Again, just like with A Court of Mist and Fury, there’s a lot to unpack here. So much happens in these novels that I really do have to sit down and think about the legit journey I just went on. 

Just a precursor…. If you have not read A Court of Thorns and Roses (ACOTAR), or A Court of Mist and Fury, STOP HERE. I will basically be talking about all kinds of things that happened in those books because A Court of Wings and Ruin is just a culmination of them. Don’t ruin the series and check out my review for ACOTAR if you want to see if you’d like to start reading it. 

First, this book is basically just showing how Rhys and Feyre prepare for the battle against Hybern. Feyre is back at the Spring Court after pretending that Rhys had her under a spell (how any of them ever believed that–I’m looking at you Tamlin–is beyond me). Did I mention in my last review that Tamlin has basically turned into this huge jerk? Yes? Well, I’ll say it again. He’s a huge jerk. Period. 

Alright, so after Feyre leaves the Spring Court, she goes back to Rhysand. This took maybe a hundred pages? So it’s the very first part of the book. After that you get all the battle prep and the story really starts amping up. 

One of the things that I really love about this series as a whole is the central idea of dreamers and kindness. There’s a constant reminder and theme throughout this whole series (you see it a lot in this book as well) that those who dream of better help save the world. Not only that, but those who show kindness always win. I LOVE that. I want more of that in novels and in the world. Dreamers and kindness should be what fuels the world. What makes good overcome evil. We need more of that in our lives and you can tell just by the way that Sarah J. Maas writes that she’s a dreamer as well. Someone who wants better for the world. 

As a whole, I enjoyed this installment in the series. You still get the same amazing characters and Lucien makes a comeback (which I LOVE). It’s all the same great world building. However, I do think a lot of things leading up to the ending were way too convenient and made the story fall flat. I’ll get into that more in the spoilers. 

Spoilers ahead.

Alright. So, the ending? Yeah, not my favorite. Literally SO many things were convenient back to back to back. It was like, oh, you got the bone carver and looked into the Ouroboros? Cool, I got the weaver by offering her a deal. Oh, we’re still losing? Well, there’s Miryam and Drakon. OH and look, there’s your father and Lucien and the cursed queen!! I felt like there just wasn’t enough lead up to having all of those people show up at the exact moment that you need them for the battle. It made it a little less action-packed and enjoyable for me. 

Also, when Rhys “dies”? I was absolutely heartbroken. But OH WAIT WE CAN JUST BRING HIM BACK. Like, no. That takes away all the emotion, all of the buildup, everything. It was so disappointing. Like, okay, of course I don’t want Rhys to die die, but couldn’t you wait until the next book to have this crazy death god or whatever bring him back? You lose ALL of the emotional pain that losing a character brings if you just can bring them back from the dead all the time. Once with Feyre was enough. Don’t play with emotions like that. It just pisses people off. That is all. That is my rant. 

Overall, I really did enjoy this book. Although, because of the convenience in the ending, it definitely doesn’t hold up as well as A Court of Mist and Fury did. While I’m sure A Court of Silver Flames has to do with the death god mentioned at the end, I’m really hoping we don’t get all of these “easy way out” scenarios in the next battle sequences. 

Source: Personal Copy

(P.S. You can read this book for free by signing up for a free trial of Audible, which gives you two free audiobooks of your choice!)