Review: A Court of Mist and Fury

A Court of Mist and Fury by Sarah J. Maas
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I had to wait a full day before writing this review. So first of all, I loved the first half of this book. Feyre was finally discovering herself and learning to control her powers. Sarah J. Maas also did a splendid job on expanding the Prythian universe and its magic system.

And then I just had tons of issues with the rest of the book:

<Beginning of spoiler>[
1. Honestly, how many times did Maas write that Rhys was the MOST POWERFUL HIGH LORD and his "family" contained the MOST POWERFUL WARRIORS? This was always something that really annoyed me. Like the main love interest is all-mighty and super duper powerful. None of them even bother having flaws...oh wait, their flaws are their love interests. It's so cliche in YA and it's disgusting.
2. Tamlin experienced a brief Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde moment between the first and second book so that Feyre could actually find her true love. I think people need to understand that it's okay to fall in and out of love. It's a normal phenomenon. It's not normal when your boyfriend suddenly becomes emotionally and physically abusive. Like, where what all of that coming from? He didn't retain any of his redeeming qualities from the first book! Yes, the "Under the Mountains" experience was probably traumatic, but Tamlin completely fell away from his original character so Maas can force Rhys on us next. And did I mention that Feyre had no transitioning from Tamlin to Rhys in just six months? She claims that Tamlin no longer fought for her love, but she never bothered to fight for him either.
3. The sex scenes. Okay, no. Just no. It was so cringe-worthy.
4. I was not a fan of the Feyre and Rhysand ship. I like them individually as characters throughout the novel, but I hated them together. Their relationship is not healthy; it's a power play. There was a lack of communication between these two lovers and it was always expected for Rhysand to apologizes to her every time they bicker about nonsense that it just became really annoying. It's honestly really sickening watching their relationship develop.

I was so annoyed at this book that I originally wanted to give it 1.75 stars, but I think the ending had some redeeming qualities and I liked how nicely the author wraps up the transition book in this trilogy (which means I will most likely HAVE to read the last book to find out how they plan to defeat the King of Hybern). (hide spoiler)]
1. Honestly, how many times did Maas write that Rhys was the MOST POWERFUL HIGH LORD and his "family" contained the MOST POWERFUL WARRIORS? This was always something that really annoyed me. Like the main love interest is all-mighty and super duper powerful. None of them even bother having flaws...oh wait, their flaws are their love interests. It's so cliche in YA and it's disgusting. 

2. Tamlin experienced a brief Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde moment between the first and second book so that Feyre could actually find her true love. I think people need to understand that it's okay to fall in and out of love. It's a normal phenomenon. It's not normal when your boyfriend suddenly becomes emotionally and physically abusive. Like, where what all of that coming from? He didn't retain any of his redeeming qualities from the first book! Yes, the "Under the Mountains" experience was probably traumatic, but Tamlin completely fell away from his original character so Maas can force Rhys on us next. And did I mention that Feyre had no transitioning from Tamlin to Rhys in just six months? She claims that Tamlin no longer fought for her love, but she never bothered to fight for him either. 

3. The sex scenes. Okay, no. Just no. It was so cringe-worthy. I mean, "the mountains shook as he came"...really? Please don't tell me all teenagers think that this is what sex is like. 

4. I was not a fan of the Feyre and Rhysand ship. I like them individually as characters throughout the novel, but I hated them together. Their relationship is not healthy; it's a power play. There was a lack of communication between these two lovers and it was always expected for Rhysand to apologizes to her every time they bicker about nonsense that it just became really annoying. It's honestly really sickening watching their relationship develop.
<End of spoiler>

Overall rating: 3 stars

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