Blog #21: Court of Silver Flames

     I’m not going to lie, I put off reading A Court of Silver Flames for months because I had little to no interest in reading a book about Nesta and from her point of view. She wasn’t a terribly interesting character from previous books, and only ever protected Elain, and let Feyre take the brunt of the work when it came to scrounging up money, or going out hunting for food and fur to sell. I think the reason I found her uninteresting is she was very surface level, and just mean for the sake of being mean. But I’ll touch on that in a sec.

     But I will admit, Silver Flames was a great read, and goes through some major character development with Nesta. I do wish Feyre had offered help more to Nesta since she knew what it was like to go through trauma, and how she needed love and support. But she gave her space and the group decided that space was the best option. But Nesta continued to deteriorate, so I understand why they decided to finally intervene and move her to a different house and demand she do physical training and work in the library. I just don’t think the way they went about it was ideal. While these tasks did ultimately benefit her, I think throwing her into them and demanding she do it was a bit harsh. 

     Cassian was definitely on Team Nesta. I don’t want to go into too much detail because y’know, spoilers, but the way he found ways to work with Nesta and training in unconventional ways was exactly what she needed. Even if he had to get her to make a bargain with him to start training. I think he knew better ways to deal with Nesta, and how to motivate her.

     I also think having her learn these combat skills was just what she needed. She got to physically work through her emotions, and let all her anger out. And besides that, she never has to worry about being “weak” (as she refers to herself) again, because she can hold her own in a fight.

     Ultimately I resonated with Nesta on many levels. And as the book goes on we see she’s not so prickly, and recognizes her own faults when it comes to how she has treated people in the past. She’s made many mistakes, and only wishes she could take them back. She wishes she had helped Feyre more, and that she didn’t feel bitterness towards her father. But at the same time she needed to mourn his death. I felt that, I understood what it was like to hate yourself and hate how you’ve wronged people and unsure how to fix it. So as I read on, I found myself cheering for Nesta, which made me cheer for myself.

     Overall I would recommend this book, even if you’re weary about reading a book about Nesta. I think anyone will find it an easy read, even if it is over 700 pages longer. They just flow by and so many new characters get introduced that help Nesta in her journey. I won’t discuss these characters here because of spoilers, but there’s so many more to meet and explore.

Signing Off,

Fenisha Estes