Welcome to 2019, friends! I know, I know. It’s still A Court of Wings and Ruin. “Sure, it’s the only book we’re reading and it’s 700 pages long, but how much of a slog could it really be?” we thought last May.
We still have a quarter of this book left. The pacing and filler is so intense that I’m not sure how to kick off a “Previously…” mini-recap because, geez, where is this book even going? It’s gotten exhausting. The primary antagonist and his motivations are nonentities. Even if we consider that the war and scheming between the various heads of state isn’t really the main draw against Feyre and Rhysand’s love story… I mean I can’t imagine having anything new to say about how awful Rhysand is by this point. We’re on like page 500 and the war is really starting for real this time for like the second or third time this book. Why are we reading this? What kind of case can this book make for itself in the last quarter?
A Court of Wings and Ruin: Chapter 55
Feyre and Mor have a brief conversation wondering why they “never suspected Jurian might be… good”, which is kinda like hearing two kindergarteners wonder why they never thought to invest in bitcoin because 1) why would we expect them to ever think about this, and 2) Jurian and bitcoin both apparently exist but I don’t really understand how.
“I don’t know,” she said
Elain hasn’t been doing great since their meeting with her human ex-fiance.
A final tether had been snapped—to her life in the human lands.
Only our father, wherever he was, remained as any sort of connection.
Oh my god, speaking of characters in this book who seem real more so in theory than in practice, what the hell is up with their dad? What are the odds he ever shows up again in any meaningful way? He’s basically been on a business trip ever since he became too inconvenient to figure out how to work into a story about hot teenagers who live forever and rule the world.
Chapter 56
A bunch of battles happen. I promise you, I thought about just making that the entire summary for this chapter and moving onto chapter 57, but some actual plot stuff happens. I guess. I don’t really know what the plot is anymore, but I guess we’re probably moving towards some kind of endgame. Hell if I have any guess what it’s gonna be.
Hybern’s horde was precisely where Jurian claimed they’d be.
And as the Illyrian army swept for them while they marched over the Spring border and into Summer … Hybern’s forces certainly seemed shocked. […] But Hybern’s army … It stretched far—deep and long. Meant to sweep away everything in its path. […] Merely an invading harbinger of the force to come
After a long fight scene that’s not really entertaining by BBGT norms except for a bit where Cassian throws a spear at a dude so beautifully that Feyre decides she needs to paint it some day (seriously), they win the battle. The battle takes place in the Summer Court, so Tarquin gets to determine what to do with the prisoners of war who have surrendered, and he murders the shit out of all of them. Don’t forget Tarquin is one of this story’s good guys.
After the battle, Nesta’s helping heal the wounded soldiers, and we get Romantic Tension between Cassian and Nesta! Get excited all one of you Nessian shippers!
“You’re hurt.” […]
Cassian’s face was grim—his eyes glassy. “It’s fine.” Even the words were laced with exhaustion.
But she reached for his arm— […] She must have read it in his eyes, his stance. I hadn’t realized she’d been observing the Illyrian general enough to notice his tells.
And when she’d tied it neatly, his wrist wrapped in white, when Nesta made to pull back, Cassian gripped her fingers in his good hand. She lifted her gaze to his. “Thank you,” he said hoarsely.
Nesta did not yank her hand away.
Did not open her mouth for some barbed retort.
She only stared and stared at him, at the breadth of his shoulders, even more powerful in that beautiful black armor, at the strong column of his tan neck above it, his wings. And then at his hazel eyes, still riveted to her face.
Cassian brushed a thumb down the back of her hand.
Nesta opened her mouth at last, and I braced myself—
“You’re hurt?”
At the sound of Mor’s voice, Cassian snatched his hand back and pivoted toward Mor with a lazy smile. “Nothing for you to cry over, don’t worry.”
Nesta dragged her stare from his face—
Ok, but I actually don’t have anything that snarky to say about this. It’s been a while since we’ve gotten any good pining in this series, and even if I couldn’t begin to tell you which one is Cassian and which one is Azriel, Nesta is literally the only character I even remotely enjoy anymore, even if largely because she’s engaging with this story about as reluctantly as I am.
A few days after this victory, though, Azriel reports that Hybern’s army somehow skirted them entirely and was heading for the Winter Court. There’s a whole thing where Rhysand and Feyre create a huge illusion that makes it look like their army is still right where they are so this area still looks protected because of… geography… (I no joke would 100% like to hear from someone who is here for both the romance and all the military strategy because I really hope that this combo is working for someone), and then they take off and meet the Hybern army.
This battles goes worse.
From the distance, through the rain, we could see perfectly as the dark line of Keir’s soldiers caved to an onslaught of Hybern cavalry. […] This was not all they had to offer, and yet we were being pushed back, back, back—
Tons of people are dying, except the main characters are all ok so it doesn’t really feel like it’s going all that badly, we just have to take Feyre’s word for it. As for Feyre – who despite fighting in close combat the last time the war really started for real earlier in this book, has somehow since decided that she’s not ready for close combat this time that the war has really started for real, idk, I just work here – she has a great idea.
I realized what I had to do, if I could not be down there, fighting.
Who I had to hunt down—and ask about the location of Hybern’s true army.
The Suriel.
I guess?
And with that, according to my Kindle, we’re 76% of the way through this book. And we’re basically at a point now where Feyre is going to seek down a mystical creature that’s so impossible to capture that’s she’s done it twice already in order to use its magical powers of having to answer your questions more or less to ask it how to end this book already.
So, yeah, it’s… this still feels like a slog, huh?
I made this point towards the end of the second book in this series: it’s not exactly fair to say that nothing is happening in this story, because this is really more so a character-driven story than a plot-driven one. And that’s fine, obviously. Many great stories are more about the people in them than what exactly they’re actually doing. But even though A Court of Mist and Fury wasn’t really my cup of tea (perhaps you’ve gathered that I really don’t like Rhysand?), I’d still begrudgingly argue that it worked as a character-driven narrative. I don’t know what A Court of Wings and Ruin is doing.
From a plot perspective, it feels like it’s building up to something, but the stakes and antagonists and main characters’ goals are so scattered and barely-there that I’m not sure what. From a character perspective, Feyre and Rhysand are a done deal, and I have to google whether it’s Cassian or Azriel who’s the one who has a history with Mor/is in love with Mor/is developing feelings for Nesta every time they show up.
But then again, I’m the one reading book three of a series that never sold me on its plot or characters in the first place. Fuck, maybe I relate more to the dad character who was clearly written off because he just has nothing to do here in a story about thirsty demigods making war and love and weird international diplomacy despite never really getting to know the countries and people they apparently rule. Maybe asking this book to make a case for itself is the wrong question. What’s my case for reading this?
This book isn’t “for” me. Lots of stories aren’t “for” people, whether it’s just not their thing (I have had so many reluctant conversations with people about how I hated Stranger Things but don’t really want to get into it because I just don’t care that they enjoyed it and I didn’t) or whether – more nebulously – they’re not “its audience”. I mean, granted, it’s not that nebulous. ACOWAR is not alienatingly niche or anything, but I’m definitely not the reader in mind for this 700-page young adult fantasy novel with a female protagonist who saves the world with her woke goth boyfriend who’s a king or something. Sure, there’s value in me picking apart how the story doesn’t get the “woke” part right, and it’s important to engage with a story’s flaws and problematic qualities when you do like it. But what how I’m thinking about slowly-paced story in terms of chapter-by-chapter recaps? What about how how I’m reading hundreds of pages of brooding, muscley warrior hunks as a straight male reader? Should a “good” story be responsible for transporting me into a perspective other than my own, or is “good” just if it’s serviceable for a reader that I’m not? What about how I was a 12-year-old who gleefully sat down with the 900-page Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix and devoured it in a single day? Even now at 28, I thought the other day about rereading that whole series again sometime soon. Where am I getting off writing about how this book is a slog with problematic morality and too many uninteresting characters and subplots and a boring mostly absent antagonist who’s evil largely just for the sake of being evil?
This brings us back to where I started this post: Why are we reading this? Honestly, it might be a bigger question than I thought. And I don’t think I have an answer yet. But there’s a quarter of this book left, and it’s a new year for this blog. It’s probably worth taking this last quarter to think of one.
If you enjoyed today’s post, please consider buying the BBGT writers a cup of coffee? That’d be swell of you!
About halfway through this post I was going to make a comment about how I was kind of enjoying the clear exhaustion with which you’re recapping the plot, and I certainly enjoyed that GIF after Mor cock blocked Nesta. Then things got really existential.
I personally think there’s some value in looking at books that are wildly popular or perhaps even just popular to a specific group of people through the lens of “how does this read when it’s not written with me as the intended audience?” In many ways, I think the only way to become a better writer is to listen to the people who hate what you write and truly hear what they’re trying to say. Often, these things come down to nothing more than personal preference–but sometimes there’s a legitimate lesson about what some people glean from a story versus others, and how to use that to one’s advantage in future writing.
That said, I don’t think Maas is reading these recaps and reflecting on her writing. She doesn’t have to–she wrote a book that perfectly reaches an already established audience. There’s a point at which you give no more fucks about a story because people like it, I should think.
Originally I assume the intention in reading this book was to have fun in recapping something that misses the mark for a bunch of people who are not the intended audience. But if it’s not fun anymore, your question is more than apt–it’s timely. It’s no work at all when enjoyable, but ten times as exhausting when not.
People have pivoted the direction of their writing projects for much less.
This. All of this.
Seriously, though, can I quote you forever? Because that has to be one of the best explanations I’ve read so far for why people (should) read books not written with them in mind. The only thing I could possibly add is that the above ought to apply as well to fanfiction/transformative works, given that fanfics are still a form of literature regardless of their quality and originality or lack thereof. It might additionally be worth considering what counts as objective critique or mere preference especially given the increasing shift toward greater inclusivity and discussions of social justice in mainstream media, at least in the United States.
By the way, no hard feelings if you decide to move on from ACOWAR early, Matt. I’d much rather see you read something you enjoy, ironically or otherwise–same goes for you too, Ariel.
I’m definitely of the opinion that objective critique versus personal preference is the absolute crux of the issue. I’ve taken a lot of feedback from readers that was nothing more than “I don’t like this because I don’t.” In comparison, what Matthew and Ariel do in their recaps here has so much more depth and value.
I need a new book !!!! uuugggg I can not believe there is more. It’s a slog!! I feel so sorry that you have to continue but I understand the need to finish what you started. Maybe a abrieviated recap until the final chapters.
First of all, glad to see you guys back!
Second, I read those books back when you guys started ACoWaR because I generally like reading along, so it’s been well over a year since I read any of these, but they made so little impression on me that I genuinely couldnt remember if you all were in the second or third book. I was relieved when you said it was the third not just so I knew, but also because I think everyone needs it to be over. It wasn’t as noticeable when there were two books going on, but now that it’s just the one, I seems like everyone is exhausted with it. I don’t think anyone would be upset with an abbreviated ending, but at the same time, we’ve all made it this far, so 🤷🤷🤷
Happy 2019!
Nesta and Cassian: stares at each other for 50 minutes
The rest of the group: sooooo we can leave or we need to wait them?