Book: A Court of Wings and Ruin
Series: A Court of Thorns and Roses
Author: Sarah J. Maas
Pages: 699
Feyre has returned to the Spring Court, determined to gather information on Tamlin's manoeuvrings and the invading king threatening to bring Prythian to its knees. But to do so she must play a deadly game of deceit – and one slip may spell doom not only for Feyre, but for her world as well.
As war bears down upon them all, Feyre must decide who to trust amongst the dazzling and lethal High Lords – and hunt for allies in unexpected places.
In this thrilling third book in the #1 New York Times bestselling series from Sarah J. Maas, the earth will be painted red as mighty armies grapple for power over the one thing that could destroy them all.
Hello, Angels!
After I’ve read “A Court of Mist and Fury” I just had to put my hands on the next book and there is no way I could say that I am sorry for this choice, because these series are one of my all time favorites.
“A Court of Mist and Fury” led us through a long journey with our favorite characters. If you want to know what I think of the second book from this amazing journey - you can read the book review HERE.
At the same time, “A Court of Mist and Fury” left me hanging there, charmed by the amazing development of the characters, the love and the romantic relationship between Feyrе and Rhys that bloomed, the beautiful friendship that blossomed between the Inner Circle and Feyre, and then it left me deeply devastated and shaken and with tears in my eyes.
In “A Court of Wings and Ruin” I was expecting to see how the story continues and Sarah J. Maas managed to answer every question I’ve had, even those that I haven’t thought of yet.
Feyre has returned to the Spring Court. I’ve expected to see our well known and beloved Feyre - stubborn, annoying people around her at its finest, feisty, strong and this is exactly what I got - even more. Feyre has returned to the Spring Court to save her friends, her loved ones, her people, her Court. Yes, that’s right - her Court, because Feyre is the High Lady of the Night Court now.
Now don’t you think for a second that she kept it lowkey and quiet there throughout her stay. Oh, no, not at all! Yes, she might have returned, but the best is yet to come… or to be read.
Feyre is very, very good and persuasive in pretending that her mating bond with Rhys and their deal is gone. Even I was fooled for a single moment, when she was fooling the whole Spring Court. I loved how cruel and merciless she was, even though Tamlin spared her life when he first took her to Prythian. However, Feyre is so not what she used to be. And she will never forgive Tamlin and Ianthe.
She has managed to prove it over and over again in “A Court of Mist and Fury” and now she proved it once more. I couldn’t believe how much hatred Feyre has for Tamlin, for the Spring Court and Ianthe, Sarah and her mastermind has managed to change all my perspective and to exceed all my expectations. I don’t know if her behaviour could be deemed with the word ‘bad’ however I really did enjoy the bad and vengeful side of Feyre. Oh, now don’t you dare judge me!
The whole time I was reading this part and how Feyre destroys the Spring Court piece by piece from the inside, I was sitting in my chair and secretly encouraging her. I was so proud of her. Okay, fine, it wasn’t that much secretly because there were times when I was literally yelling at the book ‘You go, girl! Good job! That’s what they deserve!’. I am sure that if Rhys saw me back then, he would gladly make a huge poster and he would applaud and cheer her with me. Of course he would, after all we have to support Feyre in her task. I am sure that if I was in Feyre’s place in this exact same situation, I would’ve destroyed Tamlin and his Court without even a blink of an eye. So what! Tamlin with all his stoic actions and his mania has completely deserved it.
Ah, Rhys… There is so much I could say about him and all the words would not be enough. It’s not only how beautiful, gorgeous, amazing, incredible and all those sorts of adjectives… If I have to describe him the words in the dictionary would simply not be enough. Although if I continue you would get bored. I have this feeling that the more I read about him, the more I fall for him. No wonder that Feyre fall in love with him. If I was in her place I would, too. (But to be honest, he is my ultimate book crush!)
So I guess I could only be grateful to Sarah that she is so good in what she does, and that she really can build such complex and realistic characters. I really did saw Rhys, I got to know him well and I saw all of his sides - good, bad, arrogant,deadly and amazing. I saw a man, ready to sacrifice himself for his family, for his friends, for his people, for his Court, even for all Prythian. And a big thank you to all the High Lords that brought him back. I love you guys! Yes, even the awful Tamlin the jerk.
Now we move on to Rhys’ Inner Circle. I really loved them and I can’t imagine a Prythian without them. Okay, can’t they just accept me and take me in the Circle? Why not? Okay, fine, I am not a fae nor do I have a special power, but I have some sort of doubtful sense of humour (umm.. I guess I do…). Maybe I’ll fit in. So guys, if you have open spaces - Take Me!
I finally saw Amren finally in such a different light! Wow! It can’t get any better than that! The typical evil, merciless, cold hearted, bloodthirsty and deadly Amren turned out to be something more! She cares so much about her friends so she sacrificed herself and released her true form, so she could turn the outcome of the war. So her friends could survive. Ah! I will get so mushy now!
Mor, who is so fierce, thickheaded, stubborn, and so brave, like a true hurricane faced her most painful memories from the past. I also saw the merciless warrior, battling for something more - for the greater good. For a better world. And she definitely managed to show everyone why she has such a high rank in Rhys’ Inner Circle. And I really did love this aspect of her character.
Then I was quite surprised by Azriel - ever since the beginning of the High Lords meeting. Then again he won me even more of how much she cared for Elain after her change. I can feel the romance in the air for these two and I vote ‘Yes’ with both my hands, because Elain is so kind and so cute. And of course because she and Az would be great fit together.
Oh, now that I’ve mention Elain… It turned out that she and Lucien are mates but you probably already know that. Yes! I did not see that one coming! I don’t even know how to feel about this. However, I can definitely say that Lucien is not a good fit for her and I am shipping only Elain + Az = Eternal Love. That’s it.
Plus, Lucien was never a favorite character of mine, no matter if Sarah would decide to write a book about him… To me Lucien is like Chaol - yes, both of them are useless and I dislike them equally. Okay, fine, I may like Chaol a bit more than Lucien, but that’s a whole other story. So, where was I? Ah, yes! Lucien and Elain - mates. No. Big NO to those two!
Cassian - well I cried so much when the King of Hybern destroyed his wings. It was so hard for me to read. I am glad that he managed to show how strong, stubborn and hardworking he is and he didn’t give in to the pain and to the desperation. He was strong enough to endure the pain and to recover and fly again. I love Cassian since the first sentence I’ve read about him and if I wasn’t so crazy about Rhys I would definitely be crazy and all over Cassian. (okay, fine, I might me crazy about Cass, but please move on and pretend you haven’t read this.)
Since we’ve made it so far, I might say something about Nesta, too. Sadly, I can’t say anything good about Nesta and I can’t say I am delighted by her appearance in the books. However, if she is there, then she has a role to play. Yes, she suffered a lot and she endured such pain by being forcibly turned in to a fae, however I cannot wrap my head around her detest of all the fae and her bad attitude and hatred towards Feyre and the Inner Circle. On the other hand, I cannot deny the fact that Nesta, with all her hatred, fury, rage and merciless managed to actually kill the King of Hybern. Yes, even though I don’t like her at all, at that very same moment I cheered her. Good job Nesta!
I secretly hope that she and Cassian could have a romantic relationship, because no matter how much I dislike her, I do love him and she might be a good pair for him. If this happens, then maybe we could see a different side of Nesta. I would really love a book only for Cassian and Nesta as this would definitely be something epic!
In “A Court of Wings and Ruin” I’ve managed to meet many new and interesting characters and some of them captured me so much that I would really love to see their stories unravel, and of course to learn more about their Courts, their stories and their lives, not just bits of facts. I’ve loved so many of them - Varian, Tarquin, Callias, Thesan, Hellion… Oh, especially Hellion! (If Cassian doesn’t want to take me in to the Inner circle, then Hellion just might want to take me to his Court. Hm… I probably should ask him.) Oh, I would definitely love to read more about them all. Maybe it is about time to write to write a letter to Sarah, so she could develop the characters even more, as I am surely not the only one that would die from happiness if she does, even though I know that this would never happen.
For the war I can only say one thing: it shattered every expectation I had. It was truly brutal how many unexpected characters have joined - the Bone Carver, The Weaver, and so many monsters and deeply hidden and long forgotten friends has joined to help Rhys and Feyre. It is obvious that we can’t have that much bloody details or gruesome murders, but it definitely wasn’t something grand. There were times that I didn’t like the descriptions or the details, simply because I believe that Sarah did so much better in “Throne of Glass” battles. Surely, she could do a lot better when it comes to the battle in this book, because after all we have been expecting it throughout the whole book and it was the main point of the plot. After seven hundred pages and more that I was standing and reading in an anticipation waiting for the grand battle, well… it wasn’t that grand. I was a bit disappointed because it seems to be so short with so little details and.. it just wasn’t enough.
What else can I say about the book except that it managed to live up and fulfill all my expectations? Well, okay, fine - at times I found the course of action a bit slow and at times a bit forced. Not that I wasn’t head over heels for the hot and steamy scenes between Feyre and Rhys, but come on! You can’t be having sex in the middle of a war!
After all, I cannot say that the book was disappointing but it was just… not complete. I did not get that amazing grand and epic finale that I was expecting. Or maybe that’s because I have secretly hoped Sarah would write another book (after “A Court of Frost and Starlight”) so we could get our epic breathtaking finale. And of course, our beloved characters to get their “Lived happily ever after”. Yes, even Nesta and Lucien.
Yet again I cannot be indifferent to this amaginz, captivating, and intense world that only Sarah is capable of building. The world that makes me dive in to and never get back to reality. Magical, serene, different, interesting, infinite. And that is only a small part of the things I could say about the world of Sarah J. Maas and her books.
So, please, come on, take me there, I promise I won’t be a total disappointment for the Inner Circle. (P.S. Cass, I can cook, if you decide to dump Nesta after all!)
And since the review is quite long already, I guess it is about time to finish it. Oh, I almost forgot! Well, I guess I’ve started dreaming and I completely lost it. So yeah, I was about to give a rating for the book.
Here is the rating: 4 / 5 stars.
But that is only because I didn’t think that the war and the final battle were that good.
P.S. If you want to compare the battles, you can just read “Empire of Storms” from “Throne of Glass” series. But it will be good if you read the other books before that so you could have the slightest idea of what is happening.
So this is all from me for now! I will see you next time, my dearest Angels.