A ​Court of Silver Flames

Okay. I have a lot of mixed feelings about this book.

Cons: The first half of the book dragged on for me, way too much smut bruh calm tf down??? What was I even reading, there was hardly any plot and just a lot of wanting to suck dick ugh.

The last few chapters felt so rushed, I think she could've spread out more plot into all the smut -_-

NOW MY BIGGEST PROBLEM WITH THIS BOOK

Nesta gave up her powers but bruh she made herself have a birthing canal that can have illyrian cassian babies awwwwwwwwww. No. Stfu. WHAT WAS THAT? I hated it in ToG when Aelin lost her powers and I will hate it here too, Nesta was fucking badass and extremely powerful and also went through emotional development AND THEN SHE GAVE IT UP? ARE YOU KIDDING ME? WHY WAS THAT NECESSARY? AMREN ALSO GAVE UP HER POWERS, WHY DOES SJM MAKE EVERY FEMALE BADASS POWERFUL WOMAN GIVE UP THEIR POWERS????? Why????? And also Amren was barely in this book, she became an entirely new species in the last book and Idk I would've liked to see more chapters of her going through struggles too, yaknow? But no, the only times we do see her, she is either being calmed down by Varian “babe we talked about this dont be rude”, fucking Varian, making goo goo eyes at Varian. Her entire personality is no longer scary and powerful or ancient or anything, she is now a slightly grumpy lady who is sweet on that one guy, she became Aubrey Plaza from Parks and Rec. UGH.

SJM has become one of those pseudo-feminist men writers who make women seem powerful as long as it still suits them, never too powerful, no, just enough to give the illusion.


Pros: Absolutely loved Nesta's character development, I resonated with her on quite a lot of fronts as she dealt with her trauma, had setbacks, kept moving forward.
She acts out with people, pushes them away, is an utter bitch often but she sometimes it's so hard not to be, it's so very difficult to get out of your own head.

I adored the female friendships in this book. That is something that was lacking in the first three, I think. The way the three of them keep pushing each other and also giving each other space and time to go slow, at their own pace, the way they are all dealing with their own trauma and struggles but have each other to lean on, the understanding and just general badassery, beautiful. I have friends like that and I'm sick of books not showing female friendships the way they show male friendships, high time that changes.
Favorite bits: Sleepover night, the whole blood rite, when they each shared their past, when they became valkyrie, when Emerie and Gwyn won the blood rite.

The second half of the book was okay.