What we think to be our greatest weakness can sometimes be our biggest strength.
After waiting months in agony for this book, I was so happy when I finally laid my hands on this. A Court of Wings and Ruin is he sequel to one of my favourite books ever and I was ridiculously insufferable until I got it. I was prepared to be destroyed by this work and still I dove right into it – not able to stop. I had so many expectations that needed to be fulfilled. So many questions that needed to be answered. After finishing it, there seem to be even more questions than before. And I’m still not over everything that occurred during these pages. No wonder I needed some weeks to gather my thoughts until I was able to put this review together.
The most important thing you need to now before reading further: I am still in awe. And ACOWAR managed to put me in a reading slump since nothing seems to compare to this book by now. I want to grab it again and read it again. But I’ll be rational enough to concentrate on other books and calming down before plunging once more into Prythian. Otherwise I’d still be not thinking right. Because while it had me laughing and adoring it at moments, there were also passages that had me crying and cursing.
I was expecting the worst when it came to Feyre being once again in the Spring Court. I thought that it would take ages to get to the point of her heading for the Night Court and I was positively surprised at how fast this happened. I was so happy that the friendship between Feyre and Lucien bloomed after the betrayal and that they trusted each other despite everything that happened. When they finally met my favourite winged warriors Cassian and Azriel, I was crying. Because I needed to see that they both were right and flying. And I really needed the friendship between the Illyrians and the High Lady. It was so sweet and pure, I almost was assured that everything would play out well. Almost. But before I got punched in the face again after all happened in the two books before, I got to enjoy the reunion of the Inner Circle as well as Nesta and Elain. All of my beloved characters were there. All healing. All alive. And then there was Rhys, my absolute favourite. I was so happy to have him there, to see that he was alright. Because I worship this male on a slightly unhealthy level. But I won’t relieve my crush on him for now since this would go beyond the scope.
Talking about something else that I absolutely love. One of my biggest expectations was the one of seeing the rest of the Courts. So far I only got a glance at Night, Summer and Spring and while I really wanted to read more about the High Lords, I wanted to travel through their lands. Dwell in the light of the solar courts, run through the white landscapes of Winter and dive into the crisp leaves of Autumn. And I was not let down. Together with the characters I got to roam these lands and caught glimpses of how they were designed. I particularly loved the Winter Court – which may be because I adore winter as a season – and I wished to dwell in its cities and not just its lands. But still it was incredibly beautiful.
They High Lords themselves were also interesting – so many different characters, different views gathered on one meeting was amazing. I loved to see how they worked together in order to save their homelands and how much power they had. Some of them I loved while others I couldn’t stand. The most interesting were the High Lords of Day, Dawn and Winter. Day because of the possible fatherhood of Lucien, Dawn because of his gentle behaviour and the undeniable love to his male and Winter because of his icy behaviour towards the others while being kind to the love of his life. I don’t know how to express my feelings any other way. I simply loved the combination of all the characters.
Speaking of the characters I want to talk about some of the ships I expected to see. While I ship almost everyone, I particularly want to talk about Morrigan and Azriel. I loved to see them through the second book and couldn’t wait for more in A Court of Wings and Ruin. And it broke my heart when it became clear that this was a ship I would never ever see. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not judging the fact that Mor is – in fact – bisexual but prefers women. This is absolutely fine to me. But I judge her behaviour towards Azriel. Azriel how is always fighting for her. Azriel who would give his life for her. I just think that it’s not fair to let him wait for 500 years without telling him that he won’t have a chance with Mor. This is what’s really bugging me. Before I’m getting to emotional about that, there are also the sisters. While nothing much happened between Elain an Lucien – sadly – I was so impressed to see how the relationship between Nesta and Cassian changed.
“I have no regrets in my life, but this. That we did not have time. That I did not have time with you, Nesta. I will find you in the next world – the next life. And we will have that time. I promise.”
I love the fire between both of them and how they deal with each other. But to see how much Nesta actually cared for the warrior made my heart melt. How she looked for him in battles, how she tended to his wounds. All without them being really close. But what broke me the most were the words Cassian offered her. Solely reading them now makes me want to tear up. Because Cassian being that emotional, offering so much of himself to Nesta is how love in the purest form looks like. This is nothing how I imagined Cassian confessing his love – but it is better. And then kissing her while being on the verge of dying is just too much for me to bear. And Nesta actually trying to protect him gave me the rest. For I will always ship those two – especially after all that happened during the war.
The final battle is something I still cannot comprehend fully. I still mourn the losses of so many great characters that I breaks my heart to only think about it. I know that most of them were necessary for the story, but I would have preferred them to be still alive. But well, I can’t have everything, can I? I was amazed about how good the monsters leashed by Feyre and Rhys were interacting with each other, wrecking havoc over the enemies. I was so proud to see that the Archeron father actually cared for all of his daughters and managed to gain an armada for their sakes. But what mattered most to me was the fact that the Suriel came to help Feyre. Came to help because she showed kindness when it didn’t expect it. So the death of the Suriel was the one that hurt the most. I would have been wounded if it had betrayed Feyre in this book. But now after it’s death, I’m ripped apart. I want it back and be happy in the forests of Prythian. But I know that I won’t get to see that.
As you can see, I think I’m still not fully able to present how much I actually loved the book. How I wish I lived in Prythian and could roam through these lands, sitting with the different courts and enjoy everything it has to offer. My heart aches at the thought that this is a fantasy world and nothing I can see for real. What did you think about the third book in this great series?
The rating:
