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| A Court of Wings and Ruin by Sarah J. Maas |
This is an attempt to review A Court of Wings and Ruin by Sarah
J. Maas. This is the third and final book to Feyre and Rhysand's story. I don't
know how many books or novella there will be after this it feels like a
never-ending tale. I'm really excited for ACOWAR because this is sort of a
final book from her and I'm excited to know how SJM conclude her story because
this is the first time we will read a conclusion novel from her but, blech, it
wasn't even the last book. But, for all intents and purposes, I still treat
this as the last book in the Feysand ACOTAR trilogy. I'm also excited for this
book because I really really love ACOMAF and the ending of ACOMAF leaves so
much potential for the next book.
This review will be spoilery consider yourself warned.
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| A Court of Thorns and Roses Trilogy by Sarah J. Maas (UK Edition) |
I didn't like this book. I thought it was meh. I was actually
disappointed. And you'll be surprised that this is a very unpopular opinion.
I gave this book 3.5 out of 5 stars on Goodreads which is still
a pretty decent rating if I'm honest despite the things that I will say here in
this review. :)
To be fair, even though, I read this book two weeks late from
when it was released, I managed to not be spoiled by anyone and I managed to
avoid even the reactions of those who have read it because I know that will
affect my reading experience which could turn out good or bad and I'm not
risking it. So going into the book, even though, it was two weeks late, felt
like I was reading it on release day.
Plus, I haven't been aware of the controversies surrounding SJM
and this book until I watched and read some reviews of other people. Having
said that, my reading experience was not tainted by controversy surrounding
this book.
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| Large Tote Bag 'To the stars who listen and the dreams that are answered' |
Anyway, let me start with the things that I liked about ACOWAR:
·
In general, the dynamic between the characters (especially, the
circle) is what really motivated me to go on with this book even though I was
really bored with the narration.
·
I really liked the time that Feyre spent back in Spring Court.
Plotting her revenge to Tamlin and Ianthe and the twins. She's so strong and
deceiving and I love it! Even though, I see a glimpse of Aelin in her, like
they almost have the same voice and I don't know, it's weird, knowing the fact
I don't like Aelin.
·
The battle in Winter Court with Lucien's brothers and when
Cassian and Azriel came for them and OMG I knew I missed the Night Court circle
and it made me so proud.
·
The meeting with all the high lords. Even though Tamlin was as
an ass that time, I still enjoyed it because the dialogs were good and Beron
was an effective bully even I want to strangle him.
·
Cassian.
And… that's it! Those are the things that I like.
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| Rhysand sticker |
Now, let's move on to my rant, shall we?
·
This is probably petty but the book is so long and there's not
much happening and to be honest, I got bored at some parts. It could've been
shorter and still deliver what she wanted to deliver.
·
There were a lot of things that happened in ACOWAR that was so
CONVENIENT and not at all organic which is weird to me, I was eye rolling the
whole time because CONVENIENT. What am I talking about?
Convenience #1
Diversity. SJM was often
criticized by readers that her books lack diversity and so in this book she
tried to add them. It backfired a little bit. Because people of color were
refered to have warm tones when describing about skin color, which really, was
she decribing a real POC or a white person who's just tan? Lol. Another thing
that backfired was when she included lgbt characters in ACOWAR and it just
didn't work because a lot of people were offended by the stereotypes of
bisexual/gay person in her books. Which, oops. High Lord of Day Court, Hellion,
was bi and was shown as having to want threesome with both guy and girl at the
same time. High Lord of Dawn Court, Thesan, was gay and has a relationship with
a guy who isn't his mate (yet) but wasn't explored much. Morrigan is a lesbian
but she also enjoys having sex with men but prefers women so that makes her bi,
right? Ugh.
Okay, can we talk about
Mor for a little bit? Is it just me or her coming out to Feyre felt forced?
Convenient? Convenient that because she was often criticized for having a whole
hetero romance so gave us a lesbian Mor? It doesn't feel organic because it
wasn't foreshadowed in the previous books. Convenient because in the next books
there will be more Azriel and Elain? And we know how much Azriel loved Mor! And
for 500 years, she can't find it in herself to trust her friends in Night Court
with this information about herself and she considered them her family. Rhys
didn't figure it out? For 500 years! They were cousins! Azriel didn't for once
suspect it? Anyone? Amren? Cassian? And you know what made me eye roll so much,
when at the end of her coming out, Feyre said thay when she's ready to come she
can't wait to play matchmaker. WTF. I love whatever Mor wants to identify
herself as but the way SJM handled it didn't feel organic. There's no
foreshadowing whatsoever.
To be honest, diversity
is not the first thing that I looked into a book. As a POC, it feels good to be
represented in a book, but when I'm reading, it's not really the thing that I
require. But, having been aware of the controversy surrounding SJM's books,
it's easier to notice it and have a feeling toward it. So, there's that.
Convenience #2
This is what I call switching-allegiance-when-it-is-convenient-to-the-plot:
·
Tamlin. I don't like him but I'm also sad for this character
because he was just a tool here whenever the story needs something to move the
plot. He's the bitter ex who have sided with Hybern to get Feyre back but he
attended the High Lords meeting and was on Prythian side now but suddenly we
learned that he's on Hybern's side again but no, oh, oh, he helped Feyre when
she rescued Elain in Spring Court and what now? Oh, he was actually just spying
Hybern but he's actually on the side of Prythian and actually helped Rhys get
back to life but he's still bitter towards Feyre and Lucien even after the end.
No closure on what's going to happen to him. He doesn't have anyone. Does he
even have people on his court to go back to? Poor, poor Tamlin. Why did your
creator did this to you? Is there nothing redeemable in your character?
·
Jurian. I don't feel invested in his character so the revelation
that he was apparently on the side of Prythian didn't wow me, I didn't feel
anything with that revelation because for the longest time that we know he
existed in the ttrilogy, he hasn't shown anything that would made me think he's
not really who I thought he was, but, there's none of that, so. But when we
need the humans (specifically, Elain's ex-fiancè and his father) to antagonize
Elain, here comes Jurian revealing Faes' secrets to these humans just because.
And to add to that, he was never on Hybern's side. Uhm, stop.
Convenience #3
Surprise help from faes
who we haven't seen ever but only heard snippets about them. And suddenly, when
it became impossible to win the war, here comes the rescue from out of nowhere
because we heard there's a war and even if they haven't been contacted by
people in Prythian they will still help them because why not, they have a lot
of ships. And also the queen whom Feyre's father have had meeting with, has
come to help. Of course, we need all the help we can get but, again, it just
feels convenient without preamble.
Convenience #4
Rhysand's death. I want
to clear that I don't want him to die. But why kill him when he will get
resurrected in the end? What's the point? I felt something when I knew he's
dead but I know he will not stay dead and when everyone giving their powers to
resurrect him, I got annoyed because I felt cheated.
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| Large button pin 'One life may change the world' |
Moving on, more rants:
·
The misogyny that was present not just in ACOWAR/ACOTAR series
but also TOG series is something that I can't tolerate anymore. The whole
'mate' thing which entitles the person to own you. That was not romantic.
·
Again like TOG, it seems SJM really like her characters to
always be paired up with someone romantically and I don't know why. There are a
lot of ships that honestly? I don't care about whom they're fucking, let's
focus on the story please.
·
OMG the amount of sex between Feysand is too much it's far from
sexy and not at all romantic. Their sex scenes are bland and it cheapens what
they have as couple when all they want to show me is them having sex even in
the middle of a war. Just, no. Stop with the sex scenes, SJM, for the love of
god! I know she likes smut stuff because I remember she said she likes J. R.
Wards novels and I'm not sure as I haven't read one but I believe there are a
lot of smuts there too? Figures. But, please. She's not good at writing them. ARGH.
·
Feysand became a boring couple. I really wished their
relationship got some arc or like a conflict? Idk, just some arc. It's boring
because it's given. That Feyre will always do what she wants and Rhys will
always be forgiving and perfect. And I'm so disappointed about this because I
love Feysand, they are my OTP (they are still my OTP but not as strong as
before) and I feel like they weren't given the spotlight to showcase their
strength as an individual and as a couple (not just in bed). I don't know, I
just felt meh about them after acowar.
Rhysand is my favorite
character since ACOTAR. I never saw him as the villain or something even from
the beginning. He saved ACOTAR for me. I believe that deep down there's so much
more in him than he's letting on and I was so so glad to confirm that in
ACOMAF. But he wasn't given the chance to unravel himself more in ACOWAR and
it's disappointing. I hope he's shown some feelings of frustration and anger
and losing his cool to make him more real and relatable. But no, he's so
perfect and that to me feels like limiting his character when he has too much
potential.
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| Feysand artwork by Charlie Bowater |
·
It feels like SJM was scared to let her characters go (is she
afraid she will do her fans disservice when she killed her characters?).
There's no death in this so-called war which is impossible. There's no
sacrifice whatsover. I thought Amren's sacrifice was noble. I actually liked
when she emerged her true self from the cauldron and caused havoc in the
ongoing war. Until she came back as High Fae. And to top it all of, there's
Varian with whom she's having an affair with. UGH. I think Amren is one of the
most interesting characters in ACOTAR but yep, not handled/explored well.
·
I will give Elain and Nesta the benefit of the doubt because I
think the next books will be about one of them. I just hope their powers and
their characters will be handled well there. But after everything, from TOG
series to this, I don't think I trust SJM's writing anymore. I'm not even sure
if I will continue reading her books.
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| Cardboard Bookmarks |
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| Ribbon Bookmark |
The more I think about ACOWAR the more that I want to lower my
rating for it because the things that I don't liked outweigh the things that I
liked about ACOWAR. But I'll leave it at 3.5, for the overall feels about it
and the trilogy itself.
I mostly feel dispointed because I thought I will get a better
conclusion or follow up to ACOMAF because really, ACOMAF is so amazing. I have
high expectations for ACOWAR which I won't apologize for even though it may
have caused me to not enjoy ACOWAR.
Again, with the last 2 books that we have of TOG series and
after reading ACOWAR, these are my thoughts so far:
1.
I'm not sure if I will continue on with the series as I've been
ranting about the problematic stuff since QoS (with the exception of ACOMAF)
and they're not even addressed or the writing didn't get any better.
2.
I think she's good at writing the second book in the series -
Crown of Midnight and A Court of Mist and Fury.
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| High Lady of the Night Court Soy Candle |
This was so long I haven’t even covered Cassian and Azriel, Lucien,
and other courts, the ouroboros, the monsters Feyre let out and what will
happen to them, the new treaty, when Elain killed the King of Hybern, etc.
Next time, then. This is what I want to cover with this review.
:)
I ordered the ACOWAR box from The YA Chronicles, they are an Australian monthly book subscription and for May, they have an ACOWAR-curated box. Having said that, the images posted in this review are from The YA Chronicles ACOWAR box =)
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| The YA Chronicles box |
Thanks for reading this!
Love, Kaye
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