book with its other readers.

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About the Creator

Rachel Deeming

Storyteller. Poet. Reviewer. Traveller.

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Comments (5)

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  • Dharrsheena Raja Segarran22 days ago

    I generally don't like sex so I definitely wouldn't have enjoyed the soft porn hahahaha. So you plan not to finish this series? How many are there in total?

  • angela hepworth23 days ago

    Interesting opinion piece here, Rachel! I personally agree with the general consensus that the second book is better than the first for me, at least from a romance standpoint, because I never really liked Tamlin or connected very much to him as a character. I didn’t feel that the romance between the two was very deserved, though it was genuine. I do agree that the romantic tension pre-romance in the first book was way better and more enjoyable, and I agree that many, many things made the second book dragggggg and well overstay its welcome — pacing in this series in general I’d argue is kind of horrific — but it was charming. I loved Feyre’s navigation through trauma and self-hate as a person absolutely would fall into if they’d gone through what she dud. I fell in love with the setting and the Night Court and I liked meeting Rhysand’s friends - I quite enjoyed it overall! And not to encourage you to read 800 more pages of faerie smut, but the third book is actually my favorite 😂 though that’s certainly not an opinion many people hold. I loved the combat and the political themes in it as well as the character development of the characters I met and loved in ACOMAF. Loved your review!

  • Amanda Starks23 days ago

    Man, this broke my heart! As someone with mental illness, reading about Feyre and her journey to not only love life again but also love and forgive herself was beautiful. I was very happy that sex didn't happen until the last quarter of the novel, as unlike the first book, it felt deserved and triumphant.

  • John Cox23 days ago

    Ahhh, your sentiments align with mine. Don’t interrupt character development and plot with sex that adds nothing to the story. It’s so artless.

  • I see this book in all the bookstores. Now I know! I’ll just read the first one!

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