A Court of Wings and Ruin by Sarah J. Maas

Title: A Court of Wings and Ruin (A Court of Thorns and Roses, 3)
Author: Sarah J. Maas
Genre: Fantasy, New Adult, Romance, Sword and Sorcery, Young Adult
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing (2nd May 2017)
Blurb:

FEYRE WILL BRING VENGEANCE.

She has left the Night Court – and her High Lord – and is playing a deadly game of deceit. In the Spring Court, Tamlin is making deals with the invading king threatening to bring Prythian to its knees and Feyre is determined to uncover his plans. But to do so she must weave a web of lies, and one slip may spell doom not only for Feyre, but for her world as well.

As mighty armies grapple for power, Feyre must decide who to trust amongst the dazzling and lethal High Lords – and hunt for allies in unexpected places.

BUT WHILE WAR RAGES, IT IS HER HEART THAT WILL FACE THE GREATEST BATTLE.

Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ (4 stars)
Review:

In A COURT OF WINGS AND RUIN Sarah J. Maas brings the events that have unfolded in her previous two books to a head. This book starts several weeks after the events of A COURT OF MIST AND RUIN and continues Feyre’s story. The return of the King of Hybern threatens to bring Prythian to its knees; to reignite an old war that has already seen lands split. With everyone she loves threatened Feyre must find out what this king is planning, and discover if any of the High Lords are trustworthy and willing to stand with her against such power.

Maas brings Feyre’s story to a thrilling conclusion in A COURT OF WINGS AND RUIN. If you have read and enjoyed both A COURT OF THORNS AND ROSES and A COURT OF MIST AND FURY (and if you haven’t, why are you reading this review?! Go start the first book if you love fantasy and the fair folk) then you are in for a treat with this book. I really enjoyed stepping back into Prythian and watching events unfold. There were a lot of surprises and twists, none of which I was expecting. I did find A COURT OF WINGS AND RUIN to be a slow read, though that was not because of its length – though at just shy of seven hundred pages it is a bit of a monster! – but because I didn’t want things to end. Despite my stop start approach to this book I found the story easy to follow, and a very enjoyable read.

The scope of A COURT OF WINGS AND RUIN is just what you want in an epic fantasy – and this book is epic. Maas has plots within plots. The King of Hybern is a very dominant and disturbing character, and whilst I enjoyed his role as the big bad as I was reading looking back I do think he’s a little flat. That being said, I thought Maas introduced some very interesting secondary characters, which I hope we will get to see more of in future books or novellas. That being said there are a lot of new faces that make an appearance and whilst I felt invested in quite a few of the characters, there are definitely a few that felt quite flat in terms of me investing emotionally in them. As with previous books, Maas writes some really great friendships and its brilliant to read about them.

Feyre narrates A COURT OF WINGS AND RUINS and whilst I enjoyed seeing events unfold from her point of view. The ending does feel a little abrupt, and I do feel that Maas has left a lot of threads hanging that hopefully she will explore in future books. That being said, I think A COURT OF WINGS AND RUINS brings Feyre’s story to a nice conclusion. Maas splits the narrative into three parts, and there is a very definite feel to each section of the narrative. I felt this worked well and helped the story to flow nicely and not let the narrative get bogged down. Overall I think A COURT OF WINGS AND RUIN works well as both a third story in a series, and as the conclusion to Feyre’s story.