Book Review | A Court of Frost and Starlight

A Court of Frost and Starlight 

By Sarah J. Maas

Bloomsbury  |  2018  |  272 pages

THIS REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS

Feyre, Rhys and their friends are working to rebuild the Night Court and the vastly changed world beyond after the events of A Court of Wings and Ruin.

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 a far-reaching impact on the future of their court.

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Aw, this was a cute little novella for the series. There isn’t much to cover in this book, I feel. It’s obviously way shorter than the other books in the series but I still read it so it gets a review, all the same.

This will be a brief review, I should think. It was fairly uneventful in terms of problems or drama. 

I’ll start with things that I enjoyed and then move onto things that I didn’t care for as much. 

To start with; I love Cassian and Feyre’s relationship so much. It is one of the many things I absolutely adore in this series. They have such a sibling banter between them and it feels so natural. The vibe never feels forced or like SJM is trying to hard to push this friendship. The two of them getting drunk and putting up Winter Solstice decorations had me dying. I loved it. 

Not to mention, the whole dinner afterwards had me giggling too. Reading Cassian refer to Amren as an ‘angry snowball’ had me in hysterics. 

Rhysand was so cute in this book. It was a really nice book to just see these characters calm down after the Hybern war and all of the fallout from that. It was so nice to see Rhys having his calmer moments with his family. When he wakes up on Solstice morning, he seems so buzzed to give Feyre not only a Solstice gift but also her Birthday gift. It was just so sweet and refreshing in comparison to the other books which have such huge chunks of grit and despair. 

I loved the family vibes in this novella. I loved the fact that the inner circle actually got time together in a relaxed environment, away from the threats around them and the sheer darkness that has reared its head in the other series installments. All of the ‘Christmas special’ memes I saw before reading the book, actually have it super pegged, it was such a nice break from the heaviness of the previous book. 

And, whilst not a lot of actual plot happens in this book really, I really liked that a few subtle hints were dropped to give you a heads up for what to expect within the next book. 

Now, things that I did not care for all that much… and the first one shouldn’t really come as a massive surprise. I have moaned about her before and I will continue to moan about her until I am given a reason to like her more. Elain… I’m sorry baby girl but I just do not care for, nor do I actually like you? I just find her so boring and she’s just… there. I get it; she is going through her own shit but I just find myself rolling my eyes every time she is mentioned or or does anything. I only really liked her for the split second in ACOWAR when she put the knife through Hybern’s neck or when she kicked off the hounds when Azriel was trying to fly away from the camp. 

I am slightly biased, I guess. Her treatment of Lucien sucks. I do not like the way she talks of him or how cold she is towards him? I know that they are allegedly ‘mates’ but since saying it to himself when she got yeeted out of the cauldron, he hasn’t forced anything on her. He tries to be polite and give her her space and she just acts like such a bitch around him and I just don’t understand why? Even the bond they seemingly share, he hasn’t forced it on her. He is very much leaving the ball in her court but she isn’t outrightly telling him she rejects it and it feels like he’s just being dangled to be honest so I really dislike her for that.

I want the bond rejected, personally. I do not want her to end up with Lucien purely because I feel like he deserves better and someone who loves him for him and is their first choice. I can see Elain ending up with Azriel because I assumed SJM is aiming for the batboys all having a sister which to be honest… is also not my vibe. I see more of a connection between her and Azriel but still not enough to ship it. I want Azriel to end up with someone he deserves also but just… not Elain. I don’t care for it in the slightest. Although, I have heard about things Azriel said in the bonus chapter about seemingly having a right to Elain or something and I’m… not a fan of that. No thanks, Az. But, I can’t commit to that opinion as I’ve not read the bonus chapter.

I don’t think Elain has to accept the bond or even like Lucien but damn it, woman. He is legit a lovely guy, like don’t be a dick and just admit you don’t want him so that he can move on and so can you. Ugh. I don’t know. It just infuriates me but I favour Lucien so ya know.

Anyways, Nesta’s pouty self was a treat as always… It grated on me a little bit and I did find myself rolling my eyes quite a bit at things she would do or say and I felt for Cassian like massively. And Feyre. I was disappointed in Nesta when she ended up taking the money from Feyre at the end, anyways. Like, this wasn’t a huge dislike but Nesta just wasn’t my favourite in this and this comes from a place of Nesta actually being a character I like and can’t wait to read more about in ACOSF.

Lastly, I didn’t mind the back and forth of the multiple POV but I didn’t love it. I think I am much rather a one POV or 3rd person POV to be honest. It wasn’t a major problem but the POV changing a lot did have me rereading pages like wait who is this again?

Overall, I did really like this novella. It was sweet and really nice to get some insight into what they’re doing when not in the middle of a massive war and political onslaught. It was a breather after ACOWAR and also before the behemoth of ACOSF. 

Anyway, it all ends next with A Court of Silver Flames and I am buzzing to read it. I’m giving myself a few days to prep before starting it though because she is a chonky book.