Book Review: ‘A Court of Frost and Starlight’ by Sarah J Maas

Title: A Court of Frost and Starlight
Author: Sarah J Maas
Publisher: Bloomsbury
Release Date: 1st May 2018
Genre/Age Group: Novella, Fantasy, New Adult, Romance
Format: Hardcover (229 pages)
Source: Purchased
Rating: 

(Disclaimer: This review is spoiler free, however, may contain spoilers for the ACOTAR trilogy.)

Synopsis

“Feyre, Rhys, and their close-knit circle of friends are still busy rebuilding the Night Court and the vastly-changed world beyond. But Winter Solstice is finally near, and with it, a hard-earned reprieve. 

Yet even the festive atmosphere can’t keep the shadows of the past from looming. As Feyre navigates her first Winter Solstice as High Lady, she finds that those dearest to her have more wounds than she anticipated–scars that will have far-reaching impact on the future of their Court.”

Review

I don’t know about you guys, but I’m one of those bookworms who always wants to know what happens after the story ends. I want to know what happens to the characters, and the world after the last page. So, this is the novella that I was hoping for. ACOFAS has thousands of mixed opinions online at the moment, and this is just my opinion. I enjoyed this novella. From reading the synopsis on Goodreads, it was clear that this book wasn’t going to have much going on, and we had been told by Maas that this book would be the bridge between the ACOTAR trilogy and the new upcoming books set in the world of Prythian. Personally, that’s all I was expecting, story and plot building to connect two series. I was not expecting dramatic fights, wars or trouble in the romance area. I believe that’s why I enjoyed this book, I went in with little expectations, but excited to be reunited with the world and the characters just for a little while longer. And so, I wasn’t surprised when that’s literally what we got.

Stars flickered around us, sweet darkness sweeping in. As if we were the only souls in a galaxy.

Despite only being 229 pages long, Maas managed to fit in a considerable amount of character development into this novella. We get more POV’s, including Cassian, Nesta and Mor, as well as Rhysand and Feyre. The additional POV’s really helped portray how some of our favourite characters were healing after the war, or in some cases, how they were struggling. I thoroughly enjoyed reading about how the aftermath of the war was effecting everyone in different ways and how they found their own methods of dealing with it. I found that some of the POV’s held more of that ‘bridge’ story than others did, which really started cementing predictions in my head about which character would come forward as the protagonist in the next book. Thankfully, we get a short preview of the next book at the back of ACOFAS, and it confirmed my predictions in a way that made me audibly gasp. This book was a solid 3 stars for me till the preview at the end. The preview alone made my rating jump to 4 stars and had me shaking with excitement.

Maas also took the time to show us how the war had affected other parts of Prythian too, especially around the Night Court and at the Illyrian camp. This is really where I felt Maas dropped seeds of plot for the upcoming books. There was a lot more hints and potential foreshadowing in the world building, which was no surprise. It’s no secret that Maas’ world building is phenomenal. She did a fantastic job of creating vivid images of Velaris preparing for the Winter Solstice. She spared no details, but still left plenty to our imagination. This has always been one of my favourite things about Maas’ writing.

The story itself was relatively slow, but considering the short length of the book, this is something I didn’t mind. The story picked up considerably when Maas introduced us to traditions that Rhys, Cassian and Azriel had around the Winter Solstice, and the gift giving. Oh, the gift giving. It was one of the more entertaining parts of the Novella and was as funny I hoped it would be. I believe that a lot more fans would have potentially enjoyed this novella if there was a tiny bit more plot to it. However, Maas and the synopsis of the book told us what we could expect here, and I personally think that it ticked most of the boxes.

Deep inside me, rising with every swirling flake, a sparkling, crisp power stirred. I was High Lady of the Night Court.

The best way for me to describe ACOFAS is, it’s the Fae version of Friends. It’s filled with happiness, joy, witty humour, some steamy romance and Illyrian babies (you’ll see what I mean). I found it a very fast and enjoyable read and just getting this small sneak peek back into this world and the lives of the characters has gotten me beyond excited for the upcoming spin off books.

And, I have no doubts that if Maas delivers on the plot hints she’s planted? We’ll be in for a treat with the upcoming books.

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What are your thoughts on this novella? Are you excited for the upcoming spin offs for the ACOTAR trilogy?

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