A Court of Frost and Starlight Festive Book Review

I love to read books with festive storylines at Christmas time to help get me in the mood, and I discovered a new one this year from one of my new favourite book series that will probably end up being reread every Christmas from now on:

A Court of Frost and Starlight by Sarah J. Maas.

It's a fun, festive novella from the A Court of Thorns and Roses series, that sees the characters of the Night Court celebrating their winter Solstice, and it's ideal for anyone who enjoys NA fantasy romance, with hot fae characters, and plenty of angst and humour.

I'm here with a little review of the book to tell you why you need to read it this Christmas.

Title: A Court of Frost and Starlight (ACOTAR book 4)

Author: Sarah J. Maas

Genre: NA Fantasy romance / Romantasy.

Plot:

A Court of Frost and Starlight is a festive fantasy novella that bridges the gap between the end of the war in a A Court of Wings and Ruin, and the events of A Court of Silver Flames the following summer. The Winter Solstice- ACOTAR's version of Christmas- is approaching, and as they prepare to celebrate the festivities together, the Inner Circle- a found family of sickingly good-looking fae friends who lead the mysterious Night Court- are working to heal from the war, rebuild the city of Velaris, and find peace with the other courts and humans beyond. Or so they say.

When they're not shopping for Solstice presents, having snowball fights, or weird s*x, they spend a shocking amount of time wandering around the frozen city streets of Velaris, having dinner together, making a mess of the decorations, and drinking in front of the fire. Basically enjoying all the best parts of the holidays the way any of us might.

Feyre, who, apparently, barely has time to sleep or spend time with her High Lord mate, Rhys, somehow manages to find an awful lot of time to paint, teach art, and treat Nesta and Lucien like dirt. (But we mustn't speak ill of our High Lady). Rhys is horny but too busy checking in on a deeply depressed Tamlin to get any; Mor is restless and in need of adventure; Amren has taken up jigsaw puzzles- yes, AMREN!; Cassian is fighting misogyny in the war camps and pining after Nesta; and Nesta is drinking herself into oblivion and pushing everyone away. And Azriel and Elain... I don't know, but they're there, too.

And... well, that's about it. That's the plot.

Um... yeah. It doesn't really have one, besides a group of friends enjoying the festive season together, and trying to find their feet again after a gruelling war.

Thoughts:

I'm a huge fan of the ACOTAR series, but even I'll admit that the writing is a little cringe-worthy, and reads like a twelve-year-old's attempt at fan fiction. It's as if the author employed someone inexperienced to ghost write her characters enjoying Christmas together with the plot of a low-budget TV Christmas movie, except the characters are fae and half the males have bat wings.

It doesn't compare to any of the other books in the series in storyline or quality AT ALL, but I still enjoyed it for the small bit of character development, new POVs from Cassian, Nesta and Mor, comedic value, and getting to learn more about some of my favourite book characters. If you're a fan of the series, it should fill a bat-boy-shaped hole in your life between books, and it's ideal for some light-hearted relief, but if you go in expecting a masterpiece, you will be disappointed; it's festive fluff, and little more. But hey, sometimes festive fluff is exactly what you need- especially at Christmas time when the stress levels are high, and you don't have much time to relax and unwind with a good book. And if that's the case, and you're looking for an easy, simple, but enjoyable story that can be read in a day, I would recommend ACOFAS. It's a fun, quick, effortless read with plenty of cute, funny, and heartwarming seasonal scenes to help get you in the mood for Christmas, as well as some deeper, heartbreaking moments to punch you in the heart, as certain characters struggle with their mental health due to trauma and loss. But please proceed with caution if topics like war, grief, depression, s*xual abuse, physical abuse and s*x are triggering.

A few highlights of the book for me were getting to read from Cassian and Nesta's POVs for the first time, and their heated scenes together as Nesta battled with her trauma and grief. She straight-up broke my heart pushing the few people that cared about her away while she spiralled further and further, and it annoyed me how nobody seemed to realise why she was acting the way she was when they'd all been through trauma themselves. Nesta's such a misunderstood character, but I love her, and wanted someone to help her so badly. The scene where she rejects Cassian's Solstice present hurt my heart, and I was rooting for them to end up together. It was also interesting to finally read a flash-back of the aftermath of Mor's assault, when Eris found her on the ground of the Autumn Court, and I was surprised by how the scenes between Rhys and a deeply depressed Tamlin changed my feelings towards Tamlin yet again. There's also plenty of romantic moments between everyone's favourite power-couple, Feysand, and some sweet moments laced with sexual tension for Azriel and Elain. Lucien also pops his head in, but of course, he's still being completely ignored. He deserves better.

The seasonal scenes were also really fun to read, from the three five-hundred-year-old winged man children having their annual snowball fight together, to Azriel redoing the decorations Cassian and Feyre made a mess of hanging, and getting flustered when Rhys busts him downing wine in exasperation. Mor's legendary bad gift giving was also pretty funny, and the story of where Rhys got all of Feyre's outfits made me cry.

In conclusion, A Court of Frost and Starlight is not the best written book in the world, doesn't have much of a plot, and doesn't match the quality of the rest of the ACOTAR series, but it's a fun read if you're an ACOTAR or fantasy fan who enjoys a bit of festive fluff. I don't think you need to read the first three books to enjoy it, but it would definitely help you understand the characters- and the fact the males have bat wings- better. The book has it's good sides and bad sides and down right cringe worthy sides, but it's worth enduing for the good bits. Just go in with low expectations, pretend it's a fan fic, and you'll be less disappointed by the drop in quality since ACOWAR. Don't worry- it more than picks up again in A Court of Silver Flames.

Rating: Three and a half stars out of five from me, but hey, it's Solstice, so let's round it up to four.

You can find a more in-depth review of the book from me on my Goodreads here.

Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm off to start my reread.

Have you read A Court of Frost and Starlight yet?

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