#acosf critical

[b00kdiary]

Eris Vanserra is Rhysand if he didn’t have the Inner Circle.

Eris Vanserra is a dreamer with no stars. The Autumn Court is his Hewn City, it’s his Court of Nightmares.

Free my man 😭

[kataraavatara]

rhysand after telling nesta that he’s going to pay her a huge salary for being a human emissary after never reimbursing her for the massive fortune she and elain lost because of the night court and then never paying her and then after she’s traumatized and unwell because of all the shit the inner circle made her do STILL not paying her but offering her pity jobs where don’t worry he’s definitely going to pay her this time meanwhile giving her an open line of credit to his account she ends up using because she has no money of her own because HE NEVER COMPENSATED HER FOR HER LABOR AND LOST HER INHERITANCE and then using the fact she spent his money as an excuse to get MORE free labor out of her, hey nesta we noticed you’re unwell, you’ll clearly not capable of living on your own but you CAN do life or death missions for us and use your sexuality for us so go work in the library go wield the dread trove go seduce eris for us (elain and mor can’t because they don’t want to and/or need to be protected thank god you’re expendable), amren’s going to talk about you like you’re an object to be wielded by the night court and we’re all going to vote on whether or not to tell you the truth about your own body but you should be grateful because you spend a minuscule amount of the endless fortune i hoard while my own citizens are so poor cassian has to hand out blankets in the winter

[littlefeltsparrow]

Feyre’s arrogance is actively cultivated by the Inner Circle because it lets them contain her in a bubble of ignorance. If Feyre feels sure of her authority as High Lady, then she trusts that the Inner Circle will be subject to her power and never betray her. That illusion makes it easy to undermine her, because she is convinced of her security in their world. Her naïveté, coupled with her rapid rise to power makes her easy to persuade and manipulate.

Also, Feyre’s alignment with masculine power makes her think that she no longer needs feminine solidarity/sisterhood which isolates her even further. Lording her power over her sisters pushes them further away and prevents the Archeron sisters from fully uniting with one another. Her willful blindness to the injustice of Nesta’s plight is a way of convincing herself of her authority and the false idea that she could never be subject to such treatment.

[silly--fangirl]

"women subconciously seek out men like their father"

nesta's father never standing up for her to her mother and grandmother

and nesta's mate never standing up for her to his family

[yaralulu]

me when I’m delusional and out of touch.

“No other male would be a a fairer ruler” i can name like 7 other people.

“Prythian would be blessed to have such leaders” a guy who can barely run his court and his inexperienced 20 y/o gf leading a nation would obviously be such a blessing 🙏🙏.

[reblogandlikes]

I'm sorry, but the ultimatum given to Nesta in ACOSF: Go to the HoW or be dropped off in the human lands.

Dude, please, piss off. Kick her out of Velaris or even the NC, sure. But you do not own Prythian to banish her from it, you absolute prick!

It's clear Nesta is capable of making friends outside of the IC and those not influenced by Feyre. Nesta also has courtly training to survive even as a human, and now she's a fae with unknown power others fear. Yeah, if ol girl wasn't so self-loathing, she would have been just fine outside the IC. Also, Jurian, Vassa are in the human lands. She could have joined Lucien as their second fae housemate.

She had plenty of choices, but only one would ensure consistent access to her powers for them the use like she'sa weapon, so they made sure she felt like it's was only their way or face literal death.

[azysmate]

Guys pleaseeee what is this???

I’m reading ACOSF, i’m 8% through it and in those pages Cassian has complimented Mor in his inner monologue more than he has ever complimented Nesta AKA HIS FUTURE MATE.

He has just said “But he could still admire her sheer beauty—as he'd admire any work of art. Even though he knew well that what lay inside Mor was far more lovely and perfect than her exterior.

He wondered if she knew that"

And many moreeee about how beautiful she is.

Wanna know what he said in his monologue about Nesta:

"He took the invitation to survey her: long bare legs, an elegant sweep of hips, tapered waist-too damn thin-and full, inviting breasts that were at odds with the new, sharp angles of her body.

On any other female, those magnificent breasts might have been enough cause for him to begin courting her the moment he met her. But from the instant he'd met Nesta, the cold fire in her eyes had been a temptation of a different sort.

And now that she was High Fae, all inherent dominance and aggression-and piss-poor attitude he avoided her as much as possible. Especially with what had happened during and after the war against Hybern. She'd made her feelings about him more than clear"

WHAT THE HELL???

[silverflameataraxia]

98% of the reasons we're supposed to hate Nesta are for things she's done off-page. That's horrible storytelling. If you want me to hate Nesta so much, show me why. Don't just tell me.

If Nesta has said worse things to Cassian than Eris has (or even Amren, for that matter), show me. Give me those direct quotes so I can post them and talk about how awful she is for saying them.

If Nesta is supposedly physically violent towards Feyre, show me. Give me a scene where she slaps Feyre or where the IC have to restrain her from hurting Feyre or someone else. Don't just imply that Nesta is potentially physically violent or abusive, but not supply any canon evidence to back it up.

If the IC is facing the onslaught of Nesta, show me. Give me those moments of her ripping into Cassian after the war. Give me those moments of her and Feyre at each other's throats. Show me what an onslaught she is, rather than talking about the IC facing the onslaught of Nesta while she sits quietly and politely all evening.

If Rhysand is warranted in constantly threatening to kill Nesta, then show me why. Give me moments of her threatening to harm or kill someone else (threatening Feyre one time in defense of catatonic Elain is not enough justification). Give me scenes of Nesta threatening Rhysand's court or Nesta threatening Nyx or something to warrant Rhysand constantly threatening her life.

So much of canon is a character (usually Cassian) throwing a pity party for themselves for just how awful and mean Nesta is, but when you look back at her direct quotes...she's not even mean. All she really says is some variation of, "Leave me alone." "I don't want anything from you." "Stop panting after me." Those aren't mean.

People buy this narrative of Nesta being the absolute worst, but when you ask for receipts, they have none. Because everything is off-page. Stop doing what you're told and challenge the narrative.

[ennawrite]

the Inner Circle: *pretty much all have/had at least one shitty, abusive parent but they know that doesn’t make them monsters just because of the shitty hand they’ve been dealt because they’re ~dreamers~*

also the Inner Circle: “What the fuck do you mean Eris isn’t a horrible guy like his father?!?!🤨😡”

[thefatesofspring]

Cassian ACTIVELY CHOOSING to leave Nesta at The bog of Oorid which is well known for how dangerous & deadly it is & still makes the decision to leave Nesta…a newly turned fae, with untrained power & basically 0 combat skills, to help Azriel…an almost 550yr old Illyrian warrior, spymaster & torturer, has a substantial amount of combat skills behind him spanning over 5 centuries & that’s the decision Cassian as a WAR GENERAL chose to make?!!…

Oh Nesta hunny…I’m so sorry, you deserve so much better than that trash.

& if you read the scene that happens straight after you’ll be even more disgusted.

[bayonettesque]

i have a really big issue with the priestess library because the idea we’re supposed to have of it vs the problems that are alarmingly obvious once you examine the concept even slightly are like… sooo different it’s scary. sjm clearly intended for it to be rhysand’s woke king abuse survivor utopia except when you think about it, it’s an isolated camp for heavily traumatised women to live with zero programs in place to overcome their trauma or work towards returning to the outside world— instead, they swear an oath to provide labor for rhys (presumably without pay, because what and where would they spend it?) and be bound to a religious order they don’t really have room to question or leave because defecting from the religion would lead to obvious social isolation and exclusion. it’s an almost cultish setup because like… imagine if a priestess wanted to leave— she has nothing, no family, money, accomodations, or familiarity with the “outside world”. leaving means departing from everything you know, likely to never return, not having learnt to defend yourself or cope with your severe trauma. 

the excuse that “things work differently for the fae” doesn’t exist here because acosf gives us a perfect case study of how these priestesses are quintessentially the same as an average real human woman, wherein yoga, meditation, doing some exercise, getting fresh air, and hanging out with your girlies is enough to apparently re-integrate you into the real world via GWYN and all the other priestesses. WHY is this apparently the first time in like 500 years the powers-that-be have considered a program to rehabilitate the priestesses and give them their own power??? (well. it was NESTA’S idea lmfao the ic would never do that on their own) if sjm wanted this priestess library to actually be the ethical feminist fantasy she thinks it is, couldn’t it have been that the library is supposed to be a transitional place where the ultimate goal is to heal and leave to live a fulfilling, independent, healthy life?? if rhys were the villain this would so easily be a “he keeps traumatised women as slaves to work in his isolated library camp” it’s not even funny holy shit

[onemustalwaysbecarefulofbooks]

All I'm gonna say is. . .finding it pretty fucking unfair that not only can Cassian have his wings "shredded", Hunt and Baxian can have theirs sawed off all together and be *good as new* in a few short days but for the Illyrian females, two little snips and it's game over forever.

[kataraavatara]

“I knew she was an artist then. The same way Feyre is. But what Feyre does with paint, that’s what Nesta did with music and dance. Our mother saw it when we were children, and honed it into a weapon. All so Nesta might one day marry a prince.”

Cassian froze. A prince—was that what Nesta wanted? His stomach clenched.”-ACOSF chapter 63

Leave it to fucking Cassian to hear about how Nesta’s joys as a child were twisted by her mother and her being preyed upon by a grown duke at fourteen and make himself the victim in that situation.

[littlefeltsparrow]

The worst thing ACOSF ever did was convince readers that it had something meaningful to say about mental health. It doesn’t, because fundamentally Sarah J Maas doesn’t understand (or care to understand) what treatment for mental healthy and recovery looks like. Furthermore, any attempt at providing insight about the nature of PTSD and trauma is dampened by the narrative’s consistent (and obvious) bias against Nesta.

The narrative of ACOSF vilifies reactions to traumatic experiences that are ugly and treats it like a personal moral failing (ex. Nesta being berated for not “trying” to recover when she has no support system) It romanticizes wildly insensitive behaviour and attempts to pass it off as “tough love” because the narrative is persuaded by the idea that since trauma is a moral failing, the traumatized person must be punished to get better.

[lainalit]

Instead of the fifth smut scene in Acosf we could have gotten the equivalent of a fae chess scene between nesta & cassian, so we could have seen how strategic and smart they actually are but this would require for sjm to understand her characters and not write them like horny teenagers for more than five minutes 🤡

[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.