Nesta, the once human sister of Feyre, now turned HIgh Fae, is drowning her memories of the Hybern war by drinking to excess, sleeping with men indiscriminately, and living in a hovel. When her sister and her mate Rhys step in it’s to save her from herself. Now living in their old home 5,000 steps above the city she must train by day with Cassian and spend the afternoon working in the library with the Sisters. She abhors the first and decides to tolerate the second. Her relationship with Cassian has always been tumultuous to say the least and the last thing she wants to do is spend time alone with him despite their attraction for each other. Those feelings change when she befriends a priestess named Gwyn and a shopkeeper named Emerie, who together decide to train as Valkyrie’s and create a sisterhood that would give them strength and courage.

I, too, was not a big fan of Nesta’s during Feyre and Rhys’s story. What was there to care about? She was cold, heartless, and didn’t care about our heroine Feyre at all. She was also pretty brutal to Cassian, a warrior who seemed to care for her despite her bad attitude. In fact, it almost seems he cared for her because of it. In A Court of Silver Flames we finally learn what’s going on in Nesta’s head. I had wondered how SJM was going to turn this character around when legions of fans couldn’t stand her, myself included. It wasn’t the love story (if that’s what you call it) between she and Cassian, at least for me. It was the need to help the priestess’s and her friend Emerie overcome the trauma and abuse they’d taken from men. Through that friendship she rebuilt who I thought she was into the person she was meant to be. Yes, part of that person was lover and mate to Cassian, but more importantly it was the inner struggle and discovery of who she was as High Fae, instead of as human woman.

Cassian was an interesting character. He was the General of Rhysand’s army overcoming his own rotten childhood by being the best at what he was and enforcing that message to the Illyrian’s who tortured him as a child. Through this novel we learned a lot about what makes him tick and in large part that is his relationship with his bro’s Rhysand and Ash. Those three, just as Nesta, Gwyn, and Emerie do in this novel. overcome all obstacles to survive and succeed. It put into strong relief the facade that he wears as charmer and brutish warrior and helped me buy into this pairing with Nesta.

As with any of SJM’s novels, there are so many intricacies. Nesta’s powers that she stole from the Cauldron, Ash’s secretive spying, the revolt by Fall, I can go on and on. Each sub-plot adding to the overall story, but also leading us towards the next novel. I won’t go into details because if you’re a fan, you should have this experience on your own. Did I end my journey with this story liking Nesta more than I did when I started? Absolutely! I’ve read some reviews where readers are still holding a grudge and in my opinion I just can’s see how they can. Nesta has more than redeemed herself in my eyes and ok, I guess she too deserves a whole lot of love and Cassian seems to fit her perfectly.

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