Synopsis:

Feyre has returned to the Spring Court, determined to gather information on Tamlin’s manoeuvrings 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:

I know there are mixed opinions about this book but let’s start with the obvious question, what the hell were you thinking Maas? Following A Court of Mist and Fury this book was disappointing, rushed and had no heart in it compared to
the first two. You cannot/ should not rush a masterpiece, art takes time. This was not art, this was ‘let’s quickly try and get this done and try and make everything work.’ Don’t take my comments the wrong way, I enjoyed the book but I was not loving it. Maas
had spent two books building up this amazing world with such tension and anticipation that was highlighted with strong and loveable characters and I felt as though none of that remained in this book. And if I am going to review a book than I am going to be
honest about my thoughts.

Basically ACOMAF set the start of ACOWAR to be brilliant, with Feyre going under cover in Tamlin’s kingdom and had a real spy feel to the book but that didn’t happen. Fey spent a majority of time painting and annoying the crap out of
me, why not make your time there useful? Gather vital information, maybe see if you can unite the courts instead of destroy them? Nope, let’s just paint and hide these ‘amazing powers.’ The all wonderful and powerful Fey literally gets left in ACOMAR, Fey
just sooks through the book and there is no longer that strong and powerful female that we grew to love. But I’ll whinge more about that in a bit.

 So one of the things I did love about this book was the inner circle, I mean could they get any cooler? That group of friends is the reason this book got a fairly good rating. I purely finished this book for the side characters rather
than reading about Rhysand and Feyre, even though Rhys is the ultimate book babe!

Okay let’s start with Feyre, a woman that is meant to be all powerful and strong, independent who spent most of the time on her arse letting others fight in the war. FYI this is not the independent and wonderful character that was in
the first two books that we needed. Feyre was a bold, smart mouthed and courageous character in ACOTAR and AOMAF, though her mind was a bit shattered in ACOMAF after what she went through in ACOTAR (which is completely fair) but instead of building herself
up again she was a small glass rose that everyone had to protect. A prime example of this is that she was given these almighty powers and at the start of the book she is bursting to use them but by the end of the book, she is standing on the sideline getting
emotional as her mate Rhysand fights in a battle. Honestly if you cared that much about him, get off your arse and help him! Another flaw in this books is that Maas portrayed her as an independent woman who discovers her inner strength and she doesn’t necessarily
need a man or anyone really to direct and instruct her, which is what she hated so much about Tamlin right? Well she doesn’t act like this independent woman, she actually hangs of Rhysand’s wings cowardly and is pretty much just in this book for the sex scenes and the crying….. Cause that’s what us woman do best…. Right?

Honestly, I think everyone needs to lay off Tamlin. Tamlins is made to look like the world’s most arrogant and self-centred fae when really he was trying to do what he thought was right in a shitty situation. Before you jump up and down
and object, Feyre pretty much crushed him and his Court so he was forced to do what he thought would keep his people alive. He isn’t a bad guy just completely misunderstood.  Let’s face it if Maas wants you to hate Tamlin then you will, she has that talent
as a writer that’s why we all adore her work. Let’s think about it from his perspective – he generally thought the woman he loved had been kidnapped and was getting tortured by the Rhysand, wouldn’t you panic too? Wouldn’t you do anything to get her back?

Alright let’s talk about the babe of the book, Rhysand.  Let’s face it, if everyone could bring one book boyfriend to life there would be millions of Rhysand’s flying around, which wouldn’t at all be a bad thing. After all, I feel for
him hook, line and sinker. He is perfection! His sense of humour, selflessness, patience, devotion, love, well if you read ACOMAF you know I could go on forever about how generally amazing Rhys is but I found him to be completely arrogant in this book, as
if he knew he was a God and the power had gone to his head and well he was a bit of a dick. Two examples of this spring to mind, which is when he struggles to keep it in his pants long enough for Feyre to see her sisters. Ummm settle down, her sisters just
went through something horrific, let Fey see if they are alright before you jump her damn bones. This was another chance for Maas to show how amazing Rhys is. Well done, he kept it in his pants – give this guy a medal! Realistically it would have been more
romantic of him to take Fey to her sisters straight away, rather than hinting to some hanky panky! What bugged me the most about Rhysand in this book was how he treated Mor! For someone who stands as the shining beacon of hope, he forced Mor to sit through
all that abuse when the High Lord Fae’s met and made her feel completely unsafe in her own home when they met with her father. He knew Mor’s past and her hatred for her father but obviously doesn’t care.

So now Mor is a lesbian? What the hell?!? This whole aspect to her character felt forced and fake, there was no authenticity to her claim at all. Other than that I love Mor, she is one of my favourite characters and it will be interesting
to see her develop in future books.

Can we also acknowledge that Varian and Amren’s romance was absolutely amazing! Even though their relationship only took up a small percentage of the book I found it more enjoyable to read about that then Rhysand and Fey’s relationship,
and that’s saying something since Rhys is the ultimate book bf!

 Lucian, now here is a guy that deserves his own book!!! And he is another reason why I ‘enjoyed’ this book.  I am dying to find out more about Lucian and his family especially after finding out who his dad was! That blew my mind! That
and his commitment to Elain is just wonderful! I adore their romance!

What I enjoyed about the book, other than the inner circle and Lucian, was the final battle, though no matter how short it was it was well written. Thought it did take ages to get there!!

Okay now for my brutal opinion on what I hated about this book:

The pace of this book was shocking and miserable, Maas spent chapters explain something that could have been simplified into a page or two, but this goes back to the feeling the whole book was rushed! I would have been happy to wait
a year or two until she had everything perfected. I felt as though there were also some bad plot fixes that were forced, not well thought out. Realistically the book should have been re-edited, the sentence structure was a bit amiss and there was so much reputation
of facts and character discussions about the Hybern that we don’t need to hear again and again. This book wasn’t as great as the usual Maas masterpiece, where you feel the need and desire to stay up until the wild hours of the morning, eagerly flicking the
pages to finish the book.

Also her dad coming to save the day – like what the hell? A human marching in to save the day when these all powerful Fae’s around? Didn’t this guy leaves his daughters starving cause he didn’t want to get off his arse? This was a waste
of ink and a flaw in the storyline in my opinion. A little too late Dad, probably should have died at sea and they could truly remember him for what he was, the sperm donor. Harsh yes but it killed the battle vibe. I literally sat there and shook my head.

Overall the book lacked a spark, there was more ‘oh and this happens’ rather than the badass female warrior, honestly did Maas not want to write a female fight scene? But besides all the negatives I mentioned with this book, I have to
give credit to Mass, she is a captivating and fantastic writer, I just really wanted this book to be on par with the ACOTAR and ACOMAF cause let’s face it those two books bloody kicked arse.

 ISBN: 9781619634480

Publisher: Bloomsbury

Rating: 3/5