Author: Sarah J. Maas
Genre: Fantasy, romance
Published on: February 16, 2021 by Bloomsbury Publishing
Sarah J. Maas's sexy, richly imagined series continues with the journey of Feyre's fiery sister, Nesta.
Nesta Archeron has always been prickly-proud, swift to anger, and slow to forgive. And ever since being forced into the Cauldron and becoming High Fae against her will, she's struggled to find a place for herself within the strange, deadly world she inhabits. Worse, she can't seem to move past the horrors of the war with Hybern and all she lost in it.
The one person who ignites her temper more than any other is Cassian, the battle-scarred warrior whose position in Rhysand and Feyre's Night Court keeps him constantly in Nesta's orbit. But her temper isn't the only thing Cassian ignites. The fire between them is undeniable, and only burns hotter as they are forced into close quarters with each other.
Meanwhile, the treacherous human queens who returned to the Continent during the last war have forged a dangerous new alliance, threatening the fragile peace that has settled over the realms. And the key to halting them might very well rely on Cassian and Nesta facing their haunting pasts.
Against the sweeping backdrop of a world seared by war and plagued with uncertainty, Nesta and Cassian battle monsters from within and without as they search for acceptance-and healing-in each other's arms.
Nesta Archeron has always been prickly-proud, swift to anger, and slow to forgive. And ever since being forced into the Cauldron and becoming High Fae against her will, she's struggled to find a place for herself within the strange, deadly world she inhabits. Worse, she can't seem to move past the horrors of the war with Hybern and all she lost in it.
The one person who ignites her temper more than any other is Cassian, the battle-scarred warrior whose position in Rhysand and Feyre's Night Court keeps him constantly in Nesta's orbit. But her temper isn't the only thing Cassian ignites. The fire between them is undeniable, and only burns hotter as they are forced into close quarters with each other.
Meanwhile, the treacherous human queens who returned to the Continent during the last war have forged a dangerous new alliance, threatening the fragile peace that has settled over the realms. And the key to halting them might very well rely on Cassian and Nesta facing their haunting pasts.
Against the sweeping backdrop of a world seared by war and plagued with uncertainty, Nesta and Cassian battle monsters from within and without as they search for acceptance-and healing-in each other's arms.
After three books with Feyre and Rhysand as protagonists (the “bridge” novel not included), A Court of Silver Flames puts the spotlight on two former supporting characters. One is Nesta Archeron, Feyre’s older sister. She used to be human, until the King of Hybern forcibly turned her into High Fae. Nesta is the kind of person you don’t want to cross, and she got her revenge in the end. But the war had a considerable toll on Nesta. Everyone suffered heavy losses, though Nesta took hers really hard. She now spends her days drowning her sorrows and ignoring the pain that threatens to consume her.
When Nesta goes too far one night, Feyre and Rhysand decide they’ve had enough. The two inform Nesta that she will either train with Cassian--the general of Rhysand’s Illyrian army-- or be exiled to the human lands. The latter would not be a pleasant option. Humans still aren’t on good terms with the Fae even though Prythian was on their side in the war against Hybern. If Nesta returned to the human lands, she’d have nowhere to stay because no one would want her. In the end, Nesta has no choice but to move to the House of Wind. There’s one detail: only those who can fly or winnow can easily access it. Anyone else has to walk ten thousand steps up and down the mountain.
I was wondering whether a character as abrasive as Nesta would work as a protagonist. Could readers possibly stand her for an entire book? Personally, I didn’t find Nesta as someone to “tolerate”. She’s not very hard to root for. And Nesta doesn’t lash out at others because she enjoys causing pain. She does it because she’s in pain. Rather than process the aftermath of the war, Nesta chose to ignore it. But pain and grief isn’t something you can just bottle up. Another reason why Nesta is bitter is because she doesn’t think she deserves to be loved (even though Nesta doesn’t know this at first). This causes her to make irrational choices, such as writing off Amren (Rhysand’s Second) because she “chose” Feyre over Nesta.
Cassian is just as interesting a character. Like most Fae in this book, he has lived for hundreds of years. This is something I was curious about in the first book. Do Fae just stop becoming older when they reach a certain age? Whether they do or not, I pictured certain characters, like the High Lord of Autumn, as looking older than Cassian, Rhysand, and Tamlin. Anyway, back to Cassian. He takes training Nesta as a serious duty…even though she plain refuses to obey him for a little while. Cassian doesn’t figure out why until later. When he rectifies his approach, Cassian and Nesta warm up to each other bit by bit. There’s also a strong attraction between them. Cassian finds Nesta one of the most irresistible women he’s met. If they finally give in to their feelings, they will likely refuse to let each other go.
Since A Court of Wings and Ruin, there’s been a mystery surrounding Nesta. Everyone could tell that when she got forced into the Cauldron, Nesta stole power that she wasn’t supposed to. It was enough to kill someone like the King of Hybern in one shot. But the exact nature of Nesta’s power is kept secret for a long while. On the occasions that Nesta displays her power, her eyes glow with silver flames. Whatever Nesta’s power is, it’s so otherworldly that it frightens even Rhysand. One aspect of Nesta’s power is eventually revealed. Amren gets the credit for this when she tells of a certain McGuffin I won’t give away in this review. This is something that the main villain of this book is also trying to find. I found it cool, though it reminded me of another fictional McGuffin. It's not a blatant copy, but you might see the similarity.
I enjoyed reading this book more than I thought it would. It's great that the ACOTAR series didn't end with A Court of Wings and Ruin. There are still more stories to tell in this world. Although Nesta and Cassian take center stage now, previous characters have a sizable enough role. Rhysand and Feyre are still the most important ones. They go through a major life change in this book. It becomes a major subplot, which becomes more urgent as the story progresses. Prythian is also still rebuilding after the war. There have been no more High Ladies after Feyre, which was a pity. And while the ending of A Court of Silver Flames is thrilling and satisfying, there are still loose plot threads. They'll most likely be addressed in upcoming sequels. Now that Nesta's had her book, I wonder if Elain's is next. She's the third Archeron sister, so she very well might.
My rating: ★★★★ 1/2
4.5 stars - A fantastic page-turner!
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