Title: A Court of Wings and Ruin
Author: Sarah J. Maas
Series? A Court of Thorns and Roses (#3)
My Rating: ★★★★
Genre(s): Fantasy, Romance, Fiction
Age Range: Young Adult
Publication: 2 May 2017 (Bloomsbury USA Childrens)
CW: blood, death, mentions of emotional abuse, mentions of rape, sex, violence, war
We’ve reached the end of the road, my friends.
I didn’t want this series to come to an end. I mean, I guess it hasn’t totally ended as I still haven’t read the novella, A Court of Frost and Starlight. Putting down this book was putting away one of the most marvellous stories I’ve ever read.
A Court of Wings and Ruin marks the climactic finish to the A Court of Thorns and Roses series. The characters prepare for war as Hybern secretly gathers its forces and the Night Court attempts to rally the support of the other High Lords. The risks are high—Feyre is willing to risk it all to save her people, both of the human realm, from which she came, and the faerie realm, which she calls home.
The story kicks off with Feyre’s shocking return to the Spring Court.
A few chapters of this resulted in an abundance of anxiety. As much as I hated that she was back with Tamlin, playing the role of demure, innocent, feeble Feyre, I kind of loved it, too. She enters the Court as a wolf in sheep’s clothing, easily convincing basically everyone that she was free from Rhys’s “spell”.
Frankly, I was more than happy to see her get the hell out of there and return to the Night Court. Every step she took was calculated, every movement extremely sophisticated and well-planned. I was really impressed by how Sarah J. Maas showed the inner—and outer—strength of Feyre in the first portion of this book.
Only you can decide what breaks you, Cursebreaker. Only you.
The war against Hybern plays a prominent role in the plot of this series finale.
Let me be clear, this was a very war-heavy novel. There was romance, and humour, and all that jazz. But it was also very tragic and focused mostly on battle. I’m normally not big on war-based novels—in historical fiction, you’ll usually see me reach for stories on the home-front rather than battle/action-focused stories. This felt very different from most war novels, in a good way.
The battle scenes were generally well-written although I will say that I wasn’t thrilled with how the action was told to the audience. By removing Feyre from the action, it made it often confusing and even boring to read. It reminded me of how Bella Swan is isolated from the battle in Eclipse. In both cases, the female protagonists largely witness the battle through the “eyes” (either figuratively or literally) of their male partner.
Overall, I enjoyed reading the bits of the story that focused on the Night Court. Particularly, where the Night Court interacted with the High Lords of other courts. We were introduced to all the High Lords in Prythian which really opened up the fictional world in my mind. There were quite a few characters or areas I’d be interested in learning more about in future novels!
Quite arguably, the best part of this novel was Nesta.
Feyre’s sister was phenomenal in this novel. From what I’ve read online, I’m not the only one to think so. Nesta is completely transformed in many ways in A Court of Wings and Ruin. Not only does she possess new, unidentified powers that add an interesting element to the story, she is also a strong character in a totally different way from the other female characters.
While Feyre has completely assimilated into her new life as a High Fae, and Elain clings desperately to the past, Nesta is stuck somewhere in the middle. Her priorities are solely focused on protecting Elain. But she’s also fighting an inner battle, one with herself, which you get to see play out throughout the novel.
To me, A Court of Wings and Ruin didn’t quite stand up to its predecessor. For that reason, I only gave it a four-star rating. There were a few aspects of the plot that I found were a bit rushed for my liking, particularly the last third. In the end, I felt like the plot was tied up nicely and everything fell into the right place… That’s all I’ll say about that!
This was a wonderful finale to the trilogy that tied up the plot of the first three books and allowed for further continuation of the series through new characters and stories.
Synopsis: 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 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.
Did A Court of Wings and Ruin meet your expectations? Let me know in the comments!
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