The Good, The Bad, and The Spoilers: A Court of Wings and Ruin

Ya know, I’ve been reading so much more since I graduated… I LOVE IT!

ACOWAR IS THE 3^RD BOOK IN A SERIES, CLICK HERE THE GO TO MY REVIEW OF THE FIRST NOVEL!

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. -goodreads.com summary

INTRO

WOW! This series has surprised me so much! I sped through A Court of Wings and Ruin in four days, way faster than I’ve been reading anything in a while. It’s a big book, but a quick read.

THE GOOD

The Inner Court: Words cannot describe how much I love these characters! Their interactions, the banter, the shipping… I LOVE ALL OF IT! All of these characters have been through so much together; now they would defend one another to the death because they all love one another so much! After reading ACOWAR, I'm super happy with the addition of Nesta and Elain to the crew and can't wait for future banter and interactions!

NESTA: HAS BECOME ONE OF MY FAVORITE CHARACTERS! Being honest, I went into ACOWAR expecting to love Elain much more than Nesta, but wow she really surprised me. Nesta and Cassian are the most adorable pairing and I love their sarcasm. They go so well together and, if they aren’t mates, I will RIOT.

Character Relations: I mentioned this in one of the past reviews, but I love how all of the characters have such long histories and backstories together. It makes me feel like there is always something more to learn about the characters and their relation with one another.

THE BAD

Resurrection: *sigh* This is an issue that I’ve seen far too much in fiction. My main issue with bringing characters back to life is that it kills of tension in future scenes because you have an out if anything happens to characters. I was on board with bringing Feyre back in A Court of Thorns and Roses but it opened the door for more similar plot points. Then Feyre’s sisters were turned Fae which, not only took away a human perspective in the series, but kills some of the stakes for me since the cauldron is just another out if anything bad happens. A lack of stakes in novels is a personal pet peeve of mine, but it can really leave me uninterested and not invested in a story.

OVERALL

Overall, I didn’t like A Court of Wings and Ruin as much as A Court of Mist and Fury, but still enjoyed it. I fell in love with many more characters as backstories were expanded upon and new relationships were developed. Trends in the novel brought up many concerns for future novels but I still have faith that they will be great! At this point you’ve hopefully read ACOMAF, in which case you should totally read ACOWAR. If you haven’t read the series at all, WHY ARE YOU STILL READING THIS, and go pick up A Court of Thorns and Roses— it’s pretty great!

BEWARE! SPOILERS BEYOND THIS POINT

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***SPOILERS***

Mor: AHHH! I cannot stress enough how much I love Mor! Going into ACOWAR I was definitely a Moriel shipper, but now we know Mor is gay (or bi?) which I’m down with! I really hope she finds someone in the next books because Mor is amazing and deserves someone equally amazing who makes her happy!

The End: RHYS: AHHH Okay so this is going to connect to what I was speaking about earlier in reference to characters coming back to life. Rhysand’s death was crazy sad and emotional, but I can’t get past the fact that he was just brought back to life. It makes me wonder if Sarah J Maas would ever actually kill him off since he is such a beloved character. What about other beloved characters, would she kill them off? It just lessens the tension during action when I feel that certain characters would never actually die…

Amren: So Amren’s true form was BAD ASS! I loved her and I’m really happy she and Varian became a thing because they’re both great and deserve other great, and amazing people! I was actually expecting Amren to go back to her home after revealing her true form but she came back. I think it could’ve been a more bittersweet if she had decided to leave, but I guess the court of dreams is her family now.

 Elain: I wasn’t as much of a fan of Elain as I thought I’d be… until the end. She really grows by the end when she stabbed the King of Hybern. I’m curious how that action is going to affect her in future novels. And I TOTALLY ship her and Azriel. I think they are actually adorable and would be great for each other.

NESTA AND CASSIAN: AKA everyone’s favorite ship other than Feysand :) The end when Cassian almost died in front of Nesta was crazy emotional and I’m kind of surprised that he survived the book. But I’m not complaining here because we get to see more Nesta and Cassian in the future. As I said before, if they aren’t mates I will flip something.

Redemption: *sigh* this one makes me feel like a bit of a butt, but it bothers me when every supposedly evil characters turn out to be actually good. This happened with Rhys in the first book, which I’m okay with because his motivations have now been fleshed out and understood. But now it has also happened with Jurian AND Tamlin. Call me evil but I’d like to have some actually evil villains to root against. We still had the King of Hybern but he’s dead by the end of the novel so who is next. Are we just going to keep jumping from big bad to big bad because I don’t necessarily have a problem with that, but are things going to keep getting larger in scale and epic until it’s just ridiculous? Now that they’ve taken down one of the fiercest villains you have to keep upping the threat until it gets ridiculous. I could be wrong and maybe Sarah J Maas is actually a writing mastermind and the next book will be PERFECT, but I’m still a little worried.