A Court of Mist and Fury - Outside of a Dog

Hardcover, 640 pages

English language

Published May 28, 2016 by Bloomsbury.

ISBN:: 9781619634466

(1 review)

Feyre has undergone more trials than one human woman can carry in her heart. Though she's now been granted the powers and lifespan of the High Fae, she is haunted by her time Under the Mountain and the terrible deeds she performed to save the lives of Tamlin and his people.

As her marriage to Tamlin approaches, Feyre's hollowness and nightmares consume her. She finds herself split into two different people: one who upholds her bargain with Rhysand, High Lord of the feared Night Court, and one who lives out her life in the Spring Court with Tamlin. While Feyre navigates a dark web of politics, passion, and dazzling power, a greater evil looms. She might just be the key to stopping it, but only if she can harness her harrowing gifts, heal her fractured soul, and decide how she wishes to shape her future-and the future of a world …

Feyre has undergone more trials than one human woman can carry in her heart. Though she's now been granted the powers and lifespan of the High Fae, she is haunted by her time Under the Mountain and the terrible deeds she performed to save the lives of Tamlin and his people.

As her marriage to Tamlin approaches, Feyre's hollowness and nightmares consume her. She finds herself split into two different people: one who upholds her bargain with Rhysand, High Lord of the feared Night Court, and one who lives out her life in the Spring Court with Tamlin. While Feyre navigates a dark web of politics, passion, and dazzling power, a greater evil looms. She might just be the key to stopping it, but only if she can harness her harrowing gifts, heal her fractured soul, and decide how she wishes to shape her future-and the future of a world in turmoil.

Bestselling author Sarah J. Maas's masterful storytelling brings this second book in her dazzling, sexy, action-packed series to new heights.

22 editions

Elska Bee reviewed A Court of Mist and Fury by Sarah J. Maas

Review of 'A Court of Mist and Fury' on 'Goodreads'

3 stars

[NO SPOILERS] // 3.5 // oh... I kinda get it now
(read on audiobook)

This was SO much more enjoyable than ACOTAR. I really was starting to wonder why this series is so popular after finishing the first book which was mostly boring and underwhelming. This book was a HUGE improvement. We had:
- a much more well-developed and enjoyable romance
- a much more proactive Feyre
- the book kept the pace up (unlike ACOTAR which crawled along)
- the characters had downtime but it never dragged because meaningful things where still ocurring (e.g. character development)
- characters that were better developed and more interesting
- I really enjoyed the character dynamics, like it's one of this book's greatest strengths

But it's not all good I'm afraid...
3.5 is a respectable score (especially considering how low I rated ACOTAR) but I couldn't justify rating higher due to some non-ignorable …

[NO SPOILERS] // 3.5 // oh... I kinda get it now
(read on audiobook)

This was SO much more enjoyable than ACOTAR. I really was starting to wonder why this series is so popular after finishing the first book which was mostly boring and underwhelming. This book was a HUGE improvement. We had:
- a much more well-developed and enjoyable romance
- a much more proactive Feyre
- the book kept the pace up (unlike ACOTAR which crawled along)
- the characters had downtime but it never dragged because meaningful things where still ocurring (e.g. character development)
- characters that were better developed and more interesting
- I really enjoyed the character dynamics, like it's one of this book's greatest strengths

But it's not all good I'm afraid...
3.5 is a respectable score (especially considering how low I rated ACOTAR) but I couldn't justify rating higher due to some non-ignorable pitfalls:
- sjm's wrting style is still quite repetitive and it still bothers me
- some of the sex-scenes were a bit too gratuitous. I know this is a romance, but it still has a plot and wasting time with sex scenes that aren't really there to progress plot or character relationships seems a bit pointless when there's SO many, some back to back. (that said some of the sex scenes were used really well!)
- So. Much. Exposition. there was a chunk maybe a third in where you get like 4 character's backstories dumped on you and then you get a whole bunch of lore and other world-building heaped on top of that shortly after. It's too much too soon, I even had to rewind my audiobook to replay that section because I literally could not absorb all that info at once.
- Which brings me to: too much telling not enough showing. I don't need to know everything at once, drip feed it I beg you
- If my above points didn't make it clear: this book coulda done with some pruning down to maybe 500-ish pages and not suffered too much. There's even some side-questy stuff that could be trimmed or completely removed tbh.

And lastly... Not a spoiler I promise, but the end happens VERY fast. I know it's leading into the next book, but it's all a bit rushed with six thousand things being revealed at once and zero time to stew in them.

I think I will give at least the last in the original trilogy a shot based on this moderate success. Don't count me as an sjm stan yet, but like I kinda get it.