a court of wings and ruin — Blog

Hi friends! It’s already the end of March, and may I say that it absolutely flew by. I hope you all had a lovely month, despite the ongoing disruptions to life all around the globe. I know Melbourne is doing well at the moment, but to all of you still stuck at home, we know how you feel and hopefully, it’ll be safe for you to all venture further than your immediate surroundings soon ❤️

I always love March, it’s the first month of Autumn so we always have a lovely combination of lingering warmth and crisp cool mornings. It’s my favourite month, and my favourite season and honestly, I’ve had a really great month (other than the fact that I got a cold 🙄). I turned 23 this month and got spoilt by my friends and my family beyond my wildest expectations, and I am so thankful for the people I have in my life! I also had a bunch of FaceTime calls with the wonderful new friends in my life Hannah and Erica, and it was hard to shut us up! The calls were such highlights of this month and I can’t wait for many more, including our party watch of the Lizzy McGuire movie that I’m so excited about since it’s the best movie.

Okay, I’ll get to the books now! I had such a great book reading month and I got through a few re-reads and a few super anticipated reads. You can find my full non-spoiler reviews of all these books on my blog which I’ll link to, but I’ll do a fun little rundown here. Unfortunately, I just haven’t been in the mood to write in my book journal much this month, and I think it’s important to not force yourself to do things you’re not vibing, especially if they’re things you’ve chosen to do for fun! There are no rules, so I’ll start back up once I feel like it. It’s hard to have unfinished entries or missed books, but ultimately, I’ll be okay 😂

This month I read a combo of physical books (all paperbacks), e-books, and audiobooks and it was so wonderful to have a range of ways to inhale words and stories! The first book I finished this month was my re-read of A Court of Wings and Ruin by Sarah J. Maas which I started in February and read as an ebook. Honestly, I think ebooks are so underrated because it’s SO easy to highlight and make notes, versus working with sticky notes and pencils! I really like this conclusion to the main Feyre plot of this series, but it’ll never beat A Court of Mist and Fury from my top spot in this series! ★★★★☆.5

Next was my re-read of A Court of Frost and Starlight novella by Sarah J.Maas which was a physical book, and honestly, is such a wonderful way to end the Feyre/Rhys ARC and introduce the new focus of the next books. I also ADORE multiple POVs which makes me enjoy this more than I would if there was only one. ★★★★☆

That was it for my re-reads this month, because my next read was my paperback copy of A Court of Silver Flames by Sarah J. Maas which I liked a lot more than I anticipated I would. Getting both Nesta and Cassian’s POV gave this book the depth that I continuously wish we got for the first three books (or at least books 2 and 3). The redemption ARC for Nesta was phenomenal, and I love both where this book went, and the new characters that were introduced!

My next read was a Historical Fiction novel which I have been dying to read since Erica posted her review to Moaninc (if you haven’t checked out her website/ Instagram/ YouTube, what have you been doing??) The Porpoise by Mark Haddon was definitely my favourite read of the month. This book went from 0 to 100 within the first ten pages, and then doesn’t let you go until the last line. Even after the book was done I couldn’t stop thinking about it. It was honestly such a wonderful whirlwind and did a phenomenal job at intertwining the ancient story with the modern. I will continue to recommend this to literally everyone, forever.

The last book I finished this month was my audiobook of the month which was A Kingdom of Flesh and Fire by Jennifer L. Armentrout. I just want to shout out audiobooks for a second here, because honestly, I am LOVING them! I was definitely hesitant when I initially started to listen to them, but now I am FULLY invested! I’m thinking of doing a post all about the pros have cons of physical books versus ebooks versus audiobooks. Let me know if that’s something you would be interested in reading! So, back to the book. Definitely not as good as the first one, and literally nothing happens in the first 60%. The last 40% is much more interesting and I finally got hooked on the plot and the new characters. Give me more Kieran in book three, please! Also, a shout out to the narrator, she does such a wonderful job and I would definitely recommend this audiobook!!

So that’s my wrap-up for March, it was a wonderful month reading-wise and just overall. I’m hoping that April brings more great reads, and some stunning colours in the trees 🍂 What was your favourite read for March? I’d love to know!!

★★★★☆.5

This was another re-read in lead up to A Court of Silver Flames, which has very recently come out! The difference between this one and the previous two books is that I have only ever read this one once, and honestly, I could barely remember anything that happened… I realised as I was reading it that it was probably because not a lot actually happened. (There will be spoilers for the previous two books in this review, but will be spoiler-free for A Court of Wings and Ruin!)

This book felt much more character and politically driven than the previous two books. There were less major events, and more small choices and character interactions which fuelled the majority of it. For me, I really didn’t mind it. I love a book that is heavily character-driven, but I understand other people’s issues that not enough happened until like, the last 100 pages. With that being said, I really enjoyed the beginning of this novel, with Feyre working as a double agent in the Spring Court. It was such a thrill, and the changing relationships and dynamics between the characters was so interesting, compared to the beginning of ACOMAF.

I loved seeing more of the world, and finally being introduced properly to all of the High Lords. All of their different and unique characteristics, and how they work within their courts was one of my favourite aspects, and the politics between them was tense but also humorous. The most character development and focus though, was definitely on Elain and Nesta. After being forced to turn into Fae at the ending of ACOMAF, seeing how the two dealt with this massive change in their lives in such different ways was really well done.

Kindness can thrive even amongst cruelty.
Sarah J Maas

One of my biggest peeves in this book is the use of the word ‘Hybern’. We have heard the King of Hybern in previous books, and it has been shortened to ‘Hybern’ when characters are talking about the king, but in THIS book!!! It meant SO MANY things. It was the king, a place, his armies?? and his people in general?? It made absolutely no sense?? I feel like Maas just lost the plot with that particular aspect of the book, it was so confusing!! Is it a place??? Is it the name of this man?? The name of his army?? Please, someone, let me know what is going on 😂

I find it wild, that Lucien left on his mission (keeping the specifics quiet cause spoilers), and then everyone just forgot about him and didn’t communicate with him at all until he showed up later. Not to mention, the ending! Honestly, many aspects of the ending were out of character and hard to believe (yes, it’s a high fantasy novel, but you know what I mean!) It was anticlimactic in a way I forgot about during my first reading of it, and that definitely impacted my final rating which I downgraded to a 4.5 out of 5 stars.

Night Triumphant- and the Stars Eternal.
Sarah J Maas

I still really enjoyed this book, and this entire series, but ACOMAF is 100% my favourite book of this series. I will be reading A Court of Frost and Starlight before finally moving on to A Court of Silver Flames. I love books with multiple POV’s which is what I would have LOVED from this series, even just this last book! Each character had their place in this finale to the initial trilogy, and it would have been so wonderful to see some of it from a different point of view (although to be fair, Feyre steadily got more interesting and less annoying as the books went on). This is probably the aspect I am most excited about A Court of Frost and Starlight (which will be a re-read) and A Court of Silver Flames. Let me know what you think of this book!! Of course, if you have spoilers you want to rant about, find me on Insta @kell_read!