This one was definitely my favourite of the series. I don't know if I will read further books if they come out. This is not high art literature but it is immensely entertaining and fabulously erotic, if terribly hetronormative (don't get me started on the tokenistic queer characters). Lack of gender and sexuality diversity aside, Maas writes a bloody good sex scene. This particular novel's story really appealed to me because Nesta is such a spiky character. Her "journey" is a predictable one but I had a great time on the ride so I'm forgiving that. ( )

My favourite of all the ACOTAR books (thus far). A Court of Silver Flames centres on mostly Nesta, the eldest and coldest of the Archeron sisters, following her trauma from previous events which has caused her to shut herself away from the world, even more than before. Tall, dark and handsome (not to mention hilarious and flirtatious) Cassian brings her out of her shell by training her daily and unveiling more about his own dark past until eventually the two share a very strong bond. Nesta also meets priestess Gwyn and female Illyrian Emerie who have their own traumas that they are overcoming. War has returned, and Nesta decides to train the priestesses so they can defend themselves, as Valkyries reborn. Not only is this book about the power of friendship, love conquering all but there are deeper, touching aspects of self-awareness, forgiveness, redemption and healing.

Honourable mentions in this book have got to be firstly the ball when Nesta dances, need I say any more? And then when Cassian goes to visit Nesta to give her the Winter Solstice gift. I was screaming, giggling and kicking my feet reading it that I had to read that chapter again! Like um hello, a man customising a Symphonia with music that he knew you'd love, just for you to listen and dance to whenever you wish? I'd swoon - and marry that man! Cassian is the standard in men.

The interesting part of this is that so far the books have been written in first person, from Feyre's point of view. This one is the first of which to use third person, with insight into both Nesta and Cassian's point of view, which is something I prefer. It gave an interesting viewpoint of looking at the characters such as Rhysand without looking through Feyre's rose-tinted lenses and overall bias.

I was looking forward to this story the most because of Cassian (of course), though was skeptical about whether or not I would enjoy this because I have never been sure whether or not I could like Nesta. I could not have been more wrong. I have never resonated so much with a character in my life: her struggles, the depths of her despair, but her resilience to keep getting up and keep going, against all odds. This is THE best ACOTAR book. The only unbelievable thing (yes even in a fantasy book) is the wingspan and being able to go down 10,000 steps - and back up! ( )

This was definitely not as good as the first three. It focused more on Nesta and wasn’t my favorite ( )

If you’d asked me what character I’d like to do a deep dive on, Nesta wouldn’t have come up on my list. I really enjoyed her story regardless, even though Feyre is my favorite, she did deserve a break. I liked who Nesta made herself. I definitely had more questions about what’s next and I hope there will be more books (even if they won’t fit in my boxed set). ( )

5 stars 5 stars 5 stars
Am I a little biased? Well, Nesta is my comfort character.. that being said though, she was not my comfort character before this book! I heard a quote somewhere on Booktok: "You probably don't like Nesta if you've had to deal with a Nesta, but if you love Nesta it's probably because you are a Nesta" and I think that summarizes it great. Not everyone is going to understand her and that's okay, but don't write her off before reading this book because it explains so much of 1. what's happening in her head and 2. how she gets better! Those moments are the best in this book, her journey to healing and becoming a warrior.

Does this book have detailed sex scenes in it? 100% it does
Is this book a harlequin or smut book? absolutely not and I get tired of people saying it is. Do not be afraid to read this book because you think it's just a romance novel. There are so many resources if you want to skip those chapters too.

Also, to the reviewers that were bummed it didn't seem like a good book to end the series on, this is not the end of the series! So don't worry about high expectations of plot coming to an end. There's still House of Flame and Shadow which is a crossover in the Crescent City series, and SJM has confirmed THREE more ACOTAR books are coming! So there you go :) ( )