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tanya_tate's reviews
594 reviews
To Kill a Kingdom by Alexandra Christo
2.0
Edit: With more concentration I decided to bump it down from 3 stars to 2.5 stars.
Review and Spoilers!
You can read it on my blog as well!
3 Stars
I'm trying to figure out something.
How this got so many five-star reviews when it's crawling with overused tropes?
Seriously ?
I don't regret dropping every book I was reading to read it but I could have waited a couple of months after I read the arc of Sea Witch to read it..
This book start out with such promise and just fell flat to me. I don't know because I'm not really a fan of Little Mermaid but more of a Beauty of a Beast girl so reading a retelling of is not really in my radar. ( Even tho I do have the arc of the Sea Witch which I just mentioned that supposed to be retelling of it that supposed to be almost like Heartless by Marissa Myer.) But since everyone and their baby mama was gushing about this book and I was denied a request to the arc of it, I decided to read it. It did started strong with it being witty and fresh but started to get boring and sterile towards the end.
So let me gave you the rundown of the plot.
It's about a young Siren Princess, Lira who collect hearts of princes every year for her birthday which the hearts strengthens her siren powers. She lures young princes with her song which she takes their hearts which give her the nickname" The Prince's Bane". She hopes to become the Sea Queen and constant tries to prove have self worthy in the eyes of the current Sea Queen,her wicked tentacled mother. The young prince, Elian,is more of a pirate than a prince who would rather be on his ship hunting down siren than ruling the Golden Kingdom of Midas. He's constantly at war with the duty of being a prince and day ruling and the duty to be on the sea with his crew on his ship. So when Lira's mother turn her into a human which stripped her of her song and powers and tells her to bring back the princes heart as prove her worth to be queen she gets save by Elian. Elian and his crew is on a quest to find a powerful crystal which could end the war being the humans and the sirens and maybe killing all the siren..
Sounds good right?
That's what I thought too in the beginning before it got sloshed down with over used tropes and writing that love using the phase " like a" to describe everything..
Let me get to the two main characters.
Lira
"You are a little heartless today, aren’t you?”
“Never,” I say. “There are seventeen under my bed.”
Lira was honestly the saving grace of this book with her bloody thristy and witty self. She was such an interesting character cause she struggling with being as ruthless as her mother in order to be queen or show some humanity through the whole book. She witty, sarcastic and can go toe to toe with Elian. I loved being in her head and seeing how her opinions changed about human and the concept of humanity while being a human.She goes from wanting the humans dead to wanting to help them along with her people. She always had a sense of it but had to hide it from her mother when she was a little girl. I love how protective she was of her little cousin which do anything to keep her safe. Her character development during the course of this book was simply amazing. I'm actually kind of upset that we really didn't see her transition from being the princess to the sea queen, was she able to change how sirens are being seen in the kingdoms and offering peace between them. Also I wonder if the sirens stop hurting for hearts,what they used to show they got a year old? Maybe threw a birthday party? ( Yep A plot hole people!) Honestly She should have the last chapter instead of Elian but the book as a whole felt like the author was writing more for from than her even tho he really didn't develop.. She's also the reason why this book will get the " Badass Protag tag" on it.
Elian
"TECHNICALLY, I’M A MURDERER, but I like to think that’s one of my better qualities."
Oh boy Elian
Elian started off so freaking strong( I mean look at his opening sentence! That's how you introduce a character!) but frazzled towards the middle of the book and become a very stagnant character at the end. To me he didn't grow at all and just stayed the same. In his chapters he was pretty cool but in Lira's chapters, he's a completely different character and was getting frustrating. I know it's perceptive of a character who wants to kill him and have zero trust in him but come on. You can't make me feel sympathy towards him in his chapters and make me root for Lira to rip his heart out and present it to bitch mom so she can get the kingdom from her in her chapters. It's like the author is trying to hard to use the witty asshole with a heart of gold trope. He didn't have any character development to me because I feel like he didn't learn anything or grow as a character. I mean sure he did fall in "love" with Lira which was a Siren but did his opinion actually fully change about them? I know he's not going to hunt them again since he's dating the head siren but it never really stated how he truly feel about them. Also I feel like him somehow convincing his parents to give the kingdom to his sister was a copout and a way for him to just be 100% pirate instead of finding a way to find balance in being future king and pirate and being ok with being both. I mean his girlfriend is 100% being the sea queen which she wanted but still could have adventures while still ruling. I wanted more from him cause he started which such potential but was victim of an overused trope. Also for him to be a siren killer, he only killed like two sirens on-screen in this book with one of them almost killing him in a process. That's some siren killer he is...
Side Characters
A lot people love Kye but I couldn't stand him at all and was eye rolling every time he appeared. Between him being such a guard dog for Elian that he needed a bone and being such a flirts asshole toward Madrid give me sea sickness and I was land the whole time. He was a tired trope as well cause he almost remind of a more asshole version of Carswell Throne from TLC and Finick Odair from THG. He was such an annoying character to the point I wish Lira would have taken his heart and fed it to the Lira's cousin which was an awesome character! Madrid was ok but she remind me of Mor from ACOTAR and Alice from Twilight. She became the female friend that hero relied on but then heroine became good friends with and show her the ropes of the new world she's in.( which is also a used trope)
The Romance
HAHAHA !!
Romance?
What Romance?
That was the most sorry attempt of the enemies to lovers trope that I love so much I have even seen and I have seen sorry attempts before. I mean they had the witty banter down pat but that's the only they had together cause to me it never fully transition to them being truly friends before they started kissing on each other. I was able to tell in her pov that she may was catching feelings but still was in the mind of taking the crystal and maybe killing him. I faintly saw it in his pov when she got shot but still wasn't enough for me to convinced that they should be together. Them being friends is more plausible than being lovers by the end of the book. So by all means the romance was rushed to me. I love slow burns but slow burns that go somewhere and not stay in the witty banter stage for the major of the book and not go anything deeper.
The Writing
I'm just going to give some word stats for this one cause it was couple phases and words that were used a lot.
"Like A"- 100 times used
"Feels Like"- 29 times used
"Like An"-11 times used
Perhaps- 32 times
Besides- 62 times
The author loves using the phase " like a" to describe something does she?
The tropes
Let's see we have the
Enemies to Lovers
The witty asshole hero with a heart of gold.
The witty asshole best friend which the fandom loves.
Having a female character who was once a slave but now befriends with the hero and then become friends with the heroine.
The parents having high exceptions for the child and not listening to the child.
An evil parent who abuses the child and thinks of the child weak and don't live up to their expectations.
Two people who don't like each other acting like a couple in order to steal something.
The only thing we were missing was the " one room and bed available in a hotel" trope.. I mean that's totally a fan fave! lol
All and All I really don't understand the all these five-star reviews cause it's things we have seen before and being executed in a very mediocre way.
Review and Spoilers!
You can read it on my blog as well!
3 Stars
I'm trying to figure out something.
How this got so many five-star reviews when it's crawling with overused tropes?
Seriously ?
I don't regret dropping every book I was reading to read it but I could have waited a couple of months after I read the arc of Sea Witch to read it..
This book start out with such promise and just fell flat to me. I don't know because I'm not really a fan of Little Mermaid but more of a Beauty of a Beast girl so reading a retelling of is not really in my radar. ( Even tho I do have the arc of the Sea Witch which I just mentioned that supposed to be retelling of it that supposed to be almost like Heartless by Marissa Myer.) But since everyone and their baby mama was gushing about this book and I was denied a request to the arc of it, I decided to read it. It did started strong with it being witty and fresh but started to get boring and sterile towards the end.
So let me gave you the rundown of the plot.
It's about a young Siren Princess, Lira who collect hearts of princes every year for her birthday which the hearts strengthens her siren powers. She lures young princes with her song which she takes their hearts which give her the nickname" The Prince's Bane". She hopes to become the Sea Queen and constant tries to prove have self worthy in the eyes of the current Sea Queen,her wicked tentacled mother. The young prince, Elian,is more of a pirate than a prince who would rather be on his ship hunting down siren than ruling the Golden Kingdom of Midas. He's constantly at war with the duty of being a prince and day ruling and the duty to be on the sea with his crew on his ship. So when Lira's mother turn her into a human which stripped her of her song and powers and tells her to bring back the princes heart as prove her worth to be queen she gets save by Elian. Elian and his crew is on a quest to find a powerful crystal which could end the war being the humans and the sirens and maybe killing all the siren..
Sounds good right?
That's what I thought too in the beginning before it got sloshed down with over used tropes and writing that love using the phase " like a" to describe everything..
Let me get to the two main characters.
Lira
"You are a little heartless today, aren’t you?”
“Never,” I say. “There are seventeen under my bed.”
Lira was honestly the saving grace of this book with her bloody thristy and witty self. She was such an interesting character cause she struggling with being as ruthless as her mother in order to be queen or show some humanity through the whole book. She witty, sarcastic and can go toe to toe with Elian. I loved being in her head and seeing how her opinions changed about human and the concept of humanity while being a human.She goes from wanting the humans dead to wanting to help them along with her people. She always had a sense of it but had to hide it from her mother when she was a little girl. I love how protective she was of her little cousin which do anything to keep her safe. Her character development during the course of this book was simply amazing. I'm actually kind of upset that we really didn't see her transition from being the princess to the sea queen, was she able to change how sirens are being seen in the kingdoms and offering peace between them. Also I wonder if the sirens stop hurting for hearts,what they used to show they got a year old? Maybe threw a birthday party? ( Yep A plot hole people!) Honestly She should have the last chapter instead of Elian but the book as a whole felt like the author was writing more for from than her even tho he really didn't develop.. She's also the reason why this book will get the " Badass Protag tag" on it.
Elian
"TECHNICALLY, I’M A MURDERER, but I like to think that’s one of my better qualities."
Oh boy Elian
Elian started off so freaking strong( I mean look at his opening sentence! That's how you introduce a character!) but frazzled towards the middle of the book and become a very stagnant character at the end. To me he didn't grow at all and just stayed the same. In his chapters he was pretty cool but in Lira's chapters, he's a completely different character and was getting frustrating. I know it's perceptive of a character who wants to kill him and have zero trust in him but come on. You can't make me feel sympathy towards him in his chapters and make me root for Lira to rip his heart out and present it to bitch mom so she can get the kingdom from her in her chapters. It's like the author is trying to hard to use the witty asshole with a heart of gold trope. He didn't have any character development to me because I feel like he didn't learn anything or grow as a character. I mean sure he did fall in "love" with Lira which was a Siren but did his opinion actually fully change about them? I know he's not going to hunt them again since he's dating the head siren but it never really stated how he truly feel about them. Also I feel like him somehow convincing his parents to give the kingdom to his sister was a copout and a way for him to just be 100% pirate instead of finding a way to find balance in being future king and pirate and being ok with being both. I mean his girlfriend is 100% being the sea queen which she wanted but still could have adventures while still ruling. I wanted more from him cause he started which such potential but was victim of an overused trope. Also for him to be a siren killer, he only killed like two sirens on-screen in this book with one of them almost killing him in a process. That's some siren killer he is...
Side Characters
A lot people love Kye but I couldn't stand him at all and was eye rolling every time he appeared. Between him being such a guard dog for Elian that he needed a bone and being such a flirts asshole toward Madrid give me sea sickness and I was land the whole time. He was a tired trope as well cause he almost remind of a more asshole version of Carswell Throne from TLC and Finick Odair from THG. He was such an annoying character to the point I wish Lira would have taken his heart and fed it to the Lira's cousin which was an awesome character! Madrid was ok but she remind me of Mor from ACOTAR and Alice from Twilight. She became the female friend that hero relied on but then heroine became good friends with and show her the ropes of the new world she's in.( which is also a used trope)
The Romance
HAHAHA !!
Romance?
What Romance?
That was the most sorry attempt of the enemies to lovers trope that I love so much I have even seen and I have seen sorry attempts before. I mean they had the witty banter down pat but that's the only they had together cause to me it never fully transition to them being truly friends before they started kissing on each other. I was able to tell in her pov that she may was catching feelings but still was in the mind of taking the crystal and maybe killing him. I faintly saw it in his pov when she got shot but still wasn't enough for me to convinced that they should be together. Them being friends is more plausible than being lovers by the end of the book. So by all means the romance was rushed to me. I love slow burns but slow burns that go somewhere and not stay in the witty banter stage for the major of the book and not go anything deeper.
The Writing
I'm just going to give some word stats for this one cause it was couple phases and words that were used a lot.
"Like A"- 100 times used
"Feels Like"- 29 times used
"Like An"-11 times used
Perhaps- 32 times
Besides- 62 times
The author loves using the phase " like a" to describe something does she?
The tropes
Let's see we have the
Enemies to Lovers
The witty asshole hero with a heart of gold.
The witty asshole best friend which the fandom loves.
Having a female character who was once a slave but now befriends with the hero and then become friends with the heroine.
The parents having high exceptions for the child and not listening to the child.
An evil parent who abuses the child and thinks of the child weak and don't live up to their expectations.
Two people who don't like each other acting like a couple in order to steal something.
The only thing we were missing was the " one room and bed available in a hotel" trope.. I mean that's totally a fan fave! lol
All and All I really don't understand the all these five-star reviews cause it's things we have seen before and being executed in a very mediocre way.
Empire of Storms by Sarah J. Maas
3.0
Three Stars
The more I think about it, the more I realized that this one wasn't a good as HoF or QoS.. It's better than ToG and CoM tho.
The more I think about it, the more I realized that this one wasn't a good as HoF or QoS.. It's better than ToG and CoM tho.
Heir of Fire by Sarah J. Maas
5.0
4.5 Stars
Heir of Fire is that book in the ToG series that I finally can say “ There’s the SJM that I know! There she is!”
To me this is where SJM finally found her footing for ToG like I feel like ACOMAF is where she found her footing for ACOTAR.. Aelin’s character development is this was just downright amazing. Yeah It is a couple parts that was kind of boring but it gotten better towards the second half.
On to Queen of Shadows!
Heir of Fire is that book in the ToG series that I finally can say “ There’s the SJM that I know! There she is!”
To me this is where SJM finally found her footing for ToG like I feel like ACOMAF is where she found her footing for ACOTAR.. Aelin’s character development is this was just downright amazing. Yeah It is a couple parts that was kind of boring but it gotten better towards the second half.
On to Queen of Shadows!
Queen of Shadows by Sarah J. Maas
5.0
Heir of Fire made me start to really like the series after struggling to go through the first two books.
Queen of Shadows made me fall absolutely in love with the series that I'm glad I gave a second chance.
Queen of Shadows made me fall absolutely in love with the series that I'm glad I gave a second chance.
Tower of Dawn by Sarah J. Maas
4.0
Review You can also read it on my blog!
Edit: The word "Perhaps" was used 257 times in this book.... Damn! SJM needs another editor ASAP! Aelin was used 168 times...
4 Stars
SPOILERS!
Sarah's name is no longer Sarah J Maas but Sarah P. Maas
The P stands for Predictable or Perhaps....
The first half of the book was freaking awesome with all delicious world building and new character backstories but don't know what happen in the second half. I know a lot people where saying the first half of the book was boring but to me the first half was the best part and the second half was the one that was boring and felt like typical SJM predictability.
Sinking one ship and sailing two? Check
A massive twist that should have been shocking but the fandom called it a while back? Check ( Like seriously The fandom called that shit about Meave.)
Someone almost dying but didn't thanks to a bunch of folks giving their magic up? Check
Secret Marriage?Check! SJM can you please stop this already? It cute the first couple times now it's becoming mundane.
Tell but don't show? Check
Love interest having dark hair and being royalty. Check! ( Thank god he didn't have any tattoos...)
Chaol loving birthday's to much?- Check
Aelin being mention as much times as the word perhaps? Check Check Check
SJM is becoming a prisoner of her own predictability... my my my..
Let me say this tho.
The core four ( Chaol, Yrene, Nesyrn, and Sartaq) were fucking awesome and it was nothing against them. It was just the story they were in become lackluster and predictable towards the end. I have always liked Chaol but my realtionship with him was strained in Queen of Shadows cause of the bullshit he did. But in ToD we sort out our differences and he become my fave again. Yrene is a true boss ass bitch to the fullest and it was awesome to see her journey. Nesyrn was awesome as well I'm so happy she was able to see her family and grow as a character. I do agree that she was kind of side tracked but she did find one of most important pieces of information that Aelin and the rest of the clique needs to know. So that should count for something! Sartaq needs his own fucking book asap. lol
Also the ships felt a little rushed to me even tho they were pretty good ships. I think because she pretty much made two brand new ships canon in one book compare to her other ships taking like two books to become canon.
Also Chaol's recovery felt rushed to me. Before people say " Well It took a whole book for him to heal" let me explain. One the emotional side Yes it was pretty much the whole book but on the physical side it felt rushed. Now at first it didn't feel that way since he was getting feeling of his limbs little by little. I almost cried when he wiggled his toes for the first time. It started to feel rushed for me is when he stood and walked to Yrene without no assistance at all. Which if you know or seen someone that had a spinal injury and trying to stand or walk again for the first time, they can't do it without the assistance of another person ( aka nurse or PT ) standing with them guiding their steps while holding on to a railing or two bars that are parallel to each other. Sometimes they are in a apparatus that's holding them upward and guiding their steps. Chaol did none of that which to me made his recovery felt unbelievable and rushed to me. Yes He was keeping his body in shape and doing excises to keep the muscles in his legs strong but he shouldn't been able to stand and walk on his own without some existence the first time. Later on he gets the cane which is fine but he should have been holding on to something when he made the first steps. Also him standing for the first time took a back seat to his and Yrene budding realtionship which to me shouldn't happen but hey that's typical SJM. lol
It was a good book but fall sort on being one her best. It was better than ACOWAR to tell you the truth.( Even if the rating the reflect it. lol)
It still does the "Phoenix rises above their ashes" for Chaol but it still was lacking something that Feyre and Aelin had in their recovery stories.
So just ranking the " Phoenix rises about their ashes" books it look like this.
1.ACOMAF
2.Heir of Fire
3.Tower of Dawn
ACOMAF is still the best book SJM wrote to me and I think it always will.
As of right now,I really don't know if I'm going to read ToG 7 when it comes out...
On one hand I want to know what happens to everyone but on the other I don't want to slogged though SJM being predictable with her story line..
Perhaps I'll think about it...
Edit: The word "Perhaps" was used 257 times in this book.... Damn! SJM needs another editor ASAP! Aelin was used 168 times...
4 Stars
SPOILERS!
Sarah's name is no longer Sarah J Maas but Sarah P. Maas
The P stands for Predictable or Perhaps....
The first half of the book was freaking awesome with all delicious world building and new character backstories but don't know what happen in the second half. I know a lot people where saying the first half of the book was boring but to me the first half was the best part and the second half was the one that was boring and felt like typical SJM predictability.
Sinking one ship and sailing two? Check
A massive twist that should have been shocking but the fandom called it a while back? Check ( Like seriously The fandom called that shit about Meave.)
Someone almost dying but didn't thanks to a bunch of folks giving their magic up? Check
Secret Marriage?Check! SJM can you please stop this already? It cute the first couple times now it's becoming mundane.
Tell but don't show? Check
Love interest having dark hair and being royalty. Check! ( Thank god he didn't have any tattoos...)
Chaol loving birthday's to much?- Check
Aelin being mention as much times as the word perhaps? Check Check Check
SJM is becoming a prisoner of her own predictability... my my my..
Let me say this tho.
The core four ( Chaol, Yrene, Nesyrn, and Sartaq) were fucking awesome and it was nothing against them. It was just the story they were in become lackluster and predictable towards the end. I have always liked Chaol but my realtionship with him was strained in Queen of Shadows cause of the bullshit he did. But in ToD we sort out our differences and he become my fave again. Yrene is a true boss ass bitch to the fullest and it was awesome to see her journey. Nesyrn was awesome as well I'm so happy she was able to see her family and grow as a character. I do agree that she was kind of side tracked but she did find one of most important pieces of information that Aelin and the rest of the clique needs to know. So that should count for something! Sartaq needs his own fucking book asap. lol
Also the ships felt a little rushed to me even tho they were pretty good ships. I think because she pretty much made two brand new ships canon in one book compare to her other ships taking like two books to become canon.
Also Chaol's recovery felt rushed to me. Before people say " Well It took a whole book for him to heal" let me explain. One the emotional side Yes it was pretty much the whole book but on the physical side it felt rushed. Now at first it didn't feel that way since he was getting feeling of his limbs little by little. I almost cried when he wiggled his toes for the first time. It started to feel rushed for me is when he stood and walked to Yrene without no assistance at all. Which if you know or seen someone that had a spinal injury and trying to stand or walk again for the first time, they can't do it without the assistance of another person ( aka nurse or PT ) standing with them guiding their steps while holding on to a railing or two bars that are parallel to each other. Sometimes they are in a apparatus that's holding them upward and guiding their steps. Chaol did none of that which to me made his recovery felt unbelievable and rushed to me. Yes He was keeping his body in shape and doing excises to keep the muscles in his legs strong but he shouldn't been able to stand and walk on his own without some existence the first time. Later on he gets the cane which is fine but he should have been holding on to something when he made the first steps. Also him standing for the first time took a back seat to his and Yrene budding realtionship which to me shouldn't happen but hey that's typical SJM. lol
It was a good book but fall sort on being one her best. It was better than ACOWAR to tell you the truth.( Even if the rating the reflect it. lol)
It still does the "Phoenix rises above their ashes" for Chaol but it still was lacking something that Feyre and Aelin had in their recovery stories.
So just ranking the " Phoenix rises about their ashes" books it look like this.
1.ACOMAF
2.Heir of Fire
3.Tower of Dawn
ACOMAF is still the best book SJM wrote to me and I think it always will.
As of right now,I really don't know if I'm going to read ToG 7 when it comes out...
On one hand I want to know what happens to everyone but on the other I don't want to slogged though SJM being predictable with her story line..
Perhaps I'll think about it...
A Court of Mist and Fury by Sarah J. Maas
5.0
Final Review
I haven't read it again since February but I want to finally put all my thoughts as to why this is probably my fave SJM book besides Heir of Fire.
It took all my preconceptions I had going into this book and threw it out the window. This whole book was SJM telling me " Bitch !you thought" over and over again.Honestly, I thought this book was going to be a typical second book of series with a love triangle. You know what I'm talking about. Girl starts to fall in love with the second love interest slowly but surely and at the end of the book, she torn between the two and she don't know who the hell she wants. So you go into the 3rd and final book of the series, the fandom trying to figure out who she wants while the main conflict of the book and her character arc gets toss in the background. I really thought ACOMAF was going to be Feyre going to night court once a week in every month to discover Rhys is not as bad as he is, she starts to fall in love with him while still in love Tamlin while learning about her powers and the end of the book she's torn between the two. So we going into the 3rd book saying #Team Tamlin or #Team Rhysand instead of being concern about Feyre's character arc. SJM said " Fuck that shit" so damn hard and that's the reason why I love her for it. She freaking shattered that mold completely. I'm so tired of reading series books that who the heroine ends up with is more important than if she defeats the enemy and evolves as a character. Who she ends or don't end up should be to the side and not the main focus of the reader and the book. Sure. We do see her fall out of love with one person and falls in love with the next but we are seeing her grow as a person first. We see her realized who she is and how she finally open her eyes to realize that she's not growing but honestly dying. We see her love herself as a person first before she can love someone else. We see her rise from her ashes to be a phoenix she needs to be which SJM does so well. So as we have less than two days before ACOWAR, we going into book not thinking Team Rhysand or Team Tamlin but Team Feyre, Team Night Squad, and Team Acheron Sisters. Her figuring out who she wants is not in the equation because that's already been settled in the second one. We know who she wants to have a life and future with. We know who's she fighting to get back to. We know all of this cause SJM did it so beautifully in ACOMAF. We are going into ACOWAR thinking " Ok! Who the hell Feyre's going to fuck up first? Tamlin or Ianthe? How she's going to take down Hybern?Who's going to live?" That's what we are focusing on and from the first 8 chapters that dropped, baby girl ain't playing at all. All the focus is on her defeating the enemy, getting well deserved revenge, saving her people, and not who's she's going to have happy ever after with. We already know who she wants her happy ever after with and going to fight tooth and nail to get it with him along with being with her fam. It's all on Feyre and not on her love interest. That's what we need in more books. I think I would probably tolerate love triangles if it was like that.
Reread Feb 17-23 2017- Is it May 2nd yet??
In all honestly, ACOMAF ending is probably one of the best endings to a book that is not a series finale I have read in a long time cause it makes you feel so many emotions at once. I can't wait for ACOWAR!
First Read:5 stars!
This book was amazing beyond belief and it exceeded the first one by miles. SJM is probably the first author that made me love a character the first book and then hating them in the second while disliking character in the first and absolute love them in the second. I found myself doing that with Tamlin and Rhysand while seeing the effect on both male characters have in Feyre life. One of them not giving her the freedom to become the person she needs to be while the other giving her all the tools and choices she needs while completely understanding her. Feyre was amazing in this book as she transformed from a woman who's trying to find her place in this new world she died to free but being not able too be an over bearing force, to a woman who not only found her voice, agency and power, but will be able to bring a court and king their knees in order to free the people she loves. I can't wait for the last book next year!
I haven't read it again since February but I want to finally put all my thoughts as to why this is probably my fave SJM book besides Heir of Fire.
It took all my preconceptions I had going into this book and threw it out the window. This whole book was SJM telling me " Bitch !you thought" over and over again.Honestly, I thought this book was going to be a typical second book of series with a love triangle. You know what I'm talking about. Girl starts to fall in love with the second love interest slowly but surely and at the end of the book, she torn between the two and she don't know who the hell she wants. So you go into the 3rd and final book of the series, the fandom trying to figure out who she wants while the main conflict of the book and her character arc gets toss in the background. I really thought ACOMAF was going to be Feyre going to night court once a week in every month to discover Rhys is not as bad as he is, she starts to fall in love with him while still in love Tamlin while learning about her powers and the end of the book she's torn between the two. So we going into the 3rd book saying #Team Tamlin or #Team Rhysand instead of being concern about Feyre's character arc. SJM said " Fuck that shit" so damn hard and that's the reason why I love her for it. She freaking shattered that mold completely. I'm so tired of reading series books that who the heroine ends up with is more important than if she defeats the enemy and evolves as a character. Who she ends or don't end up should be to the side and not the main focus of the reader and the book. Sure. We do see her fall out of love with one person and falls in love with the next but we are seeing her grow as a person first. We see her realized who she is and how she finally open her eyes to realize that she's not growing but honestly dying. We see her love herself as a person first before she can love someone else. We see her rise from her ashes to be a phoenix she needs to be which SJM does so well. So as we have less than two days before ACOWAR, we going into book not thinking Team Rhysand or Team Tamlin but Team Feyre, Team Night Squad, and Team Acheron Sisters. Her figuring out who she wants is not in the equation because that's already been settled in the second one. We know who she wants to have a life and future with. We know who's she fighting to get back to. We know all of this cause SJM did it so beautifully in ACOMAF. We are going into ACOWAR thinking " Ok! Who the hell Feyre's going to fuck up first? Tamlin or Ianthe? How she's going to take down Hybern?Who's going to live?" That's what we are focusing on and from the first 8 chapters that dropped, baby girl ain't playing at all. All the focus is on her defeating the enemy, getting well deserved revenge, saving her people, and not who's she's going to have happy ever after with. We already know who she wants her happy ever after with and going to fight tooth and nail to get it with him along with being with her fam. It's all on Feyre and not on her love interest. That's what we need in more books. I think I would probably tolerate love triangles if it was like that.
Reread Feb 17-23 2017- Is it May 2nd yet??
In all honestly, ACOMAF ending is probably one of the best endings to a book that is not a series finale I have read in a long time cause it makes you feel so many emotions at once. I can't wait for ACOWAR!
First Read:5 stars!
This book was amazing beyond belief and it exceeded the first one by miles. SJM is probably the first author that made me love a character the first book and then hating them in the second while disliking character in the first and absolute love them in the second. I found myself doing that with Tamlin and Rhysand while seeing the effect on both male characters have in Feyre life. One of them not giving her the freedom to become the person she needs to be while the other giving her all the tools and choices she needs while completely understanding her. Feyre was amazing in this book as she transformed from a woman who's trying to find her place in this new world she died to free but being not able too be an over bearing force, to a woman who not only found her voice, agency and power, but will be able to bring a court and king their knees in order to free the people she loves. I can't wait for the last book next year!
A Court of Wings and Ruin by Sarah J. Maas
3.0
Spoilers! (Somewhat)
Edit 1 05/10/2017 Tamlin Rant
Edit 2 05/18/2017 Did Tamlin get redeemed?
Edit 3 05/30/2017 Due to the fact that Flame in the Mist was a such a disappointment that I DNFed it @34% while I did finish this one and enjoyed it (even if I had major problems with it) I'm moving it to 4.5 stars. So now it's officially a five star on here ( until GR get off their asses and create half stars)
Edit 4 10/17/2017 The word "Perhaps" was used 203 times while the word "Mate" was used 194 times....
Edit 5 With more consideration I'm dropping this to 3 stars.
OG Review 4 Stars!
Oh boy boy boy boy boy.
My most anticipated book of 2017.
The book I been dying to have in my hands since May of last year.
Was it as good? Yes but not without its disappointments
Was it better than ACOMAF? Hell No! Not by a freaking long shot.
Ok Let’s start off with the Good.
The characters are probably the reason why I'm giving it a four. Everyone was pretty much solid in this book for the most part.. Although it not to say they didn't have their moments that I wanted to strangle or smack them across the head for the decisions they made ( Cough Neasta,Rhys and Feyre to a certain extent)
High Lady Feyre" Cursebreaker" Acheron : She slayed in this book big time! She was straight up badass from being a sneaky bitch in the Spring Court to see her grow in all three books is truly a blessing to see and I'm so glad I was along for the ride. From a starving huntress to the badass High Lady to the Night Court. She deserves the little sisters award for being the best damn little sister you can ever have! ( Little sisters unite!) I'm so sad to see her story ending but I'm so happy with the ending she's got! Be happy in Valaris Baby Girl! You deserved it. She's truly a Badass Protag!
High Lord Rhysand: Oh Lawd! Where do I begin with him? I honestly went from hating his guts in ACOTAR to him being second on my book boyfriend/ husband's list behind Mamoru Chiba! He really did sneak up on me because I really thought he was going to be the typical " bad boy" character that was misunderstood until the love of a good woman change him of his ways. The way half the fandom gravitated to him at the end of ACOTAR even after knowing all the unethical shit he did, made me really think that way. I have seen so many fandoms who excused a character who did horrible things to a main character in order to ship it and because that character was so hot. (cough Gaston from BATB, Kylo Ren from Star Wars, and Diamond from Sailor Moon) So I was really really wary of his character at end cause I know it was a possibly that he was going to become a love interest. .I respected him since if wasn't for him, Feyre wouldn't made it but I couldn't stand his ass. ACOMAF took me for a loop with his character because this is not Rhysand by a long shot. He was ALWAYS a good,kind hearted and sarcastic person who played that role in order to save his friends and the people he love. He just finally showed that side to Feyre as he started to fall in love with her. Yes he did explain his actions but he didn't excuse them at all and actually apologized to her. He sacrificed so freaking much in order to protect the people he loves for freakin 50 years! He always thought of himself as a monster but he never was one at all. Him trying to prove that he's not one still flows through ACOWAR to the point that I wanted to smack for still being so self-sacrificing again. He's such a good character and I'm so glad he's finally getting the happiness he deserved along with Feyre and the fam. ( Praise the lord we finally get to really see how powerful he is! Lawd!)
The Dream Squad! * plays clique*
Mor: I really hope she gets the happiness that she deserves because she's just awesome. Everything about her character arc actually makes sense. Yeah I know everyone wants to say SJM pull that out her ass for the sake of diversity but she never made Moriel a ship tho. She just actually proved that because someone give long glances to someone that they should automatically be a ship. . Ha guess again!
Amren: MEAN OL' AUNTIE AMREN TO SAVE THE DAY!!!!
Cassian: *fans self* Love you boo!! Only you can make killing folks look sexy!!
Aziel:Please find happiness!! (cough with Elain cough)
The Acheron Sisters: When a 500 plus old king is scared of you and trying to be very petty,you know that you are a badasses. Nesta and Elain come through for their little badass sister when she needed them to be. Nesta really come through because I went from wanting to pop her to wanting to high five her. I hope that one of the novella is about her to see how she fully deal with not having the cauldron powers anymore, her father's death and her feelings towards Cassian.
Lucien: One of those novella’s be about him Sarah! I'm not happy that wasn't in a nice bit of the book! He's almost like the Chaol of ACOTAR! ( cough I hope he ends up with Vessa ..cough I'm not saying I ship Elain and Az tho... )
Tamlin: I'm going to pray for you.... You need to get some of that salt off.... Everytime I think about feeling a little sympathy for you, I think about the fact you called the woman that you supposed to have loved,a whore to her face in a meeting of your peers...That you are playing on how Feyre felt that she was a traitor when she started to get over you and starting to fall for Rhys in a short period of time. Everytime I think about that you gave her father and sister money for their estate, I think about the fact how you locked her in that house and didn't realized that she was wasting away. Everytime I think about the fact that you did save her from Hybern , I think about the fact you sided with Hybern in order to get her back which you sold everyone out. Every time I want to feel sorry for you losing support of your men, I think about the fact you killed some of them which you realize Feyre was gone and then side with Ianthe instead of them. Sure you gave a bit of your power to revive Rhys which you told her to be happy, but doesn't excuse none of your actions since you haven't apologized the her. So Tamlin, you don't get any pity from me because everytime I want to feel pity, I think about the things you done and will not accept responsibility for. In the words of Feyre " You don't get to rewrite the narrative" ( I think that Sarah was listening to Hamilton when she wrote that.)
Beron and Eris: I'm going to pray for yall too and hopefully yall don't end up dead soon. I guess you only have four sons now....
Ianthe: Tell Bellatrix hello for me! :-)
The Suriel: Say hello to Dobby for me as well! :-)
Hybern: Tell Sauron and Voldemort hello in hell!
As far as the new characters go, the next trilogy better be about Miryam/Drakon so I need a prequel badly! (Also novellas about Winter and Day courts rulers)
Diversity: SJM actually listened to her fans on this. Was it perfect? No But it's a start and I applaud her for it. Hopefully the next set of ACOTAR Books will have even more. I just hope that next time it feel more organic and not something she have to do in order to get people off her back.
The last 100 pages took me on another level or bawling.
The battle scenes was so freaking lit! I feel like I was watching Braveheart!
Let's get to the disappointment.
The pacing: Something was very off with the pacing of this book. One moment I was engaged and the next moment I was like " get on with it and stop slogging your feet. In all the updates I've seen in my GR feed this is what everyone been saying the most. They feel like they are slogging to get through it. It all honestly it shouldn't been a 700 page book. SJM could have have honestly took at least 100 pages off. ( not the last 100 which was the saving grace of this book.)
The writing: Where do I begin with this? To show you how the writing in this book wasn't that great I'm going to tell you the number or passages or quotes I highlighted that I deemed memorable with both ACOMAF and ACOWAR. I think I highlight now
ACOMAF : 105 Highlights
ACOWAR: 16 Highlights
This shows you that ACOWAR wasn't quite as memorable or quotable to me as ACOMAF. ACOMAF had quotes that were like tattoo deemable to me. ( If I ever got a tattoo) I don't know what happen with the quality of the writing in this one. It's like right now, I'm honestly trying to rack my brain on what honestly happen in majority of this book which means I reread will happen later this year. (It’s sad I know). I stg I don't want to see the words " Perhaps, Male, or Mate" in a book in a while cause SJM relied on those three damn words to damn much. It didn't make any sense to keep on using mate that much because she could have use husband/wife she Feyre and Rhys discussed what they should call each other in ACOMAF. She could have rotated with them and use My High Lord/Lady as well. I really think that scene when Beron insults Feyre after she tries to drown him would have been more powerful if he would have said " Don't insult My High Lady" instead of my mate. Oh well..
Also this book really exposed the weakness of having one 1st pov when it had the chance to having another pov which could have strengthen it. SJM should have written more chapters in Rhys' pov instead of just two. Especially when him and Feyre were separated when she was still in the spring court and during the battles. Seeing the battles in her pov was kind of disservice because she really wasn't in the thick of things in all the battles while Rhys was right in the thick of it. So you really couldn't get the sense of how dire things were in the battle field when the person whose head we're in was on mountain tops watching it. I was really disappointed with the second battle when she actually left where they was battling at and we didn't know what happen to everyone until the battle was over. It was only once we short of saw things in his perceptive during a battle and the only reason why because she was in his mind. I don't think it would have hurt to have switching povs in order to get the whole scope of everything which was a lot in this book..
Also it was lot of " tell don't show" in this book which was very disappointing. I know Sarah has always did this but she really did it in this book. Yes Rhys Thank you for telling me that one of the biggest plot points in the whole story aka the wall that separates the mortal and fae lands fell instead of actually showing me falling. It still a “oh shit " moment but it subdued because we didn't actually see it fall! The wall become an afterthought instead of something they been trying to prevent from falling since the first freaking book!
One of the things SJM is very good at is interweaved other stories into her story. If you look at the ACOTAR series as a whole, it's a Beauty and the Beast retelling mixed in with Hades and Persephone, Eros and Psyche, and the ballad of Tam Lin. She interweaves the stories that we know into her story really well. I feel like in this one she didn't execute it as well as she did in the other two books. It's ok to take a well-known Bible Story and incorporate it in your story but not pretty much take the whole thing without interweaving your own creativity in it that you have to look hard to find it. Now she did do well with the Snow White illusions but it was more to be desired with that as well. She did well with the poison apples but so much more to done with the mirror in my opinion.
It was others things with the writing too like leaving some storylines open. I understand leaving some storylines open since it supposed to be spinoffs but what's the point of not really giving Feyre and Tamlin true closure? Sure Him telling her to be happy and she sending him a thank you note and wanting him to be happy as well is fine but it really would have been nice to see them actually talk and finally clearing the air between them. For him to actually apologized for what he did and to apologized for what she did at the spring court and them to make an amends. SJM books have been very relatable when it comes to relationships and to me that wasn't relatable. Especially the fact when in her other books you had one couple who talked it over and truly made amends. Do I wanted Feyre and him to become friends? Not really. Did I want them to clear the air so wouldn't get in the away of court business anymore? Yes. Especially the fact how salty and disrespectful he was towards her during the court meeting. I just really wanted him to realize what he's done so won't happen again.
Did Tamlin get redeemed?
To me he really didn't get redeemed . Just because he did those two things at the end to help Feyre doesn't make him redeemed. He can easily throw those two things back at Feyre when he want to act salty. He Just like he threw the fact that he help her father and sister out in ACOTAR. He can also throw back at her face that he told her "Be Happy" as well. If he truly got redeemed then he would have apologized for Feyre for his actions and they would have made amends. Since that didn't happen,he didn't get redeemed because he didn't learn to take responsibly for his actions .That would have been the first step to me cause he would have realized that what he was did to Feyre was killing her and would try to correct his behavior before he does it to someone else. Feyre wishing him happiness is her saying that she's done with him and it's no point for her to hold bitterness in her heart for him. She move on and she's going to have a happy life. He's the one that got to get his shit together if he really wants too. So in all honestly he didn't get away with everything for the following reasons:
He's court or soldiers don't trust him anymore.
He doesn't have Feyre anymore.
He doesn't have his friend who he treated like shit anymore.
The other high lords probably can't trust anymore since he was siding with Hybern most the time.
He lost everything and he only got himself to blame for it. Either he continues to blame others for it or take full responsibility for it.
Also one of reasons I love SJM so much is she turn tropes on their heads and say fuck this shit. If you read my final review of ACOMAF I wrote last sunday, I said that one of my fave things about it that it took the whole love triangle and turn it on it's heads. This book started to feel too tropey to me cause it feel like she started to throw all the tropes at it. Some examples
Bad guy that actually good guy working from the inside: Well Jurian, Snape did it better than you.
Jilted ex-lover acting like an ass: Turn down the salt Tamlin
Someone had an affair with someone's wife and this character is this character's dad : How many soap operas have you been watching to do that to Lucien, Sarah?
A good character may have betrayed a character but really they didn't: Side eye at Amren.
It's many more she committed but that's main ones I can think of right off the bat.
Feysand Smut: Sigh. See I love my smut as much as I love my fluff (believe me I'm called the the Sailor Moon Fanfic Smut Queen on tumblr) but SJM goes overboard with it every single time when she finally puts her main couples together. I love seeing sexy times in books but it's a time and place for it.
Reunion sex after her being gone for a month? Yes Please! Smiling Ear to Ear with that!
"Sex for breakfast "? Ok ! Fine before Cassian kicks her ass in training.
Almost Libary Sex? You're pushing it! Just stay fluffy with that! ! I need yall to be finding information to help yall with the wall.
Massage the Back sex? Well orgasms supposed to relax the body and muscles so...... You get a pass on that one..
War Camp Tent sex twice? JUST WHY?? We are in war yall! Especially the second one when I was like “Boy you just fought all day! Take your ass to bed to save your energy and stop trying to play hanky panky with her!!"
Were they as bad as Rowan/Aelin? No but she was pushing it since she was trying to be coy with it and not all go all out like chapter 55 in ACOMAF.
Their relationship as whole was awesome since they still had the banter,( I was on the ground laughing at some of it) , they really showed they had each other backs to the end ,and communicated a lot. Although he should have told her about his contrived plot for Mor's daddy and the Fall court to join them but that's for another day. I love them to bits which I though was never going to happen....
Also what happen to Isaac Hale??? I guess he's the Gale of ACOTAR..... Well Gale and Hale Rhymes! Well played Sarah!
All and All I really was expecting so much more but the fact these characters that I love got the happy ending they deserved, I'm ok with it. It's not perfect by a long shot but sloppy but I'm happy with the outcome. It just also shows that we need to be very careful on how we hype books in the book community. Everyone and their baby mama was ready for this book which made it kind of overwhelming seeing my GR update feed being flooded with it.
ACOMAF will still be the best book in the series no doubt about it but I still love the series as a whole.
One more thing
When the first eight chapters come out on overdrive, it was a little discourse about it being a little acephobia towards the beginning. With the whole twin thing, you have to look at the whole context of the situation and not just that paragraph which people are not doing. Feyre was observing them looking at disinterested at Ianthe trying to impress them. A person who waited until the perfect time to make her entrance to meet the twins and flounces around the Spring Court like she’s the baddest bitch there. A person who loves the power she has over men and women. A person who in the next chapters was freaking pissed that Feyre upstaged her during the Summer rite and trying to get back in favor. Feyre was shocked at the fact they showed no emotion towards her flouncing but more into themselves which she considers soulless. It just shows to me that Feyre still got a little naivety in her. Also physical passion doesn’t have to mean you want to have sex with a person. I mean Feyre has physical passion for Tamlin and Ianthe because she passionately wants to cause physical harm to them. That's my take on it.
Last thing
Since Lucien's "surname" was released everyone was wonder what Rhysand's was.
Is it obvious what it is?
It's Acheron! He took hers. :-D
You can also read my review on my blog!
https://tanyasreading.wordpress.com/2017/05/07/a-court-of-wings-and-ruin-by-sarah-j-maas/
Edit 1 05/10/2017 Tamlin Rant
Edit 2 05/18/2017 Did Tamlin get redeemed?
Edit 3 05/30/2017 Due to the fact that Flame in the Mist was a such a disappointment that I DNFed it @34% while I did finish this one and enjoyed it (even if I had major problems with it) I'm moving it to 4.5 stars. So now it's officially a five star on here ( until GR get off their asses and create half stars)
Edit 4 10/17/2017 The word "Perhaps" was used 203 times while the word "Mate" was used 194 times....
Edit 5 With more consideration I'm dropping this to 3 stars.
OG Review 4 Stars!
Oh boy boy boy boy boy.
My most anticipated book of 2017.
The book I been dying to have in my hands since May of last year.
Was it as good? Yes but not without its disappointments
Was it better than ACOMAF? Hell No! Not by a freaking long shot.
Ok Let’s start off with the Good.
The characters are probably the reason why I'm giving it a four. Everyone was pretty much solid in this book for the most part.. Although it not to say they didn't have their moments that I wanted to strangle or smack them across the head for the decisions they made ( Cough Neasta,Rhys and Feyre to a certain extent)
High Lady Feyre" Cursebreaker" Acheron : She slayed in this book big time! She was straight up badass from being a sneaky bitch in the Spring Court to see her grow in all three books is truly a blessing to see and I'm so glad I was along for the ride. From a starving huntress to the badass High Lady to the Night Court. She deserves the little sisters award for being the best damn little sister you can ever have! ( Little sisters unite!) I'm so sad to see her story ending but I'm so happy with the ending she's got! Be happy in Valaris Baby Girl! You deserved it. She's truly a Badass Protag!
High Lord Rhysand: Oh Lawd! Where do I begin with him? I honestly went from hating his guts in ACOTAR to him being second on my book boyfriend/ husband's list behind Mamoru Chiba! He really did sneak up on me because I really thought he was going to be the typical " bad boy" character that was misunderstood until the love of a good woman change him of his ways. The way half the fandom gravitated to him at the end of ACOTAR even after knowing all the unethical shit he did, made me really think that way. I have seen so many fandoms who excused a character who did horrible things to a main character in order to ship it and because that character was so hot. (cough Gaston from BATB, Kylo Ren from Star Wars, and Diamond from Sailor Moon) So I was really really wary of his character at end cause I know it was a possibly that he was going to become a love interest. .I respected him since if wasn't for him, Feyre wouldn't made it but I couldn't stand his ass. ACOMAF took me for a loop with his character because this is not Rhysand by a long shot. He was ALWAYS a good,kind hearted and sarcastic person who played that role in order to save his friends and the people he love. He just finally showed that side to Feyre as he started to fall in love with her. Yes he did explain his actions but he didn't excuse them at all and actually apologized to her. He sacrificed so freaking much in order to protect the people he loves for freakin 50 years! He always thought of himself as a monster but he never was one at all. Him trying to prove that he's not one still flows through ACOWAR to the point that I wanted to smack for still being so self-sacrificing again. He's such a good character and I'm so glad he's finally getting the happiness he deserved along with Feyre and the fam. ( Praise the lord we finally get to really see how powerful he is! Lawd!)
The Dream Squad! * plays clique*
Mor: I really hope she gets the happiness that she deserves because she's just awesome. Everything about her character arc actually makes sense. Yeah I know everyone wants to say SJM pull that out her ass for the sake of diversity but she never made Moriel a ship tho. She just actually proved that because someone give long glances to someone that they should automatically be a ship. . Ha guess again!
Amren: MEAN OL' AUNTIE AMREN TO SAVE THE DAY!!!!
Cassian: *fans self* Love you boo!! Only you can make killing folks look sexy!!
Aziel:Please find happiness!! (cough with Elain cough)
The Acheron Sisters: When a 500 plus old king is scared of you and trying to be very petty,you know that you are a badasses. Nesta and Elain come through for their little badass sister when she needed them to be. Nesta really come through because I went from wanting to pop her to wanting to high five her. I hope that one of the novella is about her to see how she fully deal with not having the cauldron powers anymore, her father's death and her feelings towards Cassian.
Lucien: One of those novella’s be about him Sarah! I'm not happy that wasn't in a nice bit of the book! He's almost like the Chaol of ACOTAR! ( cough I hope he ends up with Vessa ..cough I'm not saying I ship Elain and Az tho... )
Tamlin: I'm going to pray for you.... You need to get some of that salt off.... Everytime I think about feeling a little sympathy for you, I think about the fact you called the woman that you supposed to have loved,a whore to her face in a meeting of your peers...That you are playing on how Feyre felt that she was a traitor when she started to get over you and starting to fall for Rhys in a short period of time. Everytime I think about that you gave her father and sister money for their estate, I think about the fact how you locked her in that house and didn't realized that she was wasting away. Everytime I think about the fact that you did save her from Hybern , I think about the fact you sided with Hybern in order to get her back which you sold everyone out. Every time I want to feel sorry for you losing support of your men, I think about the fact you killed some of them which you realize Feyre was gone and then side with Ianthe instead of them. Sure you gave a bit of your power to revive Rhys which you told her to be happy, but doesn't excuse none of your actions since you haven't apologized the her. So Tamlin, you don't get any pity from me because everytime I want to feel pity, I think about the things you done and will not accept responsibility for. In the words of Feyre " You don't get to rewrite the narrative" ( I think that Sarah was listening to Hamilton when she wrote that.)
Beron and Eris: I'm going to pray for yall too and hopefully yall don't end up dead soon. I guess you only have four sons now....
Ianthe: Tell Bellatrix hello for me! :-)
The Suriel: Say hello to Dobby for me as well! :-)
Hybern: Tell Sauron and Voldemort hello in hell!
As far as the new characters go, the next trilogy better be about Miryam/Drakon so I need a prequel badly! (Also novellas about Winter and Day courts rulers)
Diversity: SJM actually listened to her fans on this. Was it perfect? No But it's a start and I applaud her for it. Hopefully the next set of ACOTAR Books will have even more. I just hope that next time it feel more organic and not something she have to do in order to get people off her back.
The last 100 pages took me on another level or bawling.
The battle scenes was so freaking lit! I feel like I was watching Braveheart!
Let's get to the disappointment.
The pacing: Something was very off with the pacing of this book. One moment I was engaged and the next moment I was like " get on with it and stop slogging your feet. In all the updates I've seen in my GR feed this is what everyone been saying the most. They feel like they are slogging to get through it. It all honestly it shouldn't been a 700 page book. SJM could have have honestly took at least 100 pages off. ( not the last 100 which was the saving grace of this book.)
The writing: Where do I begin with this? To show you how the writing in this book wasn't that great I'm going to tell you the number or passages or quotes I highlighted that I deemed memorable with both ACOMAF and ACOWAR. I think I highlight now
ACOMAF : 105 Highlights
ACOWAR: 16 Highlights
This shows you that ACOWAR wasn't quite as memorable or quotable to me as ACOMAF. ACOMAF had quotes that were like tattoo deemable to me. ( If I ever got a tattoo) I don't know what happen with the quality of the writing in this one. It's like right now, I'm honestly trying to rack my brain on what honestly happen in majority of this book which means I reread will happen later this year. (It’s sad I know). I stg I don't want to see the words " Perhaps, Male, or Mate" in a book in a while cause SJM relied on those three damn words to damn much. It didn't make any sense to keep on using mate that much because she could have use husband/wife she Feyre and Rhys discussed what they should call each other in ACOMAF. She could have rotated with them and use My High Lord/Lady as well. I really think that scene when Beron insults Feyre after she tries to drown him would have been more powerful if he would have said " Don't insult My High Lady" instead of my mate. Oh well..
Also this book really exposed the weakness of having one 1st pov when it had the chance to having another pov which could have strengthen it. SJM should have written more chapters in Rhys' pov instead of just two. Especially when him and Feyre were separated when she was still in the spring court and during the battles. Seeing the battles in her pov was kind of disservice because she really wasn't in the thick of things in all the battles while Rhys was right in the thick of it. So you really couldn't get the sense of how dire things were in the battle field when the person whose head we're in was on mountain tops watching it. I was really disappointed with the second battle when she actually left where they was battling at and we didn't know what happen to everyone until the battle was over. It was only once we short of saw things in his perceptive during a battle and the only reason why because she was in his mind. I don't think it would have hurt to have switching povs in order to get the whole scope of everything which was a lot in this book..
Also it was lot of " tell don't show" in this book which was very disappointing. I know Sarah has always did this but she really did it in this book. Yes Rhys Thank you for telling me that one of the biggest plot points in the whole story aka the wall that separates the mortal and fae lands fell instead of actually showing me falling. It still a “oh shit " moment but it subdued because we didn't actually see it fall! The wall become an afterthought instead of something they been trying to prevent from falling since the first freaking book!
One of the things SJM is very good at is interweaved other stories into her story. If you look at the ACOTAR series as a whole, it's a Beauty and the Beast retelling mixed in with Hades and Persephone, Eros and Psyche, and the ballad of Tam Lin. She interweaves the stories that we know into her story really well. I feel like in this one she didn't execute it as well as she did in the other two books. It's ok to take a well-known Bible Story and incorporate it in your story but not pretty much take the whole thing without interweaving your own creativity in it that you have to look hard to find it. Now she did do well with the Snow White illusions but it was more to be desired with that as well. She did well with the poison apples but so much more to done with the mirror in my opinion.
It was others things with the writing too like leaving some storylines open. I understand leaving some storylines open since it supposed to be spinoffs but what's the point of not really giving Feyre and Tamlin true closure? Sure Him telling her to be happy and she sending him a thank you note and wanting him to be happy as well is fine but it really would have been nice to see them actually talk and finally clearing the air between them. For him to actually apologized for what he did and to apologized for what she did at the spring court and them to make an amends. SJM books have been very relatable when it comes to relationships and to me that wasn't relatable. Especially the fact when in her other books you had one couple who talked it over and truly made amends. Do I wanted Feyre and him to become friends? Not really. Did I want them to clear the air so wouldn't get in the away of court business anymore? Yes. Especially the fact how salty and disrespectful he was towards her during the court meeting. I just really wanted him to realize what he's done so won't happen again.
Did Tamlin get redeemed?
To me he really didn't get redeemed . Just because he did those two things at the end to help Feyre doesn't make him redeemed. He can easily throw those two things back at Feyre when he want to act salty. He Just like he threw the fact that he help her father and sister out in ACOTAR. He can also throw back at her face that he told her "Be Happy" as well. If he truly got redeemed then he would have apologized for Feyre for his actions and they would have made amends. Since that didn't happen,he didn't get redeemed because he didn't learn to take responsibly for his actions .That would have been the first step to me cause he would have realized that what he was did to Feyre was killing her and would try to correct his behavior before he does it to someone else. Feyre wishing him happiness is her saying that she's done with him and it's no point for her to hold bitterness in her heart for him. She move on and she's going to have a happy life. He's the one that got to get his shit together if he really wants too. So in all honestly he didn't get away with everything for the following reasons:
He's court or soldiers don't trust him anymore.
He doesn't have Feyre anymore.
He doesn't have his friend who he treated like shit anymore.
The other high lords probably can't trust anymore since he was siding with Hybern most the time.
He lost everything and he only got himself to blame for it. Either he continues to blame others for it or take full responsibility for it.
Also one of reasons I love SJM so much is she turn tropes on their heads and say fuck this shit. If you read my final review of ACOMAF I wrote last sunday, I said that one of my fave things about it that it took the whole love triangle and turn it on it's heads. This book started to feel too tropey to me cause it feel like she started to throw all the tropes at it. Some examples
Bad guy that actually good guy working from the inside: Well Jurian, Snape did it better than you.
Jilted ex-lover acting like an ass: Turn down the salt Tamlin
Someone had an affair with someone's wife and this character is this character's dad : How many soap operas have you been watching to do that to Lucien, Sarah?
A good character may have betrayed a character but really they didn't: Side eye at Amren.
It's many more she committed but that's main ones I can think of right off the bat.
Feysand Smut: Sigh. See I love my smut as much as I love my fluff (believe me I'm called the the Sailor Moon Fanfic Smut Queen on tumblr) but SJM goes overboard with it every single time when she finally puts her main couples together. I love seeing sexy times in books but it's a time and place for it.
Reunion sex after her being gone for a month? Yes Please! Smiling Ear to Ear with that!
"Sex for breakfast "? Ok ! Fine before Cassian kicks her ass in training.
Almost Libary Sex? You're pushing it! Just stay fluffy with that! ! I need yall to be finding information to help yall with the wall.
Massage the Back sex? Well orgasms supposed to relax the body and muscles so...... You get a pass on that one..
War Camp Tent sex twice? JUST WHY?? We are in war yall! Especially the second one when I was like “Boy you just fought all day! Take your ass to bed to save your energy and stop trying to play hanky panky with her!!"
Were they as bad as Rowan/Aelin? No but she was pushing it since she was trying to be coy with it and not all go all out like chapter 55 in ACOMAF.
Their relationship as whole was awesome since they still had the banter,( I was on the ground laughing at some of it) , they really showed they had each other backs to the end ,and communicated a lot. Although he should have told her about his contrived plot for Mor's daddy and the Fall court to join them but that's for another day. I love them to bits which I though was never going to happen....
Also what happen to Isaac Hale??? I guess he's the Gale of ACOTAR..... Well Gale and Hale Rhymes! Well played Sarah!
All and All I really was expecting so much more but the fact these characters that I love got the happy ending they deserved, I'm ok with it. It's not perfect by a long shot but sloppy but I'm happy with the outcome. It just also shows that we need to be very careful on how we hype books in the book community. Everyone and their baby mama was ready for this book which made it kind of overwhelming seeing my GR update feed being flooded with it.
ACOMAF will still be the best book in the series no doubt about it but I still love the series as a whole.
One more thing
When the first eight chapters come out on overdrive, it was a little discourse about it being a little acephobia towards the beginning. With the whole twin thing, you have to look at the whole context of the situation and not just that paragraph which people are not doing. Feyre was observing them looking at disinterested at Ianthe trying to impress them. A person who waited until the perfect time to make her entrance to meet the twins and flounces around the Spring Court like she’s the baddest bitch there. A person who loves the power she has over men and women. A person who in the next chapters was freaking pissed that Feyre upstaged her during the Summer rite and trying to get back in favor. Feyre was shocked at the fact they showed no emotion towards her flouncing but more into themselves which she considers soulless. It just shows to me that Feyre still got a little naivety in her. Also physical passion doesn’t have to mean you want to have sex with a person. I mean Feyre has physical passion for Tamlin and Ianthe because she passionately wants to cause physical harm to them. That's my take on it.
Last thing
Since Lucien's "surname" was released everyone was wonder what Rhysand's was.
Is it obvious what it is?
It's Acheron! He took hers. :-D
You can also read my review on my blog!
https://tanyasreading.wordpress.com/2017/05/07/a-court-of-wings-and-ruin-by-sarah-j-maas/
Flame in the Mist by Renée Ahdieh
Did not finish book.
Did not finish book.
Edit June 5th: I'm thinking about giving this book another chance. It's been a year since I DNFed it so I think should revisited it to see can I finish it..
DNF @ 34%
The biggest disappointment of the year goes to...
Yep 2017 is officially cancelled.
I'm sitting here bored out my mind trying to connect with the characters and the world as a listen to it. It's so boring like watching paint dry. I couldn't for the life of me immerse myself into the world or give a shit to what happen to the characters. The only who perhaps had potential was Okami but he still felt bland compared to Khalid.
Shazi can whoop Mariko ass with a freaking arrow still in her shoulder blade. God she was insufferable on how the narrative goes on and on about her clever she is but she was more like a spoil brat.
This is NOT a Mulan retelling at all. Mulan posed as a soldier and to joined the war cause her father's ailing health. Also to bring honor to her family since she felt like she dishonored it. Not posing as a dude to sneak into a dangerous clan or killers who tried to kill her in order to find out who the hell hired the hit on her..
If I hear " like as" or Perhaps one more time...
This is not the Renee that I fell in love with her writing in The Wrath and the Dawn.
I don't know what the hell this is.
Also I perhaps I dodged the bullet by DNFing this earlier cause I heard it becomes instalove towards the end.
Another one bites the dust.
https://tanyasreading.wordpress.com/2017/05/30/flame-in-the-mist-by-renee-ahdieh/
DNF @ 34%
The biggest disappointment of the year goes to...
Yep 2017 is officially cancelled.
I'm sitting here bored out my mind trying to connect with the characters and the world as a listen to it. It's so boring like watching paint dry. I couldn't for the life of me immerse myself into the world or give a shit to what happen to the characters. The only who perhaps had potential was Okami but he still felt bland compared to Khalid.
Shazi can whoop Mariko ass with a freaking arrow still in her shoulder blade. God she was insufferable on how the narrative goes on and on about her clever she is but she was more like a spoil brat.
This is NOT a Mulan retelling at all. Mulan posed as a soldier and to joined the war cause her father's ailing health. Also to bring honor to her family since she felt like she dishonored it. Not posing as a dude to sneak into a dangerous clan or killers who tried to kill her in order to find out who the hell hired the hit on her..
If I hear " like as" or Perhaps one more time...
This is not the Renee that I fell in love with her writing in The Wrath and the Dawn.
I don't know what the hell this is.
Also I perhaps I dodged the bullet by DNFing this earlier cause I heard it becomes instalove towards the end.
Another one bites the dust.
https://tanyasreading.wordpress.com/2017/05/30/flame-in-the-mist-by-renee-ahdieh/