A Court of Wings And Ruin Review

Goodreads/Amazon

A Court of Wings and Ruin

 Title & Author: A Court of Wings and Ruin by Sarah J. Maas

Genre: Fantasy/YA Fantasy

 Release Date: May 2, 2017

 Publisher:Bloomsbury Childrens Books

 Series Details: Trilogy (Book 3)

Page Count: 705 Pages

 Description: “Looming war threatens all Feyre holds dear in the third volume of the #1 New York Times bestselling A Court of Thorns and Roses series.

Feyre has returned to the Spring Court, determined to gather information on Tamlin’s maneuverings 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.”

There are two things I know with certainty:

1. Most of your Goodreads feed for the past month has been nothing but updates, reviews, and commentary on this highly anticipated final installment – with the occasional exception of a thread on “why *insert other controversial book here* is/isn’t problematic.”

2. That those updates, reviews, and commentary verge between “I need time to gather my thoughts…RTC” (guilty) or “987 paragraphs on why:
1. SJM is a goddess
2. Rhys is – and will forever be – your Fae Bae
3. Tamlin is an irredeemable douche
4. You can’t read “mate,” “male,” “purring,” or “vulgar gestures” without your right eye twitching from overuse…
5. And finally why this book “killed you” via subtle gif-filled descriptions.

I feel like there isn’t anything new to contribute or add to the mix, but I’m going to try anyways. So without further ado I bring you my review of ACOWAR:

Imagine you met the most captivating, charismatic, confident and clever individual you’ve ever encountered and they turned out to be your soul mat – dang that word is hard to avoid. Let’s just say they turn out to be perfect for you. They challenge and inspire you. They encourage and tease you. They are your match in every feasible way.

Then let’s imagine that “that guy in high school that you thought you liked, but didn’t so much really” shows up out of the blue and kills your siblings, makes a deal with the devil, steals you from your newfound love, and just overall F’s things up.

“I hadn’t realized I was a villain in your narrative…”  

Really, Tamlin? REALLY??

Now imagine mere moments after all this goes down that you have to pretend to be grateful for the idiotic and selfish actions of your former beau and live with him feigning a HEA until you can destroy him and his court from within. THAT is where ACOWAR begins. Intrigued? You should be!

“My goal was bigger than revenge. My purpose greater than personal retribution.”

Without delving too much into the plot, I must say that Feyre at the beginning of this novel is my everything. Throughout the trilogy, we’ve seen a wealth of emotions from her and I think #savage is her personal best. From the stunt she pulls with Lucien and her “nightmare” to her eventual escape from the Spring Court she showed off the wolf “that cannot be caged” and I loved every paragraph of it!

The love did fade to like, however, once Feyre ditched the Spring Court. But don’t worry ACO-fans, it turned back up eventually.

Outside of her first interactions with the Court of Dreamers (a.k.a. my fae family) and her reunion with Rhys, the middle (read: pages upon pages of plotting/planning for eventual war) did drag a bit until the meeting of the courts (read: where it turned back up). Not only did I enjoy delving further into the other High Lord’s back stories, but also I think Tamlin’s “ex-lover smack talk” and subsequent verbal slaying from Feyre was one of the most cringe worthy yet enjoyable scenes in all 700-pages.

I also sincerely appreciate that while Rhys and the Night Court had her back, Feyre – thanks to the grace of SJM – was the one to eviscerate her enemies throughout the novel. Although aided – often times rather conveniently – I think it’s a testament to her character’s development that she gets those solo moments to lay the smack down.

“Only you can decide what breaks you, Cursebreaker. Only you.”

The two biggest letdowns of this concluding chapter for me were:

1. All the characters’ individual stories – except for Feyre’s – seemed shallow and somewhat shoved into the plot. Not in their daily interactions mind you, but with any new reveals. I understand that this was meant to lure me into all future spinoff novels – don’t worry SJM I was already there – but I feel for the final tome in Feyre and Rhys’ story nothing was fully resolved. I hope they get some guest scenes in upcoming works.

2. The lack of emotion. When WAR is literally in the book’s acronym I expected and prepared for tears. Tears that did not come. I know that this got some of y’all, but my ducts remained dry. Perhaps it’s because I knew that ultimately everything would be alright for the inner circle (despite the improbability of it all) because they all have their own books in the works. Don’t get me wrong, I’m happy the crew survived, but I feel true loss was necessary after such an epic buildup.

Overall…

This was a thrilling series that often took unexpected turns that left me reeling. And while ACOWAR didn’t fully live up to the massive hype surrounding it I am left with one resounding sentiment: “I am grateful – more than I can possibly say – that I was given this time with you all.”

3.75!