A Court of Mist and Fury

Jessica’s Epilogue #6: A Court of Mist and Fury by Sarah J. Maas

A Court of Mist and Fury is Sarah J. Maas’s second book in her, A Court of Thorns and Roses, series. Feyre remains our main character, and we see her try and resume her life after having gone through her very traumatic trials and tribulations from book one. As she must uphold her bargain to Rhysand, we are introduced to the Night Court and the spectacular town of Velaris, ‘The City of Starlight’, which has been protected and concealed by Rhysand for over 50 years. Soon, Feyre begins to discover her magical gifts and must learn how to utilize them as she decides her future.

This was a re-read for me and I must say, “YES, I loved this book the 2nd time around”. The author does a tremendous job in both world and character building and coming back to this series, I was reintroduced to places and characters that I love.

In this book, we see Feyre begin to build a network of friends/allies and she meets some of the key players of the series as she’s introduced to other Prythian Courts. She had to learn the ranks of politics and Prythian history to understand who the allies are and who is collaborating with the enemy. I loved seeing her relationships with Mor, Rhysand, Azriel and Cassian grow as well as again, seeing her sisters. Elain and Nesta. I absolutely loved seeing their friendships grow, how they fiercely protected and defended one another, whether in small conflicts or the much larger ones.  

I found this book incredibly engaging. The King of Hybern begins making his moves and advances towards the Prythian lands, Feyre must decide her fate and the fate of others. We see her and the Night Court begin to strategize how to combat these looming assaults as they begin to form alliances with the other Courts and those in the human realms.

 A Court of Mist and Fury is divided into three parts:

• The House of Beasts: Where Feyre embarks on her marriage to Tamlin & living in the Spring Court while still needing to uphold Rhysand’s bargain from book one.
• The House of Wind: Where we are introduced to Rhysand (his history, his current family dynamics, and his beloved city) and where we discover the looming, main conflict of the series.
• The House of Mist: Where everything changes.

I was completely entranced by the descriptions of the city of Velaris. I absolutely love this town, and the author brings the city to life beautifully. Velaris is your most dreamy, most natural, mountain town, its scenic descriptions, the river walk, the quaintness, and small-town feel… it gives you all the feels for being a ‘one of kind’ place, which is truly special. This gives us a clear impression on why the city is so coveted and why the Night Court stops at nothing to keep it protected.

For me, Chapter 29 says it all. The chapter follows the group as they gather in the streets and dine in the town, I can envision the walk, see the townspeople and how they love and honor one another. There are ornate lanterns along bridges, faelight illuminating the walk, crowded theaters, art, small, inviting restaurants all under, the stars.

And, if I wasn’t sold on the town of Velaris then, it was Chapter 44 and Starfall, that got me there. Starfall, which is an event of joy and festivity in the Night Court that connects characters (and readers) to the cosmos. It symbolizes hope, renewal and gives us the awe-inspiring beauty of the night. Naturally, I am a stargazer at heart and love learning about space, planets, and the science behind them, so it comes as no surprise that this captivated me. It was this passage that described the scene perfectly:

“Another star crossed the sky, twirling and twisting over itself, as if it were traveling in its own sparkling beauty. It was chased by another, and another, until a brigade of them were unleased from the edge of the horizon, like a thousand archers had loosed them from mighty arrows. The stars cascaded over us, filling the world with white and blue light. They were like living fireworks, and my breath lodged in my throat as the stars kept on falling and falling.”

Velaris, no doubt is an extremely lovely city, so rare and beautiful that I can see why it has been protected for decades. Can I just up and move here? This would be my ultimate dream vacation or retirement city. I can’t wait to make my way back here as the series progresses as I am truly obsessed with this setting!

To me one of the themes that shines through more than the others is the idea of ‘fate vs free will’. I get a sense of this in flashback scenes of when Feyre was in the human realm, particularly in this passage:

“I painted stars and the moon and clouds and just endless, dark sky.” I never knew why. I rarely went outside at night- usually, I was so tired from hunting that I just wanted to sleep. But I wonder…” I wonder if some gentle power of things, or someone who burned like fire- but that I would be quiet and enduring and faceted as the night. That I would have beauty for those who knew where to look, and if people didn’t bother to look but to only fear it… Then I didn’t particularly care for them, anyway. I wonder if, even in my despair and hopelessness, I was never truly alone. I wonder if I was looking for this place- looking for you all.”

We see little snippets of times like this, where through her artistic expressions as a human, there was always foreshadow to the faerie realms. While she must decide her fate during the present conflicts of the book, are these choices merely choices of free will or was this her fate all along?

This whole book is exciting but most intriguing to me was the section, The House of Mist. Absolutely, everything written in the first two sections of this book was foundation and we needed the buildup of the prior sections to get us here. Feyre’s fate falls into place. We see love, pain, lust, exciting plot twists and spicey scenes… and I wholeheartedly loved every word.

I continue to recommend this series, it’s a 5-star read for me. Please remember, this is the second book in the series, do not skip book one, A Court of Thorns and Roses. I would recommend skipping this book if you are more of a standalone book reader, this series is definitely a commitment at 2,811 pages for the entire series.