If you’re expecting a glowing review, or you take it personally for someone to be critical of your fave series, skip this review. There will also be full spoilers. You have been warned! :)
For it being called the Valkyrie cycle, there were decidedly few Valkyries in A Court of Splintered Harmony by Sarah J. Maas, technically the sixth installment in the ACOTAR series. And as the title implies, things have fractured, not just in the inner circle, but with the Valkyries, and the Courts. This book could have been more aptly called, “A Court of Drama and Disappointment.” Now, I promise I’m not a hater of this series. I genuinely love the original trilogy. I completely fell in love with those characters. But I was pretty vocal that I wasn’t a huge fan of A Court of Silver Flames, and the direction some of the characters were seemingly going. Unfortunately, this novella confirmed some of my fears. You know that quote, “If you don’t die a hero, you live long enough to become the villain”? I’m slightly concerned that that’s what’s happening here, and it’s a bummer because these characters are beloved to so many. Genuinely, the only character who didn’t annoy me in this book was Lucien. I felt so bad for him the entire time—we’ll get to that. Overall, I spent most of this book annoyed. I was annoyed at having to hear about leaky breasts every five seconds. I was annoyed at how stupid every male acted (minus Lucien). I was beyond annoyed with the stupid drama and squabbles that kept happening. I was annoyed at the spice plopped in. And I was beyond annoyed with Elain and Az being so incredibly selfish. I get that it’s just the amuse bouche before the entree, but I felt like almost nothing of substance happened. Don’t worry, I’ll be devouring the next installment when it comes out in January, and I am thrilled to be back in this world after five years, but we readers are allowed to be disappointed. But let’s get into it…
Things to Know:
Novella length
Multi-POV
Found family drama
Multiple spice scenes
Book 6 in ACOTAR series (technically 4.5)
The first part in a longer story (more of a set up)
Let’s talk about the elephant in the room and get it out of the way: the constantly leaky breasts. I’m sorry, but no. This was a big ick for me. And it’s not because I’m hating on motherhood, like some people seem to be accusing others of for not wanting to read about constant breastfeeding in their fantasy book. I completely understand that it was a realistic portrayal of young motherhood, and for people that felt seen and appreciated the representation, that’s great. I just personally do not find it enjoyable to read about lactation issues every five seconds.
Again, depictions of motherhood don’t bother me. There are plenty of incredible mothers in fantasy books. Orka from The Bloodsworn saga comes to mind. She’s one of the most epic mothers written in all of fantasy in my opinion, and her entire story arc centers around her identity as a mother. But she’s not reduced to a leaking, guzzle machine. It felt a bit like Sarah was consumed with it in her own life and it spilled onto the page (no pun intended).
I also felt like Feyre was beefing with everyone for no reason, and I really don’t understand why she’s so obsessed with helping the humans across the continent that have literally nothing to do with her, and putting her own family at risk. Look, I know it all come together in a nice neat bow in the next installments, so I promise, I’m going to trust the process that Sarah will bring it home. And speaking of Feyre, the switching of first person and third person POVs felt a bit weird too.
Nesta still irritated me at times, as I’ve never been a fan, HOWEVER, I was applauding her when she called Elain on her bullsh*t. Yes, girl. You tell her! I have to admit, I just might be coming around to her a bit more.
Gwyn was barely in this book, but why is she being all snippy too? It just felt like everyone’s mad at each other for mostly unreasonable things.
I feel like everyone has coddled Elain for so long, and she is not even the youngest child. It’s so odd to me. I’ve never liked her, and this book just solidified what a terrible, selfish person she is. There is absolutely nothing wrong with her rejecting the mating bond, and doing what she wants with her own body. I 100% support her in that. The problem I have is that she should’ve actually had the guts to talk to Lucien and have an honest conversation, and tell him once and for all she’s not interested. It would’ve been a done deal. And instead she skulks around and WHILE HE’S IN THE HOUSE hooks up with someone she knows is off limits. In doing so she jeopardizes one of the only alliances they have. Insane. Is hooking up with Az really worth putting everyone’s lives at risk?! I was so mad.
Azriel isn’t without fault here either. He’s the character I was most worried about being “ruined” for me when SJM decided to continue the series. I think because he spoke so little, a lot of us filled in the blank spaces with what we thought he was like, and I think that’s why he’s a lot of the fandom’s favorite bat boy. Now, we’re seeing a completely different side of him than what we had in our heads. Again, that’s totally fine, but it doesn’t match the character we created in our heads. That’s always the risk when you keep expanding on a series. Wow, he was in his dark, self-loathing emo stage in this book. I felt bad for him and everything he’s been through, but I really don’t love how entitled to Elain he feels. It doesn’t feel like love at all.
I’m not sure why Rhys is so against being the High King. I fear he’s not going to have a choice in the future…
Overall, this was definitely a bit of a disappointing read for me. I wasn’t really surprised by anything, but I was more so holding my breath, hoping things wouldn’t pan out the way they did. Now, the exciting part is there are a lot of theories coming out of this book, so I will say since we didn’t get a lot of answers, but rather more questions, there’s definitely still a lot to unpack here.
A few theories and moments that I found particularly interesting:
- The cord Clotho gave them was spider silk potentially?!
- Elain is “Made” and could forge a marriage alliance with that creepy prince, and be the Made object they’re seeking (side note: I’m SHOCKED Mor took Elain, but at the same time, this is a super interesting set up for the next book! I kinda can’t wait for this.)
- Azriel’s shadows running from Elain are a red flag
- This movement of the story could be based on Wagner’s opera, The Ring Cycle, which is based on Norse mythology. This creator does a great deep dive!
Made it all the way down here? Congrats! As per usual, I did an immersive read with my physical book and the audiobook, and Elizabeth Evans did a wonderful job, as per usual with her narration! If you want to try out the audiobook, you can find it on Audible or Libro.fm (ProTips: Audible is 99 cents/mo for three months (3 books for $2.97) right now AND you can get two free audiobooks on Libro.fm with the code SWITCH right now).
Favorite Quotes from ‘A Court of Splintered Harmony’:
“Don’t tire yourself too much trying to come up with a witty answer.”
—
“Start screeching when it gets too boring. We’ll owe you a drink when you’re older.”
—
*P.S. If you end up getting a copy of any books through an Affiliate link above, you’ll be helping me keep this site and newsletter going for you and fellow book lovers. Thanks in advance for supporting your fellow bibliophiles! BTW, I will always disclose affiliate links when they’re present. :) Happy reading!