A Court of Mist and Fury

Last Monday as soon as I finished “A Court of Thorns and Roses,” I immediately began book two, “A Court of Mist and Fury,” and finished reading it today. This time around Feyre and Tamlin are planning their upcoming nuptials. Though what happened with Amarantha the villain from the first book and Feyre’s time under the mountain and some of the deeds she had to do to save Tamlin and his people have haunted her. Tamlin is also traumatized and honestly who could blame either of them? The violence that happened in those scenes were brutal. The day of Feyre’s wedding her mind is hesitant to be a wife and High Lady of the Spring Court and Rhysand disrupts the wedding and takes Feyre with him to his court as part of their bargain. The quest this time around is to prevent an evil faerie king from conquering both fae and human worlds from using the book of breathings. Will Feyre, Rhys and Feyre’s new friends stop him? Or will there be more trouble for our fae and human friends? I enjoyed the book even if it seemed too long and some things seemed out of nowhere.

Pros

I like that this second book is inspired by the Hades and Persephone myth though it’s not a complete retelling. If you pay attention closely the only thing that hints at Hades and Persephone somewhat, is the bargain Rhys and Feyre made. I like that there’s more magic and Feyre is learning to master her faerie powers. Rhys is hilarious and likeable behind his morally grey bad boy exterior you learn more about his past and why he had to do the things he did for Amarantha in order to protect his people and the secret city from her finding out about it. I like the new characters of Cassian, Mor, and Ameren and one of the mortal queens who helped Feyre and the others. We also find out the backstory about Jurian the human warrior who killed Amarantha’s sister and whose soul was trapped in Amaranthas ring. There was a lot more action, and magic in this one which I enjoyed. I also enjoyed seeing The Night Court and the other courts.

Cons

There was more descriptive sex in this novel than I would have liked. I’m not a prude but sometimes too much is too much. I mentioned in the beginning that certain things seemed random like how the characters acted for one. Tamlin’s character changed from being the love of Feyre’s life to now being hated. You both went through traumatic things in Amarantha’s court, I don’t think you were a picnic to live with either Feyre. While I like Rhys and Feyre together, at the same time I hate how it was done because it negated the romance in the first book. It seemed as though Sarah J Maas realized too late she didn’t like the romance in the first book so she made Tamlin randomly unlikeable so she could put Rhys and Feyre together. Book 2 should have either been book 1 or it should have foreshadowed Rhys and Feyre eventually becoming a couple in book 1.

Overall

Overall I loved “A Court of Mist and Fury.” While it’s not a perfect book I commend it for its originality and how much magic and action it had. The romance while not perfect, grew on me even if it was executed poorly. I can’t wait to read more in the series. Like I said in my review of “A Court of Thorns and Roses,” this series is definitely not for younger teens. It’s for those ages 17 and up due to the graphic sex and violence.