Blog #14: A Court of Wings and Ruin

     I’d like to take a moment to just say this entire post has a  SPOILER WARNING. I wasn’t really sure how to write about book 3 in the series without giving away spoilers. So, if you don’t want spoilers or are planning on reading this book series I’d say click off NOW.

     Also, ACOWAR is 700 pages, and there is so much to cover so I’ll just be highlighting the parts that stuck out to me. So please bear with me.

     I’m torn at the beginning where Feyre is being stealth in her actions and her personality; to tear apart the Spring Court. The vengeful part of me likes that she is tearing it apart from the inside out, and making the court feel a certain way towards Tamlin. But as we see later in the book, with a vast majority of the court leaving, including his armies, he has no way to protect his court from Hybern, and Hybern takes advantage of that later in the book. 

     Feyre did a good job portraying herself as quiet and dealing with the tragedy of being at the Night Court when she returned to Spring Court. And she had everyone fooled, except for Lucien. I think it’s very telling that Lucien could see she was different, and questioned how she broke free of Rhysand, whereas Tamlin was willing to overlook everything to have her back and being a subservient soon to be wife. I really enjoyed Lucien in book 3, in book 1 we saw a lot of his humor and friendship with Tamlin. But in book 3 we see him struggle with knowing who his mate is but not being able to have her and knowing she doesn’t want him around; and he respects that. We see him trying to fend off Ianthe. After he learns the truth of the situation with Rhysand and learns about Velaris, he becomes an ally to Feyre and the Inner Circle and helps in any way he can. He even ventures out to find the missing queen, Vassa, so get more aid in the coming war. 

     I’ll keep this short: fuck Ianthe. As far as I’m concerned she got what she deserved, both times. That’s all I’ll say about that. 

     Seeing how Nesta and Elain struggled after being changed into Fae from the Cauldron, I really felt more for them. So much had changed for them, and it was one thing after another. One example of this is Elain talking about being able to hear heartbeats and how it keeps her up. She mourns her life, and mourns the loss of her engagement to Graysen. It takes most of the book for Elain to adjust to these changes, and adjust to the visions she receives of things happening or the future. Nesta is just angry, and is angry with everyone, but tries to harness her powers to save the humans on the other side of the wall. I feel like these changes added depth to their characters, more so than we ever saw when they were humans. 

     I won’t dive into the meeting of the High Lords because it’s a lot and just easier to say go read that part. But I will say this quote is everything: “Be careful how you speak about my High Lady”

     And I’ll leave it at that.

     On a lighter note, let’s talk about Helion, the High Lord of the Day Court. After the High Lord meeting, and he just sauntered in and casually offering to fuck Cassian, Mor, and Azriel all at once along with his humor captured me when reading. We finally have a character that isn’t straight, and he talks openly about liking both and bedding both. He’s sassy, and I fell in love. But then a bomb was dropped. He had a long standing affair with the Lady of the Autumn Court. Eventually High Lord Beron found out and it was ended. BUT WAIT! Lucien, the youngest son of the Autumn Court, is actually Helion’s son, NOT BERON’S. It is thought this is why Lucien’s father and brothers were so cruel to him, because they knew he wasn’t Beron’s. Lucien even looks similar to Helion, there was no denying it. The drama haha!

     The battles though, and there were quite a few, really sucked you in. I won’t go into too much detail of the different battles, they need to be read, but I will say that there is nothing but grim feelings about war. And each battle you read leaves the reader feeling so, and the character’s show their struggles as well. Everyone has to accept what they had to do, what they had to see. Feyre struggles a lot, and thankfully everyone around her lets her know it’s totally normal to feel that way. 

     The last thing I wanted to touch on was how Rhysand treats Feyre. It’s important because Tamlin wanted to keep Feyre locked in a castle, and let her paint and throw parties. He didn’t see her as an equal, and even refused to allow her to be trained. Rhysand encouraged her to be trained, and even learn to manifest wings so she could fly. She fought beside him and the inner circle, and she was included in all battle plans. She was his equal, in every way, and all he asked of her was that she keep him in the loop and not just run off. He knew she could make plans, and didn’t question her just because she was a woman. I loved how important Feyre was. Especially in the last battle, her role was important as everyone fought around her and Amren.

     So overall, I really enjoyed book 3. Here’s how I rank the books so far in how much I liked them.

1. A Court of Mist and Fury
2. A Court of Wings and Ruin
3. A Court of Thorns and Roses

     I’m excited to start A Court of Frost and Starlight, it’s significantly smaller than the first three so I’m hoping to get through it quickly. I have enjoyed this series so far, and am glad to be recommending it to people. 

     Signing Off,

     Fenisha Estes