r/acotar_rant

sorry but I can’t take him seriously.The guy had no development in acosf, no story he was honestly just kind of there for me in acosf, honestly fine by me because Nesta took 80% of the stage. That being said im tired of him downgrading himself like are you not the highlords best friend general of the night court that everyone loves. He is quite literally a celebrity it’s corny to me to read about him acting like he’s some homeless nobody like get some self esteem please, sorry if it sounds mean. Like im literally rereading the part where he gets angry that Nesta wouldn’t want a lowborn bastard I actually chuckled.

I don't know how to flair this, this is no hot take. But something about Mama Night is off, for a few reasons.

The "dress" that is not a dress

You know the one, the one that is small, sheer and described as the size of a napkin. THAT dress. I guess it could be sweet for her to make dresses for her future daughter-in-law, but why one that shows so much skin and would result in everyone being flashed because of a strong gust of wind? It's such a strange choice of a dress, why oversexualize your daughter-in-law like that? I genuinely don't get it. Makes it even worse when Feyre puts on the very same dress to show her pregnant belly to the rest of the world.

The Weaver's cottage

Okay, that's where it gets worse. The Weaver trial is inexplicable to me. Ah yes, let me send my son's fiancée to a Death God'​s house to see if she can get her hands on my ring. It reeks of "is my daughter good enough for my son?" mentality. And Rhysand knew, sent Feyre in there with no preparation and she survived of the skin of her teeth. Imagine if before her, other women went through the Weaver trial and either died or ran for the hills because of how crazy it all is? Would it have been so bad to keep the ring in a box and save it for when the time comes? Or I guess that's too normal.

Making the dresses in the first place

Now this might be a reach, but this comes from the fact that ACOTAR is so... Gender essentialist. In another universe where mates can be of any gender rather than man and woman (no I won't say male or female), there's something a bit... Weird about Mama Night making a whole wardrobe (with that dress). What if her son had fallen in love with another man? Would Mama Night change the outfits or force Rhysand to marry a woman? We are entering theory territory right now, but Illyria isn't very progressive. Women aren't allowed to keep their wings and boys are sent to war camp at 8 years old.

Now they lived in Velaris and I guess it's more "progressive" because Rita's is a gay bar. But it's possible that Mama Night had an Illyrian mindset. She saw nothing wrong with her son going to war camp and Rhysand doesn't seem to resent her for that. But it's very telling of how she could think.
I want to see making the dresses as a sweet thing but coupled with the whole ring trial, I can't help but see it through a critical eye.

Final Thoughts

I understand why some people have "boy mom" vibes from Mana Night (it would be nice if she had a name). The last part is just me theorising, it's not too serious, but again, in a world as gender confirming as ACOTAR, I could see a world where she doesn't imagine her son being with anyone else other than a woman or not being in a relationship in the first place. She also gives me potential overbearing MIL vibes. I shudder at the thought of my MIL giving me a dress that exposes the body so much. There's no justifiable explanation for that. I may have missed some other elements but these are the ones that give me pause.

I. DON’T. CARE.

Omg I’m so tired of all the people who keep saying this. Yeah she was the youngest. Congrats on understanding Feyre’s age, now also try to get that the biggest age gap was of 3 years

I swear the amount of people I’ve seen trying to paint the situation worse by saying “Feyre was the baby sister 🥺” “I would never let my BABY sister hunt” “Nesta and Elain were 2 ADULTS relying on their BaBy SiStER”…my loves they were all children.

I’m not even going to comment on the theory that Nesta was an abuser relying on child labour (actual words used) because apparently she isn’t 3 years older like the books have established, but she is 3 years, 5 months, 21 days and 8 hours older so she has no excuse

Are we forgetting that Feyre chose to hunt, to take on the role of the provider and could have stopped anytime but didn’t because of the promise made to their mother? (if you forgot here is the quote: “the promise I'd made. Every time I looked toward a horizon or wondered if I should just walk and walk and never look back, I'd hear that promise I made eleven years ago” (TaR, chap. 2)
If you want to blame anyone for making Feyre hunt you already know who to

Sure they should have been more grateful and they shouldn’t have made her job harder by complaining but they more than made up for it in MaF and they both acknowledged Feyre’s sacrifice publicly (which if what her fans want apparently). This argument has gotten tired a long time ago, they don’t owe Feyre a life debt where they have to beg her for forgiveness every other page, it’s weird

Okay, hear me out before you come for me. 😭

I LOVE Rhysand and Feyre. I genuinely do. They're one of my favorite couples, and I'm not saying I wish they weren't endgame or that I would change what happened in canon.

BUT Feyre and Cassian have been a guilty ship of mine since the first book, and I can't help it.

There's something about their chemistry, their banter, and the complicity they share that makes me think they could have been such a lovely couple. I love the way Cassian talks about Feyre, how comfortable they are around each other, and how naturally they seem to get along. Their dynamic just WORKS for me.

And can we talk about Cassian telling Rhys that if he didn't marry Feyre, he would? HELLO??? 😭 I know it doesn't necessarily mean he was in love with her, but the fact that I can actually imagine an alternate universe where they end up together makes it even better.

I know they're friends. I know Rhys and Feyre are perfect for each other in their own way. And I LOVE them together.

But if Sarah had taken a different route and Feyre had ended up with Cassian instead, I genuinely don't think I would have been upset. In fact, I might have loved them even more as a couple.

PLEASE tell me I'm not the only one who sees it. I need to know if anyone else has been secretly shipping them since book one. 💀

I made a comment on another post how Feyre is a vastly different archetype than her other beloved female characters (Aelin, Bryce, Nesta, Manon) and it got me thinking, so you think SJM got bored with her? Hence the shift in character (and dare I say character assassination) in Silver flames and the upcoming focus on the Valkyries? I personally think we had to wait a little longer for Elians story for her to figure out how to execute a softer female archetype.

I also know the pregnancy troupe was a reflection of what she was going through with her own pregnancy experience, but I wonder if it was a way for her to wrap up Feyres story and give her that classic happy ending fans would be happy with (not saying she, Rhys, or Nyx won’t be involved, I think Nyx will be a major plot point. But I think the growth we’ve seen from her is wrapped up).

But I wonder if the character shift from WAR to FAS and SF was intentional in reinforcing that “unreliable narrator” theory, a reflection of her own irritation with Feyre, poor writing, or something else

SJM loves to write the same character in different fonts (Aelin, and Bryce) and I wonder if she got to a point with Feyre and just didn’t know where to go with her. So she focused on what feels comfortable to her with Nesta and the Valkyries.

And for the record, I don’t hate Feyre. I’m pretty neutral on her. I think she’s whiney and self important but I enjoy her story

Genuinely asking. To me, it’s just a division of labor in the home?

Sure she hunted, that was her skill. She could stomach it. Just as Nesta and Elain did the cooking and cleaning and home caring. She did her part in helping her family, but that was only a bandaid on the wound. Nesta and Elain knew their only true solution to getting out of poverty (for all of them) was marrying up. It’s not laborious in the traditional sense, but by no means should it be overlooked.

Was it “abusive” of my to have my younger sister to come in my room to kill bugs? I hate bugs, she doesn’t mind them. Do I need to list everything I’ve done for her to justify it?

And they way they bickered was… not normal but wasn’t abusive. Definitely my sister and I on our worst days, and those were just days and not years.

And that moment where Feyre had to “tell” Nesta to chop firewood (at least to me) read as unnecessary bossy to me and less like she actually ~had~ to say something. Like when you’re literally about to start cleaning your room and your mom tells you to clean your room

And it goes without saying, but if you (and the IC because they’re also oddly fixated on it) need someone to blame for Feyre’s mistreatment… her father was literally sitting there doing jack all. Blame him?

Obviously a very divisive moment and one I think becomes much worse when really considered what happened before it.

Nesta is repeating that she has no desire to train, that she doesn't want to and she particularly doesn't want to do it in that horrible village. Cassioa responds by telling Nesta that if she doesn't get off that rock by the end of the week, she knows what the consequences are for disobeying orders, and it will be out of his hands to stop those consequences, in this case, Nesta being banished to the human world. That is obviously a place where Nesta as a fae will have no one, she will be isolated, Aand let's face it, her life will probably be at risk. And if she does have to defend herself from the hatred of the mortals, then the lives of people around her will let be at risk.

Cassian here is threatening Nesta with what will happen if she doesn't obey. Nesta responds by basically taunting Cassian about how he will go running to his high Lord. So obviously it is understood that it will be Rhys giving the order to Nesta to a place where she will be exposed to hatred to bigotory and as a whole lot of shit. Nesta's response is to call Rhys arrogant, preening and an arsehole, and say that she hates him.

Cassian, obviously flips out utterly, horrified and furious that Nesta dare be rude about Rhys, except moments before Cassian was basically saying, yeah, if you don't do what your told Rh6d is going to banish you to a place where you were going to have a terrible, terrible time. And then he wonders when Nesta says she hates Rhys.

Minha pergunta é genuína: Vocês acharam a vingança da Feyre na Corte da Primavera correta? Tipo, sei que ela queria “dar o troco” no Grã-Senhor da Primavera, mas Prytian estava em Guerra, Hybern derrubaria a muralha mais cedo ou mais tarde e destruiria tudo que visse pelo caminho, aí a bonita faz o quê? Deixa a Corte vizinha a muralha sem as devidas proteções, destruindo as cidades e a população dos primaveris apenas para fazer o Tamlin sofrer.

Isso foi ridículo! As pessoas da primavera NÃO TIVERAM CULPA pelo relacionamento fracassado deles, nem pelo que ela sofreu! Se ela queria se vingar do Tamlin, que tivesse pensado em uma vingança mais inteligente que não custasse a vida de outros Faes inocentes e não deixar a muralha desprotegida por ressentimento.

Ela como uma “Grã-Senhora” deveria ter sido instruída melhor pelo macho dela a não fazer isso, porque se fosse o contrário, todo mundo cairia matando em cima do Tamlin, mas como é o morcegão poderoso, as pessoas passam pano para essa barbaridade.

Is it just me that doesn’t want Azriel to find his mate yet? Because I just KNOW SJM is going to try to sell me some bullshit where this man finds his mate and suddenly 500 years of self-hatred evaporates because a woman told him he’s lovable. Like NO. Put the soulmate-shaped emotional Band-Aid DOWN. Azriel needs to work on himself so badly it’s actually embarrassing. Because why the fuck is this man constantly outsourcing his self-worth, affection, validation, and emotional stability to whoever he happens to be obsessed with at the time? At some point, somebody needs to confiscate his yearning. And I’m sorry, but you cannot sell me “Azriel is the Night Court’s master spy, incredibly observant, intelligent, excellent at reading people” and then expect me to believe this motherfucker has spent five centuries being unable to read himself. You can infiltrate enemy camps, interrogate people, notice tiny behavioral changes, uncover secrets, and apparently smell deception from three kingdoms away, but when it comes to your own attachment issues suddenly your brain is running Windows 95. HELLO??? And the “he was led on for 500 years” excuse makes me want to shake him by the shoulders. FIVE. HUNDRED. YEARS. My brother in the Cauldron, that is not a situationship anymore. That is a fucking historical era. At what point did you think, “Hmm. Perhaps I should examine why I have spent several centuries emotionally orbiting someone who does not want me”? Because apparently the master spy’s greatest unsolved mystery is his own fucking love life. And before anyone says “but he has trauma 🥺”—YES. I KNOW. That is precisely why he needs to deal with it. Trauma explains behavior; it does not mean everybody around you needs to spend the next 500 years paying the emotional bill. And I REALLY don't want his mate being used as his magical rehabilitation program. Because imagine meeting your supposed soulmate and realizing your new job description is: reassure Azriel he’s loved. reassure Azriel he’s wanted. reassure Azriel he’s attractive. reassure Azriel he’s worthy. reassure Azriel you aren't leaving. reassure Azriel again because apparently the previous reassurance expired at midnight. perform emergency emotional CPR whenever he starts spiraling. somehow convince a 500-year-old man that he deserves affection. Girl, GET UP. That is not a mate. That's an unpaid therapist with benefits. Trying to convince someone who fundamentally doesn't believe they're lovable that they are lovable is like trying to fill the Grand Canyon with a teaspoon. You can stand there pouring that little ass teaspoon for the rest of eternity and the canyon is STILL going to be there. And frankly, I would feel sorry for his mate because imagine being genuinely in love with somebody and realizing you have to constantly prove that your love is real because they have absolutely no internal foundation of self-worth. Your partner should be able to receive love. They should not need to consume it like it's life support. Azriel needs to learn how to exist without somebody choosing him. He needs to learn that rejection isn't proof that he's defective. He needs to learn that being desired isn't the same thing as being worthy. He needs to stop treating romantic affection like a fucking blood transfusion. And most importantly, he needs to sit his pretty ass DOWN and interrogate himself with the same intensity he supposedly interrogates everybody else. Because I refuse to believe this man can spend centuries uncovering everybody else's secrets but apparently never thought to ask himself, “Why am I this desperate to be chosen?” That is a plot hole with cheekbones. So yes, let him have a mate. Let him fall madly in love. Let him have the romance. But if the character arc is just:** **500 years of self-loathing → finds mate → she calls him beautiful → suddenly he loves himself. I am going to need SJM to run me my fucking money. I don't want his mate to cure him. I want Azriel to do the work BEFORE he gets her, so when she loves him, he's actually capable of receiving that love instead of making her spend the next century trying to convince him he deserves it. Because that woman deserves a husband. Not a 500-year-old emotional support project with wings.

Is it just me, or is it incredibly weird to use leaked information as a gotcha in an argument? I saw some people arguing about the newest quote, and one of them tried to shut the conversation down by basically saying, "Actually, that’s canon in the leaked audio, idiot." I thought that was insane: first, because it’s a story about sexy faerie people CHILL OUT!! and second, because you don't even know if the other person *wants* to know about the leaks. Am I wrong to think it’s messed up to drop a spoiler just to win an argument?

I’m so tired of people misunderstanding people’s interpretation of the un-mate quote. I’ve seen so many people on tiktok say the quote can’t be about Nessian because sjm called them perfect mates so they’re obviously endgame.

Like that’s not the point? Saying the quote is about a certain couple doesn’t mean they will definitely break up forever or actually un-mate. It’s about tension and friction in their relationship, not a definitive action.

I think the quote is about Nessian but that doesn’t mean that I think they will break up by the end of the books? Since when does a teaser quote mean it will 100% happen? Teaser quotes are to create suspense for the book release.

Like with HOFAS >!there was a quote that suggested Azriel and Nesta might be dead. Now did that mean they actually died in the book? Of course not. That would’ve been a huge spoiler to give away in a teaser and it was obviously just to create discourse and suspense leading up to the release!<

So why am I being called dumb or illiterate for saying it could be about Nessian?

I’m so tired of the “Nesta was horrible to Feyre, therefore everything Feyre does to Nesta is justified” argument. And I genuinely think Feyre gets WAY more grace than Nesta does when it comes to their relationship.

I just don’t understand why they automatically turns Feyre into this innocent sister who just kept loving Nesta despite everything. Because when you actually look at Feyre’s POV, she carries a LOT of resentment toward Nesta. And if we’re actually going by the books and not just “Feyre is the narrator so Feyre is right,” there are quite a few things that make Feyre’s treatment of Nesta look pretty ugly.

1. Feyre’s opinion of Nesta is negative from the very beginning.

Feyre’s entire view of Nesta in ACOTAR is basically built around resentment. In the first chapter of TAR, Feyre literally describes Nesta as:

“prone to crave anything someone else possessed.”

That’s Feyre’s internal narration. Not Nesta saying it about herself. Not an objective narrator. And we see the same thing throughout the first book. Feyre constantly thinks about Nesta in terms of what Nesta didn’t do for her.

But then we find out something Feyre didn’t know at the time. Nesta resisted the glamour and therefore knew Feyre had been taken by Tamlin and actually went after her. She hired a mercenary with the money from Feyre’s pelt, travelled through the winter woods for days and made it all the way to the Wall. She couldn’t get through it, but she still tried. That’s a pretty important detail considering the entire foundation of Feyre’s resentment is basically “Nesta didn’t care whether I lived or died.”Except… Nesta literally went looking for her.

And Feyre’s reaction is basically shock because she had spent all that time believing nobody had cared enough to look for her. But Feyre’s own reaction tells us how significant this was:

“You went after me—to Prythian?”

And later:

“You’re my sister,” was all Feyre said.

So Feyre herself acknowledges that Nesta tried to save her. Yet somehow the fandom still treats the “Nesta didn’t care whether Feyre lived or died” interpretation as fact. It isn’t.

And then there is something people REALLY don’t talk about enough. Nesta actually explains why she treated Feyre the way she did. In ACOSF, Nesta explains that she resented Feyre because Feyre was the one person who could actually force their father to confront reality. Nesta basically saw Feyre’s hunting as something their father should have been doing himself.

2. Feyre knows Nesta loved her. She just keeps framing Nesta through the worst possible version of her.

This is what bothers me. Feyre doesn’t just remember Nesta’s actions. She repeatedly assigns motives to them. And Feyre’s thoughts about Nesta are treated like objective descriptions of Nesta’s character.

-Nesta spends Feyre’s money? Nesta is selfish.
-Nesta is angry? Nesta hates her.
-Nesta refuses to be warm and affectionate? Nesta doesn’t care.

But when we finally get Nesta’s POV, we learn there was a completely different internal story going on. Nesta explains that she deliberately spent Feyre’s money because she wanted their father to finally do something. She hated their father for failing them and especially, for failing their mother. Was that a healthy way to handle it? Obviously not. But it matters that Nesta’s behavior had a reason that Feyre didn’t understand. And that is something I wish people would remember when judging Nesta entirely through Feyre’s POV. And This is where I think Feyre gets away with a lot because she’s the narrator.

3. Feyre is perfectly capable of being cruel to Nesta too.

People love quoting Nesta’s insults toward Feyre, but they conveniently forget Feyre’s own. One example is when Nesta is considering Tomas. Feyre repeatedly makes digs about Tomas and Nesta’s marriage prospects like:

“While Tomas might want to marry you … you’re a burden.”

At one point, after Nesta warns Feyre to be careful, Feyre responds:

“What about your Tomas Mandray?”

And the thing is, Feyre actually knew something important about Tomas that Nesta didn’t. She knew his father abused his wife. And Feyre eventually tells Nesta:

“Whatever you do, don’t marry Tomas Mandray. His father beats his wife, and none of his sons do anything to stop it.”

So Feyre was right to warn her. But why did she wait until she was literally leaving for Prythian to tell Nesta? Because Feyre had been talking about Nesta’s marriage and Tomas before this but she didn’t tell her the actual danger until then.

It’s a small example, but it shows that Feyre and Nesta were not operating in some dynamic where Nesta was the cruel sister and Feyre was simply taking it. They both knew how to hit each other’s weak spots.

4. And then ACOSF happens, and Feyre gets power over Nesta.

This is where I REALLY struggle to understand how people can talk about Nesta’s lack of respect for Feyre while ignoring Feyre’s complete lack of respect for Nesta’s autonomy. This is where I think the fandom really needs to separate “Nesta needed help” from “Feyre was justified in everything she did.”

Nesta was literally taken from the human world, transformed into High Fae, dragged into a war, and had her entire future changed without her consent. Yet when Nesta is spiraling after the war, Feyre’s solution isn’t really “what do YOU want?”..... It’s “this is what we’re doing with you.”

Listen to what Feyre actually says when confronting Nesta.

“It is about how it reflects upon me, upon Rhys, and upon my court…”

And then:

“If my sister cannot be controlled, then why should we have the right to rule over anyone else?”

And Nesta responds:

“I am not a thing to be controlled by you.”

And Feyre’s answer?

“That’s why you’re going to train at Windhaven. You will learn to control yourself.”

Then Nesta says she won’t go.

Feyre says:

“You’re going, even if you have to be tied up and hauled there.”

This isn’t me calling Feyre controlling. Feyre literally says she needs to control Nesta. And yes, Nesta was spiraling. Yes, she needed help. But there is a difference between “I’m worried about my sister and I want to help her” and “you don’t get to decide what happens to you anymore.”

That entire conversation is incredibly revealing. Because Feyre isn’t just angry that Nesta is hurting herself. She’s also angry that Nesta’s behavior reflects badly on her, Rhys and their court. That’s not exactly sisterly concern anymore. There is a political element to it. And Feyre has the power to enforce it. And this is the same Feyre who spent the first books fighting against people controlling her choices. The irony is almost painful.

5. Feyre doesn’t just tell Nesta to get help. She takes away her home.

And Feyre doesn’t just send her to the House. They close up Nesta’s apartment. They take her things. They decide where she will live. They decide what she’ll do. And Feyre even says she’s having the entire building condemned. Imagine if Nesta had done that to Feyre. The fandom would be talking about it for YEARS.

Then there’s the part that really gets me. Feyre was once the person who hated having her choices taken away from her. She hated Tamlin locking her in the manor. She hated being kept uninformed. She hated people deciding what was best for her. She literally went to war against that kind of treatment. And then when she has the power in the relationship with Nesta…she does basically the same thing.

And when she says no, Feyre basically tells her she doesn’t get to say no. Again, I’m not arguing that Nesta was fine and didn’t need intervention. I’m saying that the way Feyre handled it is much more authoritarian than people want to admit. And Feyre isn’t some powerless sister doing this. She’s High Lady who has money and political power. She has Rhys, Cassian, Amren and the entire Inner Circle behind her. Nesta has basically none of that. So when Feyre says “you’re going even if you have to be tied up and hauled there,” it’s not an empty threat. She actually has the power to make it happen.

6. And the pregnancy situation makes Feyre’s treatment of Nesta even harder for me to ignore.

Then there’s the pregnancy plot. Rhys and IC keep the fact that Feyre could die giving birth, from her. Nesta finds out. And eventually Nesta tells Feyre. People LOVE using this moment as proof that Nesta wanted to hurt Feyre. But even Feyre herself doesn’t ultimately reduce it to that. Feyre admits: “She had the courage to tell me the truth."

And when Cassian says Nesta told her to hurt her, Feyre doesn’t actually accept that explanation. She says Nesta was the only one who told her anything. Think about that. The sister everyone keeps calling cruel is the one who tells Feyre that she could die. Meanwhile, the people closest to Feyre knew and deliberately kept her in the dark. And yet Nesta is still the villain of the situation.

This is why I have such a problem with the way Feyre and Nesta’s relationship is discussed. Nesta’s cruelty is always treated as proof of who she is. But Feyre’s anger, resentment and control are usually treated as understandable because we experience them through Feyre’s POV.

And I actually think this situation exposes something really important about the sisters. Feyre’s entire story is full of her demanding to know the truth and demanding the right to make decisions about her own body and life. But when Nesta’s choices are being taken away? Feyre is participating in the same system. The difference is that Nesta doesn’t have the power Feyre has.

So again, we have this weird situation where Nesta’s actions get interpreted through the worst possible motive, while IC and Rhys withholding information from Feyre herself gets framed as protection. And honestly? Nesta was the one treating Feyre like an adult in that situation.

7. Feyre’s own narration is not neutral.

This is probably my biggest point. People quote Feyre’s thoughts about Nesta like they’re objective descriptions. They’re not. Feyre spent years resenting Nesta. She believed Nesta didn’t care about her. She believed Nesta was selfish. She believed Nesta wanted what other people had. She had a very specific image of her sister before we ever got inside Nesta’s head.

Then ACOSF comes along and suddenly we see that Nesta’s internal world is MUCH more complicated than Feyre’s earlier narration suggested. And I don’t think that means Feyre was lying. I think Feyre was biased. She just interprets Nesta’s actions through the worst possible lens. Feyre experienced Nesta as cruel. Nesta experienced herself as angry, ashamed, resentful, traumatized and completely incapable of expressing affection normally. Both can exist at the same time. And only one of them spent most of the first three books controlling the narrative. And that’s Feyre.

So, I’m not going to pretend Feyre was some endlessly patient little sister who did nothing but love Nesta until Nesta finally pushed her too far. Because once Feyre becomes powerful enough to actually control Nesta’s life, she does exactly that. And honestly, the most interesting part is that Nesta eventually has to confront her own behavior and take responsibility for it. But Feyre rarely gets that same level of scrutiny.

People will dissect Nesta’s every cruel sentence from TAR and MAF, but somehow Feyre saying “you’re going even if you have to be tied up and hauled there” gets filed under “she was just trying to help her sister.” ……Why? Because some people like Feyre. Because she’s the protagonist. Because we experienced everything through her eyes first. But being the narrator doesn’t automatically make someone objective.

And I think if we actually judge both sisters by the same standard, their relationship looks VERY different. Nesta was cruel to Feyre. Feyre was cruel to Nesta too. The difference is that by ACOSF, Feyre has the money, power, status and entire Inner Circle behind her. Nesta doesn’t. And that’s a pretty important difference that I rarely see discussed.

From the first book onwards, it’s really hard to determine why the sisters behave the way they do. I know everyone gives Nesta a hard time for how she treated Feyre but Elain is no better. When they were struggling with poverty, all she cared about was purchasing material items even though Feyre was out risking her life for them everyday. Moving forward, when they become Fae, Elain contributed almost nothing and Nesta is obsessed with protecting Elain. I have not gotten to ACOSF yet, but is their relationship dynamic further explained in that book? It makes no sense to me why Nesta is extremely protective of Elain and dismissive of Feyre. It’s not like Nesta is incapable of showing her love and feelings, she clearly does that with Elain. Everyone treats Elain like a fragile child which is perplexing considering the fact that she’s not even the youngest. I wonder if there is more to it that will be fleshed out in the later books. Regardless, I think the relationship SJM tries to foster between the three sisters in ACOWAR is very forced. There is no real chemistry between the three of them, especially Elain and Feyre. Elain barely acknowledges her existence and Feyre just feels a duty to protect her.

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.

ACOTAR would have been a much more compelling series if Rhys was left as a “bad guy” or at least morally gray.

I feel like SJM’s softening of Rhys in ACOMAF was a mistake. The argument of “he’s not a bad guy! That’s all pretend and he’s actually good!” Doesn’t really hold up. There’s still obvious moral issues going on in the night court. How is he so crazy powerful, not to mention his IC, but can’t stop the mutilation of young girls? He can’t make a society accepting of queer love? I just find it kind of falls flat and he ends up looking like just any other man not caring about the vulnerable while loudly saying he does.

It would have been more interesting to see Feyre learn to love him, flaws and all. And/Or see him slowly transform and learn to “do better”. I’d almost rather see her seep into darkness.

We don’t even have to get into the character assassination of Tamlin to try to bolster Rhys.

I just finished ACOTAR and I couldn’t stand any scene Amren was in after ACOWAR. I’m one of those people who likes it when beloved characters die. I think it gives the story real stakes, allows other characters to develop (positively or negatively), and makes me more attracted to the remaining characters because I know they are in real danger because the author was willing to kill one of them. I found Amren’s “death” to be awesome. You have this badass, all-powerful, hateful character choosing to sacrifice herself for the people she loves, wrapping up her development in a nice bow. Then you bring her back… with no power and still just as hateful. If not more so from Nesta’s pov (at least at the beginning of SF). And now she’s just kind of there. All bark and no bite. I find it kind of insulting to her character. I haven’t read ToG and I just started CC today, so I don’t know if we’ll learn more about her, but currently she feels useless and I hate that for her. I guess I should say I hate her story, not her character. I think she’s been disrespected by SJM, and hope she’s redeemed in the next books.