Oh, Sarah J. Maas, I cannot quit you.
I thought I was done with A Court of Thorns and Roses but then I found people who love/hate it as much as I do, I bullied a friend into reading it, and I got stuck without a book so I ended up rereading the entire series. I KNOW. Anyway. Here we are. I reread all three and then zipped right through the latest, all 768 pages of it. Is Sarah J. Maas more than one person, James S. A. Corey-style? Because her output is bananas.
Okay, lest you thought the third book wrapped things up too neatly, we’re right back at it with even more angst. Nesta, the eldest, prickliest Archeron sister, is our lead here and she is noooooot doing great. She’s got Cauldron and war-induced PTSD, she’s grieving, she’s got survivor’s guilt, there’s an unfortunate cocktail of self-hate and incredible pride, basically it’s all bad and she’s drinking and spending herself silly. Feyre and co lay down the law – come up to the House of Wind, train with Cassian to give yourself something to do, and clean up, or go back to the human lands. They won’t continue to finance her self-destruction. There’s also the matter that Nesta might still be able to tap into her powers from the Cauldron that no one understands.
The B plot, the one that’ll end the world, is that there’s this dark sorcerer trying to be a threat, one mentioned in passing at the end of Wings and Ruin (don’t worry if it’s been a while, they explain it all in detail) and three new (old) objects of power to be acquired. There’s more of the Middle and the Prison and more Illyrian backstory explained about how much they suuuuper suck. A few pretty great new characters are introduced, including one who looks destined to make the first trilogy’s token gay no longer a solo act. Everyone is still gorgeous and nothing makes sense and that’s why we read these.
