A Court of Wings and Ruin

(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.