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A review by zaiphon
A Court of Silver Flames by Sarah J. Maas
adventurous
dark
reflective
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Where to start..
There are plenty aspects of this book I absolutely adored. Is it a top book for me in this series overall? No.
Out of all the entries thus far, this one had such a slow start and it took me some time to get into the stories plot. I think partially it is due to such a sharp turn of the narratives (no longer Feyre as main POV) that it changed the flow of the story for me a little too much, too suddenly. It took me until about page 350 to feel that the plot chugged at a decent pace and kept me interested. Because of this too, characters that were so prominent in the first arc of the series felt like shells of themselves and made me feel I was scrambling to grasp what was going on and where this was going.
While this series is known for spicy scenes in previous books, there was way more in this book. To the point that it sometimes felt it overshadowed parts of the characters' story that I wanted to see more of. At times, it felt like I was reading a spin off with a ton of sex and little else. I love me a good romance in fantasy, but something about the placement and the fact that after 100000 sex scenes, the characters still made little progress in their development.
What I loved though, and thus encouraged me to give this read 4 stars, was the side characters. Gwyn and Emerie were absolutely a joy. The battle of their pasts/trauma and the sisterly bond that formed breathed new life into the story. While Feyre is an amazing character in her own right, we were seriously lacking in some female characters that appeared more than just a few chapters. These characters do an amazing job building toward Nesta and her struggles with her trauma and mental health. 10/10 hope they continue to be fleshed out in the future.
The short of this - slow start, but eventually gave me that excitement that SJM typically gives. It just took a while for me to get a feel for this one.
There are plenty aspects of this book I absolutely adored. Is it a top book for me in this series overall? No.
Out of all the entries thus far, this one had such a slow start and it took me some time to get into the stories plot. I think partially it is due to such a sharp turn of the narratives (no longer Feyre as main POV) that it changed the flow of the story for me a little too much, too suddenly. It took me until about page 350 to feel that the plot chugged at a decent pace and kept me interested. Because of this too, characters that were so prominent in the first arc of the series felt like shells of themselves and made me feel I was scrambling to grasp what was going on and where this was going.
While this series is known for spicy scenes in previous books, there was way more in this book. To the point that it sometimes felt it overshadowed parts of the characters' story that I wanted to see more of. At times, it felt like I was reading a spin off with a ton of sex and little else. I love me a good romance in fantasy, but something about the placement and the fact that after 100000 sex scenes, the characters still made little progress in their development.
What I loved though, and thus encouraged me to give this read 4 stars, was the side characters. Gwyn and Emerie were absolutely a joy. The battle of their pasts/trauma and the sisterly bond that formed breathed new life into the story. While Feyre is an amazing character in her own right, we were seriously lacking in some female characters that appeared more than just a few chapters. These characters do an amazing job building toward Nesta and her struggles with her trauma and mental health. 10/10 hope they continue to be fleshed out in the future.
The short of this - slow start, but eventually gave me that excitement that SJM typically gives. It just took a while for me to get a feel for this one.