After reading the second book in this series, I was in full on binge reading mode and ready to see what happens in this exciting series. This series currently has five books in it and the second book in this series really set things up nicely for this book and upcoming books in the series. If you haven’t yet read this series, it’s definitely worth checking out! Though you must absolutely read these books in order as a lot happens in this book that is a carry over from previous books.
This series has been basically everywhere around the blog-o-sphere over the last few years so if you haven’t heard of it, I would be shocked! I was super excited to read this series when it first came out, but I had a lot of other books on my TBR and sadly didn’t make it around to reading this one until now but I did have multiple copies of the book on my shelf and I knew it would be one that I enjoyed. If you like new or young adult fantasy books with some romance (and in this case a lot more sex) then this is going to be a must read for you!
If you do not want any spoilers then I recommend stop reading my review after this paragraph. I try to always keep my reviews as spoiler free as possible but at the same time, this series references things from previous books and it is difficult to review the book without having some spoilers from previous books. But I always do my best! So reader be warned there might be spoilers after this point!
Summary
The epic third novel in the #1 New York Times bestselling Court of Thorns and Roses series by Sarah J. Maas.
Feyre has returned to the Spring Court, determined to gather information on Tamlin’s actions and learn what she can about the invading king threatening to bring her land to its knees. But to do so she must play a deadly game of deceit. One slip could bring doom not only for Feyre, but for everything-and everyone-she holds dear.
As war bears down upon them all, Feyre endeavors to take her place amongst the High Fae of the land, balancing her struggle to master her powers-both magical and political-and her love for her court and family. Amidst these struggles, Feyre and Rhysand must decide whom to trust amongst the cunning 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 fate of Feyre’s world is at stake as armies grapple for power over the one thing that could destroy it. (Summary from Goodreads)
Review
To be perfectly honest, I didn’t like this book as much as the others. In book two there was A LOT of ground work put down for the upcoming war. I assumed that the war would be the big crescendo at like maybe the fourth or fifth books—-but everything from books one and two wrap up in this book for the most part. This book is all about the cauldron and trying to figure out how to control it and unify the other Courts against Hyburn. There was WAY TOO MUCH going on in this book and then everything seemed to magically wrap up by the end. It was too neat and too unrealistic. Especially when the girl’s father shows up. I needed so much more explanation about the missing Queen and how Lucian was able to get her on board. I just had so so so many questions about how and why things wrapped up the way that they did. It felt like too much and too fast. This book could have been drawn out into at least one more book to really give it time to develop and become explain itself better.
I also got sick and tired of the whole ‘mate’ and ‘bond’ business. Things like ‘send it down the bond’ and ‘my mate blah blah blah’ just got over used and redundant from the second book until now. And the ribbons description has been way overused since book one. I would have liked to have some of the plot points given some time to be more cultivated and explained rather than rushing to get things wrapped up in three books. I know there are two more—-well 1.5 books—-in this series so far so I assumed we would have the big war spread out more. We could have had all the other courts come together in this book and saved the war for the fourth full length book. I think it would have given the story and plots more time to develop and made more sense. As it was I had a lot of questions.
It sounds like the next book in the series is more of a novella and focuses on the post war rebuilding and then the next full length novel is about Nesta so I don’t know I just felt like this book was way way way too rushed. It had a lot of Game of Thrones meets Beauty and the Beast vibes with all the court politics and conflicts—-this should have been a book I loved but I came away feeling disappointed. Not with the whole series but just with this book. It took me quite a bit to read this one and I wasn’t really satisfied with how things came to an end. It is still a worth while read and the series is still good but I generally felt disappointed. I did however love that Rhysand lets Feyre be her own independent woman who takes on the fate of her people. He doesn’t step in and try to ‘save her’, he really lets her be her own person and I really respected that about his character and that’s one of the things that makes this series overall (even if I didn’t love this one) so great for me.
Book Info and Rating
Format 699 pages, Paperback
Published June 2, 2020 by Bloomsbury Publishing
ISBN 9781635575606 (ISBN10: 1635575605)
Review copy provided by, personal collection, all options are my own and in no way influenced.
Rating: 3 stars
Genre: YA, fantasy
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