A review by merenguita
A Court of Wings and Ruin by Sarah J. Maas

adventurous dark medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.0

Okay so I liked it overall I guess, I mostly enjoyed it but I don't think it's a very good ending to this story (I know there are more books but the arc that was building up for now ends here) and there was a lot of missed potential. 
First of all I don't think Sarah J. Maas knows hot to write action properly, which would be fine if the whole ending of the book wasn't set up to be a full on war. So we get to just watch from afar for most of it because Feyre doesn't really fight much and even when she participates it's quite boring tbh. The scene in the second book where Feyra defends Velaris is a lot better so I don't know why this was so boring for me. 
Also I think there are some scenes that are there just to shock the reader and don't really make sense
Like when Feyra doesn't tell Rhysand or anybody about the Bone Carver, I get why she doesn't say anyhting before but she should've said somehting after so that the soldiers are prepared! same thing for Rhysand and his bargain with the Weaver
 
And the romance also became kind of stale, there wasn't much development and Rhysand kinda bored me in this book tbh... but Tamlin became an intresting character so it was fine. 
I will say something good: There were some scenes that were *chef's kiss* and got me on the edge of my seat, when there are politics discussions, all the history and different characters being put in the open was very intresting.
And then there are some choices for the ending that I didn't like or even kind of pissed me off, that made no sense in my opinion. 
About Rhysand:
He should've died honestly... if you're going to get him to give everything in him so he has a dying scene and nobody can do anything about it AND even say that the magic that turned Feyre shouldn't work, well, IT SHOULDN'T WORK. Fake out deaths can be done correctly and this is not it

About Amren and the stakes of the war:
Again, she should've died, it was kinda emotional, gave her a good ending, a good ending speech I think, it made sense that she was the one to create the turning point to win the war and then she's just back... just like that. And her + Rhysand coming back to life, Cassian surviving when EVERYBODY said he wouldn't... in the end no one important dies and the war doesn't really feel that devastating

About the dad:
So yeah, he dies but I don't think he counts as an important character, so the last statement stands, but I would like to say i quite liked that he reappeared and got a chance to talk to his daughters and that Nesta gets so emotionally hurt after everything, it makes sense and I like it

About Lucien:
SO MUCH MISSED POTENTIAL, I wish he would've been more present for the story, so that we could see some character growth but instead we just get him pining over Elain just 'coz they're mates (I don't like the mate system in general)
 
About Tamlin:
I think I liked his arch in general, because it was more dynamic and intresting than most of the characters but his ending was a bit underwhelming... I think it would've been fine if he just hugged or tried to apologise to Lucien and had stated to heal the relationship with his best friend

So yeah... Maybe it deserves less than 3 stars but because I have more trouble with the second half of the book than the first, which I enjoyed more so that's what I'm giving it.
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