I Read Every ACOTAR Book in the Same Three Weeks and Now I am Done with Life

In mid-February, Sarah J. Maas published her newest book A Court of Silver Flames, the fourth book in her A Court of Thorns and Roses series. Booktube has been all over this and I finally gave in and decided to read the first book. I spiraled out of control in early March and read every single book in about three weeks — and they are pretty chunky books. I had “important” things to do, but in my defense, I had headaches and pelvic pain and…fantasy romance is just more fun.

A note: this post will contain mild spoilers for this series, but nothing major. I found the actual plot progression through this entire series to be very predictable anyway, and not the point of the experience of reading this series.

A Court of Thorns and Roses

The first book in the series is a pretty straightforward Beauty and the Beast retelling. I love fairy tales and fairy tale retellings, so I already kind of wanted to read this book. I got all of the books in the original series on Kindle immediately after listening to the episode of Sentimental Garbage on the series. It is a truth universally acknowledged that I must read every book that Caroline O’Donoghue ever mentions. What pushed me into ACOTAR-overdrive was watching booktubers vlogging themselves losing their minds over A Court of Silver Flames and I thought “I am feeling a little too sane these days. I also want to lose my mind.”

‎Sentimental Garbage: A Court of Thorns and Roses with Jennifer Cownie on Apple Podcasts

The main character Feyre is the main breadwinner for her father and two older sisters. She is “the strong one” and during the first book she has strong “not like other girls” vibe — I was hesitant to like this book/series, but I figured Feyre had a whole series to grow out of that attitude. She kills a wolf in the forest near the border between her mortal realm and the Fae realm, which turns out to be a shape-shifted Fae, and the High Lord of the Spring Court in the Fae realm demands that she come with him to do penance for murdering his underling.

I thought that a lot of plot points and twists got crammed into this book — especially because it is the first book in a series. The first half is Feyre and Tamlin the High Lord learning to live with each other and starting a romantic relationship. Feyre then undergoes a months-long ordeal to break a curse. It felt like a lot, but it was a really fun ride.

A Court of Mist and Fury

I really appreciated A Court of Mist and Fury for being so subversive of the “fairy tale” trope. At first I found it so jarring that Tamlin became so problematic so quickly. But the more I thought about it, it is a very relatable that a man would court someone with a feminist attitude and then become controlling when the relationship is more settled. Tamlin needed Feyre to break the curse, but then he no longer needed her, and began seeing her as a possession. It is really sad and absolutely happens in real life.

What I also appreciated in this book is that her relationship with Rhysand does not happen immediately, and that he is not positioned as her “savior,” from an abusive situation. This book gets more into politics and geopolitics, which I thought was interesting, but maybe that is just because I have been brainwashed by my international relations degree. The meetings between Rhysand, Feyre, and the mortal rulers mirror videos of model UNs I have seen.

A Court of Wings and Ruin

A Court of Wings and Ruin is my favorite of these books so far. Feyre is more settled into her new role in leadership and in her relationship with Rhysand. It was nice to see them as a power couple. This also leaves room to see the growth of Feyre’s sisters and their interactions with the Night Court. There is of course a lot of action in this book, as it is the culmination of hostilities with the invading Fae. I essentially knew all the major characters were going to come out of the action in one piece, but the plot and the action took a few turns that I was not expecting and it was a nice surprise.

A Court of Frost and Starlight

The novella, A Court of Frost and Starlight, is a controversial addition to the series, but I enjoyed it. There was not much actual plot — just Feyre, Rhys, and their family prepare for the winter solstice and deal with their trauma from the big war. It was a quick read and I finished it in a day. I do not really have much of an opinion on it.

A Court of Silver Flames

This one is also thin on plot. This is mostly smut and exercise. I think the decision to change perspective from Feyre to her sister, Nesta, was a wise one because Feyre and Rhysand’s story wrapped up nicely and there was not a lot of potential for interesting advancement. Nesta has been an important and “difficult” character throughout the series and it was refreshing to read from her perspective. She is flawed and hurt and watching her heal from her various traumas and toxic traits is both cathartic and relatable. The plot arc is very predictable, but I think the plot is not the point of this book. It is essentially a character study and I appreciate the depth that Maas put into showing Nesta’s mental health struggles — especially relatable during pandemic times.

Conclusion

My main criticism of this series is that Maas uses the word “feasted” in a sexual context too much. Thanks, I hate it. It absolutely made me think that the characters were flesh-eating zombies instead of Fae lovers. That aside, I really enjoyed my quick binge of this series and I am awaiting the future installments impatiently! I even went and got a paperback (!!!) copy of House of Earth and Blood, the first book in another one of Maas’s series to combat the withdrawals.