This book is the one that solidified my stance on the ACOTAR series. A Court of Frost and Starlight is the novella set after the war and as novellas are, it is a short read. Unfortunately, there are several issues such as word choice, poor sentence structure and repetition of detail and phrases that makes this a novella I wish I didn’t reread.

I didn’t want to reread this but I knew that any opinions I make about A Court of Silver Flames in regards to characters and the relationships/dynamics between them needs to have a link to other books in the series. I remembered that ACOFAS showed the cracks and character flaws in rather beloved characters and knew that to say my argument I would need highlight such actions and dialogue in this book. From here on out, as to avoid any mix-ups with books, I will be referring to them as Frost and Starlight or Silver Flames given their acronyms are very similar.

I’m not trying to bash characters or tear down anyone who loves these characters. I understand that the inner circle holds a significant place in many readers’ hearts. I simply want to talk about something I find to be the most interesting thing about this series – biased perspectives. Specifically, biased perspectives and the topic of trauma.

I’m sure I’m not the only one who has noted that Nesta’s trauma is evident in Frost and Starlight given she has a whole backstory and healing journey that gets shown in Silver Flames. What I don’t think gets talked about though is the attitudes and opinions characters have towards her. For a group that are all about love and respect and support, when it comes to someone else’s trauma they sure do a poor job of helping them. For some reason, personal grudges are far more important than understanding the depths of Nesta’s trauma and finding healthy ways for her to release that build up.

From Rhysand, we get such lines as “[Nesta is] an Illyrian at heart. So there’s no excuse for her behaviour.” and “She’ll be there and she’ll be pleasant. She owes Feyre that much.” Now, call me blind if need be but I don’t see how she could undoubtedly be “an Illyrian” and not just a woman with her own past of horrors and pain and anger that fuels her actions. Moreover, I don’t see how having an Illyrian heart makes her trauma any less valid. That line about owing Feyre as much is also BS because Nesta was an irreplaceable element of not only their awareness of where Hybern was but when the Cauldron would be used. She did more than her share of things during the war and saw her father’s neck get snapped right in front of her – because of her. Her behaviour is how she’s trying to cope with all the things going on without proper help from the inner circle. Armen is the only one who is actually treating her like a person. Even her sisters aren’t trying to identify the roots of Nesta’s pain to support her. This is not me excusing Nesta’s behaviour and actions prior to ACOWAR by the way. She had full control over her actions and how she spoke and any relationship tensions between her and her sisters then are not being brushed off here. I’m simply stating that for Nesta to have been through multiple traumas in quick succession during that fight, something has to have changed and it did.

On page 195, we get a good look into Nesta’s perspective and the depression is rolling off her in waves. It’s clear, abundantly clear, that she is depressed and her self-hatred is trapping her in a cycle of numbness and finding a way to feel something. She also clearly has PTSD, as shown in her internal monologue, “how no one had ever remarked that it sounded like breaking bones, like a snapping neck, she had no idea”. It doesn’t take a genus to wonder if a human who was forced to turn into a High Fae, then forced to live in a place that they had been led to believe would kill them, a place she does not want to be, and then forced to participate in a war where she sees her father die right before her eyes and a man who has been exceedingly loyal to her almost get obliterated on one occasion and ripped to shreds on another, so much so she pays him back by loyally sticking to his side and protecting him sparing his life, is struggling to adjust. All of this death and pain and intensity that suddenly everyone is trying to forget and brush away is still there.

The concept of trauma is obviously not new to the inner circle given so many of them have trauma of their own, trauma that has been either shared or mutually understood without words needing to be said. Tell me why trauma suddenly becomes taboo, especially when paired with Nesta. Tell me why Rhysand, Cassian, Azriel and Mor, and I’m also chucking Feyre into this mix, lose their understanding of trauma and the hold it has over someone. Tell me why they make it a daily task to not talk about it. Is it to save Cassian’s feelings? The same Cassian who wouldn’t be alive had Nesta not done the things she’d done in that final battle. Is it because of Rhys’s beef with Nesta, letting her fourteen year old sister go out and hunt even though fate and powers outside of their control play a huge role in this series and Feyre’s decision to go out to hunt started her down the whole path to meeting him? Or maybe it was because even when she was pained and angry and upset she stood firmly by Elain’s side and helped her through her trauma, not letting anyone (Lucian) interfere with the grieving and the healing that needed to take place in order for Elain to accept this life of being fae and start anew.

The only character, in my opinion, with the depth and personality worthy of having a book of their own is Nesta. Feyre has rose-tinted glasses on and cannot discern the true feelings of her sister and she lets her lack of understanding feed Rhysand’s dislike, maybe even hatred, for Nesta. Feyre does surface level things to try and talk to Nesta but at no point does she actually think that Nesta has trauma she’s working through like everyone else. Back in A Court of Wings and Ruin, she mentions that she hasn’t even asked her sisters how long they were in the Cauldron for. She still hasn’t and that’s not even the most pressing of issues to address.

I also feel like Azriel is a character whose past trauma makes him a great candidate for helping Nesta, but there’s this invisible rule about him only being able to help Elain because of the “budding romance” between them (I have not seen a single interaction between the two that is actually romantic or some flirty action, they are friends helping each other through a shared history with trauma and a want to protect family). If that’s the vibe, then at least get Cassian to man up and see that Nesta is going through a lot and she needs a firm hand to guide her (oh, sorry for asking for the plot to Silver Flames to kick in sooner). He of all people would understand what she’s directly fighting with seeing as he was there when Hybern killed her father and he was there when Hybern was attacking the two of them. To think these bat boys are 500 years old and they can’t see what’s right in front of their eyes.

I haven’t even talked about the line editing that needed to happen with this book. I think this has been more than enough to read but know that what I have mentioned throughout my reviews so far applies here. Physical description repetition, poor word choices, poor sentence structure and flow. One thing I will say is that I have seen some positive development in Feyre’s character in Frost and Starlight which is her whole journey with the art studio. We see her coming to terms with who she is, the depths of her traumas and how they can changed her, and we see her wanting to do good and help others rebuild and heal. If there is one character whose former impression has been bettered in my eyes, it is Feyre’s.