The Art of the Reread: A Court of Mist and Fury – Sarah J. Maas

Posted January 9, 2017 by Andi in Art of the Reread / 3 Comments

I have a “rule”, I don’t write reviews for books I’m reading again if I have already reviewed it. I have never re-reviewed Anna and the French Kiss or Parallel or Twenty Boy Summer. I leave my original reviews as they were and hold on to my love. But since I am trying to show the beauty of the reread I figured I could point out some of the things

Last week I mentioned I was rereading A Court of Mist and Fury. I finished it this weekend and it was just as amazing as it was the first time. The thing about rereads is you always learn something new or have a new way of appreciating the book and the characters and the author. That is part of the magic of rereading and what made my ACOMAF reading experience so much better.

  1. I devoured it this time: When I read ACOMAF in May of 2016 It took me two weeks. Granted I was in Mexico for one of those weeks, but I felt like I read it super slow so I could take it all in. This time I was done in a week. Actually it would have been sooner but life interrupted some reading time.
  2. The more you know: Like a movie that you have already seen, you find all new things when you know how it is going to play out. While I was reading ACOMAF I noticed a lot more than I did the first time. I noticed things characters said and things that seemed to be mentioned in passing but really meant something else.
  3. Focus on the characters: This time I was able to really focus on the characters and the stories attached to them. The first read I basically focused on the story trying to see where it was going to go and how it effected what I thought I knew from book 1. This time I was actually able to look at each character and feel for them and understand them.
  4. Places: Another thing I really got to have a better understanding for was the settings. In a first read they are kind of just there, in the foreground. But this time I actually realized that the settings and places are characters in the book. They mean just as much as Feyre, Rhysand, Tamlin and the others. They are essential to feeling a sense of security and I didn’t realize that last may.

Honestly I walked away from ACOMAF feeling better about it than I did the first time I read it and I truly loved it then. It just became more powerful and epic after a reread and got me excited for book 3.

What do you learn when you read a book for the second time?

 

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3 responses to “The Art of the Reread: A Court of Mist and Fury – Sarah J. Maas

  1. I very rarely reread. And if I ever do I almost never do another review. At most I’ll add a few lines if anything new occurred to or if maybe my feeling changed. But I know I’ll be rereading ACOMAF before AOOWAR comes out. One thing, like you mentioned, is that you tend to pick up on all the foreshadowing that you blissfully go right by in the initial read. All of a sudden everything has more meaning. Love that. šŸ™‚

  2. My favorite thing about rereading, besides returning to a story that I love, is noticing all the little things you didn’t notice the first time around! It’s so satisfying to understand the passing comment, or the look the character gives, like you said; it gives the writing an extra layer! And I totally agree about the setting as well; usually when I read an anticipated book I go super fast because I want to know what happens and on a reread I can appreciate the nuances better, picture the settings more completely. I need to do some rereading this year!

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