Book Review: A Court of Wings and Ruin (A Court of Thorns and Roses #3)

Release Date: May 2, 2017
Author: Sarah J. Maas
Publisher: Bloomsbury USA Childrens
Length: 705 pages
Source: Purchased Book

Looming war threatens all Feyre holds dear in the third volume of the #1 New York Times bestselling A Court of Thorns and Roses series.

Feyre has returned to the Spring Court, determined to gather information on Tamlin's maneuverings and the invading king threatening to bring Prythian to its knees. But to do so she must play a deadly game of deceit-and one slip may spell doom not only for Feyre, but for her world as well.

As war bears down upon them all, Feyre must decide who to trust amongst the dazzling and lethal High Lords-and hunt for allies in unexpected places.

In this thrilling third book in the #1 New York Times bestselling series from Sarah J. Maas, the earth will be painted red as mighty armies grapple for power over the one thing that could destroy them all.

    

Review:

Protagonist: Feyre, High Lady of the Night Court, entered the Spring Court with one purpose, to discover what Hybern is up to and what it will take to bring them down. Tearing apart Tamlin's Court in the process, well that's mostly for fun. As Hybern prepares to launch an attack and bring down the wall separating humans and Fae, Feyre will need every bit of power, cunning, and skill she's gained since killing a Fae wolf in the woods to even hope to come out of it alive. Feyre starts off this book as a wolf in sheep's clothing, playing her part in the Spring Court to gather as much information as she can on Hybern before escaping back to her home and her family waiting for her. I seriously love how far Feyre has come in this series and this installment is a testament to that. Her mind is keen and she'll do anything and everything to protect those she loves. I started off this series hoping that Feyre would be a badass warrior, but I think it was much more fun watching her transformation from Fae hating huntress to powerful Fae warrior.

Romance: Honestly, there isn't all that much more that can happen with the romance between Feyre and Rhysand, their love is strong and it's been forged in even the hottest of fires, so going into this book there's not as much romantic development between the two, more moments that are a testament to their love. There are romances involving the friends and family around them, that while not taking center stage fill that void of needed development. I was surprised with how these romances unfolded over the course of the book and felt that where things ended up was very realistic and well written.

World Building: Ah, the world building for this book is fantastic. We see so much more from this world than I expected to see and as we follow Feyre's journey we venture back to places we've already seen with new information and context to show just how intricate and amazing this world is. We learn more about the history of this world, what went down in the last war, and how the past can help shape the future. Even with how much more we get to experience this world, there's still so much more to discover and I cannot wait for future installments in this series, no matter who they follow to discover even more about this rich and wonderous world.

Predictability: Dear lord, there are a lot of twists and turns this story takes. Many of the twists have some sort of foreshadowing to them, to help them feel more real and so we as readers don't interpret them as Deus Ex Machinas that undercut how amazing this story is. There are also plenty of twists that have no foreshadowing, twists that had there been any foreshadowing would have ruined it in some ways or another. Now I won't say that there aren't any moments that felt a bit too convenient or that I felt shouldn't have gone a different way, but looking at everything as a whole those moments are so small in comparison that I don't mind them at all.

Ending: The ending of this book played out in so many ways that I wasn't expecting. At its core, the ending is how I've always hoped it would be and yet how things transpired and how the war with Hybern turned out, in the end, I have to say I never quite saw it all coming. The final climaxes of this book were phenomenal, every moment of it fraught with tension and wondering. There are quite a few plot points that weren't wrapped up in a nice and neat little bow. Things that I could easily see becoming the focus of future installments and while I bask in how amazing this arc to the story ended, I also cannot wait to see what else has yet to come.

Rating:

As far as "final" books in series go, this book was spectacular. It hit all the right notes and while there are definitely things left hanging off a cliff, this arc of the story ended in an epic, non-idyllic way that spoke to me on so many different levels.

Book Review: The Crimson Crown (Seven Realms #4)

Release Date: October 23, 2012
Author: Cinda Williams Chima
Publisher: Disney-Hyperion
Length: 598 pages
Source: Library Book

A thousand years ago, two young lovers were betrayed-Alger Waterlow to his death, and Hanalea, Queen of the Fells, to a life without love.

Now, once again, the Queendom of the Fells seems likely to shatter apart. For young queen Raisa ana'Marianna, maintaining peace even within her own castle walls is nearly impossible; tension between wizards and Clan has reached a fevered pitch. With surrounding kingdoms seeking to prey on the Fells' inner turmoil, Raisa's best hope is to unite her people against a common enemy. But that enemy might be the person with whom she's falling in love.

Through a complicated web of lies and unholy alliances, former streetlord Han Alister has become a member of the Wizard Council of the Fells. Navigating the cut-throat world of blue blood politics has never been more dangerous, and Han seems to inspire hostility among Clan and wizards alike. His only ally is the queen, and despite the perils involved, Han finds it impossible to ignore his feelings for Raisa. Before long, Han finds himself in possession of a secret believed to be lost to history, a discovery powerful enough to unite the people of the Fells. But will the secret die with him before he can use it?

A simple, devastating truth concealed by a thousand-year-old lie at last comes to light in this stunning conclusion to the Seven Realms series.

    

Review:

Protagonists: Raisa has been named queen of the Fells, something that should give her a modicum of security, however it seems she's in more danger than ever before. With the dangerous kingdom of Arden licking their wounds after Raisa's public refusal of their kings proposal, it won't be long before they set their sights of conquering the Fells. Then there are those in her own court that feel she's too headstrong, that the much more pliable Mellony would be a much more manageable queen, and seek to make that happen. Han has been appointed to the Wizard Council. However he won't stop there. He has a plan, and he's going to do his best to see it through. However, he seems to have a talent for making enemies and for making trouble for himself. This is a queendom divided and on Han and Raisa, with a bit of help, and maybe some strong arming, can unite them to a common purpose. I swear, I don't know how many times I can rave over the characters in these books, specifically the main couple. This author writes some fantastic and multi-layered characters that are the perfect mix of good and bad. There are of course some characters that are worse than others, and though they cannot be easily handled, with these two nothing is impossible. (Have I said that before? I feel like I have. Regardless it's true!)

Romance: This is the ultimate forbidden love. I mean, seriously. Most forbidden love it's hard to see why the two can't be together, I mean usually there's amnesty between the two groups they belong to, but still if feels like there's a way to work it out. Going into this book I was nervous. I mean, there was a large part of me that was all like: It'll have a happy ending I just know it! But that's not always guaranteed, and even if it was it doesn't mean it's the happy ending I want. The impossibility of their ending up together, and not completely shattering the queendom is the trick and one it seemed Han might not be able to pull off. Regardless of if they end up together or not, there are some fantastically romantic chapters and scenes with them, Chapter 29 is my favorite, you'll see. There are of course the two annoying complications, Nightwalker and Micah Bayar, the thing is, something I've always thought is that, while Micah has his faults, at least he's in love with Raisa, Nightwalker on the other hand seems to view it as a purely lustful and political maneuver. He doesn't care about Raisa, not really and so when Micah tries to woo her it's annoying, but when Nightwalker does it just plain old pisses me off.

World Building: So, the biggest revelation of this book is the truth about what happened a thousand years ago when Alger Waterlow and Hanalea were alive and in love. I have to say, in the first book when we get our first version of "the truth" when Han learns he's a wizard descended from Waterlow, and learns what supposedly happened to his ancestor to lead to the Breaking, I thought it was too soon to reveal secrets that appeared to be very important to the overall run of the series. However, when I read the synopsis for this book I was glad to discover that the whole truth hadn't been told, and it's good too! I mean did not see it coming. I had my guesses sure, and on some level I had the correct guess, anyway I was surprised though that while it was a turning point for the story, it doesn't play a huge role in what happens after it's revealed to Han. Honestly, even if that hadn't come out, well I don't see things happening very differently. Still there are some awesome things revealed in this book, things that expand this book in ways I hadn't quite dreamed. It's a fantastic work of fiction and this world is so wonderfully expansive.

Predictability: Looking over the course of this book I don't honestly know how much I truly predicted. I mean sure I picked up on the fact that some things weren't right, that the usual suspect or obvious conclusion might not be the right one. Even then though I wasn't able to perfectly predict what the truth was, in fact there's a point close to the end of this book where I thought we would never get the truth on a couple of mysteries, that we were just supposed to assume it aligned with what everyone thought only to receive the truth through a very interesting and hysterically cliche way. It's a great reveal scene and one things I didn't quite seem coming.

Ending: Cinda Williams Chima seems to have a talent for creating insurmountable odds, and then without relying on Deus Ex Machinas, lead our heroes out into the light in a well written and realistic way. This book has a rather dramatic final climax, and in all honestly I use final rather loosely, there's a finality to the confrontation and set forth a good cooldown period, but the tension doesn't stop there. Going into any final book in a series there's a worry that by the end a series that you love may be tarnished by it's final installment, that the end would seem too easy, or there'd be something that happens which will forever taint your outlook in this series and these characters, but I'm here to reassure you that this book does justice to this series and unless you just sat around hoping for things to go differently than they did, then you'll love this final installment to this groundbreaking series.

Rating:

Again, not really a surprise. I love this series and while I try not to view the first or last as the best, sometimes it's impossible. This is truly the best of the series, though with a series full of phenomenal books it's really hard to choose.

Book Review: Thor's Serpents (The Blackwell Pages #3)

Release Date: May 19, 2016
Author: K. L. Armstrong & M. A. Marr
Publisher: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
Length: 368 pages
Source: Purchased Book

For fans of Percy Jackson and the Olympians, the thrilling conclusion to The Blackwell Pages, written by New York Times bestselling YA authors, K.L. Armstrong and M.A. Marr.

Thirteen-year-olds Matt, Laurie, and Fen have beaten near-impossible odds to assemble their fellow descendants of the Norse Gods and complete epic quests. Their biggest challenge lies ahead: battling the fierce monsters working to bring about the apocalypse.

But when they learn that Matt must fight the Midgard Serpent alone and Fen and Laurie are pulled in other directions, the friends realize they can't take every step of this journey together. Matt, Laurie, and Fen will each have to fight their own battles to survive, to be true to themselves, and to one another - with nothing less than the fate of the world hanging in the balance.

    

Review:

Protagonists: Picking up soon after the shocking, and a bit annoying ending of the previous installment, our heroes have everything they need to fight at Ragnarok, but now, with Fen trapped by wulfenkind magic to lead a pack of Raiders into a fight where they're best bet is to fight against his friends, things aren't looking so good. Matt and Laurie work to fight off monsters and find the battleground of Ragnarok before it's too late and they can't save the world. Things are looking bleak but these characters know how to get out of a tough spot. I really enjoyed how these characters interacted with the world around them, while there is still a bit of growing and developing for each of them to do, what I enjoyed most was how they were able to figure things out in a realistic way that didn't feel too much like a Deus Ex Machina, and I'll get to it in a bit, but there are a few moments that didn't work so well.

World-Building: Going into this final book Ragnarok is immanent and these final battles will begin, however, there is still much to learn about this world before we get to Ragnarok. There are characters that resurface, and origins that we have yet to see. There are many intricate things going on that all lead up to the final battle. There were a few things that did bother me, and I'm not quite sure if I even should be. Without giving too much away there are moments when certain things are hinted at, that it would have left a stronger impact if they were just flat out acknowledged otherwise they should have just been left out entirely. Granted, I could have misconstrued things or put too many dots together that weren't really there. And I know it's a middle grade novel, but some of these things can totally be handled by an average Middle Grader. Overall, I did really enjoy the revelations and new content added to this story as our time in this world was wrapping up.

Predictability: There were quite a few things that I was wrong about. First off, there was something that I thought was confirmed in the previous installment, that turned out not to be true and I just misinterpreted the information, which kind of bummed me out. Though I will say I wasn't 100% wrong, just a good 99.5%. Secondly there were a few things that I thought there was foreshadowing in this book for that I just totally missed. Don't get me wrong, there were a good bit of twists I called, it's jut that all the good ones slipped past me. And I will say that all but a few I really enjoyed being shocked by.

Ending: I've talked before about my newfound fascination with endings of standalones or series and the idealistic factor attached to it. The ending of this book is Ragnarok, and if you think that's a spoiler you're crazy, anyway since the ending is Ragnarok I expected some serious fallout and for the ending not to be too idealistic, even for a MG novel, and granted it wasn't all sunshine and rainbows, but there seemed to be quite a few Deus Ex Machina moments where even things that felt planned and plotted out, came off as some last minute shot to make things work out right. Like I said the ending not 100% idealistic, but it did feel like things fell a bit too much into place.

Rating:

I love this series and even this specific installment a lot, too cheery ending aside. Anyway, these authors did a fantastic job at creating a fun and adventurous tour through Norse Mythology. If you're waiting in agony for the next Rick Riordan book, whichever one that may be, give this series a try if you haven't already!