A Court of Frost and Starlight (A Court of Thorns and Roses, #3.1) by Sarah J. Maas Review

This is a spoiler-free review! You can read my reviews of A Court of Mist and Fury and A Court of Wings and Ruin now.

I have no idea why it is taking me so long to get through this series, especially because I was reading and buying them as they were released way back in the day. This felt like it was supposed to be a cute little filler Christmas episode in a sense -- no major plot points really came to light, but rather it was used as a stepping stool to introduce the ideas that would become the focuses of A Court of Silver Flames.

Getting more perspectives in this novella was a treat, I will say. We did get a hit of Rhys in the previous book, but I was more excited to see Cassian and Azriel's perspectives -- Mor's perspective gave exactly what I expected from her, so it was not too enticing, and Nesta's short perspective had me agitated for the sole reason that I still have not forgiven her for the way she treated Feyre. And from the bulk of the novella's focus, it was clearly obvious that we would be dealing with a lot more Nesta in the future, which did not leave me thrilled.

There was so much "Oh Nesta is all by herself" and "Nesta lives in a run-down apartment" and "Oh Nesta won't come to dinner" commentary that I thought I was going to lose my mind. I understand that this novella was basically setting up for A Court of Silver Flames, but if I read this before knowing that Nesta would be getting the next book in the series, it would be driving me crazier than it already was. Nesta literally drives me up a wall -- I never liked her in the original trilogy and this novella is not helping her case at all for me. In all honesty, it makes me less inclined to read the next book, only because I know that I will have to force myself to read it because her character infuriates me.

I enjoyed the way that Rhys had some internal reflection going on, especially when it came to understanding his closest friends, but I was definitely surprised at the way he viewed Tamlin at the end -- he still cannot and most likely will not forgive him for what he put Feyre through, but it was nice to see Rhys have that olive branch moment, even if I hate Tamlin just as much as Rhys does. His relationship with Azriel and Cassian was also nice to see from their perspectives as well, since we only have received an outsider's eyes on their bond and centuries of knowing each other.

My beef with Elain and Nesta still runs pretty strong, and the way that Lucien and Cassian show clear signs of aggravation and rejection from them does not hold them in high regard in my eyes. However, the boys should not just get to be with the girls because of circumstance, so I will let that play out as it will. Elain was definitely testing me with the way she is treating the Inner Circle, and I hope she gains some sense with all that sight she now has and gets her act together.

Maas continues to expand on her characters with this winter special as she sets up to continue the series, and fans will get just a taste of normalcy for these characters because they tackle the aftermath of the war and consequences that A Court of Wings and Ruin left in its path. This novella was sweet, but nothing that had me on the edge of my seat or giggling and kicking my feet. It will probably take me another six months to decide if I want to read Nesta's book, and that will probably be from peer pressure, not desire.

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A Court of Wings and Ruin (A Court of Thorns and Roses, #3) By Sarah J. Maas Review

This is a spoiler-free review! You can read my review of A Court of Mist and Fury here.

I was finally determined to finishing this series since I read A Court of Mist and Fury nearly five years ago, and wanted to still be able to get through this book without hearing any more spoilers online. Tamlin is -- to no one's surprise -- still a total jerk, and every single time that his name popped up, I wanted to rip out the page. I have hated that man since the first book and nothing has changed in my opinion in the eight years that I first read that book.

It was great to read about Rhys and Feyre again after all these years -- they were one of the first fantasy couples that I really was introduced to when I was expanding what genres I was reading, so I feel like I am heading towards a full circle moment as I finish the series. Their dynamic continues to development in this third book, and we see how Feyre and Rhys are continually affected by their experiences Under the Mountain and the trauma that they have both gone through.

I hate to jump on the anti-Nesta bandwagon, but for some reason it is taking me a long time to try and move past the way that she has treated Feyre and continued to treat her throughout the book. I can, however, acknowledge that she has been through something traumatic and I want her to grow as a person and have some decent character development -- I do not like the comparisons between her and Elain though, because they both handled their trauma in different ways and I see a lot of people excuse Elain's treatment of Feyre and hark on Nesta's treatment of her when they were pretty similar. I feel as though I am in this limbo with how I feel about the both of them, and I do not think if they apologized to Feyre every day for the rest of their lives that it would be enough to forgive them for how they treated her.

However, I will say that her character development definitely did improve during the second half of the book, and we finally see some emotional expression from her that is not rage, so I say it is a win in my book. I do wish that we got to see more of Elain in the book -- I felt as though she was missing from a lot of plot points, but was glad when she finally had a more active role in the story, but wished people would stop infantilizing her and hold her accountable for certain things. That being said, Elain does apologize to Feyre and that speaks volumes in the context of the books and the struggles that everyone is going through. I do look forward to seeing their development in the rest of the series as well, as they did both grow on me during this installment.

My number one enemy Tamlin continues to plague my existence with every word that comes out of his nasty little mouth. It is absolutely insane to me that he claims time and time again that he loves Feyre, but the things that he says about her has me constantly dropping my jaw to the floor. He is such a little incel of a man, I honestly spent the entire book wishing that he would simply disappear from my memory and from this book as a whole.

I loved seeing all of the High Lords in this book -- it has been years since I read the second book, so it did take some time for me to re-familiarize myself with everyone, as well as try to remember who we hated and who we liked. Lots of fun and lots of betrayal happen not only with some High Lords and their sons, but with characters that initially had our hate, as well as with some that had our support.

A Court of Wings and Ruin could have maybe been shorter -- at times it felt like some scenes were dragging on and at other times it felt as though they were flying by. I do think that Maas utilized most of her pages to the best of her abilities, but I will say that after seeing the "His growls of pleasure filled the tent, drowning out the cries of the injured and crying" quote so many times on social media, it did not prepare me to having to read it with my own two eyes in the context of war. That one definitely could have been left out after edits.

That being said, this book had be uncontrollably sobbing for the last 90 pages and I genuinely felt dehydrated once it was over. I did not think I was going to be hit with so many emotions so close to the ending, and even after getting spoiled for some of the plot points, they still had me hurt. I originally was iffy about continuing this series after I plan on reading A Court of Frost and Starlight, but after that ending, I will definitely be continuing on with the series.

You can add A Court of Wings and Ruin and the rest of the series on Goodreads now, and follow the author for updates on publications and releases.

You can catch up with me and my current reads by friending me on Goodreads and following this blog, my Twitter, and my Instagram in order to stay up-to-date with any reviews, blog tours, and more!