A Court of Mist and Fury: Sarah J. Maas

We meet again!

I just… I have no words. Here we go :)

Brief Synopsis:

Feyre, Rhys, Tamlin and Lucien survived Amarantha’s rage and terror, and they’re now living their respective lives. It’s been three months and Rhys hasn’t come to collect his debt of having Feyre in the Night Court for one week a month yet, but things aren’t that great in the Spring Court for Feyre either. Her and Tamlin both have been absolutely plagued with gut-wrenching nightmares about what they went through Under the Mountain, and as a result Feyre isn’t engaging in any of the things she loved before and Tamlin is only like 1000X more protective than he used to be.

I’ve got to say right off the bat here that I get that both of them went through some shit, but Tamlin absolutely drove me nuts through this. He was like that creepy guy your friend dates that doesn’t want her to spend any time with you anymore and asks her why she gets dressed up or does her make up. Like, chill out for a bit, bro.

Ianthe is a High Priestess that was once close with Tamlin and has agreed to come to the Spring Court and help Tamlin and Feyre in planning something great… for Tamlin proposed to Feyre not long after everything under the mountain. Feyre quickly learns that having her own input in her wedding isn’t really welcome and everything is supposed to be done to fae expectations. She hates her dress, she doesn’t want the red flowers, and all of only adds to her uncertainty that she’s doing the right thing. Tamlin won’t let her have a say in much, won’t let her help out in any way, and keeps her totally confined. This, added with the fact that they haven’t Bonded yet, all equals out to cold feet for Feyre.

Walking down the aisle, she has a total moment of panic and calls out for help. Through the connection she has with Rhysand, he hears the call and finally shows up to take her for a week, helping her avoid the humiliation of turning Tamlin down at the alter in front of everyone he knows. She expects everything at the Night Court to be terror and to feel like she felt Under the Mountain. What she doesn’t expect is a beautiful, airy castle on the mountain with hardly any windows, balmy temperatures, fantastic views and clothes that suit her much better than anything that Tamlin has been dressing her in lately.

Rhys also isn’t ready to push her away from the serious issues. Rather, he wants her in the forefront, figuring it out with him. He pushes her to finally learn how to read and he pushes her to hone whatever power she received when the high fae gave her bits of their power so that she would live what happened to her due to Amarantha. Though Feyre resists at first, she begins to work with Rhys and hone her talents, her defenses, and her knowledge.

She learns that, though Amarantha was defeated, King Hybern that she served is also eager to take over and the war is far from over. This is only a fraction of the things that Tamlin has been adamant to keep from her. While she’s in the Night Court she also meets Morrigan, a cousin of Rhys’s that she takes to pretty quickly. When the week is up and she returns to the Spring Court, she fights back at first but then decides to give Tamlin one more chance. This ends pretty disastrously, with Tamlin literally locking her inside the estate. She loses her shit and Mor comes to her rescue. When she’s back at the Night Court, she tells Rhys she isn’t sure when she’ll be ready to go back, and he tells her she’s welcome as long as she wants to be.

She joins Rhys on a journey to Velaris, the city that Rhys mysteriously kept blocked from Amaratha throughout her reign. As a result, it’s a peaceful and happy place. There, she is introduced to the rest of Rhysand’s group, for he tells her that he doesn’t want her to blindly help him, but make up her own mind. He also tells her she can go back to the Spring Court whenever she wants it.

Almost immediately, Feyre starts making the most of her time with Rhys and his people. His soldiers Cassian and Azriel are Illyrian and terrifying, but she starts to warm up to them as well. The only one she isn’t entirely sure of is Amren, who is changed like her, though Amren didn’t change from human to fae, and nobody is quick to tell her what Amren used to be, just that it isn’t something that any of them would like to see again.

She agrees to make a journey to the fae prison, where she meets the Bone Carver. The Bone Carver takes the shape of something different to each person and presents itself to Feyre as a young boy, while later on Rhys tells her that she saw Jurian himself, the male that Amarantha kept barely tethered to life and that had fought in the first battle. In turn, he also wants to destroy the wall separating human and fae, putting Feyre’s family at great risk. While visiting, they discover that King Hybern wants to the original Cauldron that created life. To get it to its full gusto, it also needs all four of its legs and a book that was torn and distributed to human and fae alike. Through talk of recent raids, it seems that Hybern has already been gathering the legs, so Rhysand and Feyre focus their efforts on the book. Rhysand tells Feyre there’s a good chance that she can detect it, since she has powers from each of the high lords within her.

Through history, they know that one half of the book is in the Summer Courts, so that is their next stop. Feyre is surprised to find that she genuinely enjoys her time at the Summer Courts and the High Lord there, one by the name of Tarquin. Tarquin is nice and handsome and Feyre tells him that she believes it would be easy to love him.

Rhys spends plenty of his time flirting with Cresseida, of Tarquin’s court, and Feyre does her best to pretend this doesn’t get under his skin completely. She hates that she’s betraying Tarquin’s trust but knows that it’s for all of fae-kind. Though it isn’t easy, they get the half of the book and flee, but not without a warning of death from Tarquin. A visit to Feyre’s mortal family home is unsuccessful, as the mortal queens have heard of Rhysand and don’t like what they’ve heard. They tell him that, without proof of his decency, they refuse to give up the second half of the book. They travel to the Court of Nightmares for this “proof” where Feyre has to pretend she’s nothing more than Rhy’s plaything. This proves a lot more fun for Rhys and Feyre than work, and she realizes that she can no longer deny her very real feelings for him.

They visit the Illyrian training camp that Rhysand, Cassian and Azriel were brought up and while training in the steppes, Lucien finds them. Feyre knows that Lucien will bring her back to the Spring Court against her will, so she fights back like she never has before, revealing more than one of her new powers to Lucien.

I’ve got to say, that part pretty much gutted me. I knew that Lucien was being a coward the entire time and not being a good friend to Feyre. He fought Tamlin, but not very successfully and gave up easily. But to seek Feyre out and try to bring her back against her will? Dick move, Lucien. She saved your damn life Under the Mountain.

Through a series of obstacles, Feyre is stuck trying to save Rhys’s life and finds out that she’s his mate. What’s worse – he’s known, Mor has known, and Amren has known. She’s beyond pissed and let’s Rhys known, before disappearing for a handful of days with help from Morrigan. Some self-ruminating leaves her to understand that this is exactly what Rhys was afraid of and that she doesn’t want to run from him anymore. They have a ~very steamy~ experience before the world crashes in on them again. One of the mortal queens betrays the others, before the others all betray her in turn.

They think they have the advantage. They storm the castle of Hybern thinking they know what they’re doing. But they’re woefully wrong. Azriel and Cassian are both fatally injured when it comes about that Tamlin and Lucien struck a bargain with King Hybern that he can use the Spring Court lands for raiding if Tamlin can just have Feyre back (PUKE!) what they didn’t expect was Feyre’s sisters, caught and subsequently also turned into fae. An even bigger twist? One of them just might be Lucien’s mate.

Things get worse from there and Feyre pretty much fakes her way out of saving everyone, but it means she has to go back to the Spring Court and pretend that she’s still in love with Tamlin even though it makes her physically ill every second of the day. The High Lady isn’t doing playing, though, and someone that’s supposed to be playing for the other side might be onto her.

My Rating:

8/10. Good Gawd. I’m shooketh in the best of ways. I’m honestly so mad about how it ended and am just waiting for when she gets to be back with her people. But, is there hope for Lucien yet or am I just a mad fool?

Devastation Rating:

Mmm. Let’s say 8/10. The brutality is there and the consequences that are to come from things that happened just can’t be good, mmk?

Favorite Quote(s):

“He gave her that grin I realized likely meant trouble was coming…”

“But looking in those star-flecked violet eyes, no one would ever mistake him for anything but extraordinary.”

“When you spend so long trapped in darkness, Lucien, you find that the darkness begins to stare back.”

“I couldn’t remember the last time I’d done such a thing. Breathed easily.”

Check out my Goodreads (Traci Bishop) and/or my Storygraph (bookishmamabish) to see what I’m currently reading and to see a good chunk of the books I have already read. My Instagram can be found on the home page and I will share whenever a new post is up as well!

Until next time <3