Book Review: A Court of Silver Flames

Title: A Court of Silver Flames
Author: Sarah J. Maas
Genre: Romance, Fantasy, Fiction

What It’s About: When Nesta went into the Cauldron, she realized that no one–not Feyre, Tamlin, Rhysand nor Cassian would be able to save her. And when she went in, the Cauldron burned through her human body, killing it while remaking it in a fiery push through her flesh. She decided that she was going to take from the Cauldron that which it had taken from Elain, and that what she could.

Cassian knocks on the door of Nesta’s run-down apartment. He hadn’t spoken to her since the Summer party where Nesta had seemed to get into an argument with Amren that no one asked about. Nesta opens up her door and asks him sharply what does he want. He tells her that Feyre has summoned her to her new estate and he has come to give her the notice and escort her from door to door. He tells her that he will give her an hour to kick out the male trying to sneak out her bedroom window, and get ready. Then, he goes in search of sustenance.

Nesta figures that Feyre is going to want to talk about the money she spent yesterday at the Tavern–a lot of it–which she had charged to Feyre’s account. She takes a bath, though the water sometimes takes too long to get hot and she has often spent time sitting in the tub getting accustomed to it, and remembering that it is not the Cauldron. She puts on the dress from last night, when Cassian returns with tea, and puts on her shoes then finds her coat exactly where Cassian had said it would be. He grabs her a scar from Elain and puts it around her neck.

They arrive at Feyre’s and Rhys’s new home, of which Nesta got a tour over two months ago but stopped paying attention once she realized that there were no portraits of her and their mom–just Elain, Feyre and their dad. She still hates herself for the fact that she did not save her father, who looked at her with love those last moments when she could have.

Feyre is surprised by the fact that they are five minutes early. Nesta would have admitted that the study was beautiful if she’d not seen who was seated there–Amren, in a chair, Feyre on the couch and Rhysand standing by the mantel. A discussion ensues in which Feyre tells her that she is done–done living in the rundown apartment, and done destructing herself. No more money–Nesta goes to the House of Wind–her apartment is being packed up and they’ve already spoken with the owner to have it condemned and razed to be turned into a shelter. Nesta tries to leave, but Rhys commands her to stay, which Nesta tries to ignore but ultimately gives in when Feyre tells Rhysand to stay out of it. Nesta claims Rhys is not her High Lord, to which Amren tells her that she never resigned from her role and as such, she is still part of their Court, and so they can interfere. Amren gives her an ultimatum: Either Nesta moves into the House of Wind, which has a lot of steps to reach the bottom in order to keep her away from the taverns, trains with Cassian in the Illyrian War Camps, and works for Clotho in the Library, or Nesta goes back to the humans lands, where they aren’t kind to the fae, and her sentence is as good as being home-bound.

Nesta asks to speak to Feyre alone and tries to turn on her, or have her turn her opinion, by brining in Elain–to which Feyre responds that they had already spoken to Elain, and she agreed with this plan. She adds that Nesta doesn’t come to see Elain, anyway, and Elain is free to go see her whenever she wants. But Nesta is done with what she has been doing and that is an order. Feyre doesn’t budge and Nesta proceeds to ignore her, which Feyre is fine with as she is no longer bankrolling her sister.

Cassian had been at breakfast with Rhys and Feyre when the bill for Nesta’s tavern visit had come in, and Rhys had read that bill out loud. Feyre had been so embarrassed by it, and then the group made the plan then and there, which they also explained to Elain after telling her what had transpired upon Elain’s return from the garden. Elain had agreed with them to the plan. When Cassian, Rhys and Amren leave Nesta to talk alone with Feyre, Cassian asks Amren if they truly have the rule that Amren had told about Nesta. Amren tells them that they do not, but that Nesta doesn’t know that.

Cassian also talks to Rhys separately, and Rhys tells him that he wants Cassian to be a Courtier, because Azriel is already fully loaded with work, and Mor also has been doing work. They need Cassian to figure out the Human Queens in addition to training Nesta. Mor should be arriving soon and he can catch up with her then. As Cassian leaves, he does meet with Mor, and they both winnow and fly Nesta to the House of Wind. He shows Nesta to her room and tells her that he and Azriel will be sleeping in the House as well. Nesta goes to sleep and sleeps all day. Cassian talks to Mor about her visit to Vallahn, but they do not go into deeper detail.

The next day, Nesta comes to breakfast dressed in leathers and refuses to eat anything until Cassian tells her that she won’t have any energy. So she eats the porridge–they banter with each other, that has Azriel laughing and Cassian knows that those leathers on Nesta will be the death of him. Mor winnows them to the War camps, but Nesta refuses to train and sits there watching everyone. Then she works in the library, putting books away on the shelves. She eats, but the House does not give her wine, so she goes down the stairs, making it down 111 stairs before turning her way back, because she does not feel strong enough to go all the way down.

Cassian needed to do something after Nesta refused to train, so he went to visit the Band of Exiles–to make some independent assessment of Vassa. There, he finds Eris, who reveals that his men had disappeared without a trace–these are the same men that went with Beron to meet with Briallyn–the young queen that had turned into a crone after going into the Cauldron. Vassa tells them that out of all the remaining Queens, Briallyn would be the most capable of disappearing men. She also tells them that the Queens are most likely working with Koschei–the Sorcerer that holds her, but also the Brother of the Bone Carver and the Weaver, who died in the war. Eris tells Cassian that they should send their shadowsinger to find out more about the missing men. As Cassian leaves, Eris tells him that he should share information with him because they are allies and that Beron is trying to get allied with the Queens to start another war.

Cassian takes Nesta again to the War Camp, where she refuses to train again, and he offers for her to go inside the house but then she flinches at a crack of a log. He tells her to take a look around town and she goes to a store where she meets Emerie. Nesta realizes that she does not have money to purchase new leathers, which she wants in order to keep her warm. There had been a part of her that wanted to get up during the training to not embarrass Cassian which is different for her because there would have been a time when she would have told the Illyrians to mind their own business.

Nesta and Casina get into an argument about the training and say some hurtful things. Cassian specifically tells her that he’s done dealing with her–that it’s no wonder everyone hates her. Cassian also had told Azriel everything about the training–this was during a lunch where Cassian had told Nesta to train with him because then she could have earned the bruises that she received from falling down the stairs one time. During that fall, Nesta had gone down, and got her nails and fingers embedded in the stone–there had been sparks.

Cassian talks to Feyre out of frustration, when she visits, and she tells him to keep extending a hand–that the library was supposed to balance Nesta’s training with him. It is then that Cassian realizes that Nesta kept saying that she won’t train in that miserable village, and it is because she is too proud to have an audience watch her as she fails. Cassian and Rhys also meet up with Eris in Spring Court, where it becomes evident that Tamlin isn’t getting better despite Rhys’s attempts to get him back in order. Instead, Tamlin spends his time as a beast. Eris tells them that his father is looking to invade and they need to figure out the deal with the Queens and what they are up to.

Nesta works in the library and this time an acolyte named Gwyneth, Gwyn for short, drops off some books to shelve with Nesta. Nesta basically tells her to get lost, and later complains to Clotho, who tells her that this will happen and she has to learn to live with ad hoc requests as Nesta doesn’t work for Clotho alone–she works for the whole library.

The next day, Cassian clears out some space on the fighting ring and makes a deal with Nesta–one hour of training for a favor at another time. She agrees and they both get tattoos inking that favor into their skins. Then they do a second hour of training including breathing work and cool down, which Nesta claims is on the house. They talk about the entities that he had placed in the Prison over dinner, and eventually about what happened to a town, seemingly thawing their relationship.

She goes to work in the library as expected, and trains in the morning–this time balance work. One day, she is near the lower levels of the library, after training and feels a presence. Gwyn finds her and when Nesta confides in her that there is a presence, Gwyn uses her stone to protect them as they head to the upper levels. They talk a little bit about Nesta. A different day, Gwyn asks her if she has seen the 7th tome of Lavinia’s Great War, because the one that she got for the priestess that she works for was the 8th and she will get a dressing down if she doesn’t have the 7th. Nesta asks the house to help her and delivers the book, talks to the unpleasant priestess that tells her to get out, swaps the books and lets Gwyn know. Gwyn tells her that she is in her debt.

Throughout this time, Nesta has been talking to the house, and thanking it for helping her. The House will often give her books to read–smut books, in fact–and food, even going as far as preparing a bath for Nesta once.

One evening, Nesta and Cassian banter and it gets heated fast. When she returns to her room, she tells it to go away until dawn, and then touches herself imagining her fingers to be Cassian’s.

Cassian had a hard time falling asleep but they do meet for the training sessions. Days go by and they continue training but also:

• At one point, Nesta practices in the library, and Clotho calls Cassian in to ask him to tell Nesta to stop practicing because she hadn’t stopped when Clotho asked. He finds Nesta practicing by some shelves visible to anyone in the library. He gently corrects her, then tells her a few combinations before he tells her that she needs to stop, and then asks her to give some more combinations. Afterwards, he realizes that Nesta set this up–as everyone watches them. The next day, Clotho points at Nesta’s sign up-sheet–the one that Nesta had placed on the column after asking Cassian if he’d train women, and getting permission from Clotho for anyone who wants to train to get training. Turns out that Gwyn was the only one who signed up.
• Nesta and Cassian get summoned to Feyre’s and Rhsyand’s Palace. Prior to this, Nesta had a disagreement with Elain about how she acts, in which Elain had told her that she went into the Cauldron too, and Nesta is making Elain’s trauma about herself. Nesta is mean to Elain, and Elaine returns to the River House, never coming back to see Nesta. During the Summons, Feyre, Rhysand, Azriel and Amren tell them that Briallyn is looking for the Dread Trove–a series of objects Made of the Cauldron– since like calls to like, and Briallyn wants to get the Cauldron to give her youth back to her. There are three things–a Mask that raises the dead, a Crown that influences, and a Harp. There is potentially a fourth item, but no one knows what it is. Elain comes in and offers to help find these items because she, too, is Made of the Cauldron, but Nesta decides that she will do it in Elain’s stead. Rhysand and Feyre reveal that she is pregnant–turns out that is why Rhys has been practicing impenetrable shields–and Elain had apparently figured it out out as she saw Feyre throw up twice in a row. So Feyre tells Nesta first that it is going to be a boy, just to tell her something first because Feyre wants to. They hear as Rhys tells Azriel and Cassian the truth.
• Nesta goes to Windhaven and visits Emerie again, who is dealing with her cousin, who in turn has come to rattle her into giving over her business to the family because of some of the outdated beliefs that women should not run businesses and be married. Nesta chases him off with her words, and Emerie offers her food and some tea with willow bark in it that she adds to the tea sometimes to keep her supply of tea longer, as it is hard to come by. Nesta sends her some tea and spices via Cassian the next time, and nvites her to train, a second time, with Nesta. Emerie does show up to their next class and Cassian begins training her, and Gwyn along with Nesta.
• Nesta asks Gwyn for help in finding the trove, but no one can find anything beyond bare references to it. Amren gives Nesta till the end of the week to figure it out and scry, or else she is going to use Elain.
• Merrill-the wind Fae, who is Gwyn’s boss, comes to the library and yells at Nest for swapping the book about the Great War. Nesta does not back down and confidently stands up to Merrill without fear, while the other priestesses watch. The next day, more priestesses appear for training, and then even more eventually come to train–so much so that they need Azriel’s help in training them.
• Nesta and Casina get frisky three times–the first time is in the hallway upon Nesta’s walking down the stairs. She rubs her hand against his pants while they kiss and he comes undone. Since he cannot live with not taking care of her, and leaving her wanting, he goes to her and he fingers her, making her come. Another time, it is after he returned from Windhaven, where he’d met with Eris, and Eris had said some cutting words to Cassian. Nesta had wanted to lift him out of the mood, and gives him oral. Azriel shows up before Cassian can get her onto the table and have sex.
• Nesta tries to scry with Cassian by her side, but nothing comes of it. That night she sees the shadows of the Cauldron grab hold of her. Cassian was up–on alert, and runs until he comes across her room, with Azriel by his side. He tries to get to her but there is a silver fire that explodes the windows in the house–and it is only summoned by Nesta. Rhsy arrives and tries smothering the fire, but is only able to do it when Cassian calls out to Nesta and the fire pauses. Rhys is able to enter Nesta’s mind, and tells Cassian and Azriel that Nesta’s power is pure death. He tells them that she was dreaming of her going into the Cauldron–so he saw it all and it wasn’t good.
• Rhsy tells Cassian that he is worried because Majda, their healer has checked Feyre and the baby has wings. Feyre had been in her Illyrian form–something that requires her to shift her molecules–when she conceived, and that Majda said no more shifting. Cassian tells Nesta this later, and explains that Illyrian women are made differently—their hips are are built in such a way that they would be able to pass babies with wings, but High Fae are not, and Rhys will go and figure out what can be done about it by seeing Miryam and Drakon. But the reality is that Feyre could die or not have kids again.
• Nesta and Casina visit Feyre and Rhysand’s house, where Amren is and Nesta lets Rhys know that she will not let Feyre know anything about her baby. Nesta starts scrying and goes into darkness. Seeing that Nesta is not letting go despite Amren telling her to do so, and the fact that there room is getting colder, Cassian kisses her and after a little while, she drops the bones and stones along a swamp on the map–somewhere not too far from the Weaver’s Cottage, and it is an ancient spot. Before Nesta can lose her nerve, she tells them that they’ll go tomorrow.
• Cassian, Azriel and Nesta go to this swamp, which is filled with water that looks like oil or black ink. While they are flying around, Azriel disappears and when Cassain sees him again, he notices that Azriel is surrounded by soldiers from the Autumn Court, and has an ash arrow in his body. Cassian puts Nesta in a tree, telling her not to leave until he comes back, and then goes back to Azriel to help him fight off the soldiers. They kill all except for two, and then head back to Nesta, except that she is nowhere to be found, and her scent ends at the water’s edge.
• Nesta had gotten out of the tree worried that Cassian and Azriel could be dead. She finds herself at the water’s edge and then sees black eyes starting back at her. A creature that Nesta realizes is a kelpie, comes out of the water and drags her under–it gives her air twice and speaks an odd language. Nesta is dragged by the Kelpie and feels bones and swords–clearly the leftover remains of those who died. She cries for her power and then notices the Mask–it flies into her hand, and she puts it on. Then, ghostlike hands appear and kill the kelpie at her request.
• Cassian calls for Nesta, when the water ripples and phantom swords/ armies come up, followed by Nesta holding the head of the Kelpie, like a triumphant victor.
• They go back to the palace above Hewn City, and Rhys goes back for the Autumn Court Soldiers. They torture them, but the soldiers do not respond, and Rhys tells everyone that their minds are like an impenetrable fog. Azriel, Cassian and Rhys make their way into the palace above Hewn City and find Nest sitting next to the Mask, though it was warded. They decide that they need Helion to help ward it better.
• Nesta bathes in her bath overlooking the mountains, and Cassian brings her food. She had promised him that he could fuck her anywhere in the House of Wind–it was going to be her reward for her going through the swamp and finding the Mask. They end ups having sex, and Cassian comes inside her, but then leaves before cleaning her up.
• Helion comes on his pegasus–one of the few remaining horses that he has–others died as babies or were killed by Amarantha. Feyre and Rhysand tell Helion of her pregnancy–Cassian realizes it is because Rhysand is going to need access to Helion’s library to save Feyre. Then, they take Helion to see the Autumn Court soldiers in Hewn City. Helion looked them over, and wanted to leave quickly as he was bothered by their lack of consciousness. Hellion tells them that there are no wards or spells on this soldiers, and it looks like they may have been influenced. They realize that Briallyn probably has the crown, so they need to find the 3rd object. Helion is extremely bothered by the Mask, when Nesta uncovers it from the velvet. It turns out that she is the only one who can wear the mask without any effects. He shows them how to ward it, and wards it for Nesta. Helion also wants to show her how to inward it, but Nesta tells him no. Cassian thinks that it might be because nets is afraid of herself around it, so Helion shows Rhys how to do it instead.
• They return to the House of Wind, and Nesta renews her training efforts in earnest after learning about Meditation. One day, Cassian visits her in her room to drop off some books for her after having found her reading tactical books, which she explains she picked up after finishing the book he left her about leading armies so that she could perhaps lead a unit of women in War. When he drops the books off, she asks him if the sex wasn’t good enough, and they end up having sex again, this time in her bedroom.
• Cassian gets summoned to the River house, where he finds Amren, and Azriel already waiting with Rhys. Rhys takes some cloth off of three blades, which Cassian recognizes as Nesta having made herself at the blacksmith when he took her to show her how it works. Rhys explains that the blacksmith had dropped them off, claiming them as cursed. The four debate on what this means; that the last sword that had been imbued with power the way these are have been lost. The most well known belonged to the High King of Prythian, but like all the others, it is no longer around. Amren and Rhys vote to keep this information from Nesta, while Cassian and Azriel claim that she should know. Feyre is the deciding breaker of the tie. Amren leaves, telling them not to touch those blades, but Azriel and Cassian convince Rhys to unsheathe the blades using his magic. Amren catches them and asks if Rhysand would not become the King of Prythian–bringing everyone under one rule. He is the strongest of them all, after all, has Feyre who doubles his strength and also has Elain and Nesta, both of whom are Cauldron-Made. And now, he has three swords/ daggers imbued with power. Rhysand says that he will not become the King, even after Amren points out all of the signs that this is what the Cauldron wills. In the end, she says that he can only reject this so many times before the Cauldron gives this opportunity to someone else.
• Rhys tells Azriel and Cassian that there is no good outcome for Feyre–he had asked Drakon and Miryam, and even the peregryn, but the problem is that their wings are more flexible than the Illyrian wings, which are bony. That is why the others had no issue birthing their mixed children but Feyre will not be able to do it. Helion had promised to have his scholars research it.
• Nesta and Caspian meet with Eris, as per Rhys’s request that she go with him to meet Eris. They deliver the news that they have the soldiers–Eris throws some barbs at Cassian and Nesta twists it all back at Eris. Tamlin appears in his animal form, and they all tell him off.
• Cassian gets approval from Feyre to tell Nesta about the swords–she sided with him and Azriel after all. He randomly asks Gwyn, Emerie and Nesta what they would name a sword, and when Nesta asks why, he reveals that she had imbued them with magic. He also tells her afterwards, that they had voted on whether or not to tell her about them, which angers her. She asks him who voted against her, and while she expected Rhys, she is angry about Amren.
• Nesta goes to her room and pretends to draw a bath. Once she is sure that Cassian will not come in, she makes her way down the 10,000 steps in anger, and over to Amren’s apartment. She splinters the door while Amren is having sex with Varian, and Nesta tells Varian to get out. She then gets into an argument with Amren, where Amren tells her she stands by her decision that Nesta is not ready to know any of this because of how she is acting. Feyre shows up, having been fetched by Varian and tries to mediate the argument. Feyre tells Nesta that Amren is her friend and family. Seeing how much trust Feyre has in her friend never lying to her, Nesta tells her the truth about her baby–it has wings and she will not likely survive the birth. Amren hisses at Nesta to shut up, confirming Nesta’s words that she hadn’t told the truth to Feyre. Nesta asks Amren if they also voted on whether or not to tell Feyre, and Feyre wonders out loud about this–to which Amren says she should speak with Rhys and that they didn’t tell her because fear can do more damage along with stress. Nesta looks at Feyre, sees the way that Feyre is looking at her belly, and realizes that Feyre loves her own son more than Nesta’s mother has ever loved Nesta. She runs off after that, and after Amren points out that this is another example of why Nesta should not have been trusted with the information about her abilities.
• Cassian goes looking for Nesta and finds out that she made it out of the House of Wind. He checks the River House, when Rhys gets a communication via the Mate bond about Feyre’s discovery of the truth. Rhys is deathly angry and tells Cassian to get Nesta out of town before he kills her. Cassian finds Nesta running, picks her up, flies to the house where he gets a pack from Azriel, and then they fly off to the mountains. The first night, Nesta just curls up on herself and refuses to engage. She refuses to talk as they hike–something that Cassian decides on doing after talking to Feyre mentally–in order to help Nesta. They only speak when Nesta passes out from Dehydration and finally when they make it to their destination–a lake between two mountain peaks.
• It is there that nests falls down to her knees and breaks down crying. She feels so guilty for everything: for letting her father die–she keeps hearing his neck snap every time a log snaps in the fire; for Elain having been Made; for the pain she caused Feyre. She says that she came out born wrong with fire and claws, and hurts those closest to her. Nesta has no idea how to fix it all–how to fix herself and stop being vile. Cassian tells her that there is nothing to fix but relationships can be mended. He tells her that he could talk about all the horrible things he’s done and how he is not deserving of anything good, but he won’t. He tells her instead, that it will become easier with time.
• They sit there for quite a while and then Cassian tells Nesta to get up and gives her his sword. He tells her that she should do the 8 pointed star–a series of moves that he has been teaching them all. She executes his orders and they continue practicing with her form being perfect.

They return and training continues with Gwyn and Emerie asking about Nesta and Cassian out in the wild, where they fucked and she also learnt to wield a sword. Eventually, Cassian and Azriel turn the training ring into an obstacle course and the women have to work in teams to get across those obstacles. One by one, Gwyn, Emerie and Nesta cut the ribbons as the Valkyrie had done. They also learn to work together in combat as a unit.

In the midst of all this, Nesta agrees to dance and entrance Eris at the Winter Solstice ball in Hewn City. She begins to take dance lessons with Mor and one day asks Gwyn if she could join their services because she misses music. During the services, she relaxes and travels with her mind until she finds the Harp. She tells Cassian where it is, and he in turn tells Rhys, who has to undo the wards that he placed around the prison as an extra precaution. The next day Rhys winnows them to the Prison and gives Nesta the sword that she Made, which she calls Ataraxia–a word in the ancient language. They find the Harp and Nesta has to make it through the wards on her own. She grabs the Harp and sees some horrible memories of Fae being locked in and dying with their children. The Harp also connects her with Briallyn, who is wearing the crown, and she tells her that she knows where Nesta is. Nesta uses the Harp to unlock a path back to Cassian, and they head back out, when they realize that Lyanthas is out of his cell–the Harp had freed him too. Lyanthas talks for a bit and Cassian tells Nesta to run, when Cassian lunges for Lyanthas. She obeys and runs all the way through the prison, when she hears soldiers–the one from the Autumn Court and Nesta realizes that Briallyn had sent them to kill them and retrieve the Harp. She also realizes that she will never make it in time to get help for Cassian, so Nesta uses the harp and goes back to him. At first, she uses Ataraxia to slice Lyanthas, who then tries to spin an image of what they could be when she asks him to get back in his cell. She does not fall for it, and ultimately beheads Lyanthas, who she should not have been able to kill let alone hurt. Then she uses the Harp, plucking three strings and takes Cassian and her back to the River House, where she returns the sword, saying that she does not want more death. She tells Rhys all that she has learnt and he tells them what little they know about the Wild Hunt that Lyanthas talked about. Nesta has Cassian come with her to her old little cottage–the one that Tamlin had torn apart and tells him a little bit of her life growing up there.

The day of the ball, Feyre and Rhys make an entrance, revealing Feyre’s pregnancy to the world, with Nesta and Elain following them. Cassian is of the opinion that the black makes Elain look drab but makes Nesta look like a Queen of Night. Feyre offers Eris to dance with Nesta, as Feyre cannot do so in her condition. Nesta dances really well and Eris is captivated. Rhys and Feyre also gift Eris one of the Made daggers. Cassian watches Nesta dance and sees such amazing beauty–clearly Nesta loves dancing when she twirls to the music. At some point, Cassian does step in and dance with her. When he leaves Nesta to Azriel’s care while he grabs a drink with Mor, he gets pulled into Rhys’s mind where he overhears Eris ask for Nesta’s hand in marriage instead of the dagger. Rhys tells Eris that he needs to speak with Nesta about the marriage proposal, but that he will think about what Eris has offered in exchange, and tells Eris to keep the dagger, just in case.

On Winter Solstice, Nesta goes with Cassian to the River House, where they celebrate Feyre’s birthday and give gifts, though Nesta has nothing to give to anyone. Azriel gets her a little lamp for reading that she could also use as a bookmark. Cassian holds off on giving her the present until they are alone. He comes to Nesta’s room at the River House for the night and gives her a Symphonia–a shell-like pod that replays music that it had captured. He reveals that he went around to different musicians, asking them to play music for him just so that he could record it for her–all of the music is music that she likes. Nesta tells him that she cannot accept it and they get into an argument where she tells him that she does not deserve him–he’s too good and kind and brave; that she deserves Eris because she is just like him. In the end, she agrees that she and Cassian are forever, and that she won’t agree to marry Eris. They end up having sex, and there is a golden light that connects the two of them. Nesta asks him to stay the night with her. The next day Cassian goes to the cabin with Rhys and Azriel for the snowball fight, and then he goes to see the Illyrian legions. At some point Nesta, Emerie and Gwyn have a girls day during Cassian’s absence, and they make bracelets–friendship bracelets with a charm that Nesta imbues with a wish–that they may always find their way back together.

Once Cassian returns, the girls continue training and eventually, Gwyn, Emerie and Nesta amke it through the obstacle course, after which they find out that these courses were the prerequisite for the blood ride, and Lord Devlon had come to watch. The Lord is disgusted but nods that he saw this, and they are not required to complete the Blood Rite. On Starrfall, Nesta makes it all the way to the bottom of the 10,000 steps but then goes back up where she finds Cassian waiting for her. They go to the balcony and she watches the Stars fall that night in utter joy. Amren makes a comment, and Nesta falls to her knees and apologizes to her. Amren tells her that she likes what she did with the house–Nesta had wished for a friend and that is what the house had become, even more saw once Nesta saw the darkness and accepted it. Amren tells her that it is all it takes–accepting the darkness and walking through it; that it is all worth it in the end.

One day, Cassian and Nesta walk along the River, after returning from their meeting with Eris, where Nesta declines his hand in marriage. Eris tries to convince them to go after the crown from Briallyn, but they say nothing, leaving Eris nervous, wondering what they would do. During this walk along the river, Cassian tries to get Nesta to admit that they are mates–that he left to check on the Illyrian War bands after their last night together because he wanted to give her the space. She does not want to sy it out loud; to do so would be to give up her humanity. She calls in the bargain she made and sends him to the House of Wind until either she talks to him or a week passes by because she does not want to hurt him verbally. She then has Mor winnow her to Emerie’s and Gwyn joins her soon after–and the three friends spend time together. Nesta is getting ready for the night when males show up and grab them all–she puts up a fight but then succumbs to the drug they are using.

Cassian bides his time until he can go to see Nesta, and Azriel is with him when he goes to visit Emerie’s. They quickly realize that no one is there, and what had happened–the girls were taken for the Blood Rite. Amren, Feyre, Rhys, and Mor show up and talk with Azriel. Cassian wants to go and save them, but they remind him of the rule: he saves them, and he will be hunted. Rhys asks him if he’s been paying attention to the conversation, to which Cassian responds that he has not.

Turns out that Eris had been kidnapped as well, and Azriel and Cassian have to go save him. Rhys can’t go because of the bargain that he made with Feyre–they die together. Amren says that this is stupid, and they all go in separate directions.

Nesta awakes first in her camp and then notices another Illyrian who woke up as well. She quickly notices a dagger that she thought was against the blood rite rules. The two of them collide, but go over a cliff and she kills him. She remembers enough information about the blood rite from Cassian that she is able to figure out which of the three camps she is at, and realizes that her charm from her bracelet is like a beacon–it shines brighter towards one of the camps indicating that there is a girl there that is in danger. So Nesta heads out that way, defeating more Illyrians and saves Emerie from the water. She is helped by an Illyrian male to find a cave for the night, where Emerie recovers while beasts roam the land. Once Emerie is a bit better, they head for Gwyn, coming across Bellius’s camp, which has Gwyn’s night gown, and ultimately Bellius reveals that it was a trap. Suddenly, a beast comes into camp and the two girls run to watch from where Gwyn calls to them as the beast destroys the camp.

Throughout the rest of the days, the girls overcome challenges, but Gwyn takes an arrow through her thigh that begins to hinder them. They look at Ramiel, and Gwyn tells them that playing it safe is not living, and that they will go and win it. She then tells them her story: she and her twin, Catrin, were at the temple at Sagravangh, and Catrin told her to hide the kids when the Hybern soldiers arrived. Catrin had gone to face them, while Gwyn went to get the kids. She had barely gotten them all to safety, putting the rug and table over the trapdoor, when the Hybern soldiers brought in all of the priestesses. They killed Catrin in front of her, when she refused to tell them where the kids were, and then they raped her. Azriel, Rhys and Mor had barely arrived in time to save her, and she has been hiding in the library ever since. Emerie tells them that her dad abused her mom, and she died from that abuse though her dad had claimed that she died from a miscarriage. People liked him because he was charismatic, but at home he was a vicious man, and he abused her too, so she often wondered if she imagined it all because her father was nice to everyone else. Nesta tells them her story and they all tell each other that it is none of their fault that all these things happened to them. They begin to make the ascent through the toughest route–the same one Cassian, Azriel and Rhys had taken during their rite, and at one point, Nesta ties Gwyn to her back.

They make it past the Archway, but Bellius and his men are catching up. Nesta slips with Gwyn back to the Archway, and realizes that they will not have time to make it to the stone. So she decides to stay back, and Gwyn demands to stay back with her, though neither Gwyn nor Emerie will be in any condition to fight. She hugs Gwyn and knocks her unconscious before having Emerie carry her the remainder of the way, while Nesta squares off against Bellius and his men. She kills them all but is now worn out enough that when Bellius attacks he is able to disarm her of her weapons. They do hand-to0hand combat, and she manages to hold him off saying that her mate taught her really well. Emerie and Gwyn make it to the column and vanish, and she tells Bellius that he lost. She does realize that Bellius is under the influence of the crown and ultimately of Briallyn.

Azriel and Cassian spend four days spying on Briallyn’s palace with no movement. Cassian worries about Nesta but is reminded by Azriel that he taught her well and that he would know if something happened because he’d feel it. There is movement, and Eris is on a convoy-they think that he is a traitor. The two of them follow the convoy and it leads them to a lake, where they meet Koschei. Cassian is stopped at dagger point by Eris–using the dagger made by Nesta. And as a result both Azriel and Cassian yield, where as a result they are taken to the lake. Koschei does release Eris, and Azriel flies off with Eris, but Cassian is frozen, unable to move. Briallyn grabs him as Azriel comes back for him–they have been waiting specifically for Cassian–and then they disappear. Only to appear in front of Nesta, where Briallyn gives Cassian the order to kill. To both Briallyn’s and Nesta’s surprise, he turns the dagger on himself because Briallyn had not been specific enough. Dawn rises and with it, Nesta’s powers do too as the faebane leaves her system. Briallyn had revealed that she had influenced Bellius and added the weapons to make it easier for the Illyrians to kill Nesta, and she had initially only planned to take Emerie, knowing that Nesta would come to save her, Blood Rite rules be damned. Nesta made it very easy for her though by doing the girl’s day meet up in Emerie’s house.

Anyway, Cassian falls, and with the dawn, Nesta gets her powers back and destroys Briallyn. Then she rushes to Cassian, who had faked hurting himself. They reconcile but the moment is cut short when Mor and Azriel arrive–Feyre had gone into labor. They rush to the River Palace, and watch as Feyre struggles–Majda tells them that the baby is stuck in the birth canal. They manage to get the boy out, but he doesn’t look okay, and Feyre is bleeding out after being cut open. As Feyre dies, so does Rhys start dying. Nesta calls the Mask, the Harp, and the Crown, donning them all–to Amren’s, Cassian’s, and Rhys’s horror. She stops time and tells Feyre that she loves her, and then tells a voice that she doesn’t like not feeling anything, because she would rather live and feel with all of them. Ultimately, she begs to help–that this figure shows her how to save Feyre and the baby, and that she will give back what she took.

Time starts up again, and everyone sees that Nesta had moved. Rhys is about to go after her, when Amren tells him to stop, listen and watch. They hear her say that she will give it back, and watch as yellow lights flow out of Nesta to Feyre, and the baby. And a portion of the light gets saved in Nesta. Feyre awakened and tells her that she loves her back, and Majda says that Feyre now has Illyrian hips. Rhys drops to his knees in front of Nesta and thanks her.

Nesta and Casina talk after Nesta checks with Gwyn and Emerie, who are at the River House, having been transported there by the pillar. She tells Cassian that he is her mate and that she did also get a modification by making her hips fit to help birth an Illyrian baby for when they decide it is time. She tells him that she wants a fancy mating ceremony or he can have a stale cookie. He laughs and tells her that they will have the ceremony.

Feyre and Nyx, their son, get well enough for walks around Velaris, and Nesta gets ready for her outrageously expensive Mating Ceremony, paid for by Rhys. He had kept buying Nesta expensive gifts, and she told him that she will consider them even as long as he pays for the mating ceremony. Nesta and Cassian get gifted the House of Wind as their home so long as the priestesses can continue being there and the Court of Dreams can continue to use it for more formal events. Feyre, Elain, Nesta go to visit their father’s grave, where she leaves the wood carving that her father had made for her in the shape of a rose.

My Thoughts: I have seen the reviews complaining of Nesta and hating her as a character, which had me worried when I was going into the first pages of the book. But to my own surprise, I did not find that I disliked her. I sure found her very irritating, and off-putting in the first several books, as well as in the beginning of this one. But then as the book went on, and we learned some of the things that Nesta was dealing with emotionally–the fact that her mother never loved her, and her father sacrificed himself to save her, and that she has a hard time adjusting to being a fae because she wants to having her humanity–the less I had reason to hate her. I felt sorry for her more than anything and was glad to see her growth through out the book, coming to terms with her mate in Cassian (knew it from book 2, though I’m surprised that the bond did not snap in place for them the way it did for Rhys), and overall as a fighter–the fact that she got friends outside of her family, started to learn to be a fighter, I feel like it channeled her energy and her mind to have some discipline. Overall, I really enjoyed her character and I think that underneath she is a softie but that she just struggles sharing her feelings because she feels everything deeply. I hope we get to see more of Nesta in the future, now that SJM had announced more potential books in the series, and see her develop even further. I feel like her story is not truly finished yet.