* * *There has been major differences in opinions on this book and, honestly, I can totally understand that. ACOFAS is technically book #3.5 of the A Court of Thorns and Roses series and acts as a bridge novella between the original trilogy and the newer books set to release.
This book is great because we have all the characters we know and love but... nothing really happens. There's no plot to this novella and just seems like a series of scenes that we didn't need to see and had no relevance to anything. We didn't learn much of use and it seemed to be 200 pages of filler content. If I was being really cynical, I'd accuse it of simply being written to make money.
Despite all this, I did enjoy it but can't see myself reading it again and again to the extent I do the other books in the series. Having said that, I did read this book in one sitting because it's shockingly short for a Sarah J. Maas book.
BOOK TALKS: ACOTAR | ACOMAF | ACOWAR
SPOILERS AHEAD- SPOILERS AHEAD- SPOILERS AHEAD- SPOILERS AHEAD- SPOILERS AHEAD
I don't really know what to start with because nothing really happened.
I'm gonna go through the things I didn't particularly like and and then move onto the bits I loved. The positive of there being absolutely no plot to this book... I can talk about scenes in any order I want. Silver linings.
Negatives (Let it be known that writing these things physically hurt me because the ACOTAR series is my favourite of all time and I hate saying a bad word about them).
- Perspectives. This book had a whole lot of different perspectives and it was kind of a blessing and a curse. I went into ACOFAS thinking we were just going to see Feysand chapters but we practically read from the whole cast and... there wasn't much point to it. I think it sometimes got too cluttered and clunky and could've been cut down a bit.
- Cassian chapters. Don't shout! Let me explain!! I love Cassian as a character, I do, but his chapters weren't necessary in getting anything done! All we had was random exposition about his mother and the Blood Rite which I wasn't really interested in at all. Plus, we had the angsty indecision over Nesta which, frankly, I could always live without.
- Shopping. After this book, I never ever ever want to read about a character going shopping. In any book that ever exists. I get it. The Solstice is coming up. I get it. We all like to buy presents for each other. I get it. You feel guilty about buying material possessions when so many are still suffering after the war. But can we not spend a good 100 pages of this book just wandering around shops looking for gifts? I don't need to see that! (However, I do not envy the idea of trying to come up with new gift ideas after 500 years. I struggle what to buy my Dad every year and I'm 17!).
- And finally, Nesta. Nesta is an extremely controversial subject within this fandom and she's kind of like Marmite: you either love her or you hate her. I happen to be in the latter category because she annoys the heck out of me. Yes, I understand that she's been through a hell of a lot but I still think she's incredibly ungrateful, spoilt and unnecessarily cruel and selfish. She doesn't care about how others feel and how her actions affect others. However, in ACOWAR, she at least had some character development! She'd grown stronger, had moments of decency and had grown a really nice bond with Cassian- especially at the end of the war. But ACOFAS erased all of this character development and now we're back at step one with her. It feels like all the growth was for nothing because she's back to how she used to be. I'm pretty sure one of the future books will focus on her and Cassian and I really hope she has a redemption arc because... I just can't stand her at the moment and I want that to change! Especially if she ends up with Cassian because she has to deserve someone as great as him.
Now, thankfully, we can move onto the happier things.
- Surprisingly, I think maybe my favourite part of this book was Elain. She's always been so quiet and troubled but we really get to see her growth in this book. She's come out of her shell a lot more, especially with the inner circle, and it brought a great smile to my face just to see her be happy and confident. We also saw a lot of Elriel moments which I lived for but I won't go into too much detail because I'm planning to make a whole post of Elriel vs Elucien: Ship Wars coming soon, so stay tuned!
- Feysand. Of course the best ship of all time was going to make this list. I will forever be thankful for every cutesy and smutty moment we have between Feysand because they are too beautiful to be true. Rhys is honestly the definition of perfection and they made it a lot easier to get through this book.
- Mor. While a little out of place amongst all the Solstice celebrations and... shopping, I did like seeing that snippet of Mor's past where she was nailed down and found by Eris. I think Mor's such a strong and brave character and this insight into her past just proves how amazing she is for living through that and being as positive and bright as she is now.
- Rhys visiting Tamlin. I know this is very immature and morally questionable but... it felt so good to rub our victory in Tamlin's face! I felt absolutely no pity for Tamlin and, sure he helped us in the end but, it doesn't mean he's a good person. I really liked these interactions between Rhys and Tamlin- they were so entertaining.
- Feyre and Cassian being the Brotp. I don't know why, but whenever there's a particular scene where Feyre bonds or shows how great her relationship is with Cassian or Azriel, I melt. So, I loved the section where she and Cassian get totally drunk and decorate the house horrendously. It was such a nice moment and imagining it made me feel all happy and warm.
- Three words. Illyrian. Snowball. Fight. I laughed out loud when I read that because it's the best thing ever! And, honestly? I'm rooting for Azriel. Just imagining them having a snowball fight makes me inexplicably happy and I love how they keep count- 199 wins for Azriel! Go Az!!
- Art. Art has always had a great significance in this series and I like how Feyre opened the art class with new buddy Ressina. I love the focus on art/creativity and how important it is to express emotions and deal with what you've been through. Creativity is very therapeutic and it was a nice, if not predictable, thing for Feyre to do.
- Trying for a child! Ever since we found out the Bone Carver was the image of Feysand's child, we've been waiting for the moment they decide to have kids. I'll admit, the decision came a little earlier than I'd expected, but I'm not complaining at all.
Overall, it was an easy and entertaining filler book but that's all it was in it's entirety: filler.
Thanks for reading! Feel free to comment your thoughts. Stay amazing!
Chloe
No comments:
Post a Comment