My Reaction in a Nutshell: 
 And the award to Most Improved Author in a Series goes to....Sarah J. Maas!!!!!! 
 The Long Version 
 Yeah, there was a definite improvement in this book. If you want to read my super spoilery mini-review then click here and here (where I add more to my reaction post). Since I got most of my initial rambles out of the way in those two posts, this review should be pretty short and spoiler-free. 
 This book is about character development. Overall, there isn't a ton of plot (most of the plot occurs in the last 50-100 pages). But the character development that occurs is huge. Feyre went through hell and back Under the Mountain. I mean, everyone went through hell and back and this book shows how each of the MCs try and cope with their trauma (some cope in more healthy ways than others). 
 This book is an important one about depression, PTSD, friendship, and abuse. It has no girl-on-girl hate. It doesn't romanticize or shame mental illness. It doesn't romanticize an abusive relationship. This book is all about healing emotionally because the next book will be emotionally and physically taxing as hell (for both the MCs and readers). 
 I didn't like A Court of Thorns and Roses. I'm not sure if it was because Beauty and the Beast is my least favorite fairytale, or if it was because I couldn't stand Tamlin or because I just typically find Maas' books "meh." But all of that changed with A Court of Mist and Fury. 
 I originally wasn't planning on reading this book. But I decided to put a request in at OverDrive just for the hell of it. I wasn't expecting to get the book for at least a month, but it was available within a week. I started it and was very, very afraid that (view spoiler)[it would romanticize Tamlin's abusiveness (hide spoiler)], but on Tumblr I saw a post saying that the book actually did the opposite!! So I put off studying for my finals to read this book. I tried to reward myself after every 30 minutes of studying with a chapter of ACOMAF, but if I'm being honest it was more like every 5 minutes. I spent many late nights reading this. 
 My only tip to readers is to reread A Court of Thorns and Roses prior to reading A Court of Mist and Fury, because ACOMAF makes a lot of references to ACOTAR without giving a ton of background. I was totally not prepared for how much this book mentioned ACOTAR. Many times Feyre would say to Rhys, "Remember when we were Under the Mountain..." and he would say something along the lines of "Yes, I do you beautiful tropical fish" and I wanted to shout WELL, I DON'T!!!! Usually I get annoyed with books with how much time they spend summarizing the previous book(s) in the series, but with this one I didn't. Note to self: next time reread the books in the series before starting the next one. 
 If you were on the fence (like me) about reading ACOMAF, then as long as it's not triggering to you, I highly recommend it. ACOMAF feels like Maas finally took people's criticism to heart: no girl-on-girl hate, importance of friendship, getting out of an abusive relationship, less of an emphasis on romance, etc. She definitely stepped up her game. I'm actually looking forward to reading the next book in the series. 
 ***TRIGGER WARNINGS: mind control, abusive relationship, PTSD, mentions of previous/potential R, depression, mentions of contemplating suicide, mentions of prostitution, mentions of weight loss that could be triggering to those with EDs