all characters wanted
  • Book Reviews
    • Reviews by Book Title
    • Reviews by Posting Date >
      • Book Reviews: 2020
      • Book Reviews: 2019
      • Book Reviews: 2018
      • Book Reviews: 2017
    • Rating System
  • Other Musings
    • Monthly Wrap Ups
    • Recipes
  • About
  • Contact

Book Reviews

A Court of Frost and Starlight (ACOTAR #3.1) by Sarah J. Maas

10/2/2020

0 Comments

 
Picture
SYNOPSIS
Hope warms the coldest night.

Feyre, Rhys, and their close-knit circle of friends are still busy rebuilding the Night Court and the vastly-changed world beyond. But Winter Solstice is finally near, and with it, a hard-earned reprieve.

Yet even the festive atmosphere can't keep the shadows of the past from looming. As Feyre navigates her first Winter Solstice as High Lady, she finds that those dearest to her have more wounds than she anticipated--scars that will have far-reaching impact on the future of their Court.
 
Synopsis from Goodreads

PERSONAL REVIEW
I'm so happy I read this book before reading comments about it because a lot of people seemed to give it negative reviews based on the fact that it was short and not much happened. I hate to be the one to say it, but that's exactly the point of this novella. It's clearly meant to be a small breather between series as fans wait for another full novel to be published. And honestly? I really enjoyed this story. 

Multiple Perspectives 
This is the first time we are reading Cassian, Nesta, and Mor's perspectives and I love that Maas did this. Clearly these will be the narrators of the new books (I wonder what Mor is going to discover on the continent??) and she's already establishing their different voices. Interestingly, Feyre and Rhysand are still written in the first person, while Cassian, Nesta and Mor are in the third. I'm not really sure what this means for the new books, but I thought it was interesting to note. We also got a glimpse of what Lucien has been up to and I'm VERY interested to find out more about his new family of Jurian and Vassa and how they are going to break Vassa's curse. Obviously this is a storyline for the future books, but I wish was had been given a bit more time with Lucien in this novella because the guys has had so much of his story happen off page - time for us to get to know him better!

Nesta and Tamlin Are Having a Really Hard Time 
Wow, both these characters are clearly suffering really badly after the events of the previous books and I honestly feel so bad for them. Nesta is getting a lot of hate online because of how she treats Cassian, but she's only had a few months to come to terms with the fact that the world she knew was stolen from her, that she has intense powers that may or may not still be around, and that she has an equally intense relationship with a male that she just met and doesn't know how to deal with it. Girl is going through a lot! Likewise, Tamlin's life is in complete ruins, largely because of Feyre's actions in the previous novel. While Feyre and Rhysand are under no obligation to forgive Tamlin for the way he treated Feyre, I do think they need to admit how badly Feyre treated him in response. She literally blew up his life and walked away without a backwards glance. He officially has no one and. I'm really hoping that Maas finds a way to give him a happy ending. 

Standard Overly-Graphic Sex Scene (*sigh*)
Am I the only one who is really over the ridiculous sex scenes between Feyre and Rhysand. I get that Maas wants to be in the adult instead of young adult genre, but that should be based on elevated writing, not by always needing to include over-the-top sex between these guys. This almost reads like erotica, which really doesn't fit the story. Super done reading about these guys, but I'm pretty sure we're just going to be moving into reading about sex between Cassian and Nesta. Interestingly, I wonder if Maas will ever write a f/f sex scene for Mor? She clearly prefers women, and yet we've only "heard" her with men. Will Maas attempt this in a future book or is it just easier for her to only write gratuitous sex for m/f characters? It'll be interesting to find out. 

The long and the short of it is that this is a novella and seems to simply act as a bridge between the end of the first trilogy and the beginning of a new series of books...and I think Maas has done a good job of it. Was the graphic sex scene needed? Absolutely not. Did this act as a way to give a voice to characters that haven't had a POV before? Definitely. I'd recommend this to people who've read the rest of the series and are looking for a fun, short story before the new books are published!
​​

FINAL RATING: 4.5/5

0 Comments



Leave a Reply.

    About Me

    Hi, I'm Alexandra! I love reading (largely YA fiction, but sometimes I'll read "adult" books), playing board games, Nutella, and binge-watching TV shows on Netflix with my husband. 

    I absolutely love to travel, but home will always be in Toronto. Books come with me everywhere and I can't wait to hear if you agree or disagree with my reviews. 


    Follow Me on Instagram

    @AllCharactersWanted

    Categories

    • ​​Reviews by Posting Date
    • Reviews by Book Title ​​

    2020 Reading Challenge

    2020 Reading Challenge
    Alexandra has read 20 books toward her goal of 85 books.
    hide
    20 of 85 (23%)
    view books

    2019 Reading Challenge

    2019 Reading Challenge
    Alexandra has read 5 books toward her goal of 90 books.
    hide
    5 of 90 (5%)
    view books

    2018 Reading Challenge

    2018 Reading Challenge
    Alexandra has completed her goal of reading 80 books in 2018!
    hide
    88 of 80 (100%)
    view books

Posts

Latest Book Review

Other Musings

Reviews

Reviews by Posting Date

Reviews by Title

Author

About Me
Contact Me
© COPYRIGHT All Characters Wanted 2017. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
  • Book Reviews
    • Reviews by Book Title
    • Reviews by Posting Date >
      • Book Reviews: 2020
      • Book Reviews: 2019
      • Book Reviews: 2018
      • Book Reviews: 2017
    • Rating System
  • Other Musings
    • Monthly Wrap Ups
    • Recipes
  • About
  • Contact