A Court of Wings and Ruin - Sarah J Maas

"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."

The more I read of these books the more embarrassed I get. I personally enjoyed to a certain extent both of the last books but this one, this one got under my skin, and not in a good way. 

Let's start with the plot. There almost isn't one. The book can be broken up into three parts, 1 where Feyre is in the Spring court. I was disappointed at the wasted opportunity for some underhanded manipulation here. After how the last book ended, Feyre was kind of "undercover" at the start and in a position for lies and deception. Except it was mostly her swanning around and quietly seething to herself about how much she hated Ianthe and how much of a douche Tamlin is. I thought this whole part was boring when it should, and could, have been extremely tense, exciting and badass.

Part 2 is the largest section of the book. The strategizing and alliance building between courts and potential allies. I think the worst thing was the overall pacing. It's a long book, but I can normally sprint through Maas's works in a day, yet here it was such a slog. While it was great to see the other High Kings, it lacked a pull, a sense of urgency, some kind of tension to make me need to know what happens next. 

Finally Part 3, the actual war. So boring and there is no real sense of threat to any of the characters. The amount of random people and dramatic entrances that show up is belittling and frustrating. It's like the moment when the Riders of Rohan show up at Helms Deep but think of that happening, like, 5 times in one battle. Like by number 2 I don't care anymore. At least Feyre is brave and strong, though. Which is why she’s “too tired” to do anything after a loooong day of watching other people fight in a battle, followed by Mor winnowing her home. So courageous. How does she do it!!! I am not going to even talk about the whole Rhysand dying then coming back debacle. It was underhanded and completely unnecessary. 


Now I need to talk about the one thing I really, really detested and feel so embarrassed writing about. The cringy, cringy smut. If I have to hear the word growled ever again I will throw something. I found myself skipping whole pages out of sheer self preservation. Thanks for turning me off hetero sex forever I guess. I'm not even being dramatic this time, it was legitimately so bad that with every passing page, I've become more and more convinced that I had died and was atoning for my sins in hell. Guys, you're not defined by your genitals you paint your future with your actions starting with THAT GODDAMN WAR YOU'RE SUPPOSED TO STRATEGISE FOR???? At least don'T DO IT IN THAT GODDAMN LIBRARY FOR WOMEN THAT HAVE BEEN SEXUALLY ABUSED??? 

The sloppy writing continued outside of the bedroom/library. Adjectives and descriptive passages where overused, overwrought and felt copied and pasted. The amount of times something or someone "unleashed themselves" are too many to count.

Maybe if a copyeditor had found the strength to make it through this book, they could have stopped the way SJM insists on using the term “Hybern.” IT MEANS SO MANY THINGS. “Hybern” is used as the nomer of the evil king, the word for his people, the name of his kingdom, and the title of the land it’s situated on. That is just...basic bad worldbuilding, no?

I have always really enjoyed the way that Maas tries to make her books feel feminist and empowering to women. So it’s an utter shock that this narrative also lives nearly entirely within the bounds of gender roles. Reading about men (Rhys, Cassian, Azriel, all the high lords) fighting in battle while the women (Feyre, Mor, Elain, Nesta, Cresseida) watch and tend to the wounded later is so refreshing. Doesn’t make me want to blow my brains out at all.

And no, Mor being assigned to babysit Feyre later on, only heading into battle because Feyre tricks her into fighting so she can sneak away does not make it better, thanks.This is definitely, certainly the feminist YA fantasy you’ve been waiting for, folks.

One of the main points of Feyre's character arc should be her discovery of independence and of her inner strength, of the fact that she doesn't necessarily need anyone, especially a man, to guide and direct her every step. A shame the impression we get from the whole series is the very opposite: Feyre's character growth (not automatically meant as an upward trajectory) seems to be irreversibly connected to the "male" who is (even virtually) at her side. In this book, she and Rhysand are pretty much a single entity. Can I feel a tinge of outrage at this, please? We women are very able to be complete on our own, thank you very much. The whole "mating system" (I can't even, it's too ridiculous) has me not exactly convinced in this regard too.

Morrigan, once a mysteriously broken character with hidden depths, now just represents the worst bisexuality rep I’ve ever read. Letting a close friend of yours pine after you for decades because it would be "too awkward" to tell him you like girls. I mean how selfish and self centred can you get? I was horrified. 


I’m not gonna lie, this book nearly scored some points when they unleashed those underworld gods (yeah the bone carver/his twin sister/and that scary shadowy thing were really fucking cool) but then Maas just killed them off... so easily. Another funny thing, Elain managed so easily to stab the King of hybern, the terrifying big bad, and finish him off but those ancient creatures went down faster than you can say mmmkay. The power system and hierarchy are shot to hell in this book. It makes no sense. 

The tear of utter salt that mists my eye whenever I think of what this book did to Amren. Amren in acomaf was this badass unknown creature who had no real responsibilities besides putting god's fear in people and drinking A-class blood, but as it turns out, everything good was fake, I wanted her to wreak havoc, I wanted her to morph into her true calamitous self, I wanted a fucking dragon companion.... But one battle and she dies?? I mean what reason was there for an all powerful angel that has just been unleashed and wasn't injured in anyway to die?? AND DOn't even get me started on Varian, IM SORRY BUT WHERE THE HELL DID HE COME FROM??? that was so random?? just as random as Lucien's father?? where's the fucking build up?? Excuse my French. 

To finish it all off I've never seen such a cheesy ending. It felt like I had just swallowed a monumental bucket of melted sugar and I couldn't even breathe because the very air got stuck to the sticky back of my throat. Basically it made me finally understand that Maas's main interest was to make sure none of her precious babies got so much as a scratch. They all come out fine, not a hair out of place. 

Overall the entire story felt rushed and at the same time achingly slow. I didn't feel any real threat to the world or characters. Definitely my least favourite of the trilogy. Feyre's abilities are put on the back burner and she is renegaded to dutiful wife and supporter. Rhysand is unbelievably and frustratingly perfect. No human being is that wonderful and I felt like I was listening to a traumatized ken-doll talk. 

Age Rating 17+. The unbelievable amount of sex scenes. These two really need to be stopped.