A Court of Wings and Ruin
Ratings1,087
Average rating4.2
i needed to take a break for a few weeks to get through this one as i wanted to absorb the world and characters and regions and everything that was action packed in this one. I think i loved this one even more than the prior 2. I personally love a fantasy series that develops and builds to a ultimate moment and maas definitely hit everything on my checklist. I am glad my friend peer pressured me to read this series. I am loving all the characters and the path their arcs are going.
(More of a 3.5, really).
For a 700-odd page book, probably the most surprisingly strong element of Wings and Ruin is the pacing. Almost the entire first half is dedicated to a slow, tense build-up towards inevitable war, punctuated with the immediate fallout of the events of the previous book's climax, and various fanbaiting twists of the knife in vengeance towards a ‘ship' now firmly sunk.
And then, almost impossibly as if by surprise, all hell finally breaks loose. Cinematic style action dominates the next several hundred pages, and it's all as exciting, daring, tense and dramatic as you could ask for.
That none of it ever really feels either rushed or unhurried is a solid credit to Maas.
Unfortunately, for a story based in the brutality of all-out warfare, it severely lacks teeth or consequence. A deus ex machina too far, a convenient save of a main character just in too many times. The ending falls flat on its face and undoes too much of what the rest of the book did right.
The actual writing is no better or worse than the previous books, although I might go genuinely insane if I have to consider the thought of one more “vulgar gesture”. It's perfunctory. It'll get you from point A to point B in the story and largely won't get in the way or need you to decipher or interpret any lost meaning. It's fine.
This is the last book in the series that I own so after this there will be no more reviews possibly~ unless I decide to get the next ones on Libby I am done here. Which I think this had an ending that I don’t care to continue further as well.
I felt this book was extremely long with a lot of fluff… this definitely could have been two books. The only thing I really enjoyed was more of Feyre and Rhys, and when Feyre is in the spring court. I hated the part with her father, I found that whole thing at the end kinda of meh. The first fighting scene I enjoyed but after that I didn’t care as much.
Over all the series is a 2 maybe a 2.5 ⭐️ rating. The second book is my favorite then this and the first one is my least favorite.
I have so much to say about ACOWAR...too much–I dare say.
First off, the grammar of this book is atrocious. I listened to ACOTAR and ACOMAF on Audible, so I hadn't been exposed to the overuse of em-dashes and ellipses until now, and I gotta say, SJM needs a new editor. Assuming she used one at all for this.
I will say that the first two hundred or so pages of ACOWAR were top notch and super engaging. When Feyre and Lucien made their escape from the Spring Court and had to take on the twins, muah. Give me more of that SJM. That level of engagement fell off hard when she returned to the night court and the plot came to a crawl.
The WAR part of ACOWAR was more of a let down than the smut part of this book, and even that was non-existent. Although, that may be because I'm used to reading epics such as the Horus Heresy where war and characters are the primary focuses, not bat wings, throat bobbings, and ten pages worth of Rhys shoving his hands in his pockets. What is he even doing that for? Are we playing with ourselves in public now? All of the battles, or around 99% of them, are watched from afar as Feyre is left behind under the care of Mor, which is fine, but SJM shows that her ability to convey the nitty-gritty side of war and the emotional losses that come with it is severely lacking.
Secondly, the pacing of the last two hundred pages was insane. We spend around 300 - 400 pages in the night court where the main group are worried about unifying the realm. Then, when it comes down to the battle, we fly through it in maybe one hundred and fifty pages with twenty allocated for epilogues. The final twenty or so chapters go like this: “OH NO! Problem has arisen!” to “It's aight, we'll solve it in a three or four page chapter :).”
Overall, I'm disappointed to say that this was my first book I finished in 2025. I wish I could take it back, but alas, my throat bobbed and my hands needed warming, so I shoved them in my pants. One out of five. Read it if you must, but abandon all hope ye who must put up with Nesta for another page. I'll see you ACOFANs in the next book!
SPOILER: Using the high lords to resurrect Rhys in the same manner that Feyre was in ACOTAR was a lame maguffin. Better to have not killed him off in the first place as it ruined his sacrifice. The same went for Amren. There were no stakes in the end. Sure, you can make the argument that the Bone Carver, The Weaver, and Feyre's father (who SJM didn't even bother naming???) lost their life, but those are side characters. I'm also pretty sure they didn't bother giving the Archeron's father a sendoff? Though, maybe I missed that singular paragraph.
Summary: A single story arc split between two books.
I am behind on writing about my reading and while I have enjoyed this series enough to keep reading it (I am in the middle of the fourth right now), this if far from a perfect series. I have read pretty widely in the more classical fantasy world. And I have read some romance. The recent trend to Romantasy isn't completely new, but this series seems to have contributed to the movement.
There are some irritating distractions in this version of fantasy. Some are silly things like flush toilets and hot water bathtubs and the level of technology constantly shifting from medieval to 19th-century references. And there is the more common fantasy issues like magic being used to bridge plot points in ways that do not make sense internally to the system.
The series has a sharp turn at the start of the second book (spoilers for the first book and these two books follow), Feyre saved Tamlin and all other Farie courts by breaking the curse. In the process knowingly killed several innocents and herself was killed. But she was brought back to life by the combined work of the seven High Lords who were all gathered together in captivity and who had just been released because of Feyre's work. She is resurrected and becomes the “Curse Breaker”.
The second book starts with Fryre having a very clear trauma response to both her actions (especially killing the innocents) and her captivity which lead eventually to her death. She can't be in a confined place because it reminds her of her cell. She can't paint or do other previously enjoyable things because of the trauma response. The story turns because while there was previous evidence of Tamlin's character in the first book, the second book starts to show Tamlin having his own trauma responses, which are expressed in abusive and controlling ways.
As part of the deal with Rhys, that saved her at the end of the last book, she has to go live with Rhys one week a month. Rhys is aware of her trauma responses and works to care for her and over time she starts to have some healing. Feyre also never really learned to read because her mother died when she was young. So a significant part of how Rhys addresses her trauma is by teaching her to read and understand her new Farie powers.
It happens fairly early in the second book, but Tamlin understands that their relationship is not going well. His response is to try to control her more. Feyre reacts to that attempt to control by becoming more insistent on resisting control. Tamlin eventually tries to force a marriage, and that is the breaking point for Feyre. A bond was created when Rhys saved Feyre under the mountain and he can sense her emotions. When she is breaking down before the wedding ceremony he arranges for Feyre to be rescued/kidnapped.
And it is at this point there is a shift in the book toward Feyre starting to heal and then fall in love with Rhys. Internally that does make some sense, but looking at it from the end of the three-book arc, there is a tension between an abusive initial relationship and a probably too good healthy relationship. Real people fall in love with problematic people all the time. There is a trope about the attraction that women have to bad guys. But what this series relies on entirely too heavily is bad characters actually being good characters who do bad seemingly bad things for hidden reasons. And those hidden reasons make sense once you gain understanding.
I don't remember where I read it initially, but I read an article a few years ago about how many Western children's movies are stories of good overcoming evil. While many Eastern children's movies are about the conflict of the story not being rooted in overcoming evil but overcoming misunderstanding. Frozen 2 and Encanto are both stories where the idea of overcoming misunderstanding is more central to the plot than overcoming a specific evil character. There are still evil characters in this series, but many of those evil characters are good guys who were forced to work with the evil characters for a time but were trying to weaken the evil forces from the inside. I like this as a story possibility, but that story possibility is less interesting when it is overused, as it is here.
In this two-book story arc, Feyre has to heal from her trauma, and find faith in herself and her abilities, many of which are new as a result of her resurrection, but many of which were developments of her character and upbringing and doing what it takes to care for those around her. She is unfamiliar with the Faerie world but quickly learns. I am not going to reveal more plot points, but the two books are about 1300 pages overall and are a single-story arc. The fourth book is a pretty short addition. And the fifth book of the series appears to focus on side characters.
Because I was not interested in purchasing I listened to the Graphic Audio versions of these two books from my library. Graphic Audio is an audiobook production company that is making full-cast radio drama adaptations. Although they don't call them radio dramas, they use the tagline, “a movie in your mind.” I don't know how much of the story was cut but the Graphic Audio versions are about 20 percent shorter than the unabridged versions. I did not feel like there were holes in the story but I do not know what I missed so there may be plot points that were cut that would have made the overall story better.
On the whole, these felt like young adult books with a couple of sex scenes added in. The actual sex scenes could easily have been edited out without any loss to the story. I know others will disagree but that does seem important to me that the books are not written primarily around sex as plot points, but include sex. I understand the argument that this makes the sex gratuitous and not central to the story and that may be true. I don't think that the scenes made the books better. And I do understand the critique that these are written as young adult books with sex in ways that would make young adult readers feel comfortable reading them.
Right now I am sort of listening to the fourth book as an audiobook but I have started reading the most recent KB Hoyle book. I have read every KB Hoyle book and this series has reminded me why good writing matters. It is not that Maas is a bad writer as much as she is not a deep writer, everything is on the surface. The first book in this series is a retelling of the Beauty and the Beast. But by the middle of A Court of Mist and Fury we understand that while the curse against Tamlin was lifted, he is still a beast internally. She leaves because he is abusive and she eventually finds a good healthy relationship.
KB Hoyle has a series based on a retelling of classic fairy tales that starts with a gender swap Little Mermaid. And then moves to a fairy tale that I didn't know in A Son of Bitter Glass. This third book is Son of Gold and Sorrow and continues with James, the side character in the first book, the helper character in the second book, and the main character in the third book. I bring this up because there is a difference between fluffy writing that keeps me interested (Maas' books) and really good writing that made me stay up a couple of hours past my bedtime last night reading half the book.
KB Hoyle is writing a young adult fairy tale romance that doesn't fit in the romantasy genre but has some of those elements. I think many who are drawn to Maas, would enjoy this series because depth of writing matters. It is not that I am opposed to sex in books. While I picked up this series because it was banned by my local school district because of the sex, the quality of the books matters far more to my perception than the sex. I wasn't offended by the sex. In 1800 pages of the three Maas books, it was only about 20-30 pages, so I just can't get worked up about it.
What I do get a little worked up about is that Maas' books have sold hundreds of thousands of copies and a far superior series by KB Hoyle won't. If you haven't already, I think you should read Holye, I would recommend her Gateway Chronicles, which are early teen fantasy. She has a post-apocalyptic series that is pitched a bit older. She has started a middle-grade series that is pitch a bit younger. She has a stand-alone novella and the Fairy Tale series that I linked above.
Originally posted on my blog at https://bookwi.se/a-court/
I liked this book the most, it has everything: romance, strategy, action, spice, humor... it is long but not unnecessarily (contrary to ACOMAF). It is very dynamic and something is actually happening at all times, it kept me on edge and wanting to know how it ended all the time!
I enjoyed this one a lot but there are some things that kept me from giving it 5 stars:
- “Gave a vulgar gesture”, “My mate” and “said to no one in particular” are way overused, so much so that it became annoying to read and completely dulled my reading experience
-There's so much info dump, like for example in the middle of the war with Hybern certain characters appear and explain their whole backstory and how they came to support Prythian... like dudes, seriously? You are in battle and you have time to chit chat?
-Also there was a lot of info dump between dialogues that broke the fluidity of the conversation, I got lost and had to go a little back and read it again skipping the info dump part to make it make sense
-Some things weren't clear, like again, during the battle with Hybern, was Rhys with Feyre or not? He was supposed to be fighting but suddenly he's got part in the decision when Feyre and Amren are about to go to the Cauldron on their own... to me it was confusing
This thing was riding a steady two stars for most of this book, but then it totally redeemed itself picking up at the end. A wholesome (almost always predictable) little (fucking huge) melodrama that I will continue to lap up until the bowl runs dry
This book by far has the most action in the second half of the book than the ones before. I dragged my feet in the middle of this book but I understand that things had to happen that help Feyre and her clan when Hybern attacks. I have had very few books induce tears in me but this one had me crying three separate times!! I do not want to ruin anything but I will say there are so many elements to this story that kind of come full circle for so many characters we've met in the first two books.
it was so good ugh i love fantasy war.... idk it could have been better im not sure how but 5 stars felt too many. However rhysand king of my
It has been a long journey with this book to say the least. I picked it up months ago and have read a chapter here or there, until my cousin decided to pick of the series and I plowed through 300 pages in three days so she could borrow this book lol. I would have gave it a 4 star but I just felt like it was too long in a way and then too short in others. I hate the fact that literally side characters with no worth to the story over all are the ones that parish and Maas tries to bring a tear jerkers when she does this. It's dumb. I love the characters but sis if you want me to cry kill somebody that you have lead us to love, because yes, you've made very lovable characters and no I don't want to see them die but if you want impact you gotta do what you gotta do. With that said I do plan on at least reading the 4th book, but I don't know if I can tackle another big boy from Maas, just not my speed I guess.
If you like unkillable main casts, redemption arch's, and “rude gestures” or just can't leave a series unfinished I guess just keep trucking. There's twists, tear jerkers, and fast paced endings like in the rest of this series so it's not disappointing or anything. Just kinda mid.
I actually quite enjoyed the beginning of the book, when Feyre was in the Spring Court. It felt tense and I love that !. From about the middle of the book, I was getting bored and annoyed with the book. There are too many things that I don't like in this series like all the “mates” stuff and especially how it's different between men and women, the “males/females” thing, the prose, how everyone puts their trust in Feyre for such an important political role when she's 20 and has no idea about the history or the intricacies of the politics of this world that was completely foreign to her a year ago, the inconsistencies, how bad SJM is at “Show don't tell” and how she handles larger scales stories. I really think she was better with the small scale that was the first book.
Of course I did like some things with the book, otherwise I would have DNF'd (I won't read the next books though, at least not right now, I need a break) : I still love the folklore bits here and there with mysterious beings with incomprehensible wills (those feel way more “fae” than the pointy-eared tall humans, I like it more though I can understand people preferring the alternative), I loved the weird bits when Elain was beginning to get her powers and was saying strange and frightening things (I think it was kinda spoiled when she began to be normal about it though), I enjoyed the “background” relationships, and I think SJM is still good at making shit happen when I'm beginning to get bored.
my main complaint is that there's too much coincidence. too much good happening that wraps this all in a pretty bow. armen should've vanished...that is the logical next step. yet we find a loophole again so we don't have to lose any of our beloved characters. as nice as that is, its not realistic and all the devastation is immediately upended and lost. and this is not to mention just how DRAMATIC death scenes are when, in the next chapter, these people keep surviving and being brought from the dead. if the characters actually died, their death scenes would be gut wrenching. but we lose that feeling when they come back 3 seconds later. And when someone DID finally die (aka their dad), it meant almost nothing to us because we hadn't truly met him. We connected to his death for the simple fact that he was their father. So not only was his death not very emotional, but neither was his motivation for fighting for them. We just didn't see that bravery before and didn't see his journey OUT of cowardice. So his choice to sail and fight was out of character and unearned, in my opinion. Still, bringing him back was a cool choice. Maybe we might get more of his story in another books.
Unlike usual, I don't think this was too long (I genuinely don't think books should be more than 500 pages because WHY!!). I appreciated the prose (I know many people will disagree on this) and I also didn't hate the sex scenes! Maas definitely has a tendency to go a “tasteful” route with them, which I'm not sure if I love or hate. Usually, I think if you're gonna write smut, it needs to be SMUT. Because why else are we reading it if it's not actually hot? Most of all though, I was impressed at how much I truly understood and remembered with past books and characters. I usually have a hard time connecting books together when I read a series (I read the other two LAST SEPT), but the other books were so memorable that I rarely had a hard time. And all the characters were distinguishable. I had a hard time separating Cassian and Azriel in past books and this one just cleared all of that up. They have their own stories, obviously, but they blended together in book 1 and 2 for me. The fight scenes were intense but not unnecessarily gory. Their enemies were worthy opponents, which I loved. And there's tons of things left to resolve in the next books, which make me excited for what comes next. I'm particularly interested to see if the Cauldron will have any reaction to Feyre's pleading that she'd do “anything”...if she unknowingly locked herself into an agreement PERHAPS? Maybe not.
3.3/5
There were some passages that were written really well; it felt like I was watching a movie. However, certain parts of the plot felt random and rushed, but at least it's an attempt to tie loose ends.
I had to take a pause on reading this book bc some scenes were boring and dragged on too much.
I lost count of how many times I cried in the last 170 pages.
I've read many fantasy battles. This one is now in my top five.
So many people have told me the second book was their favorite. This one blows it out of the water for me. Book 3, you get the crown.
PS - Tamlin, I might just find it in myself to forgive you.
3.5
I did really enjoy the pace of this one- it keeps you guessing and trying to figure out just what is going to work to save the world. As a whole, the entire book feels tense. The ending did feel like a bit of a cop-out. The reader might ultimately be happy, but it also makes the series as a whole less effecting.
Contains spoilers
So much crying.
First off, I loved Feyre in this book - unercover boss b*tch, sly cruel High Lady of the Night Court, so powerful and hell bent on stopping the war and Hybern as a whole.
Second, I was heartbroken watching everything with her sisters. It is devastating seeing it from her perspective.
The war was written so so so well, and again, so.many.tears. This is my third reread and I still cried through like half of this book. It was so powerful, so full of emotion, it just got to me every single time.
We got to see the Suriel again, we saw war, we met with the high lords, we loved and lost, just so many things and emotions happened in this book.
Ill say it again in this review, but I think Tamlin deserves a redemption arc. I also think Lucien deserves so much more than he has now.
I would absolutely go feral for novellas about the other high lords, especially a super spicy one about Helion! Can we please have this?
This book has so much packed into it I don't even know how to coherently write my review.
The one negative thing I have to say about this book is that I hated that Rhys died and we did the kernel of power thing to bring him back. I don't think he should have died at all! It could have been Feyre putting it back together and loses a bunch of her powers, or Nesta and Elaine come help her, or all the high lords work together with her to close it. I just think he was 1 person to many to die and come back to life. I don't want him to sacrifice like that, and it was unnecessary. The dad coming and then dying was enough sadness.
Everything else was oh so good!
Too much emotions, that's all I'm going to say.
Suriel you bastard, you made me cry the most out of everything.
