A Court Of Silver Flames (ACOSF) by Sarah J Maas Book Review

Disclaimer: This review is written by a cranky reviewer and contains SPOILERS
Book: ACOSF
Author: Sarah J Maas
Genre: Fantasy
Age: For readers 17 and up (I read this as a 16 year old and that’s my fault but would recommend this for 17 and up)
Rating: 3/5 stars

I tried so hard to hate this book like I hated the rest of the Acotar series (read my Acowar rant review here) but honestly, it wasn’t as bad. Ngl, I really enjoyed some parts (even if it pains me to admit that).  All thanks to Nesta who shined in the book. As well as Gwyn and Emerie and even Cassian at times. HOWEVER, the other idiot moron characters in this book (cough cough RHYSAND and AMREN) made me tick off 2 stars.
Before you all scream at me like: “If you hate this series so much why do you read it?”. Basically I was curious about Nesta and I secretly like writing rant reviews and reading books I hate because I have no life and sometimes I like to torture myself by reading books I know I will dislike. 😅 

Ok since I know I’m going to be really harsh and picky with this book, let’s first talk about the GOOD things in this book: 

1. Nesta- I saw a lot of people hate her because she was mean and blah blah. Yah she is mean, but you all seem to eat up toxic bad boys who are incredibly selfish and rude. How come when it comes to Nesta it all changes? Personally I think it makes her character interesting.. At least she’s not just sitting, radiating positivity and kindness but doing nothing else like miss Garden Girl over there. 🙄 ✋
2. How there wasn’t toooo much Feysand: I am so glad we got minimal Feysand scenes in this book. THANK THE LORDS! WHOOO 
3. Friendship: Best part of this book was Nesta, Gwyn and Emerie. End of story.
4. Blood Rite: Best part of action this whole book had. Wished it lasted longer but SJM would rather place importance on other irrelevant scenes.​

Now it’s time for the cranky (crankier) part of the review:

What I didn’t like: 
Rhysand 🤢  : 

• This character brings me to such fury when even his name is mentioned (Someone on Goodreads stated that his name is mentioned 791 times and that is 791 times I contemplated chucking the book across the room). Am I getting overworked and being dramatic over a fictional character? Most certainly yes. I just can’t help it. His stupid, ignorant and rude behavior irk me in a way no other character has ever done.
• His attitude to Nesta is just downright mean. He literally has nothing better to do than kick her when she’s already down. Every word he speaks to Nesta is patronizing and condescending. 
• There was this appalling quote in the book: “Her and Rhysand and the baby. Rhysand--her brother. That’s what he was, wasn’t he?” What bs is this? Brother my as*. He didn’t do ONE THING for Nesta. “Any offering Rhysand threw her way was solely out of love for Feyre”. We’ve already established that Rhysand doesn’t give a crap for Nesta- he only tries to help her because she is Feyre’s sister. That much is obvious. And that’s fine. Nesta wasn’t the nicest to Feyre and so Rhysand doesn’t owe her extra kindness. But does he have to go out of his way to make her feel insignificant and hated? Especially when she’s struggling? AND YOU’RE TELLING ME that SJM had to spout Rhysand’s perfectness and kindness through Nesta’s mouth? How insulting! 😒 This is the man who forced Nesta to go to some camp not because he wanted to see her better, but because he was humiliated at Nesta spending 500 gold coins at some bar. So his plan of action was to demolish an ENTIRE VILLAGE where people ACTUALLY LIVE. Who does that? He just destroyed a whole village worth of people’s homes! THIS is the man who Nesta praised at the end, even though we all know that it’s not deserved. Rhysand did not help Nesta. He insulted her every opening he could get. He does not deserve praise from Nesta’s mouth. At least not now. Because that quote was just so sudden. A few chapters ago, Nesta still hated Rhysand and now she’s calling him her brother? Perhaps this quote would have been better suited to put in the sequel to this book?
• Hiding that Feyre’s pregnancy would kill her was a really bad move on Rhysand’s part. Feyre had a right to know. And when Nesta told Feyre, Rhysand was like “Get Nesta out of this city. Right now. I’ll kill her” blah blah. Well at least someone had the courage to tell Feyre the potential threat. If she had not, then Feyre would have given birth less than a month later all happy and then figured out on that day that she would die. 
• But what makes that decision to not tell Feyre such a hypocritical decision on Rhysand’s part is that earlier in the book when he announced Feyre’s pregnancy, he eyed Nesta threateningly as if she would suddenly attack Feyre and kill her and her baby (what is with Rhysand and villainizing Nesta?). But the funny thing is that Rhysand is the threat here, by not telling Feyre about her own impending death. Yet he hypociritcally glares at Nesta instead. Like what?? 😑

Amren:

• Don’t even get me started on this infuriating woman. She constantly shamed Nesta for getting together with Cassian. (And then our feminist king Rhysand agreed with Amren when she was slu* shaming Nesta in the earlier parts of the book). And she constantly insults Nesta’s appearance. We get it, Amren. You’re not exactly helping.
• When Nesta apologized to Amren, Amren then make some irrelevant comment that had nothing to do with Nesta’s apology. PLUS when Nesta apologized, Amren should have apologized too. Amren hurt Nesta a lot and was very rude and obnoxious to her as well. 

Elain:

• Spoiler Alert (Not really): Elain is still a gardener with the personality of a doorknob. But now she’s not just any irrelevant doorknob, she’s a hypocritical one too. The way she acted….No. Just no. When ELAIN was not speaking all of Acowar because of her trauma, I didn’t see Nesta give up on her? Nesta was there for her every. single. day. So why is it, that when Nesta needs help, Elain doesn’t care enough for her sister to help her? WHY DOESN’T SHE GET OFF HER HIGH HORSE AND HELP HER SISTER WHEN SHE CLEARLY NEEDS HER?! Before Nesta called her a useless garden person in this story, Elain clearly could have visited Nesta (there was no hard feelings then). But noooo Elain is just lazy to put in the effort to help her sister. She would rather bake cookies and water plants than visit her sister and be there for her. Sure, she might have visited her sister once or twice and Nesta probably yelled at her. But you can’t just give up after that. This is your SISTER we’re talking about. Nesta will not open up with just one or two pity visits. It takes time but Elain nor anyone else in this book put in the effort. Nesta was willing to put that effort for Elain even when Elain ignored her for months and wouldn’t speak in Acowar. It makes me sad to see that Elain never put in enough effort to be there for Nesta. 

Cassian: 

• Mostly, I liked Cassian. But I kind of hate how Cassian isn’t ready to hear that Rhysand is not some flawless god. Nesta could utter two words about him (all very valid especially after the way he treats her) and Cassian would get so angry at her-like downright mad. Not just Cassian, but why does everyone insist on treating Rhysand like the best thing that ever existed?

Mates: 

• Ofc since this a SJM book she just had to play the Mate card huh? I hate the whole idea of mates and fate decided soulmates but whatever floats your boat. I can’t wait for the next book where I will have to read the word mate 202850183508245 times! 🤠 (Sarcasm).

Blood Rite Rant:

• When Nesta got taken away to the Blood Rite, THE REST OF THEM DIDN’T EVEN CARE?! They only cared about FRIKIN ERIS? Feyre (who was written as someone who cares about her sister so much blah blah) didn’t even bat an eye. Cassian had the only acceptable response to finding her gone. 
• After Blood Rite ended: Right after Brialyn was defeated, a second later Azriel and Mor came? Could they not have come like a minute earlier? How did they know Cassian and Nesta were at that part of the mountain anyways? And if they did know, why did they not stop the Queen? AND HOW COME THEY WERE NOT HAPPY NESTA WAS ALIVE, WORRIED ABOUT CASSIAN, OR ASKING WHERE GYWN AND EMERIE WERE?! They just walked into the scene so casually as if Nesta and Cassian weren’t all bloody and beat up.

Nesta’s Powers

• The amount of disappointment I felt when Nesta lost all her powers at the end was very tangible. Like?? The whole book we NEVER see Nesta use her powers. We see some silver flame in her eyes and then it vanishes a second later. We NEVER even got to explore her powers. And then all too soon it’s gone. 

Ladies and gentlemen, do not read this book. JK you can read this book for Nesta and then skip all the parts where Rhysand and Amren show up. Then it would be a great book 😃

Click Here to Read My Spoiler Free Review of The Shadows Between Us

Click here to read my Spoiler free review of "Heartless"