Synopsis in a sentence: High Lady Feyre of the Night Court, along with Rhys and their friends, must gather an army to save the world from the evil King of Hybern and the deadly weapon he wields.
Given that Sarah J. Maas is one of my favorite authors, I was looking forward to this book, expecting epic plots, sharp dialogue, swoon-worthy romance as well as fully developed and interesting characters that pulled me into their world. While the last part of the novel delivered on all of these accounts, the first hundred pages were surprisingly and disappointingly slow being as they were filled with too much description and not enough action. Instead of becoming invested in the worldbuilding and characters—something that had never been an issue for me in Maas’ other works—I found myself constantly bored and disinterested. Rhysand went from being a swoon-worthy character of mystery and excitement to one that was almost annoying in his unmatchable saintliness. Feyre, too, was portrayed as being overly perfect—a fact attributed to her suddenly becoming the first High Lady of a realm—and, therefore, unrelatable. Rather than showing adequately how Feyre had become a stronger and more confident leader as well as warrior through her actions, Maas seemed content to simply remind the reader over and over again of this fact. In some ways, Feyre came across as an almost weaker protagonist in this latest installment than in any of the previous ones. It was only in the last part of the novel that the pace and plot finally picked up and returned to the quality that made Maas’ other books successful. Overall, while disappointing in some parts, this was a good conclusion to the series, and I am looking forward to the later spin-off novels set in the same world.
📚✔︎ Would recommend for fans of romance and fantasy.
If I could summarize the book in five words: good, not amazing, but good
Check out the official summary of a Court of Wings and Ruins by Sarah J. Maas on goodreads.
My rating (out of 5 stars): ★★★1/2
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