#ACOTAR is seriously a great series

[verysaxyberry]

Fourth Wing is the definition of mid, even within the romantasy genre

[reblogandlikes]

No allies UTM, Rhysand? None? (Ramble)

I genuinely want to know, but seriously, Rhysand didn't make one alliance with the other HL's or anyone during the years of Amarantha? Not a single side plan that would have me think, "Yeah, he's done fucked up things for her, but he's also been actively working against her the entire time with proven plans, proven things gone wrong and right. Proven anything but weak his say."

Not to mention, please don't make someone the most powerful mind reader if they won't capitalise on that power. A very useful power, yet criminally under utilised in this series. There would have been ample time to create an alliance, and for his own safety/self preservation, occasionally ensure they would not spill the plan or fuck them up before they ever could. That would then play into his grey morality for the betterment of everyone further down the line even if it means cutting people loose. Hard, but necessary. I mean, unless that forever unknown daemati made it hard. Though this unknown other figure couldn't have been that good when the other HL's rebelled. Yeah, they failed and died doing it, but they still made a plan and tried. Rhysand hasn't don't anything off the sort.

But, he must of had a hint of an alliance because why would he and Helion be so buddy buddy in the later books? He saw all that Rhysand had done during those years. Saw his "Mask" presented as "him" and yet Helion no qualms or think to be standoffish afterwards? Like, "Damn, you went a little hard core, don't you think?"

Unless his friendship curated with Helion was just a way for sjm to try to absolve Rhysand from receiving too much heat and generalised, consistent hate from everyone outside of Velaris. "See, look. This fun, cool HL guy loves Rhysand! He's also POC, Bi, sex positive, with progressive ideals. His judgment can't be wrong." It felt like sjm was using Helion as a tool to enforce Rhysand’s greatness than having built a genuine friendship we could read; so instead rely heavily on Helions traits when knowing Helion embodies a lot of the characteristics her target audience wants to see more in books, yet for me, made my guy Helion feel like a token. I don't like it. (Side note, I'm still pissed they stole from my sweetheart Tarquin when he was so open. They still have not apologised, either!)

Anywho, where was this so-called friendship UTM? A union between the solar courts, at least. Something!

50 years. He should have come with some receipts of his efforts. Anything on Hybern since he was already suspected of them making a move in the later books. To me, these books are the best example of just making shit up as you go along. SJM just writes, and we simply consume. Nah, mate. You can catch these critiques.

Crazy, you'd think acotar was her first series, not her second.

[1800naveen]

My appreciation.

September 2023, I started the "a court of thorns and roses" series. Booktok got me hyped to read it so when I did, I really enjoyed it. (I fell victim to liking Rhysand and the inner circle, forgive me)

Feyre, Tamlin, and Lucien were my favorite characters. Their dynamic, how their relationship grew, I loved it all. (I was also a hater of Nesta but I changed now, my mind opened.)

I also saw spoilers on Tik Tok about acomaf and Rhysand which put me into a slump and I didn't continue reading the series again until April 2024. Yeah, it was that bad.

Finding out that people hated Tamlin for his later actions got me bummed because I really liked him at the time. I got spoiled for the rest of the series but I don't really care for spoilers that much.

During my slump, I made an account on Tumblr. I mostly liked posts but I would comment at times. I was afraid of making a post because I was just nervous.

I still had love for Tamlin so I avoided the Acotar side of Tumblr for a while. Because what if someone came after for my thoughts or opinions? That scared me. I felt somewhat alone when it came to not hating Tamlin or seeing him as a "villain" (he's more morally grey). I also still didn't like Rhysand because of the whole under the mountain thing which weirded me out.

Then one faithful day, I was looking through the Bryce Quinlan tag after finding out about her when I saw this post (it was about the crossover) and it was the first anti Rhysand post I liked.

And I clicked on the anti Rhysand tag and my third eye opened. When it came to booktok, I thought that hating this man was some sort of taboo.

These guys showed his wrongdoings, went on analysis, how he was toxic, how he treated certain characters, etc. Thanks to them, I was right to feel what I felt about him. He fucking sucks.

I then went on the pro Tamlin tag and I had finally found my people. Ones that shared the same thoughts as I did when it came to Tamlin and it gave me inspiration to make my first post on here.

(And the rest was history...) *cue the clapping*

Nah but seriously, I want to give my appreciation to the Tamlin, Nesta, Lucien, and Eris fans, the anti Rhysand people, the inner circle haters, and the people who just hate this series in general. I'm grateful for finding a community where I fit right in and where I won't get burned at the stake for my opinion (most of the time). I actually made friends on here which is great because I usually suck at making friends (Me and Tamlin twinning, can't make friends for shit) so this is great.

TIME FOR THE TAGS!!!

Giving my appreciation to the people who inspired me to become the blog that I am today: @szalonykasztan00, @copypastus (love your art❤), @shi-daisy, @arson-09, @thrumbolt, @achaotichuman, and @feyres-divorce-lawyer (so glad that I found you on tik tok first, a fellow Rhysand hater).

My mutuals where we are united by both love and hate: @sonics-atelier (thanks for making those analysis posts), @wingsdippedingold, @rin-u-pos, @positivelyruined (bless you for the Luke Eisner fancast🙏🏾), @nickel156, @viktoriaashleyyx, @thatapologisttoyourantis.

And those who I first found out on tik tok and then found them again on Tumblr (some are mutuals, some aren't and the first two I found out there asoiaf tik toks): @watcherintheweyr, @kataraavatara, @booksnwriting.

Yuh, that's about it. Just wanted to make something nice and sweet. Thanks to my 107 followers that I got for mostly being a hater or from other stuff that I post.

Me to all of you (This feels corny but I was born on the cob🌽):

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(Here's the posts I was talking about.)

[elainsgirl]

this fandom has got to be the most delusional, gaslighting, toxic, and weirdest fandom Ive ever been in. they get weirder everyday.

why the hell do you want tamlin with ELAIN??? where did this bryce and azriel ship come from???? where is all the feyre hate suddenly coming from???? why is everybody shipping azriel with anything they get their eyes on????? why the hell are people fighting over a bonus chapter???? why are people saying rhysand raped feyre???? why are people saying gwyn and emerie are nyx aunties??? (pretty sure feyre has never met them at all) what are these people making up nowadays??? (this isnt even half of what people are saying)

It's about time I leave this fandom fr.

Hey anon 🫶

heavy on this fandom being so delusional, toxic and great at gaslighting people to believe their interpretations.

I think it comes down too so many factors- acosf has brought on more mature, critical readers that take everything too seriously instead of enjoying this for the lighthearted, barely fleshed out fantasy series that it is. Like ACOTAR is not that deep. People hate Feyre for how she treated and behaved with Nesta. After reading acosf, feyre critics simply think Feyre is a superficial, two faced, biased narrator that doesn’t serve a great purpose unlike her elder sister. Ofc, Rhys has also gained critics due to how he acted out in acosf which led to people judging him in every way possible. No he didn’t r4pe Feyre. Did he SA her? That is too your own interpretation. But r4pe? No. Others say he used feyre as a breeding mule so he can have a child and an heir & doesn’t actually care about feyre, he just loves using her as a puppet. This take is also due to feyre being quite young so some Rhys antis believe he may have coerced/pressured her into having a child. After acosf, people love Nesta and the Valkryies more then they love the IC therefore want the acosf trio to be centre staged going forward. Forget Feyre, Nyx apparently will love his aunt and her friends more then his own parents at this point.

Honestly, people just hate elriel for whatever BS reason and want a suprise twist & chaos such as Elain ending up with her sisters’ emotionally unstable, borderline abusive ex will cause. Same goes for those that ship Az with any woman he interacts with. He talked to gwyn? They’re mates and will forever be in love. Omg he touched Bryce’s hands? That is such clear foreshadowing that Bryce will leave Hunt, break their bond and fall in love with Azriel who is her real mate. Gwyn appeared in a few pages of a limited edition bonus? Her book is next and she will accomplish everything that needs to be done all whilst waiting in the background for Az to notice her so they can fall madly in love.

Yh I know. The fandom has gone so long without a book, stans have become bored. They’ve over analysed the books to death trying to find opinions and takes that will get them rival. People are so bored, they’re coming up with theories to excite them, someone honestly told me that the rejected mate bond trope will be between feysand. People hate the direction the books are going in, therefore want to find anything to justify another storyline that suits their preferences.

If leaving the fandom brings you peace, then go for it. What we really need is a fandom cleanse which will be brought about once elains book and then elriel is confirmed.

[zenkindoflove]

1. How many works do you have on AO3? 21

2. What’s your total AO3 word count? 488,773

3. What fandoms do you write for? ACOTAR (active), Crescent City (active), A Song of Ice and Fire (former), The Big Bang Theory (former), Twilight (former - not on AO3), That 70's Show (former - not on AO3).

4. What are your top 5 fics by kudos?  

The Pon Farr Hypothesis (Shenny, The Big Bang Theory)

The Sweet Vibrations Discovery (Shenny, The Big Bang Theory)

Burn Forever With Me (Elucien, ACOTAR)

Summer Heat (Elucien & Erixius, ACOTAR)

Our Hearts Still Beat the Same (Elucien, ACOTAR)

5. Do you respond to comments? Yes! I try my best to respond to all comments these days. I like having conversations with my readers!

6. What is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending? I don't do angsty endings. I'm very demure. Very mindful.

LOL, but no really, I almost always do some kind of hopeful/HEA kind of ending. But I have written some angsty drabbles. There is a Satharion drabble you can find in my drabble series called Mr. and Mrs. Ketos that is pretty sad for the prompt "to distract".

7. What’s the fic you wrote with the happiest ending? Most of them. I'm a fluff girl. I think the happiest of happy is likely Burn Forever With Me because it's basically Elucien accepting the mating bond and going into a frenzy. Which how much happier can you get?

8. Do you write smut? If so, what kind? Yes. Loads. At this point, the real question is when do I not write smut? And the answer is, not often.

My smut is very descriptive. I give people the manual. I like to make it immersive. I also have been told my smut is "smut with feelings" or "tender fucking". Which isn't to say it doesn't get raw and dirty. But I always am looking for what is the emotional core of this smut scene. How are they expressing love in this moment, even if it's one character snowballing cum into another's mouth? I also am always looking to make you kick your feet, even in the midst of a sex scene, so whenever I can, I try to show those little moments of tender touches that happen during sex.

9. Do you write crossovers? Yes! Actually I wrote a few crossovers when I was in That 70s Show fandom - notoriously cross overs with slasher films because loads of them had teenagers in the 70s haha. I haven't done one for ACOTAR yet, but I do have an ACOTAR/Crescent City Modern AU I've been thinking of for a while.

10. Have you ever had a fic translated? Not that I know.

11. Have you ever co-written a fic before? YES! Quite a lot. I've co-written with three authors. Two when I was in That 70's show fandom. And I've written two fics with my ACOTAR bff @crazy-ache and we have more plans in the future to keep writing together. I love co-writing. It's a great way to grow as a writer. And the creativity that comes from two brains is BIG.

12. What is your all-time favorite ship? I can't answer that. My OTPs are my children. All my ships I feel longing for, in different ways. I will say, I have been the most prolific with Elucien in terms of frequency of writing in a short amount of time. So clearly they have really touched a big part of me.

13. What’s a WIP you want to finish but doubt you ever will? I mean all the fics I abandoned when I was younger? Definitely those lol. But I actually don't have a desire to return to them.

14. What are your writing strengths? Dialogue. As seen above, I have written for a lot of sitcom fandoms, and when you write for those fandoms, you get practice with writing with sitcom cadence which really helps with writing pithy dialogue in other genres. I also think I am a very good introspective writer. I think I am best being inside characters' heads. I also do think I am good at smut. I wouldn't write it so much if I didn't think so.

15. What are your writing weaknesses?  SHUTTING THE FUCK UP. No seriously, I do tend to be on the wordy side. It's one of the reasons I get into drabble moods because I do need to learn to be more concise and try to execute a scene without making it 5000 words. I also write very wordy sentences that need to be slashed and slashed.

16. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language in fic? Oh, I doubt I'll be able to do that. I only know English.

17. First fandom you wrote for? That 70's Show!

18. Favorite fic you’ve written? Ack! Okay, that is so so hard. I don't even know what I'd say. I guess, if I had to absolutely choose, I would say Summer Heat because I think it is emblematic of all my skills as a writer in one fic. And it's the fic I introduced Alexius - the first OC I ever fully fleshed out and developed, and that will ALWAYS hold a special place in my heart because Alexius has given me so much confidence I never knew I had being a writer. He's really let me know that I can write original content with original characters on my own and shown me how to do it.

~~~~~~

No one tagged me 😭. But I ended up doing this anyways because I've been really wanting to and I decided I'd rather risk being a loser. But, to make sure no one else feels like a loser who wants to do it, I'm tagging everyone I can think of that I don't think I've seen do this. Sorry if you're tagged again and you did this! And if I didn't tag you I'm sorry. Please just be like me and go for it. At least we did it together!

@crazy-ache , @the-darkestminds , @olenvasynyt , @bonecarversbestie , @starsreminisce , @lucienarcheron , @teddyhoneybear , @jules-writes-stories , @avabrynne , @theshadowsingersraven , @tilseptemberends , @ataraxiasflame , @highlordofkrypton , @summerbummin , @sadiegirl2021 , @lovely-vanserra-sunshine , @sad-scarred-sassy , @yaralulu , @fieldofdaisiies , @dawneternal , @secret-third-thing

[raven-at-the-writing-desk]

I remember you mentioning A court of Thorns and roses in your posts once when talking about malleus character archetype. Have you read acotar series? If so I really want to know what you think about it. Your post is how I found out this series. It's pretty meh 😕 to me but I would really like to read your thoughts on it 😊. Also are non twst related ask allowed? If not I'm truly sorry😥. You can just ignore this ask

Oh god 😅 That was such a long time ago that I can’t even locate the original post where I made that comment…

To summarize what I said then, I had expressed that the way Malleus is presented to us reminds me of the bad boy supernatural love interests in romantasy novels. I believe the online book community colloquially refers to these characters as “Shadow Daddies” and I find that hilarious. To clarify, I do NOT mean to say that Malleus is Yuu’s “canon” love interest or anything like that. When I say that Malleus is “like” a Shadow Daddy, it’s just in the tropes they share. (For example, being overpowered, brooding, and misunderstood as a “bad guy” when, in actuality, he has a heart of gold and is just lonely.)

… I’ve actually seen multiple posts comparing Malleus and Rhysand, if you can believe that 💀

The rest of my response isn’t really TWST related, so I’ll put it under the cut for ya ^^ I tried to keep my thoughts concise and free of spoilers.

But to your question! Yes, I actually have read the first three books of ACOTAR but not the novella (A Court of Frost and Starlight) or the sequel, A Court of Silver Flames. I got into the series because it was highly recommended within its genre, but I came out of it really disappointed. I continued reading hoping that it would get better, but it really did not.

Maas has this really melodramatic and yet simultaneously juvenile way of writing dialogue that does not mesh well with what I’m looking for in a romantasy read. She’ll have characters give exposition or speeches that go on for like 10 pages straight and also have supposedly wise ancient fae cracking potty jokes like a middle schooler trying to impress their friends. It makes the books a lot longer than they have to be. In actuality, the plot involves a lot of running around and having all the right questions answered by conveniently placed chess pieces. I also did not enjoy the vague world building (like several side characters are never given proper names and instead are always referred to by title) and the near-constant mention of mating bonds. What I did like was how Maas wrote action scenes and descriptions (even if they often veer into purple prose). She also comes up with some unique concepts—but the execution of those concepts isn’t great, so the ideas are left sort of shallow and floating there waiting to be fully realized.

Romantasy and fairy tale retellings are some of my favorite things to read, so I was sad that I didn’t think that highly of this beloved series. It’s been a while since I’ve read a book I’ve been able to seriously get immersed in 😔 ACOTAR’s explosive popularity has led to many other authors trying to replicate Maas’s success, which has flooded the market with horni fae books and even similar titles (“A [noun] of [nouns] and [nouns]”). (And as someone who does NOT find Malleus attractive at all, you can imagine I’m not thrilled.) I have really mixed feelings about that… While of course I don’t mind if people enjoy ACOTAR or ACOTAR-adjacent books, I dislike that it makes up the bulk of what is marketed to me. It makes it a lot harder to find something that’s more suited to my tastes.

If anyone seeing this post is interested in trying out ACOTAR, I caution you that it is a “new adult” book, meaning it is intended for older teens (I would recommend 18+, honestly). There is a lot of violence and… explicit intimate scenes… in the series.

[universitysunflowers]

I rewatched Merlin for the first time in years and collected my thoughts.

Merlin was such a baby in the first season I forget just how tiny and innocent he was.

The number of times Merlin has been suspected of witchcraft and then got out of it is so hilarious like yea here’s this actual wizard but don’t worry he’s been cleared of all charges nothing to worry about here haha

accused by the witchfinder

sentenced to death as old man sorcerer

straight up confessing to Uther in order to save Gwen

Gaius is to old for this

Sir Leon puts up with so much shit from the Pendragon family

Somebody please give him a vacation he does not get paid enough for this (having to tell his boss that he married a troll was a real low point you can see him losing the will to live)

He's running on three hours of sleep and six cups of coffee

Corrie guard commander Fox reincarnated as a knight of Camelot (working for a maniacal tyrant in the most dramatic political court the world has ever seen will take a lot out of you)

King Cenred is the medieval embodiment of the King of Hybern like that is exactly how I imagine him when I read ACOTAR (Tom Ellis, as always, was a great casting choice)

Freya deserved better Ik she had to die to keep the Excalibur storyline going but she could have been such a great character (merlin was so sad bring his gf back poor baby)

Lancelot my wholesome baby you are to precious for this world you deserved so much better

I can't explain it but I just know Gwaine would have done well on book tok

Ok I know Morgana was a terrible queen and burned the crops but honestly props to her for paying attention to the paperwork

I can’t tell if Agravaine looked at Morgana like a daughter or if he was falling in love with her and honestly both are very disturbing to me.

Aithusa is the most adorable dragon look at his little face Ik he gets attached to Morgana but seriously I can’t not love him.

seeing him so beaten and abused is so sad please get him some help

We should have seen more of him with Merlin

How Kilgharra hasn't cooked Merlin like a costco roast chicken is beyond me, this dragon must have some sort of immortality driven godlike patience in order to put up with that boy as long as he has.

Gaius please get a hair cut

I’m a few episodes into season five and I hit that point where I know what’s coming and it’s making me not want to finish the show. I don’t want to but I feel like I should.

I crapped out. I made it to the episode where Gwen uses the stable boy to try and kill Arthur and then never finished the season. I knew this was going to happen I haven't made it all the way through the series in years. If I ever make it through the end of season five again I'll be sure to give my thoughts but for now I've fallen back into a Gossip Girl rewatch.

Sometimes I forgot to write things then wrote it down later so it might be out of order but whatever enjoy my musings.

[melting-houses-of-gold]

It’s my ✨birthday✨ today! Give me a gift by reading these incredible fics:

I did this last year and it was so fun--one of my very favorite parts of fandom is getting to be in community with people whose work I enjoy and to celebrate them. So, in honor of my [redacted] birthday this year, we're doing another round! Maybe these are some of your familiar favorites, or it's a chance to discover something new.

All of these are listed in no particular order :) and all explanations are a little unhinged. Blame the new mom brain!

Star Wars🌟

Muse by @jewelofmandalore (rexsoka, E, one-shot): What can I say about this fic except that every time I read it, I actually stop breathing for its entirety? Modern AU. College Rexsoka. Art students. They're obsessed with each other. I'm SO SO normal about it.

Labyrinth Hearts by @chocmarss (rexsoka, T, rebels-era, in-progress multi-chapter): We have such a need for time-travel in this ship and this fic, while just a few chapters in, is delivering! Post-Malachor Rebels-era fic holds such a special place in my heart and I love love love this one.

A Remedy for Memory by @ahsokathegray (rexsoka, T, in-progress multi-chapter): I love a good amnesia-induced romcom scenario and this one inspired by the other zoey is so stinking cute. I'm so excited to see where it leads!!

Those Who Can by K.R. Closson (alpha-17/fem!obi-wan, E, multi-chapter): I'm insane about this whole series, which is different paths that Obi-Wan could have taken, but this one is the good shit. I want to inject it directly into my veins. I started it at 11:30 and stayed up until 3 am reading it because I had to keep clicking to the next chapter.

ACOTAR🌹

Poltergeist Darling by @thesistersarcheron (feysand, E, in-progress multi-chapter): Is it even a Feysand fic if Rhys isn't batshit insane for Feyre? As a lover of spooky gothic romances, I clicked into this fic so intrigued by the premise (Rhys bringing Feyre back from the dead after she dies UTM) and the writing drew me in IMMEDIATELY. The vibes are so insane, the two of them are crazy for each other, and literally every word is a gift to read.

Good Luck Charm by @whatishowedyouinthedark (feysand, E, multi-chapter): god bless the daddy kink snail in SVDG's brain because this fic was fucking unreal. College AU Feysand with eager-to-get revenge Feyre and frat president Rhys was EVERYTHING. I had to ration myself to one chapter a day because I might have died otherwise.

Castles Ever After by @separatist-apologist (Feysand, Nessian, Elucien, E, series): Every time I open a MB fic, I know I'm going to have a GREAT time, and this series was seriously so fun. When a mysterious uncle leaves the Archeron sisters three castles across the UK, each one goes on their own journey and finds love along the way. We've got everything—Modern day bodice ripping, fake fiances becoming real, battles staged on castle lawns, Lucien Vanserra being his sassy hot self, chickens—EVERYTHING.

[dippedinmelancholy]

After the explanation given in HOFAS . . . I am earnestly baffled as to why there was no time skip for ACOSF. The entire justification for locking Nesta up in the House of Wind was because it was for her own good. That she was spiraling, wasting an ungodly amount of money, and generally being an embarrassment for Feyre, but mostly Rhysand. Before I read HOFAS, I thought maybe SJM's three series took place in different places of the same world, especially since there are so many repeating themes, gods, mates, and symbolism. This made for some weak level of justification for me, personally, in regards to ACOSF. If they were the same world, just different places, obviously she couldn't write a timeskip without damaging a larger canon. Yet, HOFAS blows that out of the water. They are LITERALLY different worlds. Planets. Happening at the same time. Fine, great, amazing. Yet this makes the timeline of ACOSF so much more insane. It has been literal months since the defeat of Hybern. Nesta is deemed unfit to care for herself and too much of an embarrassment after MONTHS. Why???? Because she doesn't jump directly to one of the stupid jobs Rhysand "offers" her? Because she isn't instantly fucking Cassian? Because she's hurt and traumatized and utterly fucking alone, and still after everything she did to try and help, to be a better support to her baby sister, despite her entire life being turned upside down and ripped from her, the entire IC hates her? Months. She hasn't magically become whole in a matter of months, so the only solution was to drag her to a place everyone knew she could not escape, with a man she has said again and again she doesn't want to be alone with, to pursue a training she has never ever ever wanted? And no, I do not give a single crumb of a fuck that everyone knew they were "mates", because if being a mate doesn't give Lucien a claim over Elain, it sure as shit doesn't give Cassian a claim over Nesta, consent should fucking matter. Given fae in ACOTAR live for. hundreds, if not thousands, of years (seriously what the fuck??? What is their natural lifespan if not murdered?????) and the three series, though they overlap, take place on completely different planets, why was there not a timeskip? A small portion of text would have made all of this make more sense. The desperation to "help" Nesta that all of the Feysand fans seem to scream about would have made so much more sense if they had been shown to be reaching out to her over a span of years, rather than fucking months. That desperation would have made Feyre LOCKING HER SISTER UP WITH A MAN at least make some kind of sense???? It's just fucking wild to me how the IC, and Feyre specifically, went from 0 to 100 in reaction and levels of "how can we help Nesta with her war trauma?" and jumped straight to LETS KNOCK DOWN HER HOME AND LOCK HER AWAY UNTIL WE THINK IT'S OK TO LET HER OUT. WE KNOW BEST. As someone who experiences bouts of depression, going through cycles for weeks or months where almost nothing brings joy and I'm just trying to make it through the days, this all just seems absolutely wild to me.

[anarchiii]

World’s apart-6 —ACOTAR x TOG AU

Part six | warnings: none really | Azriel x Celaena Sardothien

Summary; Pain and suffering one after the other, Azriel decides that maybe he’s not meant for this world, but maybe he is meant for another…

Note: this is an AU it’s not in the books.

Masterlist / Series Masterlist

Azriel’s POV

He didn’t dare make a sound, not as he listened to Celaena whip up a detailed excuse to her panic, it was quite impressive actually—how quickly it was put together, it had a couple holes in it but he had a feeling this ‘Chaol’ man was not very intelligent if he hadn’t noticed men’s clothing strewn around the room and the quite groans of pain the Prince was electing, especially as he believed every single word that came out of Celaena’s sinful, beautiful mouth.

Chaol had eaten up all of the Golden one’s lies and was ready to leave when the Prince let out a groan far louder than the others, so loud even a deaf person could hear it, shit.

Azriel was debating knocking the man out as well but he had a feeling that would make things far, far worse, threatening or blackmail could work, maybe, he had a feeling Celaena was thinking the same thing, they seemed to do that a lot.

But for all his Fae swiftness, he didn’t have enough time to even cover the Prince in a blanket before this ‘Chaol’ walked in, Celaena was practically on him in an attempt to drag him away from the scene—that did not go unnoticed by him and definitely pissed him off, for no reason at all—but Chaol was not very impressed and was more than alarmed to see the Prince of Ardalan unconscious and bleeding from the head and even more concerned when he noticed the extra pointy fangs from where Azriel was trying to smile to feign innocence, that did not work either.

Celaena’s worried eyes met his own, what in The Mother’s name were they going to do? Celaena looked contemplative, these people must be her friends of sorts if it was taking her this long to decide. . .

“Chaol. . .” She started, her mouth tight in worry, her beautiful cerulean eyes darting between Azriel and Chaol, “uh. . . Err. . . This isn’t what it looks like?” She tried, seriously? That was the best she could come up with? His nephew could come up with something better than that.

Both men—one male and one man technically—whirled around to face the Golden One, giving her incredulous looks, “damn, guys, harsh.” She started glaring at them both. Celaena sighed, knowing she wasn’t getting anywhere so she decided to just say the truth, “look, Chaol, I love you and we had some great times but I will kill you if you rat on me.” Love. He tried not to think about that, or the fact that they were looking at eachother so intently he started getting jealous, jealous? That didn’t sound like him, then again, this strange viper of a woman had pulled out more emotions from him in the last few days that anyone else had done in his five hundred years of existence, what was that about?

This time, Chaol sighed, giving up and rubbing his temples vigorously, “fine, I won’t tell anyone, but you have to promise me that you are only helping him get home and nothing more, got it?” He hissed, Celaena just smiled in a way that was uniquely hers and said, “I don’t make promises,” and added, just to our the fuel on the fire, “only threats. And you. Captain, are going to be in a world of trouble if you snitch and if you don’t move the hell out of my way and get a towel for Dorian’s head.”

The prince groaned one more in agreement, the Captain immediately moving out of the way for Celaena to run through, both of them watching her move with pre-natural grace, one he only ever saw in other Fae. Perhaps there was something the assassin wasn’t telling him. And he’d be dammed if the Spymaster of the Night Court didn’t figure out what it was.

The End.

Note: short(?) little chapter ✿ thanks for reading!

-Taglist

@cynthiesjmxazrielslover

@azrielslittleslut

@aelincaddel

[acourtofthought]

1) stop spoiling HOFAS. Jesus Christ.

2) the Bryceriel ship went up against a pre-existing relationship where the two characters (Bryce and Hunt) actually have feelings for each other, and actually like spending time with each other as both friends and lovers. You know, all the things Elain and Lucien canonically have no current signs of.

3) Lucien having a sad backstory doesn’t entitle him to Elain’s affections or love. It’s not about what he needs, or what the fandom thinks Elain needs (e.g. she needs to accept the mating bond, or she needs sunshine, or she needs to leave the Night Court), it’s about what Elain wants. And all signs (over 4 whole books now) suggest that’s not Lucien. It’s Azriel. And Elain is a seer - I’m trusting her judgement on this one.

4) I wouldn’t be so content to mock other people’s ships when you yourself have spent every. single. day. of the past 2-3 years going on and on about how Elucien is endgame, and that you know better than everyone else on the matter. You could be wrong too, you know?

Stop spoiling HOFAS?

You mean stop writing "Post contains HOFAS spoilers" followed by a Keep Reading button which hides the rest because you're the (insert choice word here) who chooses to continue reading the post when you're trying to avoid spoilers? Also, if you're the one who keeps using proof of a tainted Elucien bond because of the Cauldron then NEWS FLASH, you are already reading spoilers because that's a bullshit E/riel theory that they've suddenly come up with the leak of HOFAS. And...feel free to BLOCK my account if what I post is bothering you so much. I'm not sure why you're so desperate to keep my blog visible when it upsets you to this degree.

2. My point was that Bryce / Az shippers were convinced that because Hunt and Bryce's bond was described different than other ships, it had to be fake and Bryce's real mate was Az. Just like E/riels have a million and one theories for why the Elucien bond isn't real. But just as it was proven that Bryce and Hunts bond was the real deal regardless of it's differences to other bonds in description, Elucien's bond is the real deal too. Just like Feysand, just like Nessian. You still have absolutely NO PROOF that it was manipulated in any way especially when there are multiple examples in the ACOTAR series and CC3 explaining that when a bond snaps, it can be scented. Not just when it's accepted. 3. Lucien doesn't deserve Elain because of his tragic backstory but from a logical literary standpoint, authors do not write the progression of events that SJM has written for Lucien only to have his mate reject him in the end. The author chose to write it into her book that they are mates, has written him to be entirely respectful to the gift they share, and continues hitting us over the head with their compatibility. Elain is not real, you do know that, correct? It's not about what Elain wants but what the author wants for her. Nesta WANTED to drink and fuck random fae. Was that the best thing for her? Or did the author want better for her? So just because Elain wanted to hook up with Az doesn't meant that decision is being made for the right reasons or what Elain actually wants long term. I think it's a RIOT that you think Elain wanting to have a hook up with Az while refusing to reject her bond is a bigger clue to her future story than things like Elain always being by the sunniest window, that Elain wearing black, no matter how much she claimed to be part of the NC....it sucked the life from her, that SPRING had been made for someone like Elain, that Elain's scent was a promise of Spring. Oh, you mean the Seer powers Elain confirms she hasn't used? That her good boy Az hasn't offered to help her with? Yeah, great call banking her entire future on those powers. Seriously, step away from your ship for half a minute and pay attention to the fucking book outside of the Az and Elain moments. 4. I'm sorry. If I actually knew who you were and I looked at your page, do you think I'd find how you liked posts of E/riels mocking Lucien and the Elucien ship? Are you honestly coming on to my page and acting like what I do is so much worse than the people you follow? What I'm "mocking" is E/riels going around claiming they have canon evidence that the Elucien bond has been proven tainted and I'm fairly sure I'm allowed to call out how ridiculous that is. I acknowledge I could be wrong Elucien. I don't think I am but until the book is written anything is possible. But have you considered that you all could be very wrong about E/riel?

[theweeklydiscourse]

For even more context, ACOTAR, ACOTAR 2, and half of ACOTAR 3 were all written consecutively in 2014. That series was very different than the actual published series as SJM said Rhys was initially a villain and there would’ve been a love triangle between Tamlin, Feyre, and Rhys (which many readers speculate would’ve ended with Feylin endgame regardless of whether Feyre and Rhys were mates in that original). Later before publishing, she went back to tweak ACOTAR. This is where many of us speculate she rewrote the second half (starting with Calanmai, onward) since it’s so vastly different from the first half and also added in the whole painted dresser thing but forgot to change… well everything else. To further this speculation, in SJM’s own words, she said she had to add Rhys in earlier. (She never specified if earlier meant earlier in the first book or earlier as in adding him into the first book where in the original he would’ve appeared in the second, maybe even third book, but many of us assume it’s the latter since you can take him out of his scenes in ACOTAR and they would work just fine with other characters in his place.) She scrapped ACOTAR 2 and that half ACOTAR 3 to write ACOMAF and ACOWAR.

(Disclaimer: SJM does like to always say she had always planned on Feyre and Rhys, probably because it sounds cooler and more soulmatey, but not only does canon (aka book 1) completely contradict that, many of her earlier interviews (that have suspiciously become difficult to find) tell a very different story about her writing. Like the fact that she’s mentioned many times that she doesn’t outline and she “lets her characters taker her where they feel like it” but that she has vague beginnings and endings and musical outlines. Or that she’s mentioned while writing the published version of her first series, while writing what was supposed to be the third and final book in the series she changed her mind about the endgame and having to change the ending of the series, multiple times, in order to make that endgame possible as it didn’t work with what she originally set up, thereby extending the series. She also mentioned that in that very same book two characters just walked into her head while writing it, meaning she didn’t plan on having them, so there was no way to foreshadow them in the previous two books as fans like to claim. So…)

Oh god it makes my head hurt.

It is so disorganized and vague that it makes it impossible to judge the characters without considering Maas’s clumsy handling of her narrative. Whenever I try to approach the issue I’m constantly thinking “How seriously should I take this characterization? How much weight should I give to this information that is contradicted later on?” because Maas is so fickle with her characters and narrative. Like you said, there are many readers that claim that Maas had a plan all along and seem to hold the belief that they alone can comprehend the complexities of her writing when really the writing in question is just…bad.

Her foreshadowing (if you can even call it that) is merely what she wrote when she had her first idea of what the story would be and her follow-through is her retroactively modifying her narrative to make it fit. To put it plainly, any foreshadowing Maas does is weak and feeble because it is consistently overpowered by her poor planning and conflicting ideas. All of her contradictory additions exist for one reason: to disguise the fact that she has plan and makes narrative decision on whims. Most notably, Rhysand and Tamlin are great examples of this because of how obvious Maas is in her defanging and rehabilitation of Rhysand coupled with her questionable writing decisions for Tamlin. She changes her mind by partway through her story and veers off in an entirely different direction, resulting in her readers being subjected to chapters and chapters of inane explanations and retroactive continuity. Hence, why Maas frames certain character decisions as sudden “realizations” and “epiphanies” meant to recontextualize previous events but are really just her scrambling to make her favourite pairing endgame as quickly as possible. It’s lazy, choppy and insulting to the reader.

It makes ACOMAF an extremely tiresome book because of how insistent Maas is with her newly decided characterizations. Suddenly Rhysand’s is a righteous and noble prince who only ever wanted to protect people and loses any edge he had in ACOTAR. Suddenly Tamlin is obsessed with respecting tradition and customs despite his stated aversion to it previously. While I can see what Maas was trying to do with the two of them, her lack of foreshadowing ruins my suspension of disbelief and creates a jarring shift in the story that never truly feels earned. To claim that Maas thoroughly planned these books would be generous.

[saddleseatollie]

just finished rereading fourth wing and i am experiencing so many emotions i cannot put a single one into words.

*spoilers*

liam dying somehow hurt even worse the second time around, even though i knew it was coming.

i didnt like dain from the beginning even on my first read but my hatred was so much more intense the second time around knowing he was violating her mind every single time he touched her

i dont really like comparing book series' but xaden and his shadow wielding is so azriel coded (that's honestly where i think the similarities end though)

i really really hope rhiannon gets to be in the next book and i really hope she somehow gets brought into the revolution because she's genuinely one of my favorite characters and i think violet needs her support

i'm so excited to learn more about brennan in the next book, he seems like he's gonna be such a great character and definitely is a great brother to violet and leader among aretia

a part of me hopes that violet's dad is also secretly alive but i know he's not

the brief mention in xaden's pov chapter about his mother hinting at some kind of trauma? i'm so curious about whether the "not going there" was meant to imply is she was maybe abusive? or if maybe she betrayed his father or something.

xaden is genuinely one of the best love interests ive read in a long time. like yeah he makes some mistakes (he should have been more open and honest with violet as soon as things started getting serious between them) but i love that he admits his mistake and wants to make it up to her. not to compare to ACOTAR again since so many people already do that but Rhys would never (i'm not a rhys hater but i'm just saying)

violet is seriously my favorite fmc of all time. i was worried in the beginning when she was described as being so physically frail that she would follow the "y/n so tiny and helpless" trope but when she said "i will handle my rucksack and i will handle myself" i immediately knew she wasn't gonna be like that and loved her for it.

the book being mobility aid positive and the treatment of violet's eds i thought was really good (obviously aided by the fact that rebecca yarros has the same condition) but i loved when tairn tells violet not to be ashamed of using the saddle and that having a body with different needs doesn't make her less than or less deserving of riding

tairn and andarna are the best. tairn reminds me of a grumpy but loving dad (my daddy issues were screaming whenever he told violet he was proud) and andarna reminded me of a sweet little sister. even sgaeyl reminded me of a slightly scary but not unkind aunt.

ive preordered iron flame and will now be sitting and waiting for november 7th to come.

[fourteentrout]

Surprise self-rec time! Pick 3 of your favorite things you’ve written and share them here, then put this in the inbox (anonymously or not) of your fellow writers to spread the positivity and help celebrate already written fics

(Added side quest from @achaotichuman, tell me what inspired your fics, why you love them so much etc etc, tell me EVERYTHING)

Ooh! Thank you for sending this! Alright I'd say right now my favorites are

Colors in a Dead Garden

My longest ACOTAR fic. I put so much time and effort and thought into it, and it almost has a plot which is unusual for me, and I just really really liked how it turned out. I feel like it's a good marker for like my progress as a writer thus far if that makes sense. It's a sleeping beauty au, so I was obviously inspired by the fairytale and occasionally the Disney movie specifically, but I also just wanted something where I could like play with the magic of the series and see how I could introduce a Classic Romance situation to characters who would absolutely not be able to function in a romance. I also loved just like. Giving them a doomed relationship and still being like "now kith." That was like one of my main motivators like I just wanted them to kiss, despite not having any kind of chance at having a relationship. I really wanted to unearth their characters and force them to sort of like talk things out while still having the aforementioned magic of it all be like a big driving presence.

The Beholder

My most recent ACOTAR fic. Azris is my second favorite ship in this fandom but it is still arguably one of my favorite ships of all time, and I had such a blast delving into their characters and how they interact with beauty, hate, and attraction. I wanted to really get into like how Azriel views himself and what his standards for aesthetic would be, but mainly I just wanted to have a gratuitous amount of Azriel and Eris being unbearably horny for each other. I also, kinda like with Colors in a Dead Garden, wanted to force them to talk things out and have like deep conversations that went beyond surface level attraction, just cause I love doing that sort of emotionally heavy character dynamic stuff. I kind of actually didn't even get all I wanted to across, but it was just so long that I was like alright I gotta cut this off now if I want it to still be a one shot. But there's definitely sort of more I may want to dive into in the future regarding like Azriel's relationship with himself, his scars, his shadows, and his Illyrian heritage, that sort of thing. But I feel like this fic was a really great start and the progression of him and Eris' relationship ended up being like exactly what I wanted it to be like I just loved how the two of them turned out individually and together in my writing, if that makes sense.

and, in a completely different direction, Cellar Door

One of my Social Network fics. It's not even my most popular, and it's more crack treated seriously than anything else (I mean, a multiverse au for the Facebook movie? C'mon.) but I had a lot of fun writing it and I really liked the end result. I appreciate it for it's silliness, yk? I have two other Social Network fics that got a little more reception than this one, but I just had so much fun writing this that whenever I think of my writing and me as a writer, I think of this fic. I really wanted to write a scenario that would be impossible in real life but would still sort of "fit" the characters if that makes sense. Like oh yeah that WOULD be the type of guy to accidentally jump into other universes spontaneously, quite possibly as a side effect of his own emotional constipation. It's just so goofy and I loved writing it. It in itself was inspirational too, cause I got to think of all these different AUs without necessarily having to commit a full fic to them, it was like an all in one special.

Sorry that got so lengthy, but thank you so much for including me in this, I feel so honored!

[cafeleningrad]

Recently discovered your blog through a particularly good comment you left on an ACOTAR post. Your critiques are unique and they cut to the core of the deeply irritating elements of that series. Personally, I read the series because I disliked my roommate and Maas was her favourite author, so I read the books to understand her mind. From this experience, I came away with an understanding of the state of YA literature and infinite contempt for those who made these books popular. The fandom would benefit from taking a moment to reflect on how utterly incoherent those books are instead of twisting themselves in loops to make it make sense.

Unrelated, but I love that you’re an Utena fan too. Keep up the great commentary

Hello anon, the entry comes unexpected yet not unpleasantly. Thank you for the compliments. ^^ And hello fellow Utena fan, always happy to discuss the story! :D

Granted, the post you may refer to is some years old, and I would say I would nowdays think of them more as personal rant having read a story and style I personally fundamentally disliked. I read the story for similar reasons like yours. A former friend of mine borrowed the book to me for the purpose to convince me of, as she perceived it, "greatness of romantasy". Yet, nothing touched me. Only when she read "A court of Frost and Starlight" she complained how the story was only "softcore" - to which I reacted in utter confusion. Because it was softcore and fulfillment fantasy since book one.

What doesn't work for me with stories like ACOTAR and the effect it had on the bookshelves flooding it with YA titles, is that it has a very transparent service: It's indulgence fantasy for sex and dramatic romance. Which is fine but not deep. It's not worth discussing. Neither are these worthy of cultural scandal not any deeper discussion.

Bodice ripper stories already existed in the medieval ages to console noble women about the matches they'd to strike and offer them some escapism to have a fantastical lover who emotionally and sexually consoles them. Every time there's an outrage about "chick-lit", or "Twilight", it's more a big revulsion and shock that women are indeed a massive and mostly paying readership - paired with the distaste for anything popular with women. In that sense women, and especially teen girls, are the most sought after and simultaneously most disrespected audience. Pulp stories, indulgent stories have every right to exist. I may not personally like them but I can make a beeline around them. But what I really dislike is the latter issue of being a female audience member. Mass produced pulp does cost 20+$ per book nowdays, it has bad prose but is also the first thing that gets recommended to me in bigger bookstores because I've boobs. It's the constant struggle between the romance genre not being taken seriously because it's dominated by women whereas marketed aggressively because women are such avid readers. I don't like to fault women for a niche in which female writers can thrive yet a lot of genre titles are neither of good prose nor thoughtful material. Romance as main story or side element can actually be deeply meaningful and engaging yet the best romances I read weren't genre titles. I'm not a romance reader, I can treat that genre a bit more soberly, however it does evade me that I should consider a genre which is nowdays a very aggressive marketing scheme this seriously. There're good romance books out there but the current market isn't treating it's readers seriously in the quality output - and even less in pricing. In that sense, I consider treating any plot beat in ACOTAR seriously as ultimately pointless because this series a pulp novel created solely for the cheap thrills of a pulp novel - which in itself is fine to exist but not serious.

Whether or not it is my cup of tea, I needed to get off my high horse of acknowledging that yes, people are allowed to like and hype things I personally vehemently dislike. Even if that something merits a lot of maybe greater systematic criticism, there is never a moral imperative to sway people off their instinctual joy. And to be fair, it's okay to like brain off trash by times. What empty calorie fun looks like for each person is different. There is no way I can reasonably argue that John Wick is shining with anything else but good action choreography Otherwise the little bit of... plot thrives very much on senseless bloodshed and violence. There're many titles which are not only the Western YA market in it's contemporary softcore drama romance and sex fantasy indulgence which are indulgent but this time from the maledominated fantasies. Like James Bond thriving on misogyny, the anime Kimetsu no Yaiba which is terrible at any character writing and has no thematic depth whatsoever is even worse in it's treatment of female characters... The aim of such stories is simply scratching the itch of seeing things explode on screen and a guy just doin' his thing although it is couched is systematically questionable formulas. As an avid crime fiction reader I do also enjoy the same formula yet in story specific variations. (By every means certain crime authors also are meriting some well earned criticism.) And every person reacts differently to enjoying different formulas. Some people could never get enough of the formula of a spy chasing the MacGuffin only varying in name of the spy and their motivations, others never get tired to learn why someone was killed varying only in method of murder and motivation behind it. And some will never get tired to have a boy and girl meeting and holding hands in the end. (These days we also have the same formula in queer editions. Diversity win I guess.)

I doesn't work for my in the romantic genre because personally (and I would really like the highly subjective lense here), the formula's solution is too forsee-able to me. Boy meets girl, they hold hands, done. In my opinion many romance authors aren't good at setting the stakes as high as they need to be. Something as small as holding hands needs to be the most dire strive, as a reader I would love to see how the two characters interact if there aren't any interesting characters or interactions in the first place. Hence, for me as romance-not-enjoyer, everything becomes another predictable stepping stone on the goal of get-together. If I don't care about the characters everything that should let the butterflies in my stomach beat their wings feels like a mechanical motion instead. No amount of fake dating, long look in the eyes, chase to the airport, grand confession will move me because everything happening between the first meeting and the ever after is stalling time about two people who have way too much drama going on in spire of being forgettable. These tropes work in fanfiction because I already know the characters and want them to smooch each other from the get go. In original fiction... I don't know who they are or why having them kiss would have me gushing. (It also depends on personal indulgence. Trope dynamics like grump x sunshine or gremlin x cool, tsundere x clueless guy, jock x nerd don't really set anything off in me. My preferences lies more in character studies but that's a purely me thing.) In that way I do care about Pierre's and Natasha's romance in War and Peace because they simultaneously grow as people on their but also together, they've an inner life and conflicts that are complimented and solved when they interact. In that way I couldn't care for anyone in Bridgerton because with all the gripes I've about Tolstoy and his views on women, the books and show of Bridgerton have a fundamentally immature understanding of romance as whirlwind of drama and sex. Hence all the Bridgerton casts seeks is drama and sex, so the characters mainly serve to evoke such sensations instead of matching by personality. That is my very personal mileage take on why the romance formula personally doesn't work for me. People who do enjoy that formula aren't any less intellectual or morally worse than me. We simply don't agree on taste but that isn't a translation to character. Easy books can be well written although they only serve simplistic goals of short entertainment - which is fine. What is entertaining to each person varies by their mileage. The reasons why I fell out with my ACOTAR-loving friend were in a whole other benchpark than her taste in fiction. My mother loves "Notting Hill", in which everything but the central romance worked (for me) still my mother and I are on very good terms, and we have other fiction works we both like.

For many YA and the larger romance publishing body many titles are easily transparent in their function. Everything that happens serves the endgoal of ever after. What personally set me off so much about ACOTAR is it's obvious pulp nature (which has a right to exist). Yet it is marketed as prestigious reading object with hard cover and special edition. And more so that the wider discussions around it are very much unwilling to engage with it as such. Like yeah, Rhysand forcing Feyre to basically prostitute herself is misogynistic but serves the fantasy to be desirable against one's own low self-esteem of their looks. Feyre doth protest as much as she wants in text, in the end she finds fulfillment in being a hot high-cheekboned blonde with a hot, dark, handsome possessive Prince of Darkness who offers her wealth, a villa, and praise in motherhood. In the end with all the cosplay staffage around it, the book series is very much ending with conservative ideals of being married for life, happily pregnant, and materially secured. On top of it are sprinkles that the man is at least secure enough that he heard about the importance of women's rights... somewhat. (Rhysand repreating ad verbatim how Feyre has choices is probably the best lip service to 2010's pop feminism - even though Feyre's end goal is becoming a top model mother in the end.)

Probably I too have to back down a bit from my own previous criticisms and admit that well... these fantasies are not my cup of tea but are exciting for others. My take would now rather expand to: Romances of bodice rippers are pretty standart. They existed since the medieval ages, and dark romance fantasies have much more to do with desires and wishes for and about good sex. They're not misogynistic or internalized misogyny. Rather they're informed by indulging in repressed taboo areas. To say, the culture that decides what's taboo is mysogynistic.

In that way the better criticism of ACOTAR and similar titles aren't the sex fantasies. It's more asking what the narrative presents us and how well it was executed. Everything in ACOTAR is a domino effect of events of A happens so B happens to C happens so D happends, so E... and so on. The way the characters get from A to B to C and so on is often very much contrived and poorly constructed. The fandom gets caught up in a lot of senseless discourse because they try to make the logic of the effects work. The consequential logic only serves the result to read a sex fantasy that is gratifying. In order to present such things, SJM has to build up constructions and some sort of characteristics for the sex partners to make it interesting. It's basically softcore with plot. To be a bit krass: Deepthroat was also successful because the plot climaxed with it's main character finding out why she couldn't cum before. It made the oral sex more interesting to know what it means to our main girl. The blowjobs aren't just another sex act, they're the best blowjobs possible. The viewer pays attention because the story builds up to a random sexual act representing the greatest form of pleasure the main character ever experienced.

In that sense there's no use to argue for any bigger merit of the plot when the final merit is to have narratively engaging make-out and sex. Hence why I think think that any mentions of Feyre being traumatized are laughable because the story just looks for a reason to make Rhysand look like the better choice than Tamlin. Or Feyre bending her mind backwards to have "sexy dangerous thing during spring festival" happen, no matter how unmotivated or stupid it is - especially when the plot establishes that unlike any other assault scenario this time Tamlin really is physically incapable of reason.

Last but not least, within the text there're things I still find deeply grating and the fandom doesn't engage with: Fine, have your dark romance fantasy. But it's utterly pointless wanting to read anything deeper into it that it ever purports. Nesta isn't as much traumatized as her fitting a fantasy of being loved although being difficult. What even would be her trauma about, and what would trigger bad reactions, how would she feel? No Nesta wasn't being secretly cool - SJM just isn't capable of realizing what albeism looks like. Tanting and blaming a man who lost wive, wealth, and mobility is albeist abuse. In that same breadth, Nesta did indeed rely on her youngest sister to serve her because she couldn't be bothered to. No, Feyre isn't as much traumatized as Tamlin not being given an arsenal of support to heal as Feyre is - and she's only given that because she's Rhysand's sex partner for eternity or whatever. And SJM apparently prefers tall, dark, and handsome over blondes by the end of her draft. Wow, how supportive of women Rhys is. So no, once it's clear everything happens for the simple entertainment of certain fantasies, nothing ever becomes deeper because it doesn't seriously engages with anything that lies beyond the realm of motivating dubcon/supernatural sex.

[marthawrites]

It's a new month which means it's time for me to yell about what books I read during July!

Spoiler free thoughts below the cut

Sarah J Maas readers this month belongs to you!

The Assassian's Blade: I am SO GLAD I read this book first instead of third! I actually read Throne of Glass like 7-8yrs ago? Or so? Idk something like that. But honestly I barely made it through the story because Celaena was extremely annoying to me. Reading TAB first made me actually SEE, UNDERSTAND, and FEEL for Celaena. I loved the short story style of this book - 5, total, as we follow Celaena through her journey of redeeming herself. Seriously loved this one. Highly suggest reading it first if you dive into this series!

Throne of Glass: On my second official read of this book, as well as reading TAB first, I appreciated this SO much more than the first time I read it. The relationship and banter between Celaena, Dorian, and Chaol is so much fun. And Nehemia? MY LOVE. I love her SOOOO MUCH. The building of events throughout this story was seriously good - the trial, the murders, the discovery of wyrdkeys, the King, AGH. An overall excellent introduction to this world, lore, characters, everything

Crown of Midnight: YOU DON'T FUCK WITH A GIRLS DOG. AHHHH!! That's all I'll say on THAT topic. This book broke my heart. I won't spoil anything in these reviews, but wow. I'm sure people who have read this will know exactly which part I'm talking about. I LOVED the introduction of witches in this, too. We meet Baba Yellowlegs who, with all her iron teeth, iron nails, and creepiness quickly became one of my faves. Mort also quickly became a fave LOL. The audiobook narrator gave him a New York-ish accent? And it made it so much better ahhaha! But yeah my overall thoughts of this book is DON'T FUCK WITH A GIRLS DOG

Heir of Fire: Enter the fae!! We meet Rowan in this and AHHH! We also meet Maeve for the first time and whoa - she's so scary. I know she's a bad guy, I know, but I love her. We meet the witch Manon Blackbeak, too, and she's easily one of my faves. I'm trying to keep these spoiler free haha so I'm not saying a whole lot. But, damn!!!

Queen of Shadows: Aedion, Lysandra, more fae characters. Ahhhh!! ! God this book was so emotional and insane!

Overall: I AM SHAKING THESE BOOKS IN MY MOUTH LIKE A DOG WITH A BONE

I've read the ACOTAR series, and as much as I loved it, it honestly feels like a different author wrote the TOG series. Like, wOW, ACOTAR was great but ToG? CHEFS KISS