ACOFAS is the fourth book in the court of thorns and roses series by Sarah J Maas. This book is more of a bridging book between the devastating events of a court of Wings and ruin and the next in the series a court of silver flames. This is the last book so far that is really told through Feyres prospective.
In the aftermath of the war Feyre and her found family are celebrating the winter solstice, kind of like Christmas but, y’know….not religious. This is Feyres first solstice with her new found family. We follow Feyre as she starts to work out what her role is in the court now that she is High lady and the War is over. The court is rebuilding and settling back in to peaceful living.
Elain and Nesta play a big role in this book, whilst Elain slowly stars to come out of her shell and flourish, Nesta becomes more and more intolerable delving deeper into despair. The way the sisters are each dealing with their respective trauma is a huge juxtaposition. It becomes quite easy to dislike Nesta in this book, but really I think her reaction is quite realistic. We can’t all take everything in our stride like Feyre, and we won’t all respond by withdrawing like Elain. It’s a good contrast of personality types and shows well developed characters.
what I enjoyed about this book is seeing the love Feyres found family have for each other and seeing the bonds that they have explored. We get to know a little more about their past and how they came to be, we get a little more of the others perspectives. We are let into little nostalgic moments between them all and the way they care for each other is really explored. We start to see a softer side to Azriel, cassian and Morrigan….not so much Amren, but Amren is Amren and we love her anyway.
I really enjoyed the bits where we get to see how the regular members of the court are dealing with the aftermath of the war. The but with the tapestry weaver is beautiful and a lovely analogy.
The pace of this book is a lot slower, there is no pending doom, no dramatic twists or turns. It’s a much more cozy book than the previous installments and a lot shorter. It feels a little more like an epilogue than a fully fledged book in it’s own right. It is intended to be a bridging/ companion book. Having now read a court of silver flames you could even get away with not reading this book at all the important bits are kind of summarised in a Court of Silver Flames, but I highly recommend it because you would certainly be missing out.
The character and world building is as ever, beautifully written in my opinion. The spicy bits are still spicy, and all in all I think it’s a lovely transition from what was Feyre centered story to the next installment which allows Cassian and Nesta to shine. It really does feel like a winding down of all the previous events and a set up for what is next.
Written by Clarissa.