Review of A Court of Frost and Starlight by Sarah J. Maas | A major fangirl discussion

It is time… A Court of Frost and Starlight is here.

If you’ve been reading my blog for a while, or follow me on any of my social platforms, then what I’m about to say will be no surprise to you. A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Maas is my favourite series of books. I started reading it at a time that I really needed it, and fell instantly in love. It helped to revive my love for fantasy and reading again to an extent, and has only fuelled my passion for writing about books too.

I’ve never written any full reviews of any of the books because honestly, I don’t think I could put my thoughts down into a cohesive collection of words, and do the books justice. I fell completely in love with the characters first and foremost; I don’t think I’ve ever read a book that features a cast of characters that have so totally captured my heart and I felt as though I actually knew them. The plot of all three books kept me gripped from beginning to end, with so many layers and such depth to the stories.

So, baring in mind that I would struggle to write a well structured and informative review that successfully portrays my love for the book, I’ve decided to bullet point all of my feelings, thoughts and snippets of parts that I loved from throughout my time reading A Court of Frost and Starlight.

I was so excited for this book and have ended up with about 6 copies making their way to me (seriously). I think it’s important to keep in mind whilst reading ACOFAS that it is a novella, not a full length novel. It was only ever intended to be a story to bridge the gap between ACOWAR and the next set of novels and so it was a story to show us just how the Inner Circle were coping, and not a full scale fantasy novel packed with action and war and threats.

This is not spoiler free so if you are yet to read the book, please proceed with caution. Also this post is suuuper long so grab a snack and get comfy…

Time for me to screech about A Court of Frost and Starlight!

✨ Set post-ACOWAR, Rhys, Feyre and the rest of the Inner Circle have been working together to re-build the Night Court and to create a more harmonious Prythian

✨ SO MUCH EMOTION FROM THE VERY BEGINNING

“We had both fought for that love, bled for it. Rhys had died for it. I still saw that moment in my sleeping and waking dreams. How his face had looked, how his chest had not risen, how the bond between us had been shredded into ribbons. I still felt it, that hollowness in my chest where the bond has been where he had been.”

✨ We are in a new, emerging world which I’m super excited to see develop, but this also worries me massively. What the heck is going to happen now?

✨ I love how in the midst of all of the recovery Feyre and the Inner Circle still do such mundane tasks such as cooking meat pie and washing the dishes

✨ The idea of Cassian encouraging Rhys to buy dangerous weapons and convincing him that his bedroom is definitely the right place to store them

“I scratched my head at the heavy, wicked-looking mace that Rhys had somehow dumped behind the desk without my noticing. I didn’t even want to know. Though I had no doubt Cassian was somehow behind it.”

✨ When working through her admin Feyre calls herself “High Lady of the Night Court, Defender of The Rainbow and the… Desk”.

✨ Ooooh we are treated to multiple POVs: Feyre, Rhys, Cassian and Mor!

✨ Cassian and Rhys fighting for the female Illyrian’s to train, and for the “chores” and work to be split between themselves and the men after training

✨ Cassian bears the death of all of his solders from the war on his shoulders 🙁

✨ The “mid flight tryst” between Rhys and Feyre… *ahem*

✨ I have a new insult: Illyrian whelp

✨ The visit Cassian makes to the clothier in one of the camps, where he meets Emerie who reminds him of Nesta in her “I will slay my enemies” pose. He buys all of the winter clothing and asks her to distribute them to the people as a storm is coming

✨ Cassian wearing normal clothes and not Illyrian leathers?! And it sounding just as good…

✨Cassian dumping pine in the hallway ready for decorating for the upcoming Solstice, before sweeping Feyre up in a spin-around hug (I just love their friendship so much)

✨ Feyre and Cassian drinking way too much wine, resulting in the Solstice decorating going terribly. So of course Azriel comes in and tries to help… before getting drunk right along with them!

✨ Azriel making everyone wait to start eating until Elain is seated, as she has prepared it all

✨ Cassian calling Amren an “angry snowball”… and getting away with it

✨ Soooo much tension when Nesta is brought up. Where is she right now? WHAT HAPPENED BETWEEN HER AND CASSIAN?!

✨ Amren’s new jigsaw hobby

✨ Feyre visiting Nesta in the bar and having a “silence and stare off”

✨ Elain and Feyre going shopping for presents together

✨ Hope in the Void *cries*

✨ “You brought weapons to Solstice?” – Rhys to of course… Cassian

✨ The budding relationship between Amren and Varian, and Varian being accepted by the Inner Circle at one of their most important holidays

✨ After all this time Rhys still calls Feyre “Feyre Darling” and it still makes my heart melt

✨ The presents that Rhys bought for Feyre’s birthday were just so perfect

✨ Feyre draws naked portraits of Rhys in the new sketchbook he gifted her and I could just picture him like “draw me like one of your French girls!” Acting all confident and charming, but once the book had been left unattended he’d be leafing through it, checking out all of the pictures to see how Feyre really sees him and probably to compare wingspans with his brothers…

✨ Cassian and Azriel sneaking in and basically kidnapping Rhys for their “Solstice tradition”

✨ Feyre helping herself to all of the treats laid out for breakfast, helping herself to double servings. I appreciated this scene so much. Think back to ACOMAF when she basically wasn’t eating due to the conditions she was living in and now… she’s happy <3

✨ Elain finding happiness in helping Nuala and Cerridwen in the kitchens

✨ Lucien turning up with presents for Feyre and Elain

✨ “The Band of Exiles” – I need a book about them

✨ Rhys, Cassian and Azriel’s Solstice tradition…. a huge snowball fight. With snow forts!

✨ Azriel winning for the one hundred and ninety ninth time

✨ Rhys getting kicked out of the birchin (sauna) because of his reaction to the memories Feyre sends down the bond

✨ Elain and Azriel’s companionship, turning into a growing friendship. Azriel is one of the only people she seems content to be around right now and he seems happy spending time with her too

✨ I totally forgot about the fact that Feyre is only “technically” 21! She seems much older

✨ Feyre being surprised with a birthday cake decorated in flowers, flames and stars just like the drawers Feyre painted back in the village, and Elain requested the tiers be in that order because Feyre has “always been the foundation” to lift them *sobs*

✨ The fact that out of the entire Inner Circle, Azriel is the one who sneaks around trying to see what all the gifts are ahead of Solstice. Not Cassian or Amren?!

✨ The Inner Circle exchanging presents

✨ Knowing that Mor buys the worst presents

✨ Cassian buying Mor red lacy underwear (after she told him what to buy) and Mor buying him the same!

✨ Cassian telling Rhys not to worry he bought the same for him, Rhys offering to model them and Elain laughing out loud

✨ Rhysie – that is all

✨ Nesta turning up for Solstice celebrations

✨ Elain sneaking a glass of alcohol to prepare for the onslaught of Nesta

✨ Nesta and Amren’s friendship

✨ Feyre gifting Rhys the first painting she had done since *everything happened*, the reflection she saw in the Ouroboros and Rhys getting emotional and finding it beautiful

✨ Lucien buying Elain enchanted gloves for gardening (I want to read more about him!)

✨ Elain, to everyone’s surprise, buying Azriel a present: a powder to mix with any drink to cure the headaches she has noticed, caused no doubt by the rest of the Inner Circle

✨ Azriel also laughing out loud – I request more of this happiness!

✨ The whole Rhys and Feyre cabin scene… including the wall (finally!)

✨ The fact that Rhys’s MOTHER MADE ALL FEYRE’S DRESSES. Including her favourite, the Starfall dress. She made them all for Rhys’s future wife. omg my heart

✨ Feyre having the eye tattoos on her hands changed to the Night Court insignia, just like Rhys’s knees

✨ A baby Feysand :'( <3 YESSSSSS.

✨ Rhys buying a whole estate as a gift for Feyre, for her to turn into home for them and their growing family, along with the Inner Circle of course.

“Build a house with an office for you, and one for me. Build a house with a bathtub big enough for two – and for wings. Building a house with rooms for all our family. Build a house with a garden for Elain, a training ring for the Illyrian babies, a library for Amren, and an enormous dressing room for Mor. Build a house with a nursery, Feyre.”

✨ Rhys’s visits to Tamlin but the second one most importantly, extending some kind of olive branch. A gnarly, horrible looking olive branch but one all the same

✨ Tamlin asking whether Feyre would ever forgive him. He seems to struggling through his own PTSD, having been deserted and endured his own kind of torture for 49 years. Maybe we’re going to see some kind of redemption/healing arc?

✨ Mor has her own manor, away from the rest of the gang. But something evil is lurking there… I need to know what’s going on!

✨ Feyre’s growing friendship with fellow artist Ressina, whom she helped during the battle for Velaris.

✨ Feyre is now the owner of an art shop that was owned by a Fae that sadly died in the battle, and now she and Ressina teach art to children as a way to express their grief and feelings

✨ The Cassian/Nesta scene at the end of ACOFAS. What did he buy her? Will he be able to retrieve it from the Sidra?!

✨ Nesta joining Cassian in the Illyrian training camps and I CAN’T WAIT (I just want them both to be happy and healthy)

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Phew! Okay, that’s most of my fangirling about A Court of Frost and Starlight done with for now.

That was a lot of bullet points and I bet there are still loads that I missed out; these are just the ones I remembered to write down! I think that my favourite thing about A Court of Frost and Starlight was being able to read about the Inner Circle just “being”, recovering from the war and preparing for the future, getting through their own struggles but just living their lives. Having fun, being in love, developing friendships, making important decisions and becoming stronger.

Sarah has planted so many seeds for the future books which I can’t wait for, and while I know that we’ll see Rhys and Feyre again in the next stories, I closed A Court of Frost and Starlight with a very bittersweet feeling.

At the end of A Court of Frost and Starlight we got an extract from the next book which is quite clearly about Nessian! I’m so excited to read this. I think that Nesta will go through some healing and development of her own, and she is understandably trying to overcome the horror of being Made but I think there’s something more to it… and obviously we get to see more depth to Cassian too.

Feysand’s arc has come to an end, and while I could read and read and read about them, I think Sarah J. Maas has left them in the perfect place. I’ll always love them, but I’m definitely excited to read about more of the characters and delve into new stories.