GUYS there are only 6 days until the highly anticipated A Court of Wings and Ruin by Sarah J Maas is released, and the literary world is freaking the heck out. Entertainment Weekly released an exclusive excerpt this morning along with a brief Q&A with Maas about “ending Feyre and Rhys’s story” – UHM – am I the ONLY person who didn’t know that this book was going to be the last of these two precious beings who have consumed my soul? No more #Feysand? What the heck Maas? What are we supposed to do with ourselves now?
Binge read ACOWAR and cry. That’s what.
At least there are 3 more books planned for this world. Perhaps Maas will indulge us rather than enrage us. We can only hope.
Below is the Chapter 1 excerpt, so continue reading to fulfill your ‘lil heart’s desire and barely hold yourself over for 6 more days. I’ve reread this 10+ times already…*DRUMROLL PLEASE*…
(you can find the original EW article w/ Maas Q&A here)
Chapter 1
The painting was a lie.
A bright, pretty lie, bursting with pale pink blooms and fat beams of sunshine.
I’d begun it yesterday, an idle study of the rose garden lurking beyond the open windows of the studio. Through the tangle of thorns and satiny leaves, the brighter green of the hills rolled away into the distance.
Incessant, unrelenting spring.
If I’d painted this glimpse into the court the way my gut had urged me, it would have been flesh-shredding thorns, flowers that choked off the sunlight for any plants smaller than them, and rolling hills stained red.
But each brushstroke on the wide canvas was calculated; each dab and swirl of blending colors meant to portray not just idyllic spring, but a sunny disposition as well. Not too happy, but gladly, finally healing from horrors I carefully divulged.
I supposed that in the past weeks, I had crafted my demeanor as intricately as one of these paintings. I supposed that if I had also chosen to show myself as I truly wished, I would have been adorned with flesh-shredding talons, and hands that choked the life out of those now in my company. I would have left the gilded halls stained red.
But not yet.
Not yet, I told myself with every brushstroke, with every move I’d made these weeks. Swift revenge helped no one and nothing but my own, roiling rage.
Even if every time I spoke to them, I heard Elain’s sobbing as she was forced into the Cauldron. Even if every time I looked at them, I saw Nesta fling that finger at the King of Hybern in a death-promise. Even if every time I scented them, my nostrils were again full of the tang of Cassian’s blood as it pooled on the dark stones of that bone-castle.
The paintbrush snapped between my fingers.
I’d cleaved it in two, the pale handle damaged beyond repair.
Cursing under my breath, I glanced to the windows, the doors. This place was too full of watching eyes to risk throwing it in the rubbish bin.
I cast my mind around me like a net, trawling for any others near enough to witness, to be spying. I found none.
I held my hands before me, one half of the brush in each palm.
For a moment, I let myself see past the glamour that concealed the tattoo on my right hand and forearm. The markings of my true heart. My true title.
High Lady of the Night Court.
Half a thought had the broken paintbrush going up in flames.
The fire did not burn me, even as it devoured wood and brush and paint.
When it was nothing but smoke and ash, I invited in a wind that swept them from my palms and out the open windows.
For good measure, I summoned a breeze from the garden to snake through the room, wiping away any lingering tendril of smoke, filling it with the musty, suffocating smell of roses.
Perhaps when my task here was done, I’d burn this manor to the ground, too. Starting with those roses.
© Sarah J. Maas
Who’s freaking out? I just can’t, I don’t know what to do with myself. I’m watching my emails and mailbox as if the dang thing was going to arrive tomorrow, OH THE AGONY! What do you think of this excerpt, are you even more excited now? Comment below & let’s discuss what we are MOST looking forward to! Be still our hearts.
Find the original article by Entertainment Weekly here.
The Biblio Life 