THIS REVIEW WILL HAVE SPOILERS

This was no way as strong as the second book in the series and was less of a compelling read that the initial book. ACOTAR had the draw of the fairy tale retelling, and even ACOMAF had the Persephone and Hades element initially. ACOWAR simply forgets this novelty in the series. The relationship between Feyre and Rhys is no longer exciting and a little bit stagnant, and therefore I agree that the series will need a change of perspective to continue feeling fresh.

I felt the book was just too long, meaning the plot dragged and was filled with a lot of filler and very little character development. A lot of the emotional and plot driving moments were a bit... meh... and not very well established. For example, the destruction of the Wall was an important moment in the novel. However, I do not feel like it was really very well established what this really meant. Some of this is due to the narration style of being Feyre's inner thoughts and immediate reactions. The pauses and moments of connective realisation were not as clear as Maas may have thought they were. It's true that it has been a while since I read the second novel, and I did not read this as intensely as the previous one, but a lot of the connections were loose and often hard to follow.

The emotional impact just wasn't there for this book, and I think this is because everything is so easy and secure for Feyre. She appears as the most important character in the entire world and leads these political meetings that she knows literally nothing about. Rhys is an older and more experienced, yet Feyre is in control to allow the controversy of her being a High Lady and also to provoke compliments and admiration of the newer characters and High Lords. The final battle felt like there was nothing at risk and the big death of Feyre's father felt massively underwhelming as we have literally not seen him for the majority of the series and have little in the way of emotional connection to him. The significant moments of Amren and Rhys' sacrifices were given little time to become truly moving. They were back within minutes! It's all too easy!!

Speaking of relationships, the love pentagram mess that is Elain x Lucien x Azriel x Cassian x Nesta x Mor. It was so hard to follow this, and I forgot who liked who and who we're supposed to be rooting for. Even at the end, I found little resolution. Nesta and Cassian were obviously intended to fall for each other. But what I found the most confusing was Azriel. Does he have feelings for Elain? I thought Mor's revelation was interesting, but also unnecessarily complicated. These relationships are probably seen as an alternative to the swoon-worthy relationship we seen in ACOMAF. However, they're just not as compelling and convincing.

Overall, this book was enjoyable but the weakest link of the series so far. The dialogue was cliche and stilted, the plot was predictable, and I thought the book suffered from middle book syndrome. There were little moments where it was funny and exciting. I enjoyed meeting the other High Lords and experiencing a sample of what their courts are like. I was glad for Tamlin's redemption arc, especially as he was such an important character in the first book. I will continue on with this series, and hope for a step up from this book in future instalments.