Table of Contents
A Court of Mist and Fury Book Review
A Court of Mist and Fury was published 22nd April 2016 and is the second book in the ACOTAR series written by Sarah J Mass with another three books to follow to complete the series.ACOMAF is commonly the most popular book amongst fans of the best selling series, with 624 pages of slow burn romance, political debate and a potential war, this is a definite fan favorite for fantasy lovers.
Storyline/plot
Following on after the events from under the mountain in book one, Tamlin and Feyre have settled back into life at the Spring Court and are in the midst of planning their wedding, everything seems perfect from the outside. Feyre however, isn’t doing well with the aftermath, with intense nightmares, a dramatic weight loss and the burden of her bargain with Rhysand, everything still doesn’t feel right.
As Feyre struggles to adjust to her new form as high Fae, she also realizes she gained much more than immortality from the other high lords; she inherited one power from each of the seven high lords, powers she cannot contain or control. Tamlin is not impressed by this as he feels Feyre will be made a target if anybody discovers her immense power and refuses to give Feyre training, or access to the outside, imprisoning her.
Feyre soon crumbles under Tamlin’s forces of protection and flees to the night court with Rhysand, who exposes Feyre to a secret city which Amarantha had no knowledge of which in turn left Velris untouched for 50 years during the terror under the mountain. Rhysand turns out to be much softer than most perceive, embracing Feyre, sharing secrets with her and giving her valuable lessons she could have only dreamt of in the Spring court such as, learning how to read.
With the pressures of the Spring court evaporating, Feyre becomes comfortable within Rhysands company in the night court and befriends his close companions. But, with a war on the way from Hybern, will the group locate the book and nullify the cauldron before it’s too late and Prythian, as well as the mortal realm come crashing down. With the war threatening more than her immortal friends, and edging closer to her mortal family, Feyre works relentlessly to refine her gifts but, will it all be worth it in the end?
Writing Style,
With this being book two in the series, a lot of the overall world building along with the politics and a couple of the characters is already set in stone, but as we shift from the spring court to the night court we do get a bit more information on Prythian. Sarah J Maas has characters that each have such depth you can’t help but become attached to them due to their complex pasts and almost real trauma and emotions. The image of Prythian and the characters is described so intensely it takes the whole story to another level as you really can see these people and these places in your mind.
Pros/ cons
Overall I enjoyed this book, I felt that it started at a good point where it was easy to catch up and fill in the gaps from the end of the first book to now. The development between the characters was also fantastic in this book and it was great to see the relationships being built between the characters. I also enjoyed the growth of the main characters individually in this book and hope to see more of it in book three. I will say this book is a bit longer than my usual read so I did find myself losing focus in the slower parts of the book, but overall it was a nice read.
Conclusion
Overall I gave ACOMAF four and a half stars. It was a really good follow up book, it was definitely a bit longer but it held a good steady pace and had a lot of unexpected twists and turns throughout which kept me engaged. It also had a sub plot of romance, similar to the first book, which I found quite enjoyable. The politics was a little more complicated in this book but not to the point it was off putting at all, I would recommend the series so far and am looking forward to making a start on book three (A Court of Wings and Ruin).