A Court of Wings and Ruin Book Review

Number of pages: 699

Number of times read (including the time before this review): 1

Rating (out of five stars): 2

This was incredibly disappointing. I didn’t exactly have high expectations for A Court of Wings and Ruin, despite thoroughly enjoying A Court of Mist and Furry. I was more curious to see how Maas was going to end a series. This was supposed to convince me that purchasing two more Throne of Glass books is going to be worth it, not give me more doubts about Maas as a writer. I know in my heart that both Maas and A Court of Wings and Ruin had potential to be great, but I think the business of publishing has failed them both here.

A Court of Wings and Ruin feels very rushed. The pacing is all over the place, and the plot is nowhere near as intriguing as it thinks it is. The fact that my brain had enough time to frequently question for long stretches of time why I was still reading this monster of a book, tells me enough about my thoughts on the plot. It was very slow moving. If I’m going to read a book, I’d really like to be engaged while reading. I feel badly that Maas has to pump out two books a year to sate her ever growing fan base, but I can only judge what words she has written into sentences, not her situation.

The whole revenge plot was really terrible. It was the part that had me second guessing purchasing A Court of Wings and Ruin the most. Luckily, it reminded me just how dense Feyre is, since book two had me fooled according to my review. She takes credit for a thousand things that are pure luck, trying desperately to force the reader to believe she is the conniving puppet master we expected her to be. Three quarters of the people who regularly surrounded her when she was staying at the Spring Court, were on to her, but she was too busy telling us how masterful her plan was to notice.

Speaking of Feyre, she and Rhysand where the most disappointing characters in this book. Feyre nearly completely reversed all the growth her character went through in book two, and Rhysand seemed to only be there for moral support, with their relationship losing the spark it had in A Court of Mist and Furry. It really sucks when you would rather be following anyone but the two main characters. In fact, the only reason A Court of Wings and Ruin has earned two stars instead of one is the side characters, which makes me feel cheated, since special attention was probably paid to them because of the three book spinoff series coming our way (plus novellas I believe).

I don’t normally talk about diversity in my reviews, since it is my belief that congratulating authors on being diverse is the same as commending a historian or journalist for being factually accurate, but I like that Maas took the criticism from fans about the lack of diversity, and added some. She didn’t have to add diversity (we are not talking morally here), since as one of the biggest YA authors right now, her books would sell just fine without it. I commend her for doing better and not becoming defensive.

My one issue with the added diversity, however, is Mor’s confession to Feyre. It felt really forced and out of place, almost as if Maas realized she had written herself into a corner, and couldn’t use Deus ex Machina to fix the problem. I don’t have any problems with Mor being who she is, but I do take issue when diversity is used as what feels like a plot device.

I wasn’t a fan of the stereotypical fantastical battle scene that is so common in the final book in fantasy series to begin with, but the last hundred pages of so were the biggest example of an author using Deus ex Machina I have ever read. We’re talking bigger than when Hamlet is miraculously saved and returned to Denmark unscathed by pirates who know he has money on his persons. I would like to know, firstly, how on earth Feyre’s father knew what was going on and who to trust and get help from, secondly, how Miriam and Drakon knew what was happening, and thirdly, how on earth the thing with Rhysand (and Amren) at the end worked. Reading this ending was worse for me than finding out that the battle in Twilight didn’t actually happen and everyone was okay (to clarify, I was incredibly upset and angry that nobody died in that scene in Twilight).

Overall, A Court of Wings and Ruin was pretty mediocre, leaving me with doubts, and with only my love of the side characters having kept me entertained. A Court of Wings and Ruin has therefore earned 2 stars out of 5.