A Court of Silver Flames

I've finally done it. I've finally read ACOSF! Since it was released I was doing my best to keep my eyes off all the buzz, though when it comes to this series, that's hard to do. I did enjoy most of this book. Maas is an author who excels that building up her characters and world, sometimes for chapters at a time, which can make plot pacing seem choppy here and there (though nothing I mind too much, as I do appreciate a strong world with a strong system - be that magic, political, or otherwise - when reading). My gripes have to do with how QUICKLY the book ended...and fell flat. We are given hundreds of pages of in-depth character interactions and Nesta grows beautifully...only to have the bloody end be concluded with a ‘sacrifice' I didn't totally love. Nesta had progressed into such a strong woman...only to give away all her powers (but plot twist! Your super powerful warrior girl changed her anatomy so she can have a baby.)

When I read that part, despite all I had really enjoyed about ACOSF, this was my face (I'm not kidding):



Not only can I just NOT see Nesta as a mother (Aunt Nesta is something I can see...but a mother? No.), but it also widdles her character down into the same, tired trope of “all women, regardless of personality, inevitably want to be mothers.” Never mind the fact that it is totally inconsistent with her character. And yes, I know she did this to save Feyre, but you're telling me Maas could think of NO other way for Nesta to ~redeem~ herself + save her sister without wholly giving up the power she'd just learned to wield? For Christ's sake!

Honestly, had the ending not been what it was, this book would have been a 3 or 4 stars - not perfect, maybe, but strong enough and enjoyable. But that ending...boy, oh boy, did it leave a bad taste in my mouth.

I get that I am in a minority of reviewers here, and hey, I love Nessian just as much as the next! But in my [sometimes not-so-humble], yet completely SUBJECTIVE opinion (isn't that what all book reviews are, the good and the bad?), the ending tarnished a character I had grown to love.