A Court of Silver Flames by Sarah J. Maas

I was incredibly excited to read Nesta’s story. From the first novel I felt like there was more to be sussed out from her character and am glad that she was given her own novel. 

In all of the novels up to this point Nesta has been a harder character to like. She is brass, stubborn and defensive while also being aloof and pretty mean spirited at times. To me, that means she has a story to tell, likely a hard one. I wasn’t wrong. 

Nesta was brought up entirely different than her sisters. She was raised primarily by her mother, who until now was rarely mentioned. In this novel we get a view of a woman much like Nesta, except she’s been in that cruel mindset a lot longer than Nesta. We also get insight to some of her other caregivers as a child who sound worse than her mother. 

The next layer of plot line is her relationship with Cassian. This book was much more sexually charged than the other books in the series, but it was important to the storyline for Nesta to let out her frustration. 

What I loved about the book was Nesta’s internal glow up. She slowly built herself up, by building others up. Her willingness to sacrifice for people who matter to her is where her real humanity shows. 

Where I struggled with this book was her emotional relationship with Cassian. Cassian is great, he is kind, funny and patient. Patient as hell. Cause let me tell you, Nesta is a hard nut to crack. To me though, how she cracked and the willingness with which Cassian was willing to cater to her made him feel a bit weak to me. 

I think that overall it was hard for me to like the relationship between Cassian and Nesta because I felt like he had to give so much to gain just an inch with her. Knowing that they are a mated pair, Cassian gives her more room in the relationship. He is so strong outside of the bond that it felt a little inauthentic at times, I feel like many a man would have not been as patient. Or maybe I feel like Nesta didn’t deserve the patience – I need to suss that out a little more. 

I really like Nesta, I get her cool countenance and why she is the way she is. As a reader, it was still hard for me to be patient with her. I found myself pretty frustrated with her at times and I think I liked her better before I read her story. 

I love the series as a whole and I suspect Maas has more to come. 

To read the digital version of A Court of Silver Flames, click here.

To purchase the hardcopy, click here.

For the hardcover series, click here.

For my other reviews from the ACOTR series, click here.