Book Review: A Court of Frost and Starlight (Book #3.1 in the A Court of Thorns and Roses Saga) by Sarah J. Maas (Spoiler Review)

Right off the bat, I have to admit that I went into reading A Court of Frost and Starlight with fairly low expectations, mainly because I found A Court of Wings and Ruin to be rather frustrating and disappointing in a lot of ways; and yet I was ultimately still incredibly disappointed by this book.

When it comes to books that I either have mixed feelings about, or books that I simply don’t like, I usually try my best to keep my reviews balanced and fair when it comes to discussing what I like about the book, and what I don’t like about it. Unfortunately, Sarah J. Maas didn’t really give me very much to work with when it comes to having positive things to say about A Court of Frost and Starlight. After all, you can’t build a big, extravagant sandcastle with just one cup of sand that somebody peed in. That being said, the biggest problem that I have with A Court of Frost and Starlight is the fact that the book honestly doesn’t really have a solid plot to it. Much like Seinfeld has always been described as being, “A show about nothing,” I would describe A Court of Frost and Starlight as being a book about nothing; because this book doesn’t really have much of a solid, concrete plot.

Prior to A Court of Frost and Starlight’s release, the information that was given about the book led me to believe that this book was basically meant to be an interlude and bridge the gap between the events that took place in A Court of Wings and Ruin, and set things up for the upcoming full-length novels in the series; which will focus on characters other than Feyre and Rhysand. However, there’s pretty much nothing that happens in A Court of Frost and Starlight that sets things up for the upcoming full-length novels in the A Court of Thorns and Roses series; aside from the fact that there’s an excerpt from the next book in the series at the end of the book, which I’ll briefly comment on at the end of this review. The fact that there’s nothing that happens in A Court of Frost and Starlight itself that appears to set anything up for future full-length novels in the A Court of Thorns and Roses series makes me feel like this book doesn’t even need to exist. As far as I’m concerned, this book is nothing more than an unnecessary, cash grab since the excerpt from the next full-length book in the series is honestly the only thing in this book that sets things up for future books in the series. I suppose I could end up being proven wrong once I read the next book in the series when it’s released; but for now, I just feel like this book fails to serve as genuine setup for upcoming books in the series. That really made reading this book feel like an unnecessary waste of time, as far as I’m concerned.

A Court of Thorns and Roses: In Anticipation for A Court of Frost and Starlight's release

Even though I personally think that A Court of Mist and Fury is a tad overrated, and A Court of Wings and Ruin has its fair share of issues; I’m still extremely excited for the release of the A Court of Thorns and Roses novella, A Court of Frost and Starlight. I’m definitely planning to devour it as soon as it's released, because I’m really looking forward to finding out what happens next with Feyre and Rhysand. Personally, even though some of Tamlin's actions throughout the series have been somewhat questionable, I'm hoping that he will also be featured in A Court of Frost and Starlight at least briefly, if not somewhat prominently. Regardless of what happens in A Court of Frost and Starlight, I’m pretty confident that I’ll enjoy it, though. :)

Finally, I also want to mention that I'm considering the possibility of marathoning the first three books in the A Court of Thorns and Roses series by listening to them on audiobook again in April, in both preparation and anticipation for the release of A Court of Frost and Starlight on May 1st. I think that marathoning the A Court of Thorns and Roses series could possibly be a lot of fun. :)

Related Post:Book Review: A Court of Thorns and Roses (Book #1 in the ACourt of Thorns and Roses Saga)

Book Review: A Court of Wings and Ruin (Book #3 in the A Court of Thorns and Roses Saga) by Sarah J. Maas

Right off the bat, I have to say that while I thought that A Court of Mist and Fury was a bit of chore to get through, and I ultimately didn’t like it very much, I thought that A Court of Wings and Ruin was definitely an improvement upon that book. However, even though I liked A Court of Wings and Ruin a little bit more than I liked A Court of Mist and Fury, there are still a lot of things about this book that I don’t like, and that I definitely found this book rather frustrating and disappointing in a lot of ways.

When I finished reading A Court of Mist and Fury, I have to admit that I wasn’t too crazy about the fact that the book ended with Feyre returning to the Spring Court in order to spy on Tamlin and the others, with the intention of bringing the Spring Court down. However, I ended up really enjoying how that storyline ultimately played out in A Court of Wings and Ruin. I’m really glad that Sarah J. Maas didn’t make it easy for Feyre to carry out her plan, and that she actually ran into some problems along the way, because I think that it would have felt incredibly contrived if Feyre had been able to carry out her plans without a hitch. I also love that Feyre ended up having to work with Lucien in order to carry out her plan, because I feel like that added a very interesting dynamic to that particular part of the book.

While the blossoming romance between Feyre and Rhysand in A Court of Mist and Fury was definitely one of the bright spots of the book for me, I thought that the writing for their relationship in this book was for the most part more frustrating and annoying than anything else. The way Feyre and Rhysand’s relationship was written in A Court of Mist and Fury made their relationship a relationship that I really enjoyed reading about and could root for, especially considering the way Rhysand really encouraged Feyre to better herself and gave her a greater sense of freedom; unlike Tamlin who really seemed to try to shelter Feyre. Sadly, the way Feyre and Rhysand’s relationship was written in this book really made their relationship come across as being incredibly shallow and primarily about sex and constantly flirting with each other.

Personally, I really hated the fact that there’s some kind of telepathic bond between Feyre and Rhysand. I didn’t keep count of how many times the phrase “down the bond” was used throughout the book when it came to Feyre and Rhysand flirting with each other, or just communicating with each other in general through the use of their telepathic bond; but I’m pretty sure that if people made a drinking game out of how often the phrase “down the bond” was used throughout the book, they would probably die of alcohol poisoning before they had even read a third of the book. If Sarah J. Maas had actually used that bond between Feyre and Rhysand for reasons besides it being a way for them to constantly flirt with each other, I might not have necessarily minded there being a telepathic bond between them. Maybe it could have been used to help progress the plot more often than it was; but the fact that Feyre and Rhysand’s telepathic bond for the most part really seemed to serve no other purpose aside from it being a way for them to flirt with each other, really annoyed me quite a bit throughout the book.

Book Review: A Court of Mist and Fury (Book #2 in the A Court of Thorns and Roses Saga) by Sarah J. Maas

Right off the bat, I have to say that while I absolutely loved A Court of Thorns and Roses for the most part, I sadly thought that A Court of Mist and Fury was a rather disappointing follow-up to it. That being said, I have to admit that I was really surprised by the aspects of the book that I ended up liking the most.

While I ultimately thought that A Court of Mist and Fury was a rather disappointing book, I did think that the book started out on a relatively strong note. I thought that Sarah J. Maas did a pretty good job of showing at the beginning of the book how the events that happened “Under the Mountain” in A Court of Thorns and Roses had definitely traumatized Feyre in a variety of ways. For example, it was established that she had apparently been getting sick and throwing up during the night on a regular basis, and it was also established that she had been hiding that fact from Tamlin. While I thought that the trauma that Feyre was experiencing at the beginning of the book was all very interesting, I really wish that Maas had explored that more than she did. I especially wish that Maas had really delved into how the trauma that Feyre was experiencing affected her relationship with Tamlin in more detail. 

One thing that really bothered me about the beginning of the book is the fact that much like Maas had the tendency to give what I viewed as being important conversations that took place between Feyre and Tamlin in A Court of Thorns and Roses the “Yada Yada” treatment, she also kind of did the same thing when it came to giving the details about how Tamlin proposed to Feyre. I was really surprised by the fact that Maas kind of glossed over the story of how Tamlin asked Feyre to marry him. That’s something that I really thought that Maas would have wanted to flesh out more than she did since Feyre and Tamlin’s relationship was such a central element of A Court of Thorns and Roses; and Tamlin proposing to Feyre is also something that I personally think that Maas definitely shouldn’t have glossed over like she did.

One thing that really surprised me about A Court of Mist and Fury is that it really made me hate Tamlin in a lot of ways. While Tamlin did do a few things in A Court of Thorns and Roses that bothered me, I ultimately thought that Tamlin was a very nice guy, and I was rooting for Feyre and Tamlin as a couple. However, as I was reading this book, I really started to feel like Feyre and Tamlin’s relationship was rather problematic, and I couldn’t entirely blame Feyre for not wanting to go through with the wedding. Given the way Tamlin was written in A Court of Mist and Fury, I honestly felt like Maas almost completely assassinated him as a character, as well as the relationship between Feyre and Tamlin.