A Court of Wings and Ruin (A Court of Thorns and Roses Book 3)

I kinda overlooked this series for awhile thinking it wasn't for me. I had assumptions it was probably cliche or something. I'm not even sure, I just assumed I wouldn't like it, but boy was I wrong. This series made me invest way more time into reading and molded my interests more than ever before. The entire story is fantastic, from the character building to world building and threats that need to be overcome, and the romance. Its so very well written and I couldn't put it down once I started. And now I understand why so many people recommend and loved it before I gave it a try myself. I was thoroughly sad when I finished the series. But I have found other great series in the genre thanks to this one to help fill that sadness.

“When you erupt, girl, make sure it is felt across worlds.” I seriously have no idea where to even begin with this review. I'm going to try not to include any spoilers, but if there are any, I'll give you fair warning before reading further. Honestly, I am absolutely blown away by this novel and it took me several days to adjust to the world after finishing this beautiful book. I honestly don't know how SJM can top this book, but let's get real here...she will because she's just that amazing. I read this in one sitting overnight because I simply couldn't put it down. It's true, this book is a Court of Pain and Feels but it is absolutely mindblowing and I felt incomplete after finishing. SJM seriously took her writing to new heights, and I can't even begin to explain how fantastic it was to experience this journey. “The great joy and honour of my life has been to know you. To call you my family. And I am grateful - more than I can possibly say - that I was given this time with you all.” I have been such a fan of this series from the very beginning because I always felt that it showed Sarah J. Maas' extreme writing talent. It's so different from the Throne of Glass series, and I loved the creativity and dedication that she puts into this story. You can clearly tell just how much all of these characters mean to her, and every scene is richly described. Her writing truly sweeps you away and it's something that you easily lose yourself in. I know that if someone would ask me tomorrow to leave this world behind and instead go into Feyre's world, I would not even hesitate. This story is complex and I never expected for SJM to build on the world so much more than previously, but she does, and it's excellent. There is a great progression to the story, and this means new faces and new places come into play all while still developing our beloved characters. “What we think to be our greatest weakness can sometimes be our biggest strength.” The book starts with Feyre back in the Spring Court with Tamlin. While some people might have found this part slow, I think it showcased just how far Feyre has come as a character. The strength that it took to go back and set the foundation for her (and Rhysand's) plot was utterly fantastic! I think it helped set up the story perfectly and it showed us Feyre's mindset at the time. I definitely got some Aelin feels in this part because of how awesome and kickass Feyre was, which just added to my love for her character. But the best thing: Feyre's characterization. I thought she was well-developed already, but SJM added yet another layer to her character. Feyre is such a strong and powerful character and has come such a long way since the first book. Looking back, I can't even believe that this is the same person...and that is an excellent thing. It shows how much Rhys and the Night Court have impacted her and aided her in the person she was to ultimately become. “I would have waited five hundred more years for you. A thousand years. And if this was all the time we were allowed to have... the wait was worth it.” Rhys is as perfect as ever. I mean come on...who doesn't love him?! The way he treats Feyre made me swoon every darn time, and she is his High Lady in every single way. He gives her something that Tamlin never did...respect. He believes in her and that she can accomplish amazing thing. He allows her to spread her wings (<-- this is an excellent pun btw...I know I'm really not as funny as I think) and embrace her magic. The constant support and love Rhys shows her is something every girl should have. Plus, he's freaking hilarious...you can't get a better man! I honestly will never get enough of him and he will always stay firmly in my top 5 book boyfriends. Obviously the chemistry between Feyre and Rhys is off the charts, and all the sex scenes are perfectly written. I love them together so much, it just makes my heart happy. “It's a rare person to face who they are and not run from it - not be broken by it.” Cassian and Nesta are brilliant and I firmly believe that they will be a focus in one of the upcoming books. I need them together, and I need to have a book with them as the main characters because it will be such an epic story! They have the perfect dynamic that is present throughout the entire book. We learn more about Mor, and my heart broke for her multiple times. I just wanted to give her a giant hug, but I loved delving deeper into her character. Azriel is brooding as ever, but I love him. There is definitely something up with him and Elain, and I need to know what that something is. Amren's sass is pure gold and I love her so much. There are definitely some surprises with her character that left me (along with the characters) shocked. We also meet a new High Lord, Helion and god do I love him! He has to be in these next 3 books because he's awesome. We also see the return of the Bone Carver and the Suriel. And seriously...they play epic roles in the story. And Tamlin...I have to mention this guy. I actually liked how SJM handled him in this book (especially at the end). It was realistic and believable. And (Lord help me), I didn't hate him anymore. “My rage had become a living thing inside my chest, an echoing heartbeat that soothed me to sleep and stirred me to waking.” My favorite part about this book though (besides all the other stuff) is its unpredictability. Seriously, SJM gave me a heart attack multiple times. Just when I thought the story was going in one direction and bombshell twist would come out of nowhere and completely change the entire story. And there was not 1, not 2, but 3 major things at the end in which I was freaking out and making very weird noises that I'm sure my neighbors in my apartment building did not appreciate. The one MAJOR (and I mean MAJOR) thing involving a certain character at the end had me with tears in my eyes and my face the picture of shock. I seriously have never been more scared for a character in my life, and I was praying so hard that SJM didn't do what she did. I think I stopped breathing at one point, so HOW DARE YOU SARAH J MAAS!! HOW DARE YOU SCARE ME LIKE THAT! “It is a new world, and we must decide how we are to end this old one and begin it anew.” If you couldn't tell, I LOVED this book! I still am not okay after reading the entire battle since SJM made me lose my mind, but everything was tied up nicely and the conclusion was everything I could want. Most of the main questions were answered, but she definitely planted the seeds for a new foe for our group to be facing. I think it would be interesting if the books were from different characters' perspectives, but I'm never going to mind more Feyre and Rhys. This is by far the best read of 2017, and you need to read it as soon as humanly possible! Happy reading :)

Okay, well, I didn't think it could get any more interesting and intricate, but it did! Now, I feel I must mention that I do not choose books because they feature romance - it's a nice-to-read-every-now-and-then - so I predominantly started reading this series because of the fantasy. That said, I love Feyre and Rhysand's relationship. While I am not the biggest fan of the "mates" trope (I don't like feeling cornered into something, for me it is about who you choose and who chooses you), it doesn't feel so typically "matish." There is choice and freedom in the relationship, which is also contrasted by some of the other Fae males throughout the series; it adds a nice social/political complexity to the story, but also makes you love Rhys all the more. I also very much enjoyed the friendship between Feyre and Mor; it is raw and real and you can tell that Mor cares for Feyre more than just as her High Lady. It made me reflect on how your life is not only your own and how much it matters to those who care about you, and vice versa. Now what I really savoured was Nesta and Elain's character development - I like where this is headed and it was such beautiful poetic justice [spoiler ahead] that these sisters took out the King of Hybern. It shouldn't have been Feyre, that wouldn't have felt right. The twists and turns had my heart racing; I laughed, I cried, I nearly threw my Kindle against the wall - really, my head was spinning by the end of it. In a good way! The only thing I didn't particularly enjoy were some of the last chapters covering the war with Hybern. Yes, all odds were against the Courts, it really didn't look like they were going to make it - and they shouldn't have. Not as well as they did - the war felt too rushed, the help that came in, miraculously, felt too forced and there were too many aspects easily solved. A moment of silence for those we lost, though. My favourite thing about this book is the worldbuilding, the fantasy, at the end of the day. I loved meeting more of the court High Lords, learning more of the history before the wall, seeing the hundreds of years' history between the characters, and getting a better understanding of the magic system, creatures and lore. There is some good LGBTQ representation in the story and I do hope we get to see more of this as the series continues - getting to read from such a character's perspective would be brilliant! A great part of the series indeed!

As good as the previous books have been in this series, it can go in one or two ways with A Court of Wings and Ruin: elevate its game and continue its momentum or stumble and produce an average (relatively speaking) installment. Upon finishing this book, I’m so happy to say that it falls in the former category. Sarah J. Maas has managed to take what worked so well in the first 2 books and ramped it up for the third book to put a wonderful and exciting finish to this particular storyline. I have mentioned in previous reviews of this series that one of the things I appreciated about Maas’s works is her attention to detail which leads to the eventual payoff later on in the story. It enables her to play the long game which is a trait that, I feel, makes this series (and others) really successful. It’s a great ability to have in which you can create a well-rounded story full of depth, intrigues and intricacies and keeping it all straight and focused on an eventual end game. ACOWAR illustrated this so well. A lot of the cast’s actions, behaviors, emotions and behaviors had some origin in previous books, using past history and events shape the characters as we know them now. It gives Feyre, Rhysand, Mor, Cassian, Azriel and company depth and complexities when the story makes references to their past. These tidbits into their past also provided nice surprising reveals, giving the story a punch of newness to prevent the story from getting a stagnant feel considering that you’re in a middle of series. It’s a fine line that Maas toes well, to give enough new background info to keep our interest while still keeping enough back to cultivate that air of mystery that’s yet to be revealed. Within this long game are the various subplots and intrigue that make up the long game. I am continually impressed at how Maas manages to create these many storylines, both of the personal nature and those relating to the overall Hybern story. The consistency throughout all the books, including this one, is great and lends to the dramatics that this book produced. The many different interactions and dialogues these subplots created heightened the drama and tension to go along with some entertaining scenes between certain characters (great example is the war meeting of all the Lords). All of the drama, plotting, strategizing, politicizing and tension are all terrifically paid off by the last several chapters of the book with its battle royal. If I thought that the drama and tension occurring in the story up to that point was heavy, it was nothing to the main battle chapters. Maas wrote the battle scenes with a great combination of the action and the emotion. Considering how big and major this battle is (with all the hype and dread leading up to it), it could’ve come of as chaotic especially since there are a lot of individuals and their story contained within it. But Maas was able to deliver on the action scenes while supplementing it with the emotions of the party involved. You’re never lost and it never had a chaotic, confusing tone to it. On the contrary, you couldn’t help but be riveted to what’s happening and feeling the tension of what’s happening. You are feeling what the characters are feeling, going through the highs and lows. And impressive of all, the battle didn’t go the way that I thought it would. Not that I had a clear picture of its process, but the twist and turns it took was unexpected which just furthered my enjoyment of the scenes. If I do have negative point to make, it would be that things played out in a way that was too neat. For an event as epic and impactful as the Hybern Battle it’s to be expected that losses would happen, but here it was “close but no cigar”. And I may be nitpicking, but having those close calls kind of gave the story a false feeling. As if that danger and threat that everyone is worried about somehow seems hollow given that basically everyone (the main cast at least) made it out alive. Not that I am looking for deaths but suffering an eventful and emotional loss really would give the story a realistic and highly impactful effect. While I recognized this trait, it was not enough to take away from what I’ve read and the enjoyment I derived from it. Like I said I’m probably nitpicking and there may be some of you who are rolling their eyes reading this section. The Court of Thorn and Roses series has basically established itself as one of the great series around (I do plan on reading her Throne of Glass series). Maas has created a series that is smart, creative, and entertaining. It’s full of intrigue, drama, tension, romance and action that benefited from Maas really taking the time and energy to making a well-rounded story filled with characters whose depth comes from a well-thought out background/history and plotting that is meticulous with an eventual payoff, with the epic Hybern Battle as the cherry on top. As there is to be more books to come, this was a wonderful way to tie up this particular plot point while also leaving it open ended to further stories. It was an amazing ending to tide me and the rest of you guys over until the next book comes out.

By far the best book in the series, an epic romance - a fearful battle - and a father's love. I love how the storyline all came together in this book, the build up to the battle that spanned over the last couple of books and the conclusion

o This is the climax of the series as far as I am concerned. This book gets a lot of hate, but it is honestly, my favorite book of the series. o OVERVIEW: SPOILERS: I have NEVER in my life had so many feelings about a man in my real life let alone in a book. I lost count how many times I closed this book and just shook the crap out of it because Tamlin made me so mad. GOOD LORD MAN. This dang book had me so in my feelings about everything every single time I turned the page. o This is the climax of the Night Court story itself, the war with Hybern and trying to save the Fae Lands and the Courts. Hybern makes a deal with Tamlin and they bring the Night Court to his court and drag in Feyre’s human sisters, forcing them into the Cauldron to become made. But what they don’t know is that Nesta, ever the fighter, took from the cauldron just as it was taking from her and her sister. Which was when the Human Queens (part of the treaty) see that Hybern promised immortality from the cauldron with the sisters as tests, run but something was taken from Cauldron so it takes from the next one in the Cauldron, therefore making the Queens mad. War comes, Nesta saves Cassian twice, Hybern kills the girls’ father and Elain stabs him but Nesta has the killshot and removes his head, the girls’ father shows up with an armada when Drakon and Myriam show up with boats named after the girls, the cauldron calls Elain and they search for her. Feyre and Amren and Varian find the Cauldron but Amren deceives Feyre and dives into the Cauldron, she becomes her true form and wipes out mostly everything in the war with fire. The Cauldron explodes into three pieces and Rhys and Feyre save it by mending it back together because Feyre remembers that all life comes from the Cauldron, but when she comes back to reality, Rhys is lying on the ground and not breathing. She begs the high lords to fix him like they did her, so they do and he comes back. o Along the way, Feyre faces fears that the Bone Carver told her about to free him to get him to fight with them against Hybern, also faces Bryaxis (the dark thing in the lowest level of the library where the Priestesses work at the House of Wind). Rhys frees the Weaver of the Wood (Bone Carvers sister) to help as well. Hybern kills the Bone Carver and the Weaver of the Wood and Bryaxis is still missing at the end of the book. o There is just so freaking much that happens in this book and that is why it is my favorite. The weaving of stories is immaculate within this book. I know that quite a few people don’t like Sarah J. Mass’ writing but I did for sure. I’m also new to the Fae writing, etc. However, I did definitely like this one the best out of all of them and I would re-read it 2942359798 times if I could. The ending and beginning of stories throughout this is just one that I wish I could read for the first time again.

This book was pure, exhilarating momentum from start to finish. The dynamic energy never lets up—I was constantly on edge, desperate to turn the next page, and completely unable to put it down. Maas does what she does best here: she deepens every character with care and intention, allowing their growth to feel earned and emotionally satisfying. What truly stood out to me was how seamlessly she interweaves relationships—alliances, rivalries, friendships, and love—into the larger conflict. Every interaction matters, every choice carries weight, and the emotional stakes feel just as powerful as the epic battles. The world-building is rich without slowing the pace, and the tension builds in a way that kept my heart racing. This installment feels bold, expansive, and deeply rewarding, especially for readers invested in these characters from the beginning. An unforgettable, can’t-stop-reading conclusion that delivers on every level.

A Court of Wings and Ruin further expands the fantastic world that Sarah J. Maas has built for us. We predominantly saw Feyre’s life in the human world and Tamlin’s Spring Court in A Court of Thorns and Roses. Then we were given a look into the mysterious Night Court and some time to explore the Summer Court in A Court of Mist and Fury. We are finally able to experience the other Courts in the third book, beyond brief mentions. The first Court we are given more information about is the Autumn Court, where Lucien hails from. Lucien is developed much further in this book, although we have gotten to know him fairly well throughout the first two books – it was nice to get more backstory and an explanation about why he is the male that he is. We also get to experience more of his father’s personality, as well as his eldest brother Eris’. She describes each palace, forest and street in Prythian with such vivid detail that the entire land comes to life in your mind. The strongest part of this series is the world building, although that does not mean that any of the other aspects of the series are lacking. I personally believe that her strong suit is illustrating such fantastic lands and that shines in this book. Each Court has its own way of ruling and they tend to keep to themselves. Although they have relations with one another, their alliances and communication are generally not very strong. This makes convincing them to all join together to face Hybern’s threat much more difficult, especially when all of the Courts don’t even agree that the King is a threat. Although the main characters were well developed over the course of the first two novels, they continue to grow in the third. Elain and Nesta especially take a more central role in the storyline than they did before, which allows the reader to get to know them better. More of Amren’s backstory is also revealed, which was honestly not something I ever expected to learn about because I didn’t think any of the characters were brave enough to question her – despite desperately wanting to know more about her. As you’re reading, you actually get chills as big actions are taken or decisions are made. You are that invested in the story, the characters, and the world that it physically affects you. I never felt that the pacing was slow, rather each event and scene built the narrative towards the final, explosive climax. It was a steady, enticing pace that pulled me in and never let go. If the book wasn’t as long as it is (and I didn’t have to leave my house to go to school), I would have sat there for ten hours straight reading. Each character, good or bad has become real so their struggles, triumphs and pain resonate within you. It is the book that makes an impact like this that will stay with you. I cheered and cried in equal measure reading this book. The stunning conclusion to this series left me breathless, and glad that though this story might be done the world of Prythian still had more tales to tell us.