u/Embarrassed_Love7360

The first book that I read by SJM was Crescent City one in 2021. I then read the ACOTAR books up to the novella (FAS). A Couple of months later I read CC2. After that, I read all of the TOG books. And yes, you read that correctly. So to whoever keeps trying to convince half of the fandom that you MUST read TOG or CC before you read the next books, that’s NOT true. I think as the books are published, more and more people will notice that these books don’t intertwine on a deeper/analytical level. And I can prove it!

In CC1, the book of breathings is only seen in the library/archive where Bryre worked at. And no, there was no deep, revelational plot to come from that or what she recently did in HOFAS. Also, another example, the only mention of CC that exists in TOG was at the end of Kingdom of Ash when Aelin was falling through something and she saw the curve of a red city or whatever the exact words used in the book.

Why am I making this post? I am just so exhausted from the fandom trying to convince people to waste all of their money and energy on buying every book or every book that has a specific bonus chapter. it really in truly won’t matter in the end. I promise you. You don’t want to read TOG or CC to read the next books? ok. You don’t have to because they don’t really align plot wise, despite what the fandom wants people to believe. And also, it blows my MIND that people genuinely think SJM is finna make these plots align (Valg theory style/the MOST viral theory) when she can barely pull off good worldbuilding or plots.

i really wish people in this fandom would just read on their own terms. When you continue to turn to cordial media to form an opinion, your beliefs will become skewed. And I truly believe that if people had their own experience outside of social media of reading these books, they wouldn’t be so quick to believe every wild theory out there and every belief that says that these books align when they don‘t.

final note: this is the same series that doesn’t have good politics, worldbuilding, character arcs, or plots. And some people still think SJM is finna pull off this elaborate plot like Brandon Sanderson? PLEASE don’t waste yall time or money.

I can truly already guess what they’ll consist of: terrible/no plots, bad pacing, no character arcs, and random sex scenes. Just from reading the overview of both books, I just know SJM is finna waste people’s time. They only highlighted Koschei as being the villain, drama between the IC, and vague mentions of “enemies.” Lol. Where is the mention of a plot? That’s not a plot; that’s just highlighting things that’ll happen in the book. I can bet yall real money that the real “plot” won’t come in until part 4, which has no publish date as of yet.

For starters, I made up my mind to not read them before they were announced. But after I read the synopses of both books, the final nail was in the coffin for me. What made me mad THE MOST was sjm’s refusal to declare a female main character as the protagonist of the books. It genuinely made me mad because we’ve been waiting for 6 years just for her to give us a vague Nesta/Valkyrie/IC book. You mean to tell me after waiting THAT long she doesn’t even give us a main female character? And forgive my bias, but i really wanted it to be Elain. But as it turns out, this isn’t an Elain or Gwyn book, it’s just an “everyone” kind of book, which feels like a weird cop out on her behalf.

It’s actually very crazy that people have been waiting for her to announce the fmc just for her to not even do it. Like girl…what are you doing? Literally no one even wanted a Nesta/Valkyrie/IC book. People wanted a FMC to be announced! And I don’t know about yall, but if I have to read another Valkyrie or IC book, I will lose my mind. We already got both of those kinds of books. One in ACOSF and the other in ACOWAR/ACOMAF. There’s really no point in doing that when you can just go on and give someone else their story. And what happened to the main characters getting their story? It’s like SJM has completely abandoned Lucien, Elain, Azriel, Mor, and Amren. I want their stories in their own point of views, not an “everyone” book.

I fear SJM is really finna fumble this one!

For starters, I titled this discussion as that because it’s a common thing in the fandom to think that SJM has a truck load of foreshadowing. But if you want me to be honest, I think there’s only heavy foreshadowing for the next romantic couple. And stay with me for a second. I have read too many times in a book in ACOTAR where she has retconned something to say that she “plans ahead.” I am sorry but if anything, these books just proves she doesn’t. And if I am not mistaken, SJM even confirmed that she just goes with the flow or wherever the story takes her on the CHD podcast.

someone even tried to argue me up and down about the starlight pool coming into play at someone point in the series, believing that it’s a portal into another world. But seeing as how HOFAS unfolded, SJM doesn’t care that much about crossovers. what she gave us in HOFAS was a cameo at best and people think it’s gonna be a portal into another world??

I really wish people would just let go of the wild theories and just enjoy the ride. Most Romantasy series are not written to be deep. They are written for a quick hit of dopamine and to entertain with fantasy elements and smut. I just don’t want people to go into these next books thinking X is gonna lead to Y when in reality SJM doesn’t pay that much attention to details in her own books. If she did, she would have given Rhys a last name… but she didn’t.

I think it’s a step in the right direction for us to be given vocals on a song now, but what really makes me mad is the fact that we’ve been asking for vocals for over a year now just for them to give us more sex than vocals.

No matter how mediocre people thought SIS era was, it still worked because their talent was on display, not sex. And to be honest, everyone knows that when women get naked in the industry, the industry no longer cares about what talents they have, it just becomes about what they can offer: sex.

I definitely think the song is better than Gnarly and Pinky Up, but I will say that the overall song is just repetitive and boring. And I hate to be the one to say it, but the only reason why it was also boring to me is because we keep seeing the girls basically naked. And when they’re practically naked, that out shines their talent. Why can’t HybexGeffen just give us a song with pure vocals and not 90% sex and 10% vocals? it’s like they still believe that Katseye needs to do something viral or controversial in order to gain attention, as if their talent isn’t enough. I loved them in SIS ERA because their talent was solely on display, not sex.

I truly have to give them their credit. if Gnarly came out in April of 2025 and they debuted in June of 2024, it’s crazy that what the company did could even be labeled as a “rebrand.” It was like them selling their audience a younger concept like SIS era to gain a younger audience and then deciding to pull the rug out from underneath them by serving adult content to the already young audience they had gained. That needs to be studied.

After Manon was posted on the Katseye page for her birthday, I am still not totally convinced that she is coming back. i think if she were to come back, it would be like a slap in the face to the fans. If she were to come back, she would have to explain too much. Like why did she go on a hiatus and then immediately after heart a post on social media that alluded to her being exposed to racism in the industry? Like I am genuinely confused now. Manon could have easily denied all of the rumors that came with her liking that post about racism, but she never actually did. And also, she is chronically online, so why couldn’t she just confirm the racism or deny it? It seems like too much of a mess to fix. Is it just me?

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I’ll never in my life be over how HybexGeffen quite literally rebranded Katseye as a five member group just for people to be like “they’re not mentioning Manon.” “They’re not saving her a spot.” And I am sorry but like…is it not already painfully obvious what they are doing? Manon isn’t coming back. And ever since she removed Katseye from her bio, that was the nail in the coffin for me. No one does for just no reason. The company knows exactly what they are doing. And I find it hard to believe that she would be on a 4 month (almost) long hiatus. i wish they would stop pining for Manon and choose to support the group as it is. Manon isn’t coming back. That was subtle from the very beginning.