#acofas critical

[thefatesofspring]

You know it really makes me mad that SJM had the cheek to put a DV hotline number in ACOMAF in regards to Tamlin & Feyre’s relationship but yet when it was also needed in ACOFAS & ACOSF she didn’t put it in there…when Feyre, Rhysand, Cassian, Morrigan & Amren were all abusing Nesta & Tamlin the domestic abuse hotline number or suicide hotline is nowhere to be seen…

In ACOWAR when Feyre abuses Tamlin by deciding she’s going to goad Tamlin into having an argument & he explodes due to a panic attack which is caused by reactive abuse WHERE WAS THE DOMESTIC ABUSE HOTLINE?!!?!!

When Rhysand goes the The Spring Court to speak to Tamlin & he actively notes that there’s no wards around the manor which means Tamlin is suicidal & then Rhysand tells Tamlin to rot after he helps save Prythian…WHERE WAS THE SUICIDE HOTLINE?!!!!?!!!

When Nesta contemplates jumping off a cliff on that suicide hike Cassian takes her on as punishment WHERE WAS THE SUICIDE & DOMESTIC ABUSE NUMBER?!!!

When Cassian tells Nesta he doesn’t know why her sisters love her, when he told her not eating won’t bring back her father, when he controlled what she was & wasnt allowed to eat, when he punished her on that hike even though they were all guilty for keeping it from Feyre, when he SA’d her when she was still human (the ACOMAF bonus chapter), when Feyre, Rhysand & Amren imprisoned her & then forced her into military training service, every time Cassian provoked Nesta on purpose into an argument & verbally abused her or weaponised his upbringing against her…I could go on. WHERE WAS THE DOMESTIC ABUSE HOTLINE?!!!?!!!

I say all this to say that when it was actually needed with “more serious/triggering” cases of mental illness/instability there was nothing in sight & was only added in ACOMAF to make Feyre look like the only helpless victim & to further attempt to drive home the narrative that Tamlin & Nesta were these evil pieces of shits.

[ennawrite]

yall ever think about the oversight of the Archeron’s wealth (or should I say Tamlin’s wealth) after Papa A’s death and how it somehow just…vanished?

Nesta shouldn’t have had to rely on Feysand’s wealth at all in ACOFAS & ACOSF, given that her father’s money/riches would have either 1.) been passed down to Nesta following his death since she’s the eldest child or would have 2.) been distributed amongst the three sisters. But I guess that would involve SJM to think ahead.

So I guess what I’m getting at is where tf is that money? The jewels? The SHIPS?🤨

[litnerdwrites]

"You shouldn't criticise/analyse SJM's characters/worldbuilding because it just isn't that deep." Is a take I see a lot when someone analyses or criticises SJM, and while I get where you're coming from, I do have a couple of issues with this take.

First of all, it's important to be able to criticise all media, even your your favourites, no matter how good or bad they are. Media of all formats is a product of it's time and goes a long way into helping us learn about the sociopolitical climate of the time it was written, from the past, present or future. As a result, no piece of media can be considered 'perfect' or without points to criticise, and analysing it can give us perspective on issues we may not even realise exist. This is true for most, if not all media, from books to news channels to music or tv shows.

If you don't want to analyse or criticise it though, that's fine. Just ignore posts and videos of people who do, since there's no use in telling them that they're wasting their time. Some people enjoy criticising/analysing the media they consume, but if you don't, then just let them be.

Now, here's the bigger issue I have with this take. It might really not be that deep to you, but it might really be that deep for other people. Especially since SJM books have a pretty young fanbase. The books are YA, and are advertised as being for ages 12 and up.

Many kids, young girls mostly, that read, even just the first book, are shown Feyre forgiving Rhys at the end of the book after SA-ing her for three months or Feyre getting back with Tamlin after he watched her get tortured for three months, and romanticise it. Then there's the second book, where she ends up with Rhysand despite what he did, and even lets him do it again at the CON.

Nesta is pressured by Elain and Feyre to let her use their home for something incredibly dangerous despite her very reasonable concerns, only to then be insulted by Feyre's friends for a situation he wasn't even there for, only for some romance to between them to be hinted at. In Acowar she's further pressured by her sister, and strangers who hate her, to put her healing and coping from her trauma aside to push her clear boundaries to help her sister even more despite her and her friends not having a great track record of holding up their ends of deals from Nesta's experience.

And don't even get me started on the train wreck that was ACOFAS- ACOSF. If these actions and behaviours were acknowledged as being toxic or wrong, that would be fine, somewhat. However, the narrative paints these characters and behaviour in a positive light, despite the fact they aren't. For young readers to look at this, and to idolise these characters and their behaviours, thinking that it's what they want in a partner, is disturbing.

It's fine to not want to critique or thoroughly analyse a book, but discrediting people who do, especially if they're pointing out harmful behaviour being perpetuated in said books, is not. Ignoring the harmful behaviour these books perpetuate is making you a part of the problem, and I truly hope that your view on this behaviour would change if it was coming from a living person instead of a fictional one. Be it towards you or somebody you know.

[spacerockfloater]

The way people switched on Tamlin the moment Rhys was introduced is diabolical.

“Tamlin never really loved Feyre, it was all a trick from the start”: It is stated that Tamlin was disgusted by the idea of forcing someone to fall in love with him and considered it slavery, but ended up being so in love with her that he ultimately lets her go and choses her freedom and safety over that of his own people. Rhys confirms that Tamlin loved Feyre too much. And he loved her truly. Not because he had to. Tamlin treated Feyre with dignity when she was engaged to him. He introduced her as his lady, to be respected and cherished by all. And she really was loved by his people, too. Rhysand uses her as his lap dog to scare Hewn City and parades her as his whore.

“Tamlin never did anything for Feyre, he just used her”: He improved her and her family’s life in every aspect and offered her everything he had.

“Tamlin had sex with someone else in Calanmai”: Out of duty and responsibility because he didn’t want to force Feyre, who still wasn’t sure about her feelings, into it. All of the High Lords perform the Calanmai. Lucien says so. How convenient that this is never brought up with Rhysand. He surely does perform it as well. All the theories in here, “Lucien doesn’t know what he’s talking about/ This is a SC ritual only/ He probably just passes the duty on to someone else” are just a way for people to villainise Tam and glorify Rhys again. All of them inaccurate. The Calanmai is canonically performed by every High Lord. There’s no evidence that proves otherwise. As the son of one High Lord and the ambassador of another, Lucien would know. He is 500 years old. It’s just more convenient for SJM to never bring this up again because it raises the question of “Who was Rhysand fucking all these years?” and it makes her favourite character look bad. And once he is engaged to her, Tamlin flat out refuses to do it. Let’s be real for a second.

“Tamlin didn’t help Feyre under the mountain”: He literally could not. He was bound by a curse. He was forced to be Amarantha’s consort and a consort cannot oppose you. His powers were bound. Alis warns Feyre that Tamlin will not be able to help her. Stop acting as if he didn’t want to help her. He decapitated Amarantha the moment he got his autonomy back. Claiming that there’s no proof that Tamlin was under the influence of a spell when he literally didn’t break the curse and Amarantha’s magic didn’t allow him to use his powers is crazy. And even if he tried, he could never provide actual help. We see this when he begs Amarantha for Feyre’s life. Him showing he cares about her would only make Amarantha more jealous and vicious towards Feyre.

“Tamlin made out with Feyre instead of helping her”: He couldn’t help her run away. No one could do that. She would never make it, Amarantha would find her. In fact, Tamlin specifically could not help her in any way. He could only assure her he still wants and loves her. And she wanted that just as much. Rhys abused her physically, mentally, verbally, drugged her and much worse. And he enjoyed all of it. If he didn’t want to raise suspicions, he wouldn’t have placed a bet in her favour. Rhys is a sadist, SJM just decided to mellow him down in the next book so that we’d all like him over Tamlin.

“Tamlin ignored Feyre’s wishes and only wanted her to be his bride, he didn’t let her be High Lady”: Both Tamlin and Feyre were bad communicators going though trauma and Tam had a whole court to care for. Tamlin was unaware of how Feyre felt because she barely spoke up once. Rhys knew because he literally lived inside her head and had all the time in the world to focus his attention on her since his court suffered zero consequences during Amarantha’s reign. And Tamlin simply told her the truth: there’s no such thing as High Lady. Even her current title is given to her by Rhys, the magic of Prythian has not actually chosen her to be High Lady. The title and its power are decorative. And she said she didn’t want that anyway.

“Tamlin locks Feyre up and uses his magic to harm her”: He locks her in his humongous palace to keep her safe, after she just came back from the dead and his worst enemy is kidnapping her every month, while he runs off to protect his borders. Rhysand locks Feyre in a fucking bubble. Tamlin loses control of his magic. He doesn’t want to harm her. That’s not abuse. Abuse is intentional. Feyre and Rhysand lock Lucien and Nesta up. They lock the people of the Hewn City up in a cave. Feyre loses control of her magic and harms Lucien’s mother. Double standards I guess.

“Tamlin is a bad and conservative ruler”: Tamlin is such a beloved ruler that his sentries literally begged to die for him. Feyre had to fuck with their minds to finally turn them against him. They were his friends. He was so progressive that the lords fled his court once he became their ruler because he wouldn’t put up with their bullshit like his father did. He loved all of his people. He is against slavery. The Tithe was just tax collection. Rhysand practically rules over just one city, while ignoring Hewn City and Illyria. He treats 2/3 of his realm like shit and everyone except the residents of Velaris hates him. He collects tax, too, but we conveniently never see this. He ranks the members of his inner circle (my 1st, my 2nd etc.) and reminds them every moment that they are his slaves first and anything else second, while Tamlin treats them equally and even gives Lucien an official title by naming him Ambassador.

“Tamlin conspired with Hybern”: He was a double agent and his short lived alliance, two weeks all in all, not only didn’t harm a single soul, but ultimately saved all of Prythian as he was the only one who brought valuable information to that meeting. He dragged Beron to battle. Rhysand’s alliance with Amarantha harmed thousands and only helped save one city, Velaris.

“Tamlin is responsible for turning Nesta and Elain into Fae”: No, that was Ianthe, who got the info from Feyre. Tamlin was fooled by her, just as Feyre obviously was, or she wouldn’t have trusted her. Tamlin was disgusted by that act.

“Tamlin is less powerful than Rhysand”: Rhysand himself says that a battle between them would turn mountains to dust. Tamlin killed Rhysand’s dad, the previous High Lord of the Night Court, in one blow. He is just as powerful as Rhysand. SJM again just wants us to believe otherwise. And he is smarter, too. He was the only one not to trust Amarantha. And he was a good spy for Prythian against Hybern.

All of these takes are cold as fuck. SJM was testing the waters with ACOTAR and she made sure the main love interest, Tamlin, was insanely likeable, so that the book could be a satisfactory standalone story in case she couldn’t land a trilogy deal. She didn’t know it would be such a big hit. But once she realised she could turn this into a franchise, she had to figure out a new story to tell. She may claim otherwise, but there’s just too many plothotes to convince me. And in order to make her new main love interest seem like the best choice, she had to character assassinate the old one. There was no other way. ACOTAR Rhys was too much of an evil monster to be loved by the majority of the audience. But Tamlin was introduced to us as such a heroic and passionate man that is literally impossible to turn him into someone despised by all. Feyre’s relationship with Rhysand reads too much like cheating on Tamlin. That’s why anyone with basic analytical skills is able to realise the flaws of the narration.

[wannabewriterlol]

I want tamlin and Nesta to start a therapy group and just work through the copious amount of gaslighting they’ve faced by Rhysand, Ferye, and the his merry band of idiots.

[yourlittlebunnyy]

quick and honest opinion about some characters in ACOTAR

tamlin is a big yes. also a big boy that i would gladly take-

rhysand mom come pick me up im scared.

cassian OMGVCAJANDBSKS GET HIM AWAY FROM ME NOW

elain is my babygirl.

feyre is... meh.

nesta is forever my beloved.

lucien also my beloved.

eris is daddy. but also i wanna protect him.

i dont trust mor.

azriel is a yes only cause we didnt see him a lot but i know sjm is gonna fuck him up too!

[my-acotar-thoughts]

So about Nesta vs the Inner Circle…

When they first meet Nesta and Elain, Rhys and Cassian already don’t like Nesta. That much was clear with how Cassian brought up Feyre hunting at 14, but I don’t understand why they ignore the fact that Nesta and Elain were also children, barely older than Feyre at that time too. Nesta wasn’t a grown woman expecting a child to do all the work. Nesta and Elain still did their parts in the home, but it was more traditionally feminine work that, honestly, Feyre acts like is beneath her.

It honestly feels like a manipulation. Feed into Feyre’s anger and insecurities against her sisters and seem more sympathetic so she sees you as the good guys. Cause their anger towards Nesta is extreme. The girl wasn’t out there buying luxuries, she was being practical. I also think Feyre compares Nesta to their mother too much and their mother sounded very frivolous so there may be projection. Nesta gives off a more practical aristocratic lady, not the frivolous, hedonistic kind like their mother. But yeah, Rhysand and Cassian feel like they’re just saying shit that Feyre wants to hear to feel validated in her anger towards her sisters, particularly Nesta. And Cassian, being Cassian, of course lets his emotions run away with him in the worst way.

[pinkwhite]

Help SJM is trying to push the "tamlin never deserved Feyre" agenda so bad like book one never happened, like Tamlin never tried to protect Feyre never happened, Like can you pls be consistent.

[nikalaeva]

Velaris 🌠, city of nothing

I don't understand the beauty of Velaris. The most beautiful night sky and Starfall? This exists in our, real world, and the northern lights are even more beautiful (in my opinion). Yeah, our stars don't fall on your face, but personally I wouldn't want my face touched by something made of gas, dust and probably paint. Unusual architecture? 🤔🤔🤔 Maybe the landscape? I don't think so. Mountains are like mountains, a river is like a river. When I read ACOSF, I was so tired of the Sidra description (sorry, idk how to write it in English). It was repeated like five (or five-hundred) times, always with same words.

Make the mountains shaped like animals, monsters. Make that damn river white, purple, red, BLACK so it reflects the starry sky so brightly the nearby streets don't need streetlights. Make up new stars and constellations named after ancient Kings/Queens, High Lords/Ladies, heroes of war. Feyre can literally learn Prythian history while fucking in the sky. I want to see towers that reach into the sky, and spherical houses look like planets. Not silly bars and art studios, but observatories and planetariums. Velaris is surrounded by mountains - connect them with a bridge, several bridges, like the rings of Saturn, from where there will be a truly beautiful view, and everyone can admire it, not just flyers.

Prythian - continent with seven huge courts, but we can only compare Velaris to Adriata, Tamlin's manor (what is the name of the town/village/place where it is?) and the CoN. Oh yeah, and Tesan's house, but I barely remember description of it (my brain threw out the whole meeting of the High Lords). I bet even Feyre's paintings make Velaris look better than it actually is.

[lainalit]

I know that SJM probably fucked up her timeline by making eris 9 years old during Mor's & his engagement, but this sentence would be so funny, sad and disturbing if it came from a 9 year old

the adultifaction of child eris would be such a cool concept to depict if it were in the hands of a better author

[yaralulu]

I will never forgive sjm for ruining feyre and lucien’s friendship.Lucien was the first friend feyre made in prythian and has known her the longest out of everybody.Feyre was also the first human lucien ever befriended.Both of them had a screwed perception of the other’s kind,but quickly saw just how wrong they both were.They learned to trust each other and look out for one another and became friends.They went through hell and back together UTM and you’d think that would mean something for them but nope.You would also think lucien joining feyre in the night court would mean they’d rekindle what they had but sjm decided not only to let their friendship die out but to just ruin it completely.

Feyre’s dismissive and distrustful treatment towards lucien is really what caused the downfall of their relationship.Her behavior is not only unwarranted but contradictory because she claims she’s forgiven lucien yet can’t help but shit all over him when she can.Book 1 feyre and lucien were attached at the hip this is not them 🗣️!!

[reblogandlikes]

If the betrayal plot is still going to be a thing happening within the IC, I don't want to hear shit about Tamlin and him not knowing Ianthe was a horny, power hungry opportunist hidden behind the bond of childhood friends and title of High Priestess.

The IC are stuck together like glue with a person of Truth, a shadow singer, a general who should be able to sniff out bullshit and plotting, whatever Amren is/was and a freakin' daemati. If they can't figure out that their "brother" or "sister/cousin" is going against them, then...I don't know what to say.

Tamlin had shit on his plate and was being active while these mf's just like to party and order 2/3s of their downtrodden court around.

[ennawrite]

oh Rhysand I will see you in HELL. Believe that.

(mind you, he continued to keep many more secrets after this quote in ACOMAF 🙃🙃)

[litnerdwrites]

It’s actually pissing me off that when you type „Illyrian“ in the search bar on Pinterest, you only get the rat- I mean bat boys.

Sjm managed to basically own that title. Illyrians were a real, ancient group. They’re part of Balkan history and Sjm and her crazy fans taint it with the bat version of Christian grey. How annoying.

This is another thing I just hate that she does. If she wants to use or take heavy inspiration from real life cultures in her books, she needs to do research on them and represent them properly. Otherwise, just make up an entirely fictional culture with a fictional name. Their portrayal in her book would still be racist, and fucked up, but at least she wouldn't be disrespecting an entire culture. I think researching real life cultures is fascinating but when finding information and images is more difficult because she cluttered it with a poorly written, racist fictional race of people that are talked about with nothing but negative connotations.

[spacerockfloater]

“Rhysand is the most powerful High Lord” this and “Rhysand is the strongest fae” that, but are we just gonna forget that Tamlin, within 30 seconds of becoming Spring Court’s High Lord, was able to fucking annihilate Rhysand’s father, who had been Night Court’s High Lord for fuck-knows-how-long and was able to kill all of Tamlin’s brothers and father?

Like, aren’t strength, valour and power Tamlin’s thing? Why did we have to take away all of these qualities from him and give them to Rhysand?

It just seems so… odd, to me at least, that Tamlin had to be nerfed in order for the reader to be convinced that Rhysand is superior in every way and therefore the better choice between them.

[1800naveen]

Nah because I have not seen a person say that they enjoyed a court of frost and starlight (not yet at least)

This novella feels like filler to me (it kinda is).

Feyre saying that she wanted Rhysand even under the mountain? Uhh...what the hell?

Feyre and Rhysand taking credit for killing Amarantha when Tamlin quite literally ripped her throat out and stabbed her?

Cassian following and harassing Nesta even though she didn't do anything at solstice and just sat there.

Rhysand going to bother Tamlin some more even though he's all alone in his court and just wants to be left alone? (I even saw Tamlin haters say that's too much and Rhys is wrong to do that, wild.)

RHYSAND BUSTING A NUT TO THE IMAGE OF HIS SON? Where are the editors at? AND SOME PEOPLE ACTUALLY DEFENDED IT??