Brilliant Battles of Wings and Ruin

So here's the thing about A Court of Wings and Ruin, it was given the impossible task of following A Court of Mist and Fury and being better. Not an easy task. Don't get me wrong, this was a good read. I really enjoyed it, in fact, there was a lot about it that I liked better than its predecessor. However, it doesn't have the same lightning that made me really love ACOMAF.

This book follows Feyre as she goes undercover to sabotage Tamlin. After she makes it back to her home (and mate) all of her attention is focused on uniting the Prytherian lords against Hybern.

ACOMAF has less romance overall than the previous installments in the series. The blossoming romances in the story are not the protagonist from which we see the world which makes them inherently less intense. Because the book focuses less on romance, more of it is devoted to politics and military strategy. I really appreciated how thorough the battle mechanics were. Maas did an incredible job of making the world feel real and the battles full of suspense. I found the political intrigue to be one of the truly brilliant aspects of this read.

What didn't I like? Well, the characters were incredible. We can all agree that Maas crafts beautifully complex personalities that sparkle. That complexity unfolds over all of the small interactions that take place, but when you look at the basic plot not much really happened. There were a couple of battles. Do we really need this many pages? The book could have easily eliminated about a hundred pages without losing any major plot points or character development.

The salt in the wound was that I read all of those pages and then the payoff was so quick it nearly gave me whiplash. Everything was tied up within a couple of pages and it felt rushed. Did Lucien's side quest even matter at all? I doubt it.

Overall, I really liked this one. Because of the politics and world-building, I enjoyed it more than ACOMAF, but it was way too long. I'm looking forward to the rest of the series.