Hey guys!! I know you have all probably heard that this month, Sarah J Mass is releasing the third book in the Crescent City series! I know so many people are excited about this, and so am I. I read the first three ACOTAR books about two years ago and took a little bit of a break from reading. Last year, I finished the entire Throne of Glass series, and I recently finished the ACOTAR Novella, A Court of Frost and Starlight. I realized that I would be kind of cutting it close if I wanted to be mostly done with all the Sarah J Mass books before the new release. I recently finished A Court of Silver Flames, which I had actually been really looking forward to. Now, this is the part of my blog where I say if you haven’t read the rest of the ACOTAR books or the book that I am talking about, there will be spoilers ahead! You have been warned!
A Court of Silver Flames is the first main ACOTAR book that does not follow Feyre. This book focuses on her eldest sister, Nesta. As we know from the previous books, Nesta has been slowly isolating herself, and this is made very clear in ACOFAS. When we start this book, we learn that Nesta is living by herself in an apartment she found in the night court. Cassian goes to get her and says that they have all been summoned by Feyre and Rhys. Reluctantly, Nesta agrees, and they both go to talk with the others. During this conversation, they give Nesta the ultimatum between going to the house of wind with Cassian and training and working at the library with the priestesses, or they will send her back to the human world. Since all she has been doing is drinking and spending the court’s money. The House of Wind is basically a secluded area where the only way to get to town other than winnowing or flying is by walking down 10,000 steps.
Nesta, not wanting to go back to the human lands, decides to go to the house of wind with Cassian. During the first few days of training, she sat there and did nothing to prove that she did not want to be there. She then attempts to go down the 10,000 stairs to get a drink, but she immediately realizes how difficult of a feat that is going to be. She soon finds out that Elain, their middle sister, is actively avoiding her. She knows she has not been kind to Elain recently, but it really hurts her, nonetheless. After going about this for a little while, Cassian starts to realize that maybe Nesta won’t train in front of the other Illyrian men, so he takes her to a different sparring pit, where they can be alone. This simple change seems to work, and Nesta begins her training.
Nesta is also working at the library with the priest was part of the agreement. She meets a priest named Gwyn, and they begin to form a friendship. Gwyn starts to share her knowledge about the Valkyrie and different things. She has learned through working in the library. Nesta then has the idea that maybe some of the priestesses should train with Cassian as a way to deal with some of their trauma. She brings this idea up to Cassian, and to her surprise, he thinks its a great idea. So the next day, Nesta goes in she puts a sign-up sheet in the front of the library for any of the priestesses who would like to join.
Cassian and Nesta continue to train, and Nesta seems to be getting better. Her and Cassian’s relationship also seems to be starting to evolve. Cassian and Nesta end up hooking up and deciding that it would just be sex with them so there would be no other pressure. Cassian doesn’t want this, but he accepts because he just wants to be with Nesta. We also begin to learn about some of Nesta’s triggers, such as the fire reminded her of the sound of her father’s neck being snapped in the war and that she felt like she was always born wrong. She was her mother’s favorite, but her mother was a bit manipulative, and this really rubbed off on Nesta. However, it seems like the training and her friendship are really starting to help her.
Nesta starts to notice that none of the priestesses are signing up for training she figures this is because they don’t actually know what is going on at training, so she begins practicing her training in the library, which eventually catches the attention of Clotho, the one in charge of keeping the library organized. She calls Cassian to try to get Nesta to stop doing this, and Nesta and Cassian end up practicing a little bit. After putting on the show in the library, Gywn decides to join training. Nesta and Gwen continue to train and start to train their minds how the Valkyries used to train.
Not too long after Gwen starts training, Rhysand and Ferye summon Nesta again. Nesta goes and speaks with them and learns that they need her to try scrying again to find three magical items: a crown, a harp, and a mask. These things have very special powers, and they need to ensure they don’t fall into the wrong hands. Agrees to help only when they threaten to bring Elaine into this. After the meeting, she goes to one of the shops that she used to visit and sees her old friend. Emerie is Illyrian like Cassian, but her wings were clipped when she was young she is pretty much on her own. Nesta tells her about training and urges her to come and join, but she seems very reluctant. After some convincing, Emerie decides to join training as well.
The girls start to form a very strong bond, all of them training together and training their minds together. They also begin opening up more to one another and building a very strong bond. They also discover they all share the love of reading and start a little book club. Although things are going really well for Nesta, she still has to try to find these three objects, so she and Cassian go out to try to find the mask. They end up finding it, but not after a lot of struggles! (I don’t want to spoil too much here). She also ended up finding the harp when she went with Gwen and the priestesses to sing. When she got the harp, she had a vision of one of the human queens with the crown on her head.
They all now had access to two of the magical items, thanks to Nesta. Nesta and Cassian’s relationship still seems to be on the rocks, but it is slowly improving, as is Nesta’s strength and attitude. One night, she and Cassian get into a fight, and she ends up walking down all 10,000 steps. This was a goal of hers from the beginning, and she finally achieved it. One night, Nesta and Gwyn end up at Emeries because Nesta is in a bad place, so they come to stay with her. While they were all sleeping at Emerie’s, they were taken and thrown into the blood rite. The blood rite is a tradition where the Illyrian Warriors will go into the woods, pretty much hunger, game style, and those that reach the top of the mountain or the highest honor, those who make it to the mountain but do not the top or the middle ranks, and the ones who just survive are the standard rank. In the past, the rite didn’t have any weapons, so it was just everyone thrown into an area together to fight to the death.
Unlike in the past, weapons had made their way into the area where the rite would be happening. After a few days of struggle, the girls all ended up finding each other. They were climbing the mountain when a few other Illyrians started to gain on them. Nesta made the decision to stay
behind on the mountain and fight them off while Gwyn and Emerie could make it to the top. Gwyn and Emerie did make it to the top, and they all ended up surviving. Later, they found out that the queen made them participate in the rite. After getting home, Cassian and Nesta officially start the relationship, but it seems like the threat of death is still right around the corner.
I’m sure there are many things left out of this review, but with how big the book is, I feel like I could talk about it forever. Now, here’s where it gets controversial, and I’m going to just preface this with this is all my opinion, which you can take with a grain of salt. I end up rating this book three and a half stars. Which is actually the lowest I’ve rated any of the ACOTAR books. I personally found myself very invested in the three girls’ friendship, and that was the main thing I was focused on. I felt like there was a lot left unanswered about Nesta and her powers, which I know there’s gonna be more books, so maybe that will come later, but since this was Nesta’s debut book, I figured we would’ve known a little bit more. I also wasn’t a huge Nesta and Cassian fan. I understand that she had a lot of trauma, and that is why she pushed him away so much, but I just really felt like he did nothing to deserve that. I found myself very much missing the dynamic Ferye and Rhys had. I also just felt like there were a lot of excuses for Nesta‘s behavior, but none of them were really good enough for me to completely forgive how she treated her sisters and the people who tried to help her. I know many people love Nesta, so let me know what you think in the comments!
