A Court of Mist and Fury
By Sarah J. Maas

Feyre is immortal.

After rescuing her lover Tamlin from a wicked Faerie Queen, she returns to the Spring Court possessing the powers of the High Fae. But Feyre cannot forget the terrible deeds she performed to save Tamlin's people - nor the bargain she made with Rhysand, High Lord of the feared Night Court.

As Feyre is drawn ever deeper into Rhysand's dark web of politics and passion, war is looming and an evil far greater than any queen threatens to destroy everything Feyre has fought for. She must confront her past, embrace her gifts and decide her fate.

She must surrender her heart to heal a world torn in two.

Last year, I devoured A Court of Thorns and Roses, and absolutely adored it (maybe even more than Throne of Glass). So, obviously, A Court of Mist and Fury was one of my most anticipated reads of this year - I was really expecting to love this one! This was a buddy read with Jennifer and Stephanie, and I was so excited to finally read it with them! However, I was left sorely disappointed.

I had so many problems with A Court of Mist and Fury, so my annoyance by the book really wasn’t helped by the overhype EVERYWHERE. I am so irritated with how much everyone goes on about it, and I literally don’t know anyone in the book community who hasn’t read the book; I can count on just one hand the people (I know) who didn’t enjoy it! I am absolutely sick of people pushing this book in my face!

My main problem with the book was Rhysand (*gasps with controversy*). It’s obvious from the very first chapter that Tamlin is going to have a complete personality change (which is typical of Maas if you’ve read ToG - it’s just getting boring), and that Rhysand would be the hot new love interest and that countless people would change their Twitter names and Instagram bios to “i love rhys” or “rhys trash”. can u please stop doing this, idek who anyone is anymore

It’s not the way he was presented as a complete asshole in the first book yet we’re suddenly expected to swoon over him in the second that was annoying me so much. It was the way he was a misogynist and controlling to Feyre - I don’t see how (as a feminist) I’m meant to see someone as ‘hot’ who is overbearing and manipulative.

His character just did a complete 180 from the first book and first few chapters, and I’m not okay with that! Like I said before, Tamlin’s personality was reversed, and Rhys’ did exactly the same. He was clearly meant to be the complete prince charming trope - “thoughtful” and “selfless” (ie can’t make up his mind if he wants Feyre or not, and came across as just arrogant). I wasn’t feeling him as either trope, so to me he even came across as a little bland. I was disappointed with the way he was nothing special, because that’s what everyone makes him out to be.

I also found the plot frankly boring. For the first 200 or-so pages, literally nothing was happening. Feyre was visiting Rhys, which clearly wasn’t my favourite plot arc, and there was a lack of focus on the actual fantasy elements. Nothing was explained, and it did feel like SJM was not explaining things properly so a loop whole could be found later on. I am a really big fan of fantasy, so I would have liked the world to have gone into more detail because I found it very interesting.

The ending felt rushed too, which was disappointing, because for me so much of the book dragged. The epic battle at the end was even a little confusing (that might just be me!) which was so frustrating, because a book over 600 pages had been building up to it. My book tastes might just be changing, but I thought the same way with Queen of Shadows too, which makes me even more sad, because SJM used to be one of my favourite authors.

There were some things that I enjoyed - I still really liked Feyre, especially at the end of the novel. I still really enjoy SJM’s writing style (for now!), and the fantasy worlds that she builds are beautiful. I’m not sure if I will be picking up the next book in the series yet (I might do, just to see how the series ends, because I’ve invested so much in them!), but I’m not excited for it.

I didn’t completely not enjoy this book, but I was expecting so highly of it, that it just couldn’t deliver. If you enjoyed the first book, I’d still recommend picking this book up to see where the story goes, but don’t expect too highly of it. ACOMAF is way too over-hyped, which is sad because people aren’t going to enjoy it as much.