A Court of Wings and Ruin by Sarah J. Maas Review + Blueberry-Lemon Muffins + Star Pastries

SPOILERS! And keep your eye out at the end for my baking creations of the week: Cassian's Blueberry-Lemon Muffins and Rhys's "To the stars..." Pastries!

It was hard, sometimes, to remember to hate him. To remember the game I was already playing.

Having sacrificed her freedom so that the brutal King of Hybern would allow her loved ones to go free, Feyre is back in the Spring Court. She will never forget, however, that Tamlin willingly sold out her family to a monster. But unknowingly taking the High Lady of the Night Court into his home may be Tamlin's worst move yet. As Feyre weaves a dangerous web of lies and deceit to bring him down, deciphering enemy from ally becomes more and more challenging.

But shredding a court from the inside proves easier than bringing all seven together to stop the impending slaughter. How far is each court willing to go to ensure their loved ones survive when the cost of winning the war might be losing everything?

"There are many types of strength beyond the ability to wield a blade and end lives."

REVIEW

Something was holding me back when I first started reading A Court of Wings and Ruin and I'm still not totally sure what is was. I think maybe I knew it would be a war-filled novel that would potentially leave me devastated by character deaths. Or maybe just the subconscious knowledge that this is the third novel and I will only have one left after it. I truly, truly have a hard time when finishing a series. My heart is broken every time-- happy OR sad ending. But a lovely thing about Sarah J. Maas's heavily plot-driven books is that you get so immersed that you can't help but keep reading-- it's almost like the characters grab hold of your wrists and drag you with them. I've had my fair share of late night reading sessions, but never as many as I've had with her books-- they are nearly impossible to put down.

The mix of awe and anger and the realization that the world was large, and beautiful, and sometimes so overwhelming in its wonder that it was impossible to drink down all at once.

I really loved learning more about the other courts in this world; their appearances, customs, powers, and battle strategies. Each High Lord is unique and tangible with a full background story to help us decide how we feel about them. Maas's attention to detail is gorgeous as she gives us pounds of information on each new character. Adding armies like the Seraphim and Peregryns to the war beside our beloved Illyrians just brings another layer to the land of Prythian. I've realized that the reason we as readers fall so deeply in love with her characters is because she hands them to us on a platter. I feel confident saying that I know some of these people better than they know themselves-- we dig so deep into their minds that of course it becomes personal for us, of course they feel real.

"If you hadn't stolen my bride away in the night, Rhysand, I would not have been forced to take such drastic measures to get her back." I said quietly, "The sun was shining when I left you."

Let's discuss that first meeting of the High Lords though........oh man. I really had to put the book down and run around my apartment. Apparently, I live for the drama. And good lord, does Tamlin bring it! He was being an obnoxious brat, absolutely, but surely someone should have expected that he would show up? If you had the opportunity to go smack talk your ex to their face IN FRONT OF VERY IMPORTANT PEOPLE, you probably would. The most difficult part of this meeting was trying to see through everyone's masks-- after so many years of playing different roles to get what they want from each other, the Lords had to be honest, for once. I began to find it all quite frustrating (which I assume was the point), because everyone just began blaming each other for Amarantha's or the King's actions. Amarantha murdered dozens of children? Oh let's blame Rhys. Amarantha tortured an innocent girl because Feyre gave a fake name in a moment of panic? Let's say that the girl's blood is on Feyre's hands! It's ridiculous! And instead of being like "please don't blame me for someone else's horrific actions" they were all like "yes it was my fault and I am sorry." Maybe someway, somehow, that's a heroic thing to do but I was grinding my teeth at it all. I've also got more to say about Tamlin but I will get to that later.

For a heartbeat, I pitied him. Pitied that not only Lucien had lied to him, but Alis as well. How many others had seen the truth of my suffering-- and tried to spare him from it? Seen my suffering and done nothing to help me.

Let's move on to the war: I love the way this story is written but I do have to laugh at the fact that Feyre, our narrator, always coincidentally finds herself in the mind of whoever is in the most important part of the war. Like when she goes into Rhys's mind while he's talking to the King's hologram. And then later when she goes into Nesta's head while she's scrying for the cauldron. And THEN when she touches the cauldron and her subconscious is transported to where Elain and Nesta kill Hybern. It's actually ingenious--what better way is there for our narrator to see all that's happening so that we, as well, can witness it? And you know what? HELL YEAH that Nesta and Elain killed him. They both deserved to be the one with the killing blow after what he did to them.

"Leave this world... a better place than how you found it."

Speaking of what he did to them-- their father showing up with reinforcements was one of the most beautiful moments I've ever read in a book. I really thought he was just gone and useless. Coming back to save his daughters and naming his main ships after them BROKE my heart. His death was devastating, but also devastating is the fact that I understand why Maas had to kill him. If everyone we cared about survived, the entire war would have had zero impact. It's one thing to say that there are vague casualties on our side but another to make them real characters. What was really smart though is that it wasn't one of our MAIN characters. If Cassian or Azriel or Mor had died out there, we would have RIOTED. Feyre's father was a beloved character, but not well-known enough to be mourned as heavily as our favorites (that sounds sad and also kinda twisted, sorry, just looking at it from an analytical view!).

He said down the bond, I would have waited five hundred more years for you. A thousand years. And if this was all the time we were allowed to have... The wait was worth it.

So, obviously, Rhys also died. We all knew he was gonna come back though so no one should be pretending we thought it was for real!! Although, I suppose when this book first came out... perhaps it could have seemed real... yikes, sorry guys. But anyway-- I feel that now is the time for me to discuss Tamlin. I really went into this book thinking that he was completely gone. I'm a little upset with myself for that, though. As awful and stupid as 99% of his actions were, he did it because he believed the woman he loved was kidnapped from him. He was dumb and should have caught on eventually, but we gotta remember that just about every single character here has PTSD from Under the Mountain and Tamlin clearly does NOT know how to deal with mental health. Even though he thinks the Night Court to be villains in his story, he still went out of his way to protect Feyre as she was rescuing Elain. Not only that, but he also put in that last piece of magic that brought Rhys (his GREATEST ENEMY) back from the dead. I get that these actions do not excuse his other ones, but I hate to think that we only pay attention to the parts of a person that we don't like. Especially when there are people out there hating on Tamlin and then turning around to worship the Darkling from the Grisha Trilogy as if he didn't massacre thousands of innocents (oh yes, I see you all online!). All I'm saying is: I really appreciate and respect Maas for making ALL of her characters multi-faceted and morally intricate. I think Feyre ended the situation with Tamlin the best:

So I wished him well-- I truly did, and hoped that one day... One day, perhaps he would face those insidious fears, that destructive rage rotting away inside him.

There are a lot of other little bits to talk about that I'm not sure I want to dedicate individual paragraphs to, so here they all are in one big clump: Nesta's powers are the coolest thing ever. I want Elain to be happy always and I'm SO sorry Lucien but I ship her with Azriel. I was pissed that I was supposed to be pissed at Amren but then turns out; I didn't need to be pissed at her, so that was good. ERIS???? The moment Feyre says she fell in love with herself after looking into the Ouroboros was moving and beautiful and I loved it. The Suriel dying actually hurt my heart. Mor is queer and I have a very big crush on her! Cassian and Nesta oh MAN I'm here for it.

Cassian grunted in pain, but lifted his bloodied hands-- to cup her face. "I have no regrets in my life, but this." His voice shook with every word. "That we did not have time. That I did not have time with you, Nesta."

I feel as though that somehow also served as my usual "here's what I hope to see/understand in the next installment" paragraph.

And so, I leave you with this:

"But I think... I wonder if my father knew. If he saw how I watched them love and hate and build, and opened that rip in the world not as punishment... but as a gift." Her eyes gleamed. "For it has been a gift. This time-- with you. With all of you. It has been a gift."

CASSIAN'S BLUEBERRY-LEMON MUFFINS AND RHYS'S "TO THE STARS" PASTRIES

Both males went a bit still. But Azriel sketched a bow-- while Cassian stalked for the dining table, reached right over Nesta's shoulder, and grabbed a muffin from its little basket. "Morning, Nesta," he said around a mouth of blueberry-lemon. "Elain."

Also

I was indeed limping by the time I returned to the town house hours later, finding Mor at the dining table, munching on a giant pastry she'd grabbed from a bakery on her way in. "You look like a team of horses trampled you," she said around her food. "Good," I said, taking the pastry out of her hand and finishing it off. She squawked in outrage, but snapped her fingers and a plate of carved melon from the kitchen down the hall appeared on the polished table before her.

Since the pastry was so vague, I decided I had the freedom to bake whatever kind I wanted! I decided to make a nice strawberries and cream cheese breakfast danish in the shape of a star-- I figured that would go over well with the Night Court. I also threw in some melon for Mor (I believe her's was green but cantaloupe is my favorite so I went with that instead). Cassian's muffin was pretty self explanatory. Here's how it all came out:

The muffins are yummy but the lemon and blueberries together make it a little bit sour-- the sweet icing on the top helps give it a really nice balance, though. But the real showstopper here is that star pastry-- it looks a little goofy but... guys... INCREDIBLE. It was so good that I willingly burnt my tongue because I couldn't wait to eat it. I even made a second batch immediately after tasting the first one. And it was SO easy to make! My only problem was that I couldn't find puff pastry dough so I had to settle for crescent roll dough. It still tasted wonderful but it doesn't look as fabulous as the pictures on the recipe.

I highly recommend both of these treats-- they're mega simple so get out there and try them! (Also throwing in some melon is a great idea! Honor Mor!!!)

Blueberry-Lemon Muffins Recipe: https://celebratingsweets.com/lemon-blueberry-muffins/

Strawberries & Cream Cheese Stars Recipe: http://wewalka.us/recipes/strawberry-cream-cheese-stars

If you didn't know, I bake something from a book every week and post live updates on my Instagram. Tune in to @picklesandpages on Wednesdays to check it out!

NEXT READ: A Court of Frost and Starlight by Sarah J. Maas