Scan barcode
A review by finding_novel_land
A Court of Wings and Ruin by Sarah J. Maas
3.0
Well thank goodness that's over.
If book 2 destroyed my sleep pattern, then this one fixed it because it was a STRUGGLE.
There's a book series I read called the Parasol Protectorate by Gail Carriger (review here). It re-sparked my love for reading at the end of last year, however suffered from it's over reliance on certain character interactions to keep it interesting.
This book/series is yet another example of prioritising characters over plot.
It's nothing groundbreaking to say that I love Rhysand, because, well, have you been on BookTok?
That boy carried this series for me, especially his interactions with Feyre because we 👏 love 👏 a 👏 flirt 👏, in the same way that Alexia and Connell's banter carried the PP series.
Because of this, this book was a let down, but it's issues start all the way back in book 1.
For me, the world building and various backstories are never fully explored in enough detail in the lead up to book 3. There is a huge amount of effort put into character development and relationship building, seen by how the author allowed Feyre to recover from her trauma in book 2 over a long period of time, with subtle improvements made along the way, however the plot suffered because of this.
If you see Book 1 as a standalone (as I do, because it really has little to do with the later books apart from Tamlin hatred - see my below rant), then Book 2 and 3 are a duology. Therefore, book 2 should have had a huge amount of build up to this book in terms of the oncoming war. And yet, book 2 turned out to be extremely character driven and entirely focussed on Feyre and Rhysand's love story, with the odd snippet about the oncoming war and the background to the huge amount of characters that I could not keep track of. By the time book 3 comes along and Maas moves away from character building to the actual plot she hinted at, she has set herself up to fail.
I HAD NO IDEA WHY THINGS WERE HAPPENING.
I will not be that kid who says there was no plot, because yes, there was a plot. But what I can't do is tell you why that plot was playing out. I couldn't tell you the first decent reason for the King of Hybern trying to take over the world, and why the human queens wanted to work with him, or who the heck those kids hiding on the island were except some human called Jurian apparently won't accept they're taken after 500 years (seriously Fae really struggle to move on).
Because of this, I had very little interest or investment in what was happening to our characters, and only continued reading because:
a) I needed to at least finish the triology.
b) I wanted to watch WithCindy's rant video with context.
c) I was holding out, yet again, for them flirt kernels (ie interaction with my favourite characters). Because THAT IS WHERE MY INVESTMENT WAS.
Maybe it's because I've got YA fantasy fatigue, having binged Leigh Bardugo's back catalogue before picking these up, but I am very tired of these books now and feel no need to continue (well, never say never).
I CALL THIS SECTION JUSTICE FOR TAMLIN RAMBLE
Ahhhh, ok so Maas's treatment of Tamlin has really infuriated me throughout these past two books. Everyone's lack of understanding of him and his villainisation has rubbed me up the wrong way to no end. Maybe I just can't believe Tamlin's reactions across books 2 and 3 to be at all realistic: Tamlin was a good person and someone he was in love with for 2 months got hurt and now he's this evil over protective "villain". It was too black and white for my liking and that boy needs therapy stat.
In part, Feyre's forgiveness at the end made me consider that maybe it was all so black and white because we saw it from her perspective and she had villainised him in her head. We know, of course, that Tamlin was on their side all along and worked as a double agent. Not that we saw much of that to make an impact. Seriously, so much was just washed over in this book and not given the time it deserved. And yet it was nearly 700 pages! However, I feel like one line from Feyre saying "have a good life" does not make up for two books of lazy writing and a lack of nuance to force readers to go from loving him to hating him.
Ok, rant over.
MY ACOTAR REVIEWS
A Court of Thorns and Roses - 4*
A Court of Mist and Fury - 4*
If book 2 destroyed my sleep pattern, then this one fixed it because it was a STRUGGLE.
There's a book series I read called the Parasol Protectorate by Gail Carriger (review here). It re-sparked my love for reading at the end of last year, however suffered from it's over reliance on certain character interactions to keep it interesting.
This book/series is yet another example of prioritising characters over plot.
It's nothing groundbreaking to say that I love Rhysand, because, well, have you been on BookTok?
That boy carried this series for me, especially his interactions with Feyre because we 👏 love 👏 a 👏 flirt 👏, in the same way that Alexia and Connell's banter carried the PP series.
Because of this, this book was a let down, but it's issues start all the way back in book 1.
For me, the world building and various backstories are never fully explored in enough detail in the lead up to book 3. There is a huge amount of effort put into character development and relationship building, seen by how the author allowed Feyre to recover from her trauma in book 2 over a long period of time, with subtle improvements made along the way, however the plot suffered because of this.
If you see Book 1 as a standalone (as I do, because it really has little to do with the later books apart from Tamlin hatred - see my below rant), then Book 2 and 3 are a duology. Therefore, book 2 should have had a huge amount of build up to this book in terms of the oncoming war. And yet, book 2 turned out to be extremely character driven and entirely focussed on Feyre and Rhysand's love story, with the odd snippet about the oncoming war and the background to the huge amount of characters that I could not keep track of. By the time book 3 comes along and Maas moves away from character building to the actual plot she hinted at, she has set herself up to fail.
I HAD NO IDEA WHY THINGS WERE HAPPENING.
I will not be that kid who says there was no plot, because yes, there was a plot. But what I can't do is tell you why that plot was playing out. I couldn't tell you the first decent reason for the King of Hybern trying to take over the world, and why the human queens wanted to work with him, or who the heck those kids hiding on the island were except some human called Jurian apparently won't accept they're taken after 500 years (seriously Fae really struggle to move on).
Because of this, I had very little interest or investment in what was happening to our characters, and only continued reading because:
a) I needed to at least finish the triology.
b) I wanted to watch WithCindy's rant video with context.
c) I was holding out, yet again, for them flirt kernels (ie interaction with my favourite characters). Because THAT IS WHERE MY INVESTMENT WAS.
Maybe it's because I've got YA fantasy fatigue, having binged Leigh Bardugo's back catalogue before picking these up, but I am very tired of these books now and feel no need to continue (well, never say never).
I CALL THIS SECTION JUSTICE FOR TAMLIN RAMBLE
Ahhhh, ok so Maas's treatment of Tamlin has really infuriated me throughout these past two books. Everyone's lack of understanding of him and his villainisation has rubbed me up the wrong way to no end. Maybe I just can't believe Tamlin's reactions across books 2 and 3 to be at all realistic: Tamlin was a good person and someone he was in love with for 2 months got hurt and now he's this evil over protective "villain". It was too black and white for my liking and that boy needs therapy stat.
In part, Feyre's forgiveness at the end made me consider that maybe it was all so black and white because we saw it from her perspective and she had villainised him in her head.
Ok, rant over.
MY ACOTAR REVIEWS
A Court of Thorns and Roses - 4*
A Court of Mist and Fury - 4*