A pattern I have noticed in Sarah J. Maas’ A Court of Thorns and Roses series is that the subplot from the previous book becomes the main plot of the next book. In A Court of Thorns and Roses, Feyre’s relationship with Rhysand is the subplot of the Under the Mountain part of the book. In A Court of Mist and Fury, Feyre’s relationship with Rhysand becomes the main plot, and preparing for war against Hybern is the subplot. We get to A Court of Wings and Ruin, and preparing for war becomes the main plot. And if Mist and Fury’s big theme is redemption, then Wings and Ruin’s big theme is the cost of war.

What are the costs that our favorite characters have to pay as they prepare and fight in war? The four main costs I saw were betrayal, desensitization, difficult alliances, and sacrifice. 

Betrayal

The betrayals start in Mist and Fury before the war even begins. There is an object called the Cauldron which is the creator of the universe. It can be welded by any being powerful enough, but it also has some form of awareness to it. A book of spells was ripped in half centuries before and separated. This book is needed to control the Cauldron. One half is at the Summer Court. Rhys and Feyre do not believe the High Lord of the Summer Court, Tarquin, will willingly hand it over; so Rhys distracts the guards, while Feyre sneaks into the room the book is hidden in. Their plan is successful, and they immediately feel guilty when they return to Velaris. Tarquin sends them blood rubies with their names engraved on them, announcing them as enemies to the Summer Court. 

The second half of the book is under the guardianship of the six human queens. The book has a protection spell on it that makes it so the book must be freely given. Five of the six queens refuse to give the book to Feyre and Rhysand. The sixth queen sneaks it to them, betraying her “sister” queens. In return, they betray her by handing her over to Hybern, who kills her. Another queen, who is on the fence about this whole thing is handed over to a sorcerer and a curse is placed on her and leaves her a prisoner to him. In fact, the human queens are just full of betrayal. In an effort to convince them that he is trustworthy, Rhysand shows them Velaris. They tell Hybern about Velaris and where it is; Hybern then attacks Velaris. Luckily, Feyre, Rhysand and their court are able to defend Velaris, but the damage is done. Velaris has been exposed to the rest of the world. 

The most heartbreaking betrayal between the two books is probably Tamlin’s betrayal. Shortly after Rhysand rescued Feyre from the Spring Court, Feyre sent a letter to Tamlin saying that she left willingly and she wasn’t coming back. Tamlin refuses to believe this and goes on a crusade to find Feyre and “free” her from Rhysand. Tamlin allies with Hybern in capturing Feyre and Rhysand and splitting them apart. His high priestess, Ianthe, takes the betrayal one step further and hands Feyre’s human sisters, Nesta and Elain, over to the King of Hybern. Hybern uses the Cauldron to change Nesta and Elain into High Fae. 

What’s a betrayal without revenge? Feyre’s about to dish it out. In Wings and Ruin, she pretends that Hybern was successful in breaking her mate bond with Rhysand and returns to the Spring Court with Tamlin. While there, Feyre spies on Tamlin’s alliance with Hybern and sends that information to Rhysand through their bond. She also breaks Ianthe’s hand beyond repair, plants false stories into Ianthe’s head and a few others, and kills Hybern’s visiting generals. By the time Feyre escapes the Spring Court, Tamlin doesn’t have much of a court left.  

Tamlin ends up being the poster boy for a turncoat. He switches sides so frequently that it gives the reader whiplash, and even at the end, it’s still hard to know whose side he is truly on. I personally think he’s on Tamlin’s side. Whatever is going to help him come out alive and still in power. Shortly after Feyre returns to the Night Court, Rhysand invites the other High Lords to a meeting to form alliances and create a game plan against Hybern. Tamlin is invited and he does show up. The next day, he goes running back to Hybern and discloses everything from the meeting! Then when Feyre has snuck into Hybern’s camp to rescue her sister, Tamlin is the one to help her get out when she is about to be caught by Hybern’s beasts. With that betrayal, the question remains, whose side will Tamlin fight on? At first, Tamlin doesn’t show up at all. When things get dire, he shows up with Beron (High Lord of the Autumn Court), and two more surprise armies.   

And our final betrayal is Jurian, the human from the original battle five hundred years previous, brought back to life by Hybern. Hybern underestimated how much Jurian hates faeries. While Hybern is focusing on ripping Feyre and Rhysand apart, Jurian sneaks off to the human lands and raises a human army under the queens’ noses! 

The examples of betrayal in A Court of Mist and Fury and A Court of Wings and Ruin are definitely complex and diverse. Some can be argued as justifiable, others may start out justified and end badly, while others are just downright nasty. And I’m willing to bet  the betrayals I justify could be different from yours. Ms. Maas does an excellent job of making the reader question everyone’s choices. 

Desensitization

Most of the violence that Feyre has participated in has been self defense. When she killed Hybern’s visiting generals, they were trying to prevent her from leaving the Spring Court. The battle of Velaris happened suddenly and Feyre was too pumped up on adrenaline – and revenge, because the Attor is there – to really take in the blood and gore that was flying around. The battle of Adriata is Feyre’s first time preparing and marching into battle. It is quite a different experience for her, and when the fighting is over, Feyre throws up. Mor tells her they were all like that after their first battle; showing that over time, soldiers become desensitized to the horrors of war – not that they necessarily enjoy it, but they are able to glaze over or at least put on a facade that they are. But we’ll learn in the fourth book that being desensitized on the battlefield does not equate to being desensitized once you return home. 

Difficult Alliances

When a war involves more than two nations, the right alliances are paramount to success.

Hybern wants to have access to and control of the human lands. To do so, he reaches out to some very desperate characters: the human queens and Tamlin. Hybern promises the human queens immortality and a promise not to invade the continent, if they step back and allow Hybern to take over the human section of Prythian. Hybern gives Feyre to Tamlin if Tamlin will allow Hybern’s army to use the Spring Court as their path into the human lands. The plot never gets around to showing it, but I firmly believe that Hybern was going to betray the human queens as soon as he had the human lands in his grasp; had he lived long enough to do so.  

The seven courts of Prythian stand between Hybern and the human lands. Rhysand is determined for all seven High Lords to ally together to stand against Hybern. He successfully gets the Day Court, Dawn Court, Summer Court, and Winter Court to agree – though it was not without difficulty. Big headed and powerful men who are used to being solely in charge? Yeah, it took a lot. The Autumn Court outright refuses, and Tamlin goes running off to Hybern as soon as the alliance meeting is over. Rhysand knows that they cannot beat Hybern without all seven courts on board, but he is determined to try.   

These shifty alliances are what lead to many of the betrayals discussed in the first section. 

Sacrifice

In my opinion, personal sacrifice is the biggest cost of war. Everyone who heads onto the battlefield knows there is a chance they won’t come home. And sacrificing one’s life is not the only form of sacrifice. 

Feyre believes that they need a powerful being called the Bone Carver to help. His price? A very special mirror. The only way to get the mirror is to look into it and master whatever you see. It has been centuries since the last time the mirror had been mastered. Most beings who try go mad. The night before the final battle, Feyre decides the risk is worth it; even if she goes mad, Amren can use her body to weld the Cauldron’s magic. Feyre does master the mirror, but she went in not knowing if she could. She was willing to sacrifice her mind for her friends and family.  

Also before the final battle, Azriel helps Feyre rescue Elain. They are viciously attacked, and Azriel’s wings are severely injured. Rhysand orders Azriel to stay behind in the final battle. This infuriates Azriel. Their forces are spread thin as it is, even his injured self is better than having a hole in the line. He obeys his high lord, but as the battle worsens, Azriel joins the fray. During the battle, Cassian is greatly injured to the point of being immobile. The King of Hybern descends upon him and Nesta tries to stop him with the power she stole from the Cauldron, it is not enough. Nesta throws her body on top of Cassian’s and they accept death together. Before the King of Hybern can deliver the fatal blow, Elain stabs him in the neck with Azriel’s favorite sword, Truth Teller. When Azriel had been ordered to not fight, he sacrificed his hold over his sword to Elain so she had something to defend herself with. Even then, Elain was too frail and innocent to weld it, and she accepted it begrudgingly. Elain sacrifices her innocence to save her sister from the King of Hybern.  

While the battle is raging on, Feyre and Amren sneak over to the Cauldron to use its magic to stop Hybern’s power. The only way to do this is to put Amren in the Cauldron and relieve her of her bound form. This is risky because Amren may not remember the love and loyalty she feels for the Night Court and she could accidentally attack everyone (she reminds me of Calypso from Pirates of the Caribbean). Feyre and Amren take the risk. Not only does Amren let go of her “humanity”, but she also sacrifices her life. She is not going to survive this transition once she is done fighting.   

And the final sacrifice comes from Rhysand himself. Amren’s exit from the Cauldron breaks it, creating a blackhole that is sucking everything in. The Cauldron created life, so its destruction ends life. Feyre is the only one powerful enough to fix it (she has all seven High Lord’s powers), but even then it’s not enough. Rhysand transfers all of his energy and power into Feyre so she can finish fixing the Cauldron. This transfer kills him, and even though it saved Prythian, Feyre is inconsolable. She demands that the remaining High Lords help bring Rhysand back like what they did for her when Amarantha killed her. At first they disagreed, saying the situation was different because Feyre had been human. She begs and pleads, and they give in. One by one, each High Lord sacrifices a bit of his life force and magic to bring Rhysand back. It works doubly well, and not only does Rhysand come back to life, but he brings Amren with him. 

No one walks away from this war unscathed. Everyone whether human or faerie, High Lord or lesser faerie has mountains of healing to do, which is what the next book is about. I rated A Court of Wings and Ruin 4 stars. I thought the war plot was excellent (if you can’t tell by the once again long blog post); though a little lengthy. Rhysand and Feyre’s relationship strengthened and Rhysand continued to trust Feyre and allow her room to make her own choices – and mistakes. The only thing I struggled with was the lack of character growth from Nesta and Elain. We are three books in and they are still the same selfish idiots they were in the first book. Though, I did just start the fifth book, which is Nesta’s and Cassian’s story; so I’m crossing my fingers that Nesta has an acceptable redemption arc, because I currently do not like her at all. 

But before we can dive into Nesta’s head, there is a Solstice celebration to attend in A Court of Frost and Starlight. Stay tuned for that post, coming soon!