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A review by apalershadeofwhite
A Court of Wings and Ruin by Sarah J. Maas
5.0
Sarah J. Mass does not disappoint, and I doubt she ever will.
I fell back into reading this series so easily; the writing is just so damn good. This book is insane. I actually had visceral physical reactions to this book... The amount of times I held my breath, gasped, or choked on my own saliva is astronomical. I shed actual tears. Many times. This book gave me chills; I had actual goosebumps on my arms! My head and my chest HURT from reading this damn book. She broke me down, built hope, broke me down, built hope again, then broke me down IN THE WORST WAY. I didn't trust there was any more to be had or any more tears to shed, but Sarah J. Mass proves me wrong again. The last few chapters especially are so freaking intense, my god! My stomach actually hurt from being in knots and I kept tearing up at the numerous twists and revelations being thrown at me. Every time I felt things were getting close to normalcy and starting to get straightforward, I was bit with another plot twist!
Overall, this book is so chaotic. At first it felt like a ton of information being thrown at me, but the storytelling is just so damn good. I take back everything I thought and said about Feyre in the first book. She's a freaking legend. She's so smart, it's insane! I could not predict what she was going to do, and I would have had no clue until she actually completed and explained it. The plot is just so rife. And the book is full of so many good quotes! I had such a hard time choosing which ones I wanted to keep tabbed and highlighted. Something I noted was that Feyre slips up and calls Rhysand "the better man - male". This was so interesting to me because it humanised him not only to the reader but to her as well. Morality was assumed to be a purely mortal trait until she saw shown kindness and compassion in him; in the fae. I think Maas should have leaned into that. I know Feyre is not human anymore, but she cannot change the fact that she grew up as one, especially not so quickly. These human phrases are something she seems to want to erase from her entire being, but I think it makes her feel more real as a character.
I did have a few issues while reading... though they felt so insignificant to how good the overall book was that they didn't affect my rating at all. One of the things that peeved me a bit was the excessive use of "my mate". I understand the use when it comes to Lucien as his situation is very fresh and recent, but Feyre and Rhys use it so much that it sometimes takes away from how important that word is in the fae world. It just felt a bit much, is all, but it's 100% a personal issue and not an objective one.
Something that is much less of a subjective issue, however, is Hybern. Why are the king, the land, AND the people all called Hybern? It's so confusing! It feels almost like an oversight. Mass has built this rich and deep universe with so much lore that we're barely touching the surface of, yet that felt lazy; like an afterthought, almost. Also, there's so many "vulgar gestures"! If you can say the word 'shit' and have sex scene in your book, you can specify an action like flipping someone off.
Special end note for the "growls of pleasure drowning out the sounds of the injured and dying". I mean... ma'am? Are you okay? These two are always have sex, it seems! Also, Feyre hoping their 'life' aka sex will help the forthcoming war and inevitable death? I know she's probably being hyperbolic, but it just comes across and insensitive, especially as a High Lord and Lady.
I fell back into reading this series so easily; the writing is just so damn good. This book is insane. I actually had visceral physical reactions to this book... The amount of times I held my breath, gasped, or choked on my own saliva is astronomical. I shed actual tears. Many times. This book gave me chills; I had actual goosebumps on my arms! My head and my chest HURT from reading this damn book. She broke me down, built hope, broke me down, built hope again, then broke me down IN THE WORST WAY. I didn't trust there was any more to be had or any more tears to shed, but Sarah J. Mass proves me wrong again. The last few chapters especially are so freaking intense, my god! My stomach actually hurt from being in knots and I kept tearing up at the numerous twists and revelations being thrown at me. Every time I felt things were getting close to normalcy and starting to get straightforward, I was bit with another plot twist!
Overall, this book is so chaotic. At first it felt like a ton of information being thrown at me, but the storytelling is just so damn good. I take back everything I thought and said about Feyre in the first book. She's a freaking legend. She's so smart, it's insane! I could not predict what she was going to do, and I would have had no clue until she actually completed and explained it. The plot is just so rife. And the book is full of so many good quotes! I had such a hard time choosing which ones I wanted to keep tabbed and highlighted. Something I noted was that Feyre slips up and calls Rhysand "the better man - male". This was so interesting to me because it humanised him not only to the reader but to her as well. Morality was assumed to be a purely mortal trait until she saw shown kindness and compassion in him; in the fae. I think Maas should have leaned into that. I know Feyre is not human anymore, but she cannot change the fact that she grew up as one, especially not so quickly. These human phrases are something she seems to want to erase from her entire being, but I think it makes her feel more real as a character.
I did have a few issues while reading... though they felt so insignificant to how good the overall book was that they didn't affect my rating at all. One of the things that peeved me a bit was the excessive use of "my mate". I understand the use when it comes to Lucien as his situation is very fresh and recent, but Feyre and Rhys use it so much that it sometimes takes away from how important that word is in the fae world. It just felt a bit much, is all, but it's 100% a personal issue and not an objective one.
Something that is much less of a subjective issue, however, is Hybern. Why are the king, the land, AND the people all called Hybern? It's so confusing! It feels almost like an oversight. Mass has built this rich and deep universe with so much lore that we're barely touching the surface of, yet that felt lazy; like an afterthought, almost. Also, there's so many "vulgar gestures"! If you can say the word 'shit' and have sex scene in your book, you can specify an action like flipping someone off.
Special end note for the "growls of pleasure drowning out the sounds of the injured and dying". I mean... ma'am? Are you okay? These two are always have sex, it seems! Also, Feyre hoping their 'life' aka sex will help the forthcoming war and inevitable death? I know she's probably being hyperbolic, but it just comes across and insensitive, especially as a High Lord and Lady.