Previously, everyone figured out that Elain was turned into a seer because, by Feyre’s actual in-book logic, “[Nesta] stole from the Cauldron […] But what if the Cauldron gave something to Elain?” And then stole the youth from the person after giving a gift to Elain, both in response to Nesta stealing from it. The Cauldron is apparently canonically fickle AF.
A Court of Wings and Ruin: Chapter 34
This one’s a short chapter where Lucien prepares for his mission to not be in the book for a little bit go into enemy territory to search for the not-dead/missing/kidnapped/sometimes-a-bird-who-is-also-on-fire-look-I-don’t-know-what’s-going-on-in-this-book-either sixth human queen.
Rhys extended a hand to Lucien.
Lucien studied it—then my mate’s face. […] But Lucien took Rhys’s hand. That silent offer of not only transportation.
Damn, Feyre. We get it. Things are like other things.
Just before Rhysand teleports Lucien away, Elain appears at the top of the stairs and the two exchange eye contact of “longing and sadness”. Lucien nods to Rhysand and the two teleport away so Lucien can become a more interesting character somewhere else. Hopefully you weren’t interested in seeing that.
Rhysand gets back a bit later, just in time for Amren to show up and tell us that it’s halfway through this book so it’s about time for something to actually happen in it.
The front door blew open and Amren stormed in.
Rhys was instantly facing her. “What.” […]
Amren’s pale face remained calm, but her eyes … They swirled with rage.
“Hybern has attacked the Summer Court. They lay siege to Adriata as we speak.”
OH SHIIIIIIIIIII-
A Court of Wings and Ruin: Chapter 35
Amren details the bad news. The Summer Court was caught totally off-guard, with their armada scattered along the coast and their closest army legion a three-day march away from the capital.
“Has Tarquin called for aid?” Cassian asked Amren.
None of us dared question how she knew.
Amren’s jaw tightened. “I don’t know. I got the message, and—nothing else.” […]
“What was the exact message?” Pure, unrelenting command laced every word.
People are dying, book. We can take a break about how Rhysand is super awesome and he gives the most super awesome commands in the history of time.
Amren’s eyes glittered like fresh silver. “It was a warning. From Varian. To prepare our own defenses.”
Utter silence.
“Prince Varian sent you a warning?” Cassian asked a bit quietly.
Amren glared at him. “It is a thing that friends do.”
Ok, I’m submitting a formal complaint that this book has too many characters who barely do anything because I only remembered that Tarquin and Varian are two different characters while writing this post. Or maybe I forgot that Varian is a character? According to the ACOTAR wiki, he’s the prince of the Summer Court, he and Amren became buddies when the superfriends visited the Summer Court to steal half of the Book of Breathings, and he took “part in a number of political conversations, including the status of the fish markets of each court”, which – not gonna lie – does seem like a bit much detail to include in a wiki summary.
The superfriends decide that they can’t leave the Summer Court to face Hybern alone, but Keir’s army is “nowhere near ready to march” (so still waiting for all of that to be useful), so Rhysand’s going to winnow the entire Illyrian legion to the Summer Court to battle. Apparently this is a very hard thing to do.
So many. Rhys had winnowed them in—all of them. The drain on his power …
…but the book constantly reminds us that Rhysand is the most powerful person in the history of time, so I guess it’s still supposed to mean something that he almost wasn’t able to do this. Although god forbid we ever think for a moment that there’s anything he can’t do.
Mor and Feyre winnow in separately later after getting a signal. Feyre observes that war seems pretty bad.
Rhys and the Illyrians had already joined the fray.
Mor had winnowed us to the barren top of one of the hills flanking the half-moon bay of Adriata, offering perfect views of the island-city in its center and the city on the mainland below.
The waters of the bay were red.
Smoke rose in gnarled black columns from buildings and foundering ships.
People screamed, soldiers shouted— […]
Mor’s throat bobbed. “No one else has come,” she murmured. “No other courts.”
Uh, yeah, it’s been established approximately forty kazillion times that only Rhysand is powerful enough to do things like get that much of an army there that quickly. So no shit no one else is there.
Mor tells Feyre that Hybern’s soldiers have surrounded the palace, so their job is to go there first, and they winnow into the palace…
A Court of Wings and Ruin: Chapter 36
…and of course this is one of those fantasy novels where hundreds of rando soldiers can die but it doesn’t matter because the main characters are so powerful they can mow down entire armies by themselves.
I didn’t waste physical strength on the cluster of five Hybern soldiers—High Fae, not Attor-like underlings— […] The two soldiers nearest me had feeble shields. I tore through them with a sizzling wall of fire. Fire that then found its way down their throats [and] severed the heads from their bodies.
Mor just killed the soldier nearest her with good old-fashioned beheading. […]
I struck [the fifth soldier] first, an asp of pure water striking his face—stunning him. Then shoving down his open mouth, his throat, up his nose. Sealing off any air.
He slumped to the ground, clawing at his neck as if he’d free a passage for the water now drowning him.
We left him without looking back, the grunting of his choking soon turning to silence. […]
The hallway on the floor below was splattered in blood. The din was deafening. A dozen soldiers in the silver-and-blue armor of Tarquin’s court battled against the bulk of the Hybern force, holding the corridor. […]
I stretched out a hand and darkness fell. […] We winnowed through the ebon-veiled corridor in short bursts. I could see their terror as I killed them. But they could not see me. […] Winnow; slash. Winnow; thump.
Until there were none left, only the mounds of their bodies the puddles of their blood.
I banished the darkness from the corridor, finding the Summer Court soldiers panting and gaping. At us. At what we had done in a matter of a minute.
They fight and fight and fight and effortlessly slaughter dozens after dozens of Hybern’s soldiers by themselves. Lest you wonder if, hey, maybe our main characters are a bit overpowered, the book points out that they “sometimes earn[ed] our own bruises and small wounds”. Just when you thought this story had very fuzzy stakes.
Throughout the battle, Feyre wonders what’s going on with Rhysand, because he’s been completely silent on the other end of the bond so something must be draining his power/taking his full concentration. At the end of the chapter, she finally finds Rhysand down on a bridge, his mental shields up ridiculously high… until suddenly they aren’t but just enough so she can lunge with her mind into Rhysand’s mind to see what’s going on and then gets trapped in there when he closes his shields again. I don’t know what the sentence I just typed means either. This is really what’s in the book.
So I guess Feyre’s body is just, like, standing there? In the middle of a war? Good thing she only ever gets minor bruises! Otherwise this seems dangerous.
Feyre sees through Rhysand’s eyes and learns that he’s been tracking down the source of whatever’s dampening his power, and then, lo and behold, finally bothering to show up in this story for the second time ever…
Trapped within Rhysand’s mind, his powers stifled and body weary, there was nothing I could do but watch as the King of Hybern stepped from belowdecks and smiled at my mate.
Guys, even the Mother in How I Met Your Mother showed up more in that story than the primary antagonist shows up in this one.
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