maas Archives - A Bookie's Books

An ACOTAR Christmas Special

Title: A Court of Frost and Starlight

Author: Sarah J. Maas

Series: A Court of Thorns and Roses #3.1

Published May 1st 2018 by Bloomsbury YA

Genre: Fantasy, YA, Romance, Novella

Pages: 229

“Hope warms the coldest night.

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 a far-reaching impact on the future of their court.

Narrated by Feyre and Rhysand, this wondrous tale of hope and promise picks up after A Court of Wings and Ruin and sets the stage for the thrilling events in the future books.” -Goodreads

My Review:

So did anyone else reading this read it as a Christmas special?

This book basically picks up after the third book. And it was basically a Christmas special but in book form.

In the novella of the Throne of Glass series, Maas wrote back stories for Aelin and Celeana. This novella was a Christmas special. I guess you could say I was just quite a bit surprised. It was a different change. I guess I do not know what I expected.

It was a cute little story though. I have been on a romance kick, if you have been seeing my Goodreads shelves updating or reading my reviews. So this is just one of many romance books I will be reviewing. I finished it in one day. It was a cute little book to read and to get me back in the physical book reading mood (before this I did a lot of Kindle and audiobook reading).

It started to introduce the new little love triangle between Elain and Azriel. I know the Gwen is not introduced in this book, but this is the start of Az and Elain’s little romance. I am not sure how I feel about it just yet. I know that a lot of BookTok and BookTwit don’t like them. I am really not sure how I feel. I do really like the fanart for Gwen and Azriel I have seen though. I have yet to purchase ACOSF, so the wait for my opinions on the remaining canon plot is yet to be had.

Feyre and Rhysand seem to be recovering after the War. Obviously they are not healed but they do seem to help work through that. So far, Rhysand has helped her through so much. You can see Feyre’s healing in the end of this. She is returning to herself pre-Under the Mountain. This series is really cool because you can see how far she has come from the beginning of the series.

One thing that bothers me a bit about this series is how Feyre is seemingly becoming a housewife. I understand that, yes, in this book there is not fight to be had and she does have to rule her Court. I feel as though she does sit out of a lot of fights. She is less of a bad*ss (not offense).

This is a contrast to Aelin in Throne of Glass. It is hard for me to love Feyre and this series as much as I loved Throne of Glass. I loved Throne of Glass because it shattered those gender stereotypes for me. The MC could still be an assassin, ruthless in everyway, and still love to wear fancy clothes and get dressed up. I thought it was an important lesson. Also, Throne of Glass emphasizes that Aelin can save herself most of the time. ACOTAR seems like she needed a man to save her in every bad living situation.

I hate to bash on it, but it is true.

I did enjoy getting to see the other character’s POVs. I hope to see more of them in other books. (Again, still haven’t read ACOSF so I don’t know if it has them or not.) I liked Cassian’s POVs the best probably. I think he is my favorite side character so far. He just is such a fun and loyal guy.

Nesta in this book made me mad. But I understand why she acts the way she acts, mostly. She is traumatized and in pain. I feel like her being with her sister, at least Elain for the solstice would help her. But hey, I am not a licensed therapist so I have no real authority over others emotions.

Overall, I enjoyed this book. I can not wait to read the other books. I chuckled all day over this book because it felt like a Christmas special. Out of everything, I have never read a Christmas special to a book series before. Is this a real thing?

As always, thanks for reading,

A Bookie

Star Rating: 3.8

I finally finished Tower of Dawn. Here is what I thought

Title: Tower of Dawn

Author: Sarah J. Maas

Series: Throne of Glass #6

Genre: Fantasy, YA, Magic

Published September 5th 2017 by Bloomsbury USA Childrens

Pages: 660

“Chaol Westfall and Nesryn Faliq have arrived in the shining city of Antica to forge an alliance with the Khagan of the Southern Continent, whose vast armies are Erilea’s last hope. But they have also come to Antica for another purpose: to seek healing at the famed Torre Cesme for the wounds Chaol received in Rifthold.

After enduring unspeakable horrors as a child, Yrene Towers has no desire to help the young lord from Adarlan, let alone heal him. Yet she has sworn an oath to assist those in need—and will honor it. But Lord Westfall carries shadows from his own past, and Yrene soon comes to realize they could engulf them both.

In this sweeping parallel novel to the New York Times bestselling Empire of Storms, Chaol, Nesryn, and Yrene will have to draw on every scrap of their resilience if they wish to save their friends. But while they become entangled in the political webs of the khaganate, deep in the shadows of mighty mountains where warriors soar on legendary ruks, long-awaited answers slumber. Answers that might offer their world a chance at survival—or doom them all . . .” –Goodreads

My Review:

Okay, to everyone out here who has finished the ToG series and ACOTAR AND Crescent City, leave me alone. I know I am late. To put into perspective how long I have been trying to finish this series, I finished Queen of Shadows before Tower of Dawn came out, and then I stopped reading for like four years. But, I am now jumping back into the game. I re-read all the books. I just did a review of Empire of storms. And here I am done with Tower of Dawn.

What a long road it has been.

And it isn’t over yet. I still go tone more book to finish. It is going to be a crazy time.

Even after starting this series back in 2016, I still have not been spoiled the ending of Kingdom of Ash. It scares me a little because do people just not want to talk about it because it is that horrifying? Or was it just so good the book community is still in shock? Or am I just not in the right circles?

I DONT ACTUALLY WANT TO KNOW. DO NOT SPOIL IT AT ALL. I HAVE BEEN LIVING PEACEFULLY AND EVERYTHING HAS BEEN SPOILER FREE.

Anyways,

Tower of Dawn.

What an exciting book.

When I tell you how much I disliked Chaol at the beginning and how much I loved him at the end. Was that a universal thing or just me? I feel like the fourth book just made him seem like an asshole and he just never recovered from that. Until now.

I am glad we got this whole other perspective to the story. It was kind of nice to going back to only having three POVs. I love Maas and her POVs but Empire of Storms and Queen of Shadows was insane with the switching. This was a nice break. But, I am sure the Kingdom of Ash is going to have all the OG POVs and Nesryn and Yrene and Manon and Elide and Lochan and literally everyone who has a name in the story.

Gotta love it

Also, I did not think that this story would be such a big part of the whole series. I was told once a few months after it came out that it was utterly unnecessary to read. UM WHAT? This gave us like the biggest plot twist ever and if I had to just get that summarized my Kingdom of Ash, I would have been PISSED.

So, if you are reading ToG please read this book. Don’t let people lie to you.

You learn kind of really important information like almost vital information to the entire war that is happening. When the whole thing drops about Maeve my jaw hit the floor. It was insane. And when Yrene did the thing.

OH MY GOD SHE SO SWAG!!!

I am really trying to keep this spoiler-free but I cant say much without ruining it. As usual.

Also, can we talk about Yrene. What a beautiful person! She was so nice. I thought she had an amazing personality. She was described so beautifully and she was so badass!!

Lets go back to Chaol’s character development in the story. I think he starts off as an arrogant ass and ends up as a less arrogant ass. But, all improvement is good. And who doesn’t love an arrogant ass, am I right?

I mean seriously, look at him.

Also, while looking for fanart I found this. WHAT THE HELL? Is this real or did someone just make this. I couldn’t find any art credits. I…….This would have looked so well on my shelf instead of the shield. BUT I AM NOT DOGGING ON THE SHIELD, just saying I would have preferred a person on the cover.

Also I found this really cute art piece. I am going to show it but it contains a little spoilers (even though it is obvious that they get together in the end).

How talented is that.

I love it so much.

I love their whole story arc. I also love that Chaol hated himself for a moment because he kissed Yrene. It just makes me happy to see him get some revenge.

Ugh, the whole story was amazing. I honestly think this beats out Crown of Midnight for my favorite book in the series. It is so good. The emotions are raw and intense. It deals with really hard issues in life. It has some badass women in there. It leads up to the ending really well. The beginning was a little slow and the ending was not as satisfying as I would have liked but, you cant have the new love birds die just yet can you?

Wink Wink

Anyways, I think I am done for today. I am trying to figure out if more people will read my stuff on the weekends or if posting on the weekdays is alright. I just see the weekends as my time to write. But, I can change it up depending on what people prefer.

As always, thanks for reading,

A Bookie

Star Rating: 5

A Maas Filled WWW Wednesday: 1/13/2021

Guess what? It is WWW Wednesday. This meme was formerly hosted by MizB at A Daily Rhythm and revived on Taking on a World of Words. And it involves answering the 3 Ws!

•What are you currently reading?

Empire of Storms by Sarah J. Maas

•What did you recently finish reading?

Queen of Shadows by Sarah J. Maas

•What do you think you’ll read next?

To stay on trend:

Kingdom of Ash by Sarah J. Maas

As you can see I am binging Maas’ books at the moment. I really want to finish the Throne of Glass series. I have been trying for years now but the dedication to reading long books has not been there for me but I am going to finish soon.

As always, thanks for reading

A Bookie