Audiobook Review – A Court of Wings and Ruin (A Court of Thorns and Roses, Book 3) by Sarah J. Maas, Narrated by Amanda Leigh Cobb (3.5/5 stars)

Reading Level: Adult
Genre: Fantasy
Length: 25 hours and 8 minutes (720 pages)
Publisher: Recorded Books
Release Date: May 2, 2017
ASIN: B071RR4DPV
Stand Alone or Series: 3rd book in A Court of Thorns and Roses series
Source: Audiobook from Audible.com
Rating: 3.5/5 stars

“Feyre has returned to the Spring Court, determined to gather information on Tamlin’s maneuverings 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 and USA Today 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.”

This is the third, and final, book in The Court of Thorns and Roses series. This book does a good job tying up the series but suffers from some serious book bloat. This book really should have been edited better to pare this book down.

I listened to this on audiobook and it was okay. Cobb continues to sound a bit breathless and desperate throughout the whole book. At first it makes the story seem urgent but as the tone continues throughout it just makes Feyre sound panicked and whiny. I would recommend reading these rather than listening to on audiobook.

Feyre is back at the Spring Court and is doing her best to tear things apart there so that the court collapses around Tamlin. However she didn’t really count on Hybern and his offspring and all the trouble they bring with them. War is threatening and it’s up to Feyre and the Night Court to find allies to stand with them against Hybern.

There is a ton of time spent with characters angsting about the same things over and over and rehashing their emotions on issues. I was very frustrated with it at points and felt like all this repetitive angst really bogged the story down.

I did enjoy some of the cameos with The Weaver and the Bone Carver and I loved the nightmare Feyre let loose out of the pit in the library. Some of the developments with Feyre’s sisters were also very well done.

I am not saying this was a horrible book, but it was much much longer than it needed to be. You know something is wrong when one of the main characters dies and instead of being sad you think “oh does that mean we are almost to the end of the book yet?!”

I will mention that there are a lot of sex scenes in this book and they are very explicit. I would definitely categorize this as an “adult” read rather than young adult. There is also torture and talk of sexual torture which moves this up into the adult age group for me.

Overall this was an okay read. I am satisfied with how it tied up the series, but feel like it could have been better edited. There is just too much emotional fluff in here and it really drags the book down. This was a decent series overall but I like Maas’s Throne of Glass series a lot better.

This book goes towards the following reading challenges:
– Audiobook Reading Challenge
– You Read How Many Books? Reading Challenge
– New Release Reading Challenge
– Flights of Fantasy Reading Challenge