Reviews with content warning for Death of parent - A Court of Wings and Ruin

Reviews tagging 'Death of parent'

A Court of Wings and Ruin by Sarah J. Maas

251 reviews

mkilla's review against another edition

adventurous emotional hopeful inspiring sad fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

An incredible read that kept me wrapped up in that universe from the first sentence. The last quarter of the book was so captivating that I never wanted put it down. Usually when I say that I loved the last bits of a story, that means the beginning or middle really dragged…that is not the case with this book. Every bit of this book was exciting. There was love: friendship, family, and romantic. There was conflict: inner, interpersonal, and on a global scale. This book had me excited over the politics and battles in a way I haven’t experienced since I was in high school over a decade ago. There was action and humor and heartbreaking sadness and tear jerking joy. This book tied up loose ends and made me feel grateful for everything and everyone I have. I have no notes. Well done, SJM, well done.

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treblemakeranna's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional hopeful reflective sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

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angelicalomax's review against another edition

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adventurous lighthearted medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

2.0

BRO WTF. Im so disappointed.

The second book made me so excited for this book, with the second book’s cliff hanger and amazing tension and character development. BUT this third book SLAPPED me back to reality about SJM’s writing- which is that it sucks & it’s evident in this book.

SJM knows how to write sexual tension and plot, BUT she does not know how to write any depth into characters, her humor IS HORRIBLE, and this book in particular has INTENSE pacing issues. To SJM: For example of how to write about battle, read A Song of Achilles.

Pacing issues: The cliff hanger from book 2 left so much possibility for manipulation and plot twists in the beginning of this third book, but Feyre did absolutely nothing. The whole first half of this book could have been deleted or AT LEAST shortened. For a 700 page book, the plot only picked up at the very end. And even the end felt like a rushed conclusion.

Lack of tension: I think part of the reason why this book felt so long and boring in the first half is because there was absolutely no tension. I understand that Feyre and Rhys being together means lessened sexual tension HOWEVER SJM could have written in tension if she developed the side characters. THERE WAS SO MUCH POTENTIAL WITH TAMLIN! ESP IN THE FIRST HALF!

Brings me to my next point — Lack of depth in characters: bruh. I do appreciate these new relationships - Nessa + Cassian, Varian + Amren, potential love triangle with Elain + Azriel + Lucien, and Morrigan + potential lesbian lover? I hope these are all things that are explored in the future. If they aren’t then wtf is SJM doing. Another pro about this book- I appreciate more POC characters being written in and FINALLY the introduction of queer characters (wow what an ally *sarcasm bc she doesn’t do anything w these characters and just has them exist in the background*). That being said, this book could have been strengthened so much more if SJM invested in these side characters instead of focusing so much on Rhys and Feyre.

Last point: the ending. SJM sold out to what the fans wanted instead of sticking to her integrity as a strong plot writer. I wish she ended the book in either one of two ways : a) rhys dying, Feyre finding out she’s pregnant during the grieving, and then rhys being resurrected by some ominous power in the next book. Or b) do a “5 years later” and show F + R with a baby, no hierarchy within the fairies, humans and fairies intermingling, and all the side characters happily coupled. Then the series ending there (for option b).

Anyways. Idk if I’ll read the next book. We shall see. Sorry but not sorry for the unhinged rant 😂

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avacyn731's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional funny hopeful sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

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hereiskyra's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? N/A
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A

3.75

First and foremost… a recap on my current feelings towards Feyre’s family:

Nesta is still a bitch. I said what I said.
Elain is… *snores* 🥱
Daddy dearest is… still not a lot of redemption in my eyes.

Okay, now that that’s out of the way… I felt like this book was good but it was missing something. That something was tension… I neeeeeeed the tension. But I don’t think anything could have been a good enough follow up to ACOMAF because that book was pretty much flawless in terms of romance.

And even as little as I’m invested in Elain… can we maybe get some tension there? Because her (ex?) fiancé can kindly go dive off a cliff and she deserves better (even if her personality is that of a saltine cracker). I’d even take a little romance for Nesta at this point.

I don’t care if Tamlin saves Feyre or her new family a hundred times. He. Ain’t. It.

The war was possibly the most interesting part of this book, I never really knew what was coming next or who was in real danger. It almost made me like Nesta. Almost.

And if anyone touches another hair on Rhysands dark and handsome head… 👊🏼

I have no idea where this is going but I’m just here for the ride so on to the next one we go…

Spice: 🌶️

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ladyames20203's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.25

I loved the start where Feyre’s basically a wolf in sheep’s clothing at the spring court. I sped through that so fast because I really enjoyed it. I’m not a big fan of war though and found the rest of the book a struggle to get through.

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knoats1121's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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kaaaaaaaa's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional funny sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix

3.75

Sarah J. Maas really loves a Deus ex Machina, huh

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druzyquartz's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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jacqh23's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional sad tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

Although I’m still not a huge fan of this author’s writing style I must admire the world building and ideas she comes up with. Like I really separate the story from the quality of writing here because the story does actually keep getting better and the writing along with it compared to the prequels. There’s more symbolism and foreshadowing which I enjoy though some parts are still predictable. I used to rate many things like movies, shows, and books highly if it evoked some emotion from me but the writing style is too big a hindrance to ignore. I’m not even sure how I feel rating it 4/5. I didn’t expect to feel so attached to the characters, I was tense and stressed during tumultuous plot arcs and even cried towards the end unexpectedly. I’m excited to see where this story leads to though and I really enjoy the characters of Feyre and Rhys, I think because the author is married she has insight into that type of bond or connection, the way they’re written always comes back to their peace of mind and connection which really solidifies the story. I think it makes them and the whole story along with the rest of the characters, much more real, more human (pun intended). Although the plot dragged at times it was more fast paced than not. Especially since the whole book

leads up to war you can feel the tension rising and the fear/urgency/anticipation culminating.

I wouldn’t say the character development is strong but it’s definitely there, between the lines of the plot. Like

Feyre learning to fly or Elain not being as depressed, even Nesta a bit too with her magic and trusting Amren but also developing the sister bond between them three. Even Tamlin we see a bit of personal growth like he saved Feyre when she escaped the Hybern camp and saved Rhys when he died and he said be happy Feyre which was nice.

I’d give this a 3.9 out of 5, not quite breaching the 4.0 threshold but definitely better than it’s prequels in writing, world building, and character development/introductions. Sadly can’t rate higher than a 3.75 on here. The writing style and lack of details or descriptions hinders the plot several times especially with a fantasy book and world building. Like many plot holes could be pointed out and I felt like certain things were only clarified because the fans critiqued the author for it.

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