i genuinely don’t understand where some of the expectations around acotar 6 came from.

the last thing i remember sarah saying about elain was that we would see more of her in some way, but that she wasn’t promising anything 🙂 that was it. maybe there are interviews from 7–8 years ago where she said something more specific, but in the more recent interviews i’ve seen, there was never a clear promise that the next book would be “elain’s book.”

and yet somehow both sides of the shipping war seemed to build an entire future around that assumption. 💀💀💀

i understand why people thought it would be elain’s book. feyre had her book, nesta had hers, so logically it’s easy to assume elain would be next. but i don’t understand turning that assumption into an expectation and then getting angry when sarah does something different.

especially because, personally, i don’t think elain has enough development yet to carry a 1,000+ page book on her own. maybe she will after we actually get more of her. maybe she’ll completely surprise me. i’m open to that.

and this is where i really don’t understand the anger toward the valkyries. ❗️❗️❗️❗️❗️⚠️

nesta is one of sarah’s most developed characters. there is already an established friendship between nesta, gwyn and emerie, the valkyries have their own history and dynamics, there’s the illyrian storyline, there are unresolved political issues, and then there’s koschei and the dawn court sitting there with a ridiculous amount of potential. why would i be upset that sarah might actually explore those things?

the dawn court in particular is probably one of the things i’m most interested in right now. it feels like an actual fantasy plot that could expand the world rather than just being another extension of the shipping war.

and yes, i know people are going to say “but elain deserves her book.” sure. i’m not saying she doesn’t. i’m saying that “elain deserves a book eventually” and “acotar 6 was guaranteed to be an elain-centered book” are two completely different statements.

same thing with the valkyries. i’m seeing people act like their presence somehow came out of nowhere when nesta has been one of the central characters of this series for an entire book now. sarah clearly loves writing her. we already know how much she enjoys writing female friendships and warrior women. it really isn’t some completely random direction for her to take.

and honestly, i’m glad the next books might be multi-pov. give me multiple characters. give me actual fantasy plots. give me koschei, the dawn court, the valkyries, nesta, elain, lucien, azriel — whatever combination sarah wants to use.

i just don’t understand why people are acting like the story was stolen from them when the thing they’re angry about was never actually promised.

because at the end of the day, this is sarah’s story. these are her characters. she gets to decide where the story goes, not the fandom.
if someone doesn’t like the direction she’s taking the series, that’s completely valid. you don’t have to like every decision an author makes. but you also don’t have to keep reading. there are thousands of other books out there. close the book, pick up something else, and let the people who are enjoying the story enjoy it.

i think the fandom spent so much time treating their theories as inevitable that some people forgot they were theories.🧚🏻‍♀️

(((((((and to be completely fair, we don’t even know the povs yet. i could be completely wrong about all of this. acotar 6 could turn out to be much more elain-centered than i’m expecting, or the valkyries could have a smaller role than i think. none of us actually know yet.)))))