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starrydreamer's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
hannahgonzalez's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
It was a good book but felt a little long and dragged on at some points.
teran_hoover's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
cassidyserhienko's review against another edition
4.0
Okay yeah, it was worth the freaking wait. The friendship between Nesta, Gwyn and Emerie? Fantastic. Cassian and Nesta? Incredible. A sentient House of Wind that only loves a certain prickly B? Immaculate. I absolutely devoured and loved this book, I am 100% trash for Sarah J Maas. Still, there are some things we need to discuss.
I was a little worried going into this book that it was going to be a bit of a repeat of Feyre’s story in ACOMAF, but that was completely unfounded. Nesta’s story was unique and both she and this book stand on their own. I thought it was well-paced and plotted and that the set up for the next book was well done. It could easily have felt a little directionless considering ACOTAR was set up and concluded as a trilogy, but I think that there is a strong story here. Even though the main plot never really got started in this book as it was a lot of set-up for the rest of the series, I was never bored. Everything has been well-established and built up for the next installment and I think the story will be stronger for it. I also really loved the focus on Nesta building female friendships outside of the characters from the original books as it felt more authentic to her, as well as to her relationship with Feyre and Feyre’s chosen family. She is never going to be that close to Feyre, and that is okay. They’ve each found people who understand and love them without the guilt and baggage, and I think that it actually gives them more space to repair their relationship. And even though I found the whole “rebirth the Valkyries” thing a little cheesy at times, I think that it’s going to be very interesting in later books and an excellent choice for the direction of Nesta’s character. I want to see this HBIC lead a freaking army.
Her and Cassian were, for the most part, dreamy. I’m not gonna lie, I actually get a little annoyed at some of the TikToks and reels for this book because of how they break down Cassian and Nesta’s characters. They all have Cassian as a dumb jock and Nesta as a miserable rhymes-with-stitch, as if their entire character arcs in this book aren’t Cassian proving that he’s actually incredibly smart and Nesta being hurt by the way that people see her. I am aware that it is for comedy (and obviously most of them are hilarious), but it still razzes me. But this is perhaps an irrational rant for another day. I liked them as a couple and I think they had good chemistry, though let’s be real, they don’t top Feyre and Rhys. And it must be mentioned, Maas really upped her smut factor and again, I think it was the right move to do so for Nesta’s book.
I’ve seen a number of reviews criticizing the way that the Inner Circle treated Nesta, and for the most part I agree with them. I actually think that Rhys was done especially dirty because I felt that a lot of his behaviour was very out of character for him. It was like he was forced into this shape for the sake of this book rather than Maas finding a way of furthering the narrative without completely altering his (and the other Inner Circle’s) character. I actually don’t think it’s unreasonable that he, Feyre, and Mor would treat Nesta in a less than accepting way. People are angry because Rhys wasn’t acting towards Nesta like he did towards Feyre in ACOMAF. And yeah, I think there were moments where his and everyone else’s behaviour towards her didn’t make sense because anyone with half a brain could see that Nesta was acting out of freaking depression. But when it comes down to it, these characters didn’t owe her anything and they didn’t really have a relationship with her. I don’t expect Rhys to treat some rando he doesn’t really know the way that he treated Feyre. Even before Rhys and Feyre were together as mates, they had some kind of relationship/friendship/attraction that lended itself to their care of each other. But for their entire lives Feyre and Nesta have pretty much had a crap relationship - largely because of Nesta, and Rhys doesn’t really know her. So I don’t have an issue with them not really paying that much mind to her to be honest. To paraphrase a line from another beloved YA book, The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer, if it’s between the person you love and 1000 strangers, you choose the person you love. And that’s how I read the majority of the relationship (or lack thereof) between Nesta and Feyre and Co. Now, that doesn’t excuse their behaviour and I’ll discuss my issues with that more later.
Unlike Feyre, Mor and Rhys; Cassian, Amren and Elain did owe Nesta something, particularly Elain. She was pretty much nonexistent in this book but when she was there she was “showing some teeth'' by calling Nesta out. As if Nesta hasn’t spent her whole goddamn life looking after her, shielding her, and being very freaking understanding of every thought and impulse that she’s had. She accuses Nesta of making her trauma about her… ma’am what exactly do you suppose you're doing right tf now? And Cassian, who has always suspected that Nesta is his mate seems to have just followed Rhys and Feyre’s lead, the people who don’t really have a relationship with her and what little ties there are are pretty much crap. Obviously once they’ve started training and are actually spending time together he steps up, but again he’s only initiated this because Rhys and Feyre have made the decision. And as for Amren, screw her. She was one of my favourite non-main characters throughout this series but this book has made me lose all respect for her. Throughout the book Nesta is the one constantly apologizing, even when it is absolutely not her fault. This feels particularly inane in regards to Amren. For some reason, Nesta is painted as a bad person for relying on someone who she considered an understanding friend, but Amren was in the right for calling Nesta a “waste of life” and slutshaming her throughout the entire 800 page book. Yeah, I’m just so sure.
So of course, I LOVED this book. I loved Nesta as a character, I loved the addition of the priestesses, the romance-novel loving House of Wind, I loved Cassian and him and Nesta as a couple. But there are clearly a number of things that pissed me tf off. This series, right from the get-go has been about dealing with trauma, and in my opinion has done it pretty well (bearing in mind I am no expert). Until this book. There are aspects that I think were done really well; Nesta’s character development as an individual was well executed, I liked the fact that it was training and her relationships with Gwyn and Emerie that really pulled Nesta out of herself and in a way validated her existence to herself. But as I’ve said, it was like all the old characters turned into completely different people and I feel the need to go on about it a little more. Azriel is the only one who is consistently not-terrible to Nesta in this book, he doesn’t take every bad decision and use it against her and he seems to understand where most of her bad behaviour is coming from. Even Cassian is so wishy washy. He protects her from the censure of his family, but only when Nesta isn’t there to see his support. When she is, he berates her for (mostly fairly) criticizing Rhys and actually tells her that everyone hates her, knowing what hearing something like that would do to her. The big moment is when Nesta tells Feyre about the reality of her pregnancy, something that all of her closest friends have chosen to keep from her for some inconceivable reason. Nesta obviously did not have good intentions when she chose to share that information, and I think an apology for the context in which she told Feyre is warranted, but there’s no reason for her to apologize to Feyre or anyone for actually telling her. Yes, Feyre mentions that everyone else was really in the wrong for keeping it from her, but the actual conversation happens off-page and I don’t think that enough time was spent on pointing out that though Nesta isn’t in the right, everyone else is so far in the wrong it’s not even funny. The way that Cassian treats her in this moment enrages me. He takes her from the city on Rhys’ request (threat) and then refuses to speak to her because for some reason he is Just So Pissed. I think Nesta deserved to be called out, but seriously? Who’s behaviour towards Feyre is really worse here?
And all of this would’ve been fine if it had been resolved. I kept waiting for the moment when Nesta would either call them out and they’d actually freaking listen, or for them to realize it themselves and have a real conversation with her where they weren’t playing the martyr. But for some reason Nesta is the one apologizing.
Apart from that, I didn’t actually mind the way that the book ended. The defrosting in her relationship with Elain felt very true to Nesta as a character, and to a sisterly relationship in general. I also think that Feyre actually treated Nesta pretty fairly throughout the book, if occasionally high-handedly. And I thought it was a cool idea to read about Rhys from the perspective of someone who hated him, though I don’t think it was always executed well (refer to the above rant). It was a small moment, but I loved when Nesta mentioned how Rhys couldn’t stop showering her in gifts after she saved Feyre and Nyx. This, and their embrace after she saves Feyre gives me hope for some interesting development in their relationship in upcoming books.
Mmkay, guess I’ll go read Crescent City in the meantime.
I was a little worried going into this book that it was going to be a bit of a repeat of Feyre’s story in ACOMAF, but that was completely unfounded. Nesta’s story was unique and both she and this book stand on their own. I thought it was well-paced and plotted and that the set up for the next book was well done. It could easily have felt a little directionless considering ACOTAR was set up and concluded as a trilogy, but I think that there is a strong story here. Even though the main plot never really got started in this book as it was a lot of set-up for the rest of the series, I was never bored. Everything has been well-established and built up for the next installment and I think the story will be stronger for it. I also really loved the focus on Nesta building female friendships outside of the characters from the original books as it felt more authentic to her, as well as to her relationship with Feyre and Feyre’s chosen family. She is never going to be that close to Feyre, and that is okay. They’ve each found people who understand and love them without the guilt and baggage, and I think that it actually gives them more space to repair their relationship. And even though I found the whole “rebirth the Valkyries” thing a little cheesy at times, I think that it’s going to be very interesting in later books and an excellent choice for the direction of Nesta’s character. I want to see this HBIC lead a freaking army.
Her and Cassian were, for the most part, dreamy. I’m not gonna lie, I actually get a little annoyed at some of the TikToks and reels for this book because of how they break down Cassian and Nesta’s characters. They all have Cassian as a dumb jock and Nesta as a miserable rhymes-with-stitch, as if their entire character arcs in this book aren’t Cassian proving that he’s actually incredibly smart and Nesta being hurt by the way that people see her. I am aware that it is for comedy (and obviously most of them are hilarious), but it still razzes me. But this is perhaps an irrational rant for another day. I liked them as a couple and I think they had good chemistry, though let’s be real, they don’t top Feyre and Rhys. And it must be mentioned, Maas really upped her smut factor and again, I think it was the right move to do so for Nesta’s book.
I’ve seen a number of reviews criticizing the way that the Inner Circle treated Nesta, and for the most part I agree with them. I actually think that Rhys was done especially dirty because I felt that a lot of his behaviour was very out of character for him. It was like he was forced into this shape for the sake of this book rather than Maas finding a way of furthering the narrative without completely altering his (and the other Inner Circle’s) character. I actually don’t think it’s unreasonable that he, Feyre, and Mor would treat Nesta in a less than accepting way. People are angry because Rhys wasn’t acting towards Nesta like he did towards Feyre in ACOMAF. And yeah, I think there were moments where his and everyone else’s behaviour towards her didn’t make sense because anyone with half a brain could see that Nesta was acting out of freaking depression. But when it comes down to it, these characters didn’t owe her anything and they didn’t really have a relationship with her. I don’t expect Rhys to treat some rando he doesn’t really know the way that he treated Feyre. Even before Rhys and Feyre were together as mates, they had some kind of relationship/friendship/attraction that lended itself to their care of each other. But for their entire lives Feyre and Nesta have pretty much had a crap relationship - largely because of Nesta, and Rhys doesn’t really know her. So I don’t have an issue with them not really paying that much mind to her to be honest. To paraphrase a line from another beloved YA book, The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer, if it’s between the person you love and 1000 strangers, you choose the person you love. And that’s how I read the majority of the relationship (or lack thereof) between Nesta and Feyre and Co. Now, that doesn’t excuse their behaviour and I’ll discuss my issues with that more later.
Unlike Feyre, Mor and Rhys; Cassian, Amren and Elain did owe Nesta something, particularly Elain. She was pretty much nonexistent in this book but when she was there she was “showing some teeth'' by calling Nesta out. As if Nesta hasn’t spent her whole goddamn life looking after her, shielding her, and being very freaking understanding of every thought and impulse that she’s had. She accuses Nesta of making her trauma about her… ma’am what exactly do you suppose you're doing right tf now? And Cassian, who has always suspected that Nesta is his mate seems to have just followed Rhys and Feyre’s lead, the people who don’t really have a relationship with her and what little ties there are are pretty much crap. Obviously once they’ve started training and are actually spending time together he steps up, but again he’s only initiated this because Rhys and Feyre have made the decision. And as for Amren, screw her. She was one of my favourite non-main characters throughout this series but this book has made me lose all respect for her. Throughout the book Nesta is the one constantly apologizing, even when it is absolutely not her fault. This feels particularly inane in regards to Amren. For some reason, Nesta is painted as a bad person for relying on someone who she considered an understanding friend, but Amren was in the right for calling Nesta a “waste of life” and slutshaming her throughout the entire 800 page book. Yeah, I’m just so sure.
So of course, I LOVED this book. I loved Nesta as a character, I loved the addition of the priestesses, the romance-novel loving House of Wind, I loved Cassian and him and Nesta as a couple. But there are clearly a number of things that pissed me tf off. This series, right from the get-go has been about dealing with trauma, and in my opinion has done it pretty well (bearing in mind I am no expert). Until this book. There are aspects that I think were done really well; Nesta’s character development as an individual was well executed, I liked the fact that it was training and her relationships with Gwyn and Emerie that really pulled Nesta out of herself and in a way validated her existence to herself. But as I’ve said, it was like all the old characters turned into completely different people and I feel the need to go on about it a little more. Azriel is the only one who is consistently not-terrible to Nesta in this book, he doesn’t take every bad decision and use it against her and he seems to understand where most of her bad behaviour is coming from. Even Cassian is so wishy washy. He protects her from the censure of his family, but only when Nesta isn’t there to see his support. When she is, he berates her for (mostly fairly) criticizing Rhys and actually tells her that everyone hates her, knowing what hearing something like that would do to her. The big moment is when Nesta tells Feyre about the reality of her pregnancy, something that all of her closest friends have chosen to keep from her for some inconceivable reason. Nesta obviously did not have good intentions when she chose to share that information, and I think an apology for the context in which she told Feyre is warranted, but there’s no reason for her to apologize to Feyre or anyone for actually telling her. Yes, Feyre mentions that everyone else was really in the wrong for keeping it from her, but the actual conversation happens off-page and I don’t think that enough time was spent on pointing out that though Nesta isn’t in the right, everyone else is so far in the wrong it’s not even funny. The way that Cassian treats her in this moment enrages me. He takes her from the city on Rhys’ request (threat) and then refuses to speak to her because for some reason he is Just So Pissed. I think Nesta deserved to be called out, but seriously? Who’s behaviour towards Feyre is really worse here?
And all of this would’ve been fine if it had been resolved. I kept waiting for the moment when Nesta would either call them out and they’d actually freaking listen, or for them to realize it themselves and have a real conversation with her where they weren’t playing the martyr. But for some reason Nesta is the one apologizing.
Apart from that, I didn’t actually mind the way that the book ended. The defrosting in her relationship with Elain felt very true to Nesta as a character, and to a sisterly relationship in general. I also think that Feyre actually treated Nesta pretty fairly throughout the book, if occasionally high-handedly. And I thought it was a cool idea to read about Rhys from the perspective of someone who hated him, though I don’t think it was always executed well (refer to the above rant). It was a small moment, but I loved when Nesta mentioned how Rhys couldn’t stop showering her in gifts after she saved Feyre and Nyx. This, and their embrace after she saves Feyre gives me hope for some interesting development in their relationship in upcoming books.
Mmkay, guess I’ll go read Crescent City in the meantime.
leoniecst's review against another edition
5.0
This is by far the best book in the series to me. When I tell you I was SOBBING. Yeah ACOMAF is good and all but this ripped my heart out and put it back together. I got to see all characters from a different perspective, which allowed them to have so much more dimension. Nesta went through insane character development as well as Elain and….well….Rhysand. Tbh seeing him from Nestas perspective made me see his flaws, dont get me wrong I’m still like in love with him but it was interesting to see how everyone is kind of troubled.
All in all this book was fabulous. I’m really gonna miss this world.
All in all this book was fabulous. I’m really gonna miss this world.
beebumblingbats's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
funny
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
holly_hart's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
amcyare's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
inspiring
mysterious
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
libertymoore's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
funny
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
faye_bowmer's review against another edition
5.0
Spoiler
I honestly don't know where to start this review off. I'm so sad this is the last book in the series (currently published), but I'm also so happy of how it ended, because you know it can't be the end of the entire story. I wasn't really a Nesta-hater when I started this book, if anything I had felt sorry for her from the start and new the anger and fury was clearly coming from a hurt place. Having said that I was definitely ready to see her character development and HEA and we got that and some!! I knew I was going to love Cassian either way, and he did everything I expected, we looove when a guy shows his caring side, even when someone he's showing it to might not want it/deserve it at that time. Their relationship was so special to me because they'd both been judged and yet they still proved everyone wrong. I also wanted to point out that I started this series not the biggest Feyre fan, but in this book alone I fell in love with her, you can see how much she's changed over the series and when she would have just argued with Nesta she didn't, because she knew Nesta needed to figure this out for herself, just like she had to.PS. Can Sarah J Maas give the people what they want which is the Azriel book please?! We neeeeeed it