First of all, I wasn’t sure of Sarah J. Maas was going to change my mind about Nesta but nevertheless, I knew she would find a way. Like many people, I disliked her character in the previous books due to her selfishness, her predilection for conflict and her near constant anger. ACOSF is a true love story but not just in the romantic fashion between Nesta and Cassian. This book is a love letter to everyone who’s experienced trauma and is finding a way to love themselves and give themselves a soft place for their hard feelings to land.

The storyline is perhaps 2/8 plot-based and 6/8 character-based. The plot maintains the momentum from ACOWAR and ACOFAS and finds further narrative in the conflicts with the scheming human queens and various other invested parties. Admittedly, I expected a little more from the plot towards end of the book and it did feel like the build-up fizzed out in the end but as previously said, this book was more about Nesta’s journey.

Fair warning, this book contains a fantastic amount of smut (which Maas has constantly alluded to prior to publication)! But one of the (other) highlights for me were the female friendships Nesta builds throughout the book; for me, these parts of the story drew the whole book together.