A Court of Silver Flames Book Review

Hi everyone! Today I am back with a book review of A Court of Silver Flames the latest book from Sarah J. Maas. I briefly mentioned this book in last week’s blog post, but today is a full rundown of my thoughts and opinions on it. I have so much to say, so let’s just get right into it.

*Spoilers beyond this point*

To start, I want to put out a disclaimer that this book is for a more mature audience; I would say at least 15-16 and older. There are some really steamy scenes in this book, but as well as a lot of descriptions of trigger warning scenarios. There is talk about abuse, struggles with mental health, rape, etc. I would keep that in mind if you are looking to read this book or recommend it to a friend.

Now, if you loved the last three books, you know Silver Flames is a long time coming. Fans had to wait at least two years while Maas finished her other series Throne of Glass and started her new series Crescent City. After all of that, she finally continued the series and stories we all love. This book specifically is about Nesta and Cassian. It takes place after the war with Hybern; it’s a continuation of trying to restore peace to the continent and between the courts. There are still some outlying problems, such as, the queens who have fled the continent, the continent on the brink of another war, the alliances between courts are shifting and being tested, and the Night Court trying to restore the Illyrian legions, etc. Long story short, there are still a lot of problems left to handle in the war-torn continent.

Nesta Archeron is the eldest Archeron sister. In the third book, A Court of Wings and Ruin, Nesta and the youngest, Elain are forced into the fae world by the King of Hybern. They are both thrown into the Cauldron as a test to see how it’s powers work. They go into the cauldron as humans but come out as high fae, as immortals with powers. A life Nesta never wanted. Silver Flames comes into play a year and a half after the war; Nesta is still dealing with what happened during the war and still coping with her trauma. She is still dealing with her trip into the cauldron, killing the King of Hybern, and her father dying for her in the war. She is still very angry and has let that anger take over her life. She spends all her time in bars, sleeping with strangers, and drinking herself to death. She does not come around or talk to her sisters or anyone in the night court. Everyone is worried about her and has staged a sort of intervention. They want her to train with Cassian and work in the library or they are going to dump her in the human lands. She picks the former.

This book is about overcoming fears by facing them, acknowledging them. This book is about dealing with trauma and letting yourself feel the pain and then learning to move past it. It’s about taking time to heal. You don’t owe anyone an explanation for your pain or the way you feel about your pain. But having a support system to help you through it is also very important and crucial. Nesta is a very strong and determined female character. She’s lot like Feyre in the first few books of the series. They both experienced an insurmountable amount of pain and had to come back and work through it to come out stronger on the other side. And just like Feyre’s mate helped her, Nesta’s mate helped her as well.

In an Instagram post, Sarah J. Maas came out and said that she wrote this book during one of the darkest times of her life and how writing this book has helped her in so many ways. After finishing this book, I can tell that Maas was in a dark place. The content is much darker than the others, the trigger warning scenes are graphic and I was tearing up at some parts. It really pulls at your heart to see the pain these characters had face and to see just how broken and unworthy they think they are. Just when you think someone is making progress they regress and focus on their pain in a more negative light than before. But it is not all doom and gloom, there is a happy and peaceful ending. For now, at least. There are still some things that are left unanswered. There will definitely be more books coming to the series which brings me to my next point: what’s the next book going to be about?

In Silver Flames we are introduced to this idea of a high king. Someone who can unite all the courts as one force instead of one force with seven individual leaders. This would make those enemies across the continent think twice about whether or not it’s a good idea to wage another war. The idea is presented to Rhys, and he is immediately against it. He doesn’t want to be high king and has no interest in it. However, if he doesn’t take the opportunity because let’s face it, he would be the best option, it could go to someone else. What if Beron he’s about it and decides he wants to rule all courts? We still have this unresolved high king thought.

Also, Tamlin is only mentioned a handful of times in this book, and he is only seen once in his beast form. We know that no one longer lives in the Spring Court besides him. He no one protects his land from trespassers, and he has been a beast for so long that he has forgotten his human form. We know he’s hurting, he’s angry, and he’s probably guilt ridden with everything that happened during the war. We also learn that he still isn’t over Feyre. As we learn Feyre is pregnant, and all we know is that Tamlin did not react well when he found out. I would be interested to see exactly how he reacted. And also, what’s going on in his head since the war has been over. Lucian no longer stays with him, so he has no one. I know a lot of readers don’t like him, and don’t get me wrong I don’t either, but I do want to see more of him without the influence of the Night Court. Like will we get to see him meet his mate? Does he have a mate? Does he get redemption?

Since there is definitely going to be another book sometime in the future, there are rumors online that it will be in a new POV. After talking with some friends and reading online, there is suspicion that the new POV is going to be Az. I think its going to be Az based on the bonus chapter we got at the end of one of the copies of Silver Flames. For the longest time I thought I liked him with Elain, but after reading his bonus scene, I like him with Gwen. I think they are a lot like each other and would be a better fit. Plus, they have history. I think Gwen would understand his need to be alone sometimes and would be okay with his constant shadows. Elain is too delicate to handle him in my opinion. In the book, a character says that Elain doesn’t look or act like she belongs in the Night Court. Everything about her screams Spring Court. After reading that I can’t unsee it. She reminds me of a flower (and not because she loves to garden) because she’s delicate, soft, and nothing like Feyre or Nesta. Then again, the new POV could be Mor since we didn’t really see much of her in this book. She was always somewhere else, but I have no idea why. I haven’t seen anything online about it. Towards the end of the book, Cassian asks Eris to tell him about what actually happened between him and Mor. We have heard Mor’s side of things side A Court of Mist and Fury, but I guess there is more we still don’t know. Maybe it will come to light in the next book? We will have to wait and see.

If you made it this far, congratulations you made it to the end! As you can tell I can go on and on about this book and this entire series. This series has a special place in my heart. I love everything about it. Until next time!