I wanted to switch up some of the content I have on here because it might just be me, but it feels like my posts are getting a wee bit monotonous. My love language is giving recommendations, which is why a lot of what I write has been rec posts, but it’s always good to try something new! SO. Today, I’m starting a series of posts where I rank books in a series based on my personal preference.
It only feels right that the first series I’m ranking is A Court of Thorns and Roses. This is a series that shot reading back into popularity during the pandemic, and I feel like it has a resurgence about once a year when more people suddenly discover it. I read these books as it came out when I was in college, which was super fun, and I’ve read them about six times since then (oops!), so I feel like I have a pretty good grip on my opinions of them. Disclaimer: ACOTAR isn’t my favorite series by Sarah J. Maas, but it will always have a special place in my heart. Also, just because I ranked books in a certain order doesn’t mean that some are bad and others are good! Something always is going to be last in a list. That’s just the way they work.
So, let’s rank ACOTAR!
1. A Court of Mist and Fury. My top choice will come as no surprise to anyone who has read the whole series, or even just the first three books. ACOMAF is widely regarded as the best book in the series, and I completely, completely support that stance. I feel like I can’t say much about it because I don’t want to spoil anything just in case someone stumbles across this post who has managed to escape reading any of these books, but ACOMAF gives me all of the tropes that my little fantasy-loving heart needs to keep beating. I’m a sucker for found family, and this is the book where SJM just absolutely crushes the found family trope out of the park. I want to be best friends with everyone. AND, this is the book that has spawned the most ACOTAR memes, so that also raises it in my book. I’m only mostly kidding about that.
2. A Court of Wings and Ruin. ACOWAR is the perfect wrap-up for the original trilogy, and that’s why I ranked it so highly. I know that this book gets some flack because there are some plot points that aren’t exactly as…permanent as readers think they should be, but I’d rather not be depressed over a book, so that’s fine by me. There’s less character development in this book, in my opinion, but that’s not necessarily a negative. It’s a book about a war: there’s not always room to flesh out character relationships when they’re busy fighting for their lives and their homeland. I appreciate that ACOWAR ties everything up, but doesn’t completely slam shut and bolt the door on Prythian because I love the world and the characters we get to know so much. There’s a fine line between emotional impact and complete heartbreak, and I personally think that Maas does a great job balancing that in this book.
3. A Court of Silver Flames. I am all about warrior women. If there’s a bad b*tch woman who can fight and/or has awesome magical powers, she’s bound to be my favorite character. Yes, Nesta is AWFUL at the beginning of this book. I’ve known people who DNF’d this book because they hated Nesta and couldn’t wait it out for her redemption arc, and it makes me so sad because I feel like she has one of the best redemption arcs in the series!! For the first four books, she’s the worst. By the end of ACOSF, I promise that she’s less of a raging jerk and more of an inspiration. And I just love Cassian with every fiber of my being.
4. A Court of Thorns and Roses. I read the first ACOTAR book right after it came out when I was in college. I was (and still am) obsessed with Maas’s other series, Throne of Glass, so while I waited for the highly-anticipated release of Kingdom of Ashes, I found ACOTAR in my university library and read it. I enjoyed it, but didn’t really care to find out when the rest of the series was coming out. I don’t think I even realized that it was a series, since the first book seems to wrap up so nicely. If ACOTAR wasn’t part of a greater series, though, I don’t think I’d choose to re-read it.
5. A Court of Frost and Starlight. I’m the biggest ACOFAS hater out there. I know, I know, it’s supposed to be the bridge between the first three books and the next books, but I find it so boring. It’s basically a Christmas special in book form, but worse because I love Christmas specials. Usually something happens in Christmas specials. In ACOFAS, everyone just kind of does what they normally do without the pressure of war breathing down their necks. It’s nice if you’re desperate to not leave the world or the characters, but I was desperate to get back to something actually interesting. For my first three reads of the series, I didn’t even read ACOFAS on principle. On my fourth series read, I finally caved and read it, but I don’t think I’ll ever re-read it again, honestly. Those were 272 pages of my life that I’ll never get back.
That’s my grand ranking of books in the ACOTAR series! Once her next book comes out, whenever that is, I’ll probably update this list, even though I doubt it’ll change very much. I’m a huge Elain hater as well, so I’m already anticipating not liking her POV book, though I am going to try my best to keep an open mind going into it. There’s no release date in sight, so I’m getting ahead of myself.
If anyone has a compelling reason why one of this books should be higher (or lower) on my rankings, let me know in the comments! I’d love to hear other opinions. Cheers, and happy reading!
Sequels and Scribbles 