Synopsis:
What was broken will be remade.
Deep in the heart of the continent, Koschei the Deathless is stirring. Though he’s been bound to a mountain lake for millennia, the insidious threat of his return now spreads across the Fae territories, attracting powerful allies hell-bent on reclaiming what was once theirs: the human lands.
The Night Court will not stand idly by while innocents are attacked. But with Prythian still piecing itself together in the wake of the devastating Hybern War, the task of uniting is proving more difficult by the day.
To make matters worse, those who rule and protect the Night Court are reeling from recent betrayals and revealed truths. The rifts dividing them seem insurmountable.
But to defeat Koschei’s creeping shadow, they must find a way back to each other and resurrect their former alliances. To survive, they must find a way to repair the splintered harmony all around them.
Review:
I am underwhelmed.
No major spoilers for this book, but don’t read on if you haven’t read A Court of Silver Flames.
This is designed as the opening movement of a multi-part storyline and, as such, doesn’t provide a satisfying arc or plot. If anything, it does a lot of rehashing of A Court of Silver Flames and also the fallout of House of Flame and Shadow.
I liked that we got POVs from more characters than expected:
Azriel, Feyre, Nesta, Cassian, and even one from Gwyn and one from Mor.
I think Maas has seen the wedge she has driven between the fandom as people take sides and come up with theories. Honestly, I am not connected enough to these characters anymore.
I first read ACOTAR 11 years ago, but I was not a fan of ACOSF (I know I’ll get hate for that). I appreciated that Elain got called out on her attitude (FINALLY), but there was little character development.
Maybe I’m asking too much considering this is under 400 pages. Yes, I know the average page count for other books are under that, but SjM’s books have just been getting longer and longer. If I whisper-question ‘cash grab’, I’ll get flayed.
Azriel is very woe-be-me and emo. Cassian still hasn’t got his spark and spunk back that I adored from the initial trilogy. Rhys has become more broody and distant. I will say, the depiction of Feyre’s motherhood is done well.
I don’t know how to review this because:
1. The fans are rabid.
2. This is a lot of set-up.
3. I was not a fan of the character dynamics in this book (particularly Az).
Justice for Lucien.
Anyway.
Also, did anyone else think the ‘building a wall’ comment was off? Maybe (hopefully) SjM is building to something and flips it on its head, but that’s a big risk when you do nothing else with it in this book.
Leave a Reply