“A COURT OF MIST AND FURY,” by Sarah J. Maas, Bloomsbury, $18.99, 624 pages (f)
Fresh from surviving Amarantha’s terrors in “A Court of Thorns and Roses,” Feyre returns to the Spring Court, one of the seven courts in the Faerie Realms, with her love, Tamlin, the High Lord of the Spring Court, at the beginning of “A Court of Mist and Fury.”
However, she's no longer simply the human who faced Amarantha as she now has the powers of the High Fae. As she hears whispers of unrest, Tamlin’s overprotectiveness makes her feel isolated. When Rhysand, the cocky High Lord of the dreaded Night Court, comes to collect on his bargain for her to spend a week of each month with him, she finds a different side to the feared court and its leader — along with an open invitation to join his court.
With impetuous decisions and their consequences, and darker forces looming, Feyre finds that peace isn’t as easily attainable as she had hoped with the end of Amarantha’s curse. She works to develop her Fae powers and navigates a web of politics, conspiracies and ancient magic as the whispers and clues of a coming war grow louder. Danger seems to be at every turn as her powers are perceived as a threat.
Author Sarah J. Maas expands on the world she set up in “A Court of Thorns and Roses” as “A Court of Mist and Fury” explores the different sides and cultures of the Night Court and other areas of the Faerie Realms, along with a trip to Feyre’s human sisters’ home in the mortal lands. Maas, who is also the author of the Throne of Glass series, introduces more characters from a variety of backgrounds, including several whose personalities help to offset the story’s seriousness as they work to prevent the takeover of their world by a power-hungry, brutal and destructive enemy.
It’s an engrossing sequel as Maas weaves in relationships, legends and secrets, and it stands on its own as it sets up storylines for the next installment.
“A Court of Mist and Fury” includes several characters who frequently swear. There is also described violence, much of it gruesome, including battles, memories of torture and individual attacks. There are also several descriptive sex scenes that are more detailed than those in the first book.
Maas’ next book in the Throne of Glass series, titled “Empire of Storms,” is scheduled to be released in September.
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