A Court of Mist and Fury by Sarah J. Maas

Summary from Goodreads:

Feyre survived Amarantha's clutches to return to the Spring Court—but at a steep cost. Though she now has the powers of the High Fae, her heart remains human, and it can't forget the terrible deeds she performed to save Tamlin's people.

Nor has Feyre forgotten her bargain with Rhysand, High Lord of the feared Night Court. As Feyre navigates its dark web of politics, passion, and dazzling power, a greater evil looms—and she might be 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 cleaved in two.

With more than a million copies sold of her beloved Throne of Glass series, Sarah J. Maas's masterful storytelling brings this second book in her seductive and action-packed series to new heights.

Review:

For 640 pages, I read this one remarkably fast. There just wasn’t a good time to put this down. Ever. I needed to know things. And I had to see other things through.

That being said, I do not like these books as much as I do the Throne of Glass series. I liked this second book a lot more than I did the first. I think that is mostly due to the pacing. This one had way better pacing, action, adventure, and world building than book 1 did. However, because of Throne of Glass, I feel like I expect a lot here.

I still loved, and rated this rather highly. There aren’t a lot of books I can read this quickly. It was like a special treat just to have a few spare moments in my busy life right now to read it, and I never felt like any of my spare moments were wasted. This was juicy. The romance was sizzling. The dark court was fascinating. The characters were awesome. And the world was just beyond awesome.

I love that the first guy a girl falls in love with isn’t necessarily the last guy she falls in love with. Maas takes this ridiculous YA trope of first love soul mates and turns it upside down, or at least I thought she was doing that. Then comes the whole “mate” thing. As far as I can tell, it’s a not-so fancy way of describing someone a character can just instantly fall in love with/soul mate bond with. As soon as more happened with this particular plot device, I made literal gagging noises. This instant-love/meant to be nonsense reminded too much of imprinting and also kind of counter-balanced what the author was initially saying.

Looking back at my old review, I realize I also didn’t care too much for Feyre in book 1. I loved her in this one. She knows she’s broken. But, she also knows she’s special. She’s strong, determined to not be left behind, and open to learning how to improve. She has some serious downer moments, but she did have a lot to process and recover from.

So, why don’t I like this one as much as her other series (besides the instant soul mate nonsense)? The plot. I think her other series has one insanely amazing and unique YA plot, and this one just barely reached a quarter of the other one’s greatness. I know she can do better.

The different courts hiding artifacts, and the whole bringing back a certain character storyline just felt like something I’ve read a million times before. And I guess, the whole Feyre having all the powers thing, also reminded me of a million other YA books. I was hoping for the plot to be a little bit fresher.

That being said, I grew to love Feyre. I loved the romance (before the mate thing started). I loved the world building. I read this book in record time. The pacing was so much better than in book 1. However, I was hoping for a little more originality. I give it an 8/10. I’m still rating it high because of how I devoured the thing.