Book Review: A Court of Mist and Fury
As soon as I finished A Court of Thorns and Roses, I was out the door to buy the next book in the series, A Court of Mist and Fury.
Warning: spoilers ahead!
A Court of Mist and Fury picks up a few months after the events in A Court of Thorns and Roses. Feyre is very much traumatized, as is Tamlin. While Feyre suffers from nightmares, PTSD, and the inability to control her newfound powers, Tamlin is set on doing everything he can to keep her safe from their enemies and rebuild his court. He delegates her to wearing fine clothes and planning parties with the help of Ianthe, a priestess who, it seems, has Feyre’s best interest at heart. He doesn’t let her leave the house no matter how much she argues and pushes to be allowed to do something. She’s fading away and Tamlin doesn’t see it.
They are also engaged. Tamlin expects her to be a good little high lord’s wife and when she asks if she’ll get to be a high lady upon their marriage, he informs her that there is no such thing, another sign that she is to be seen, not heard. There is also the bargain she made with Rhysand Under the Mountain hanging over her head. She’s supposed to spend one week a month with him at the Night Court in exchange for his help, and yet three months have passed and he hasn’t called it in.
By the time their wedding day arrives, Feyre is a shell of herself. She’s lost too much weight, she’s not sleeping, and Tamlin can’t seem to be bothered to notice nor care. He’s also shown his temper a couple of times, always with a wholehearted apology. She’s let Ianthe plan most of their wedding, but she made one request: no red roses. They remind her too much of the innocent blood she shed Under the Mountain.
Of course, the ceremony is littered with red roses, yet another sign that her opinions and well-being don’t matter in the Spring Court. She begins to panic as she walks down the aisle and silently begs anyone or anything to take her away.
Rhysand hears her cries.
The High Lord of the Court of Night shows up with his usual flare and calls in the bargain. He whisks her away from the wedding in a swirl of night and she finds herself at his castle in the Night Court. She’s bitter and he’s unbothered, but he’s also determined to teach her how to read – and how to use her powers. She meets his cousin, Mor, briefly, but she much prefers putting as much space between her and Rhysand as possible during her stay. He gives her the space she craves and it’s the reprieve she needed from Tamlin.
Upon her return to the Spring Court, things aren’t better. Tamlin and his right hand man, Lucien, pump her for information about Rhysand and his court and her leash grows ever tighter. She hits her breaking point when Tamlin traps her inside as he heads off to hunt down a new threat and refuses to take her with him. Being trapped reminds her of Under the Mountain and in her panic, the powers she doesn’t understand threaten to overtake her. Until Mor appears and whisks her away – to a waiting Rhysand.
Rhysand takes her back to the Night Court where he assures her she is welcome to stay as long as she wants – he even offers her a job. When he makes to leave, she asks to go with him, just as she had asked Tamlin. Instead of telling her no, Rhys makes her promise not to tell anyone about where he’s taking her. She agrees and she finds herself in Velaris – a village that is the opposite of every horrible thing she has ever been told about the Night Court.
As Feyre heals, both physically and emotionally, she and Rhysand grow closer. She becomes friends with his inner circle, a cast of characters that includes Mor, an other worldly being by the name of Amren, and two Illaryian warriors, Cassian and Arziel. As she embraces her freedom and her powers, she and Rhys grow closer as the threat of war closes in on them.
Except Rhys is hiding a very important fact from her.
They are mates.
A Court of Mist and Fury is, in some ways, the “in between” book between one war and the next. There is plenty of action, but the main story is Feyre coming into her own, embracing her newfound powers, and falling, slowly and surely, in love with Rhysand. When her sisters are taken hostage, she must do whatever it takes to save them, even if it means giving up Rhysand.
A Court of Mist and Fury explores the brokenness of not just Feyre, but Rhysand, Tamlin, and Rhysand’s inner circle, too. Rhysand isn’t the wretched, wicked being the world outside of Velaris thinks he is and Feyre isn’t as weak as both she and Tamlin think she is. With the love of Rhysand and the support of her friends, Feyre faces down King Hybren who is hell bent on destroying their world and the human world to boot. The last pages are full of fast action and a “will they survive” pace that leaves the reader turning the page as fast as possible.
The book ends on a cliffhanger of sorts with Feyre returning to the Spring Court on Tamlin’s arm and her sisters left in the hands of the Night Court. Meanwhile, Hybren and his promise of war looms large…
