A Court of Frost and Starlight | Every Read It…Except Me

After finishing A Court of Wings and Ruin, I went straight into A Court of Frost and Starlight. I needed to know what happened when everyone went home. After everything they had just been through, I wanted to see what normal life even looked like for them. Well, as normal as life can be when you are surrounded by High Fae, Illyrian warriors, an ancient creature who is now learning how to use a bathroom, and people who have enough trauma between them to keep a therapist busy for the next five hundred years.

SPOILER WARNING: Everything beyond this point is spoilers. If you have not yet read this book and don’t want to know what happens. STOP READING NOW! You have been warned!

This one is much shorter than the other books and there isn’t a huge battle or some great enemy they have to defeat. Instead, we get daily life. Everyone has gone back to Velaris and they are trying to rebuild after the war. There are still political problems and plenty of things happening in the other courts, but we get birthdays, shopping, painting, family dinners, presents, and a snowball fight. I loved getting all of that.

Even better, we finally get other points of view! I have been begging for this. We get Rhys, Cassian, Mor, and eventually Nesta. I didn’t know what to do with myself when Chapter Three gave me Cassian’s POV.

The Permise

The war with Hybern is over, but that doesn’t mean everything is suddenly okay. Velaris is rebuilding and so are Feyre, Rhys, and the rest of the Inner Circle. Feyre and Rhys are so busy that they barely have time together. Elain is still living with them while Nesta has moved out and seems determined to shut everyone out.

Winter Solstice is coming, which means everyone is trying to find some sort of normal again. I think that is really what this book is about. What happens after you save the world? You go home and discover that surviving something doesn’t mean you magically stop hurting.

I loved seeing all of the little traditions. Rhys, Cassian, and Azriel have a snowball fight every Winter Solstice and I adore that. These are three incredibly powerful males who have fought wars together and have been brothers for centuries, and apparently they also need to throw snow at one another every year. It made them feel like a family rather than simply three warriors who work together.

It did make me wonder if Cassian and Azriel still went to the cabin during the forty-nine years Rhys was trapped Under the Mountain. Did they keep the tradition going without him? Did they stop because it hurt too much? I don’t know, but now I need to know.

Characters

Feyre: I liked Feyre in this book. She is finally getting the chance to figure out what she wants her life to look like when she isn’t fighting for survival. One of my favorite parts was watching her work with the children and help them paint. It was both heartbreaking and heartwarming. These children have lived through terrible things, and Feyre understands better than most what it is like to carry something you don’t know how to talk about.

Art helped Feyre when she was struggling, and now she is beginning to realize that she can use it to help someone else. I think she finally found a purpose that belongs to her. Not because she is Rhys’s mate or the High Lady of the Night Court. It is something she wants to do because she understands what those children need.

I also loved that everyone celebrated her birthday. After everything Feyre has been through, there was something wonderful about seeing her surrounded by people who wanted to celebrate her.

Then we learned that Rhys’s mother made all those gowns Feyre wears centuries before Feyre was even born. I don’t know why that little detail got me so much, but it did. Feyre will never meet Rhys’s mother, yet she has been wearing things his mother made with her own hands.

Rhysand: I loved getting Rhys’s POV! I have wanted other perspectives for so long, and getting inside his head was one of my favorite things about this book.

He is still Rhys, which means sometimes he does something that makes me want to shake him. He went to see Tamlin and taunted him when Tamlin was already about as low as a person could get. Rhys eventually realized he had gone too far, though. He went back, made Tamlin dinner, and told him to eat. I liked that. Rhys doesn’t like Tamlin and has plenty of reasons not to, but he could still recognize when he had crossed a line.

I also loved the completely unexpected little detail that Rhys is the one who has to take the daily contraceptive tonic. I don’t know why I found that so delightful, but I did. Usually in fantasy books that responsibility automatically falls to the woman. Not here. Rhys can remember his daily tonic.

Tamlin: I started this book torn about Tamlin. I am no longer torn. I still don’t like him.

My biggest problem is that he doesn’t seem to understand where he went wrong. He keeps talking about how much he loved Feyre, but his actions never looked like love to me. If Feyre had stayed with him, what would have happened once Hybern got what he wanted? Tamlin made a deal with Hybern to get Feyre back, yet he never thought to make some sort of deal with Amarantha to save his people. That bothers me.

Then there is Lucien. Tamlin has treated him horribly for years. Lucien is supposed to be his friend, yet Tamlin lashes out at him and refuses to listen to him.

Yes, Feyre helped destroy the Spring Court. I am not pretending she didn’t. At the same time, how many people did that ultimately save? Tamlin had given Hybern access through his lands. Taking that away mattered.

There was one moment, though, that made me stop. Tamlin finally asked Rhys if he thought Feyre would forgive him. Finally.

That was the first time I felt like Tamlin asked the right question. Not whether Feyre would come back or whether she still loved him. He asked if she would forgive him, which means somewhere in there he may finally be recognizing that he did something he needs forgiveness for. I don’t suddenly like him, but that was the first little glimpse that made me think maybe he can eventually understand what happened.

Nesta: Nesta is struggling so much in this book. At first it is easy to look at her behavior and think she is simply being awful, but by the end I don’t think that is what is happening. I think Nesta hates herself so much that she can’t stand being around anyone else. That doesn’t mean she didn’t make me mad.

I was so excited when we finally got Nesta’s POV and then she was horrible to Cassian. That peeved me right off. Cassian has spent his entire life having people look down on him because of where he came from. Nesta knows exactly how to find someone’s weakest point and hurt them there, and she does it to him.

I feel for Nesta. I really do. There is something going on inside her that is eating her alive, but I can feel sorry for her and still think the way she treats Cassian is wrong. There is also clearly something between those two. I can’t decide if Cassian knows Nesta is his mate or if he doesn’t know anything and is simply drawn to her. I am not looking this up because I don’t want to know until the books tell me.

Elain: Well, look at this. Elain irritated me a little less in this book. I know. I am shocked too. I actually felt bad for her at times. Nesta was always the sister Elain was closest to, and now Nesta has completely shut her out. Elain is trying. She is still struggling, but she is making an effort to be part of this family and this new life.

Then she made the joke about the headache powder being for the headaches everyone would get after drinking too much, and I laughed so hard. The fact that Elain was the one making the joke made it even better. We are finally getting tiny glimpses of a personality underneath the fragile Elain everyone has been protecting.

I still want to know if anyone ever told her about the ships their father named for Feyre, Nesta, and Elain. She wasn’t there when they appeared during the battle, and I don’t remember anyone telling her about them.

Cassian: I asked for more Cassian and I got more Cassian! Getting his POV in Chapter Three made me ridiculously happy. I already liked him, but I love getting to see more of who he is when he isn’t in the middle of a battle. He is so funny. When he told Amren she looked like an angry snowball, I actually spewed my coffee.

I also love his relationship with Rhys and Azriel. The Winter Solstice snowball fight may be one of my favorite little details in the entire series so far. It says so much about these three and the family they have built together.

Cassian can be ridiculous, but there is so much underneath that. He remembers what it is like to have nothing and to be treated as though he is nothing. That is part of why Nesta’s treatment of him bothered me so much. Now I just need to know exactly what is happening between him and Nesta.

Azriel: I like Azriel, but I don’t know what to do with him yet. There are so many secrets surrounding this man. Every time I think we might learn more about him, I somehow end up with another question.

I love his relationship with Rhys and Cassian. I like the little bits of humor we get from him. I just feel like there is something huge under all that silence and all those shadows, and we haven’t even scratched the surface yet.

Morrigan: Finally we got Mor’s POV and more of her backstory. What happened to her was horrific, and I understand her hatred of Eris much better now. However, I have questions about Eris.

I am beginning to wonder if his coldness toward Mor was actually an act of mercy. What would have happened to her if he or one of the other males had touched her and brought her into the Autumn Court? How would she have been treated there?

One of the guards who found her was horrified and wanted to help her, which I loved because it showed that not everyone in the Autumn Court is cruel. I also have this theory that Eris may somehow have been the person who made sure Azriel knew where Mor was. There is something more to Eris. I am sure of it. He was also the one who told Tamlin to get to the border and get Lucien when Lucien needed to escape. I am not saying Eris is secretly wonderful. I just don’t think we know the whole story.

Mor also has this estate that no one seems to know about. Why? Why has she never told any of them about it? I feel like Elain would absolutely love the horses there.

Amren: I still think Amren was a fallen angel. I said it before and nothing in this book changed my mind.

I loved seeing her adjusting to this new body, though. Her talking about having to learn how to go to the bathroom may have been one of the funniest things in the entire book. This ancient, terrifying creature who has existed for thousands upon thousands of years now has to deal with basic bodily functions. Welcome to the rest of us, Amren. I also love that she has Varian. Amren having someone who loves her and getting to experience this very ordinary sort of happiness makes me happy for her.

Lucien: We didn’t get nearly enough Lucien for me. I still need him to find out who his real father is because I am waiting very impatiently for that particular piece of information to come out.

I also keep thinking about his relationship with Tamlin. Tamlin has treated him badly for so long, and Lucien has spent so much time without a place that really feels like his. I want more for him. I want him to find somewhere he actually belongs.

Eris: I know Eris isn’t one of the main characters, but I have enough thoughts about him at this point that he gets his own spot. There is more to this man.

Maybe I am completely wrong, but I keep coming back to the way he behaves when someone needs an escape. He told Tamlin when Lucien needed help at the border. Now we know more about what happened with Mor, and I can’t stop wondering whether leaving her untouched was the only way he could help her without openly helping her.

I don’t trust him exactly. I just don’t think I believe the version of Eris everyone else believes either.

On to Book …..

Now it is time for A Court of Silver Flames, and I have a feeling Nesta and Cassian are about to give me plenty to talk about. Nesta is in such a bad place when this book ends that I really want to know what is going on inside her. I want to understand why she hates herself so much and why she seems determined to push away every single person who cares about her.

I also need answers about Cassian and whatever is happening between those two. I need more Azriel because that man is still one giant collection of secrets. I need Lucien to learn the truth about his father. I want to know more about Eris because I refuse to believe we have the whole story there.

Mostly, though, I liked having this little pause. A Court of Frost and Starlight let everyone come home, celebrate Winter Solstice, argue with each other, exchange gifts, paint, eat dinner, and try to figure out how to live after everything they survived.

Now bring on A Court of Silver Flames. I am ready.