My Unapologetic Review of A Court of Frost and Starlight (1.5 Stars out of 5)
Okay, to begin, I liked ACOTAR, I absolutely LOVED ACOMAF, and ACOWAR…it was okay. Now to clarify, I’m a huge fan of Sarah and I love most of her books. But, that being said, I don’t like all of them. For example, I still haven’t finished Empire of Storms. A little over halfway through I got bored and the chapters I was reading were so disgusting and unnecessary (Yes, I’m talking about Rowan, BARF) that I stopped, and have not expressed interest in continuing. The ACOTAR series, however, has always been my favorite. Like I said, I’m a huge fan of Sarah and I have this blog dedicated to her stories, but they aren’t the same that they used to be. The reason I loved ACOMAF so much is because it had the most character and conflict development than any other book she has written, and almost every chapter was very well thought out and planned to compliment the endgame of the book (King of Hybern, Feysand, etc.).
Out of 5 stars I give this book….1 and a half..?
I’ll go through my problems with each character to start:
Feyre: Y’know, this series gets a lot of praise for being a feminist book, but what did Feyre do for the entire story? Sat around the house…walked…cleaned…went shopping (like 5 times!)…painted…and had sex with Rhys. Now Rhys is NOT Tamlin, and Feyre is in a much better place and mental state than she was at the beginning of ACOMAF, but I saw direct parallels to the beginning of both stories. I was extremely bored during all of her chapters, and felt these chapters were mostly useless. And OH MY GOD, LEAVE YOUR SISTERS ALONE! Elain CLEARLY does not want anything to do with Lucien. “He’s a good male.” ELAIN DOESN’T CARE, STOP PRESSURING HER AND TREATING HER LIKE A CHILD! Everyone in this book, minus Azriel, treats Elain like a fragile 2 year old. Just let her cope and heal on her own time. And Nesta, she was 1 of 3 characters that I didn’t want to kick in the throat. Feyre, she has been traumatized! Stop blackmailing her into coming to your dinner parties, stop telling her that she needs to be around the Inner Circle, she clearly wants space, give it to her! Feyre literally almost destroyed Tamlin’s house after he spent weeks of having guards follow her around and wouldn’t let her do anything. She of all people should understand that Nesta just wants to be left alone and heal on her own terms.
Rhys: Oh my god, I hate, HATE Rhys in this book. I still like Rhys overall, but he was annoying, disgusting, and overall regressed as a character in this book. But, good lord, how is this sex-crazed, sleazy douchebag supposed to be the same character (who was loving, supportive, and understanding) from ACOMAF? He couldn’t go five minutes without talking about how much he wanted to fuck Feyre, or making gross innuendos, or saying he can’t bare to be standing next to her without wanting to be inside her?? Stop, good god. Like I said, his character development REGRESSED in this book. In ACOMAF, he said that Feyre is his equal in every way, and that she will never be sidelined or be forced to bare his children. You know what he did in this book? Constantly sidelined her and left her to do boring shit and shopping all day and consider having children. He left Feyre at home while he dealt with border control, diplomat issues, and checking in on his armies. AN ACTUAL QUOTE FROM THIS BOOK: (Rhys walks in to see Feyre’s in bed) “Right where I left you”… “Isn’t it all I’m good for?”
Seriously? You leave your HIGH LADY at home to cook and clean and shop while you handle all the serious responsibilities? What a feminist! Moving on…
Cassian: OMG, LEAVE NESTA ALONE! Respect her privacy! Side glancing at her from the other side of the room and chasing her in the street even though she asked you to leave MULTIPLE TIMES isn’t romantic, it’s douchey, arrogant, and disrespectful. She doesn’t want to be around you, accept that and leave her alone to deal with her trauma.
Azriel: One of the only pure characters left in this book. Her treats Elain with the respect he deserves, and actually listens to what people say to him! Good job, Az! You deserve better, and I hope you get some sort of character development and central arc by the time this series ends.
Mor: I was thrilled to find out that Mor preferred women. But why is she still keeping it a secret? It’s not as if homophobia is a problem in this world, and Azriel is turning his eye toward Elain, so why doesn’t she stop stringing him along and let him and herself be happy? The Inner Circle will obviously accept her for who she is, but she is still keeping her true self a secret for… no apparent reason. I was hoping that this novella would be finally be her time to progress, but no. Instead she buys bad gifts and continues to worry about her family. This novella was supposed to bridge the gap from one focus to another, but this entire novella read like a poorly edited fanfiction and was otherwise completely useless and could have been included at the beginning of a longer novel. I was angry that I paid so much money to read this story with no plot, character regression, and overall bland and overhyped fluff.
Nesta and Elain: I am absolutely disgusted with how these two are treated in this book. They are the only characters that have any sort of sustenance at this point, yet they are ridiculed, belittled, and overall treated like children throughout the entire book. Nesta doesn’t want to be around me? Oh, let’s blackmail her into coming to my party by giving her the money she needs if she shows up! Elain doesn’t want to see Lucien? Well, he’s a good male, you just aren’t thinking clearly yet. Come on Feyre, she may be more naïve than you, but she’s not dumb.
Amren: Did nothing in this book but obsess over jewelry, have sex with Varian, and build puzzles. I’m so glad that you gave up your other body and life to be stuck in Velaris doing nothing.
Overall opinion of this book: It was completely useless, disgusting and hard to read at times, and I feel like I wasted my money. Will I still read the next book? Probably, because I am invested in the characters and I might finally get a decent plot from one of the few good characters left, aka Azriel, Elain, and Nesta.
Do I hate Feysand? No, not at all. Am I tired of their disgusting, overhyped, and unnecessary sex scenes? Yes. I don’t have a problem with sex in books, but this book has too much of it for the 0% plot that happened in this book. I would rather read 100 pages of ‘A Day in the Life of Nesta Archeron’ than read one more cringy Feysand sex scene.
I doubt anyone read all of this, and I’m definitely going to lose followers over this, but this is my opinion. Do not comment how much you disagree or think I’m wrong, it doesn’t help. But if you agree, I’d love to hear your opinions and know I’m not alone. Have a great day everyone! 😊
