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A review by midnacine
A Court of Wings and Ruin by Sarah J. Maas
adventurous
dark
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
2.0
**spoilers for A Court of Mist and Fury**
I didn't think I'd have the energy to write this review. But here we are. Let me preface this review by stating I believe SJM to be a problematic author and have been reading this series with a grain of salt. I also wanted to be clear that I changed my rating of the previous book earlier today so I could accurately rate this one.
Looking at this book as a whole, I definitely enjoyed it more than I did ACOMAF. There weren't nearly as many cringy spice scenes, which I definitely appreciated, and the supporting characters finally got their chance to take more of a main role in the story. With that being said, I had a lot of issues, detailed in the spoiler section:
The entire first half of the book was exhausting to read, mostly because there was just a lot of Feyre continuing to make excuses for Rhys and refusing to acknowledge the fact that Rhys is just as bad as Tamlin. I think it took me until like 55% in order to actually sit down and commit to finishing it. After that, once the story had shifted focus to the war and the subplots with Cassian, Nesta, and the other High Lords it was fairly easy for me to get through.
The other glaring issues for me were as follows:
1. Rhys' virtue signaling (especially when it came to the Priestesses in the library)
2. The heteronormative bullshit of the mating bonds and then SJM dropping a bunch of queer people in without actually developing the relationships between them and their partners and not even offering both the characters names
3. The amount of abuse apologists among the main characters but especially in Feyre
4. The repetitive use of certain words and/or phrases (I stopped counting how many times "vulgar gesture" and "black adamant" were used)
5. So many times throughout the book where Feyre "revealed" something that felt like it was already known or just common sense
6. The plot hole of Feyre's dad having gathered this massive army and showing up at precisely the right moment when he didn't even know Hybern existed
7. Amren coming back after having this beautifully poetic send-off as the ultimate sacrifice - it just completely ruined the impact of the moment
Tbh I'm just really excited to finally be done with Feyre and Rhys' story and move on to Nesta and Cassian, and possibly Elain and Lucien. I'm just so much more interested in them. However not excited for the **SPOILER FOR ACOFAS** pregnancy trope I know is coming in the next few books. So yeah, I guess we'll see how it goes.
I didn't think I'd have the energy to write this review. But here we are. Let me preface this review by stating I believe SJM to be a problematic author and have been reading this series with a grain of salt. I also wanted to be clear that I changed my rating of the previous book earlier today so I could accurately rate this one.
Looking at this book as a whole, I definitely enjoyed it more than I did ACOMAF. There weren't nearly as many cringy spice scenes, which I definitely appreciated, and the supporting characters finally got their chance to take more of a main role in the story. With that being said, I had a lot of issues, detailed in the spoiler section:
The other glaring issues for me were as follows:
1. Rhys' virtue signaling (especially when it came to the Priestesses in the library)
2. The heteronormative bullshit of the mating bonds and then SJM dropping a bunch of queer people in without actually developing the relationships between them and their partners and not even offering both the characters names
3. The amount of abuse apologists among the main characters but especially in Feyre
4. The repetitive use of certain words and/or phrases (I stopped counting how many times "vulgar gesture" and "black adamant" were used)
5. So many times throughout the book where Feyre "revealed" something that felt like it was already known or just common sense
6. The plot hole of Feyre's dad having gathered this massive army and showing up at precisely the right moment when he didn't even know Hybern existed
7. Amren coming back after having this beautifully poetic send-off as the ultimate sacrifice - it just completely ruined the impact of the moment
Tbh I'm just really excited to finally be done with Feyre and Rhys' story and move on to Nesta and Cassian, and possibly Elain and Lucien. I'm just so much more interested in them. However not excited for the **SPOILER FOR ACOFAS** pregnancy trope I know is coming in the next few books. So yeah, I guess we'll see how it goes.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, War, Death of parent, Gaslighting, Violence, Murder, and Toxic relationship