I will give the book this, it was better than the first book, but entirely too long.

The audiobook narrator was amazing as always and unlike the first book, I left this book liking three characters instead of zero. While there are some other minor points, those are the only broad stroke ones I have for this book.

On to spoilers!!!

Content Warning: Mentions of SA/sexual harassment, abuse, drugging, mental illness (PTSD, depression, suicidal thoughts), and misogyny.

A Court of Mist and Fury follows 19 to 20-year-old no-longer-human Feyre as she is taken in by the 500+-year-old man that SAed her at the end of the first book after she leaves a Court of Miscommunication and PTSD. Over the course of two months she falls hopelessly in love with the 500+-year-old man that abused her for 3 months straight and discovers they are “mates” (welcome back to terms that make my skin crawl). In the end they’re separated because her ex-fiancé who she knew for a year was concerned about her being kidnapped and brainwashed by the man that, say it with me now, SAed and abused her for 3 months straight. Which honestly, is a completely valid concern considering their history and, well, I won’t repeat myself a fourth time (yet). Of course he is horribly evil for this and deserves nothing but suffering and horrible things because he had the audacity to be traumatised and concerned for his safety from the 500+-year-old man.

So, we’re back to the biggest issue with the ACOTAR series, the romanticisation of SA and abuse. At the end of the last book, Rhysand, drugged, abused, and SAed Feyre multiple times (just about every night actually) for three months straight. This, of course, is hand-waved as “doing it for her own good” and made all better by the face he provided her healing and played music for her while she was depressed and numb to the world in the prison cell she was being kept in. Of course, this is never addressed in the book and completely hand waved because he was “the only one helping her” despite the fact her two allies from the Spring Court were under tighter watch than Rhysand and were literally incapable of doing anything. So, because Feyre and Rhysand OBVIOUSLY have to have a romance and it be oh so much better than her time with Tamlin, the fact he drugged, abused, and SAed her for THREE MONTHS STRAIGHT is completely ignored and never talked about. Instead after a week or two of friendship Feyre has somehow completely forgotten all the abuse for Rhysand, despite still struggling with PTSD from her time Under the Mountain.

Next biggest issue, Tamlin is somehow the villain even though if it were Rhysand doing the exact same thing it would be ever so hot and attractive (this is foreshadowing). I will preface this by saying that I DO think the relationship between Feyre and Tamlin was toxic and unhealthy, but that is from a lack of communication ON BOTH SIDES and no entirely on one person. This is even stated IN THE BOOK ITSELF when Feyre says she and Tamlin both have issues currently making them incompatible. At the beginning of the book, which is when Tamlin is often cited as “showing his true colours, the readers are TOLD IN THE TEXT that Feyre and Tamlin have a silent agreement to not discuss/talk about their PSTD episodes or nightmares. THEY BOTH are actively choosing to ignore their issues. Because of this, Tamlin is COMPLETELY unaware of Fryer’s triggers or what she’s struggling with and visa versa. So he buys her paints and she gets upset with him about it, as if he should KNOW that she’s lost interest in painting OR that the colour red is triggering to her. This of course, doesn’t justify his lashing out, but we’ve been aware of Tamlin’s bad temper since book one. The only difference is him being angry all the time was framed as sexy back then. Then we have him not noticing her being pale or thin, which happens while he’s gone just about every day and they hardly see each other. Of course he’s not noticing, he’s not around her enough to realise she looks worse. Furthermore, why is it a bad thing Tamlin is looking for information about The Night Court when Feyre gets back. He makes sure she’s okay, she says she wasn’t hurt, and then the OBVIOUS advantage of her being there for a week is used because LOGICALLY Tamlin is going to be wary of the man who (to the public) willingly and openly worked with Amarantha and ABUSED Feyre for three straight months. This is not at all farfetched or some awful thing. Also, it is not wrong and abusive for Tamlin to state “there has never been a High Lady” and not considering adding one. It is 1.) a fact that there has never been a High Lady and 2.) the environment he was raised in to not thing about ever adding a High Lady, which while he should work to expand his views is not entirely on him. Then we get to everyone’s favourite scene to point at and decry Tamlin as a horrible awful person, locking Feyre in the house. Let’s discuss the events surrounding it, Tamlin has to QUICKLY leave to deal with combat related issues in a nearby town. Feyre choses this moment of distress and high-tension to address their issues and FINALLY communicate, but Tamlin (reasonably) says he won’t talk about it now because he needs to leave. Feyre ask to come with, to which Tamlin rejects as Feyre has no combat training. While her lack of combat training IS on Tamlin for not giving in to her wants to defend herself, he’s not wrong that it IS IN FACT DANGEROUS to have someone untrained in combat on the battlefield and it will be distracting to him. To this, Feyre INSIST she’s coming along no matter what, so to keep her safe, Tamlin puts up a barrier to keep her confined to the house, WHICH IS A REASONABLE RESPONSE to someone telling you they’re going to follow you into combat without any training, especially when that someone is your partner trying to throw themself in harms way. Keep in mind, Tamlin has NO IDEA being in confined spaces trigger’s Feyre’s PTSD because THEY DON’T COMMUNICATE AT ALL. Finally, Feyre over and over again says that she’s fine with what’s happening when asked by Tamlin. She refuses to communicate what’s upsetting her or what she needs. This is something Tamlin is ALSO doing. Once again, this is not to say they should have stayed together. The relationship was toxic, but it wasn’t just because Tamlin was being a random asshole and not listening to Feyre, it’s because she would ask for something, be told no, drop it, and never communicate what was wrong or upsetting her. When she finally did, it was when innocents were in danger and Tamlin had to go protect them. FURTHERMORE Tamlin is also at fault for not communicating the trauma and triggers HE was dealing with and not taking the time to discuss compromises with Feyre on what they both needed to recover and feel safe post-Amarantha.

My repeat on the note about their relationship aside, let’s think about if Rhysand did these things. It would be reframed in the narrative as some tragic thing or show of his love. If HE were unaware of Feyre’s triggers and bought her red paint, then the story would frame it as a sad misunderstanding. If Feyre was going to stay with Rhysand’s enemy for a while, then the narrative would frame it as smart and clever to use her as a spy-OH WAIT! Isn’t that what happens at the end of the book? Isn’t that crazy?

Let’s get into Rhysand and his actions now. So, we are clued in to the fact Rhysand is a super good and amazing dude because at least once, if not twice, a chapter he tells Feyre it’s her choice. Over and over and over and over. DESPITE things being her choice, Rhysand used her as bait without her consent or knowledge and put her in DIRECT CONTACT with the Attor who is the SOURCE of one of her traumas and is a trigger for her. Does the story frame this as awful and terrible? No, Feyre gets mad at which Rhysand taunts her. He EVENTUALLY relents he won’t keep things from her going forward, but again this is after he taunted her for being upset and traumatised. Rhysand actually taunts Feyre for being traumatised a few times throughout the book, especially at the start of the book. What’s his reasoning? Well, it’s not stated, but the implication seems to be to make her mad. So she’ll fight. Which is totally how you should handle people suffering from PTSD. Tell them that they’re overreacting and taunt them for being traumatised. That’s actually the real cure Big Therapy has been hiding from us for years. Furthermore, it’s strange to me one of the people who contributed to Feyre’s trauma is just getting a pass for it. It’s mentioned ONCE in the text that she’s nervous around him and it never comes up again. He SAed her for three straight months and we’re just supposed to dive into a romance with him without so much as an apology? Which STILL wouldn’t be sufficient to make up for everything he did. Him doing all of it as an act to protect his friends and family, his own trauma and SA, and his own guilt DO NOT somehow make everything he did go away! And this is completely ignored by the book and Tamlin and Lucien are treated as crazy and villainous for not trusting Rhysand. That’s not even getting into his unhealthy communication style in which if Feyre upsets him he runs off and processes for a few days, but then comes back and is surprised he can’t just act like nothing happened.

Aside from all the problematic men, the book itself just felt like a slog. It is unnecessarily long and there are several scenes that had dragging prose or could have been cut for a tighter story. The pacing also felt all over the place. The start of the book implies a sense of urgency but the rest of the book is spent faffing about and doing little of import aside from hanging out in comfy clothes and falling in love. The world is in danger, they need to find the parts of the book and there’s the legs of the cauldron, and they just…hang out. Where’s the sense of urgency about an upcoming war conveyed at the start? No where, it was tossed aside. Which is disappointing, I’d much rather read about a big road trip with the Inner Circle where they’re trying to stop the legs of the cauldron and the book from being brought together by the BBEG and are continuously foiled or have some wins and some losses. We don’t get that however though, instead we get sitting in a house and banging on a paint covered table.

On that note, I honestly don’t know why the spice in this book is so praised and enjoyed. It is objectively ridiculous. There was one half decent scene, and even then it wasn’t memorable. The two that really suck out to me and I was in disbelief of were in the Court of Nightmares and once the “mating bond” (ew) was accepted. In the Court of Nightmares Feyre spends like…idk max of 30 min maybe giving Rhysand a lap dance and he ONLY touches her thighs and sides. After 30 minutes of this Feyre almost finishes why? Because she tasted his sweat. Gross! Not to mention the description of Feyre’s arousal is…questionable at best. It sounds like something a man might write. "My breast tightened, becoming full and heavy. Aching. Aching like what was now pooling in my core." I read that line to my friends and they all thought it was someone getting all hot and bothered over getting pregnant. Which is not what should be on a reader’s mind when reading the scene. On to post-mating bond acceptance (still ew). They get freaky on a table covered in paint, I assume oil paint, and smear it all over each other and their bits. I couldn’t focus because all I could think of was the paint getting in her hair and in her bits, and then they take it to the bed and I immediately thought “oh no they’re going to get paint all up in the sheets”. Than the description for Rhysand’s orgasm. Roaring? Shook snow off mountains? He caused an avalanche, rest in peace to whoever lived at the bottom of the mountain.

Not getting into my novel’s worth of other issues with the book, because frankly this review has taken me too long to write and I have finished six other books since then that I would like to write reviews for, there were a handful of things I liked.

Nesta, Mor, and Amrin left the book as the only three likeable characters, which I will call a win as I left the last book liking no one. SJM also has a this way of writing about old magic or powers beyond one’s understanding that I actually rather like. I often wish we could get more of it, or that gravity and skill could carry over into the rest of the writing. Otherwise, nothing else particularly comes to mind.

Once the third book is off hold on Libby, I’ll be subjecting myself to that as well. Until then, I will ideally, be subjecting myself to only good books. (At minimum to of my upcoming reviews will be crushing those dreams of only reading good books, but we can’t win them all.)