A Court of Frost and Starlight
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This book is a big fat nothingburger.
I’ve been through quite a journey with the ACOTAR series. I was frustrated with the first one. I wanted to dive into a fantasy land, but Maas’ writing fell so flat for me…if I saw another useless ellipses I was going to gauge my eyes out. The second one had a more compelling plot but the writing was still ass. The third one started to truly draw me in and Feyre finally became a compelling follow. But now we’re back to square one.
A Court of Frost and Starlight is a novella with zilch plot. It’s 200 pages about the characters walking around shopping for Winter Solstice presents. I think this is supposed to serve as a reprieve, seeing as the previous book ended with a giant war that the whole series had been building towards. A lot just happened, so of course, the characters need a breather. Unfortunately, these characters are not inherently interesting to me. I need the hubbub and chaos of conflict to keep them moving and grooving. I don’t need to see them sit on a couch and drink wine because Maas writing is simply not up to par for that sort of thing.
Feyre also grossed me out again. One step forward, three steps back. She spent the whole book whining about how she can’t stomach spending money on herself even though now she has a ton of it, being the High Lady and all. Again with the ~pick me~ energy. Just buy the paintbrushes you want and shut up about it plz.
This book oscillates between Feyre and Rhysand’s voice and frankly I’ve had enough of these two. Even their smut scenes are now overwrought and eye-rolly. I simply cannot read the word ‘mate’ one more time. I know that the next/final book highlights different perspectives so there’s a light at the end of the tunnel.
A Court of Frost and Starlight gets 1 out of 5 flames, as I find its existence completely unnecessary. My friend who let me borrow it mentioned that she read it during Christmastime, so she was able to set aside cynicism and lean into the festive spirit. I read it when it was hot af in Texas so perhaps that’s on me.
