#acotar critical

[dippedinmelancholy]

This is the shit I’m talking about when I say weak world building. Your epic fantasy politics should have consequences!!!!! It shouldn’t be easy!!!!! There’s never a fucking surprise because you will always know Feyre and Rhysand will never face consequences from the other leaders. There is no question of what might happen to them, only who might bow and lick their boots.

Feyre what do you meeeeeaaaaannnnnnn calling another High Lord a baby compared to everyone else??????? Girlypop you are a FETUS, you just learned how to spell high lord. You have no concept of politics??????? What do you mean you destroyed an entire court, ruined and or killed an innumerable amount of innocent fae and then set the Lady of Autumn ON FIRE????????

let me get this straight, in the meeting at dawn other HLs can listen to rhysand and feyre words and try to believe them despite;

for 50 years rhysand was standing against them and help in kill people from their courts

afterwards has lied to other courts for various reasons and now wants to be honest

rhysand’s council member took feyre at the time tamlin’s lover from spring without permission

feyre destroyed a court which made people of the court refugees bc it allowed hybern a way in -btw it pushed tamlin into the corner more

feysand lied and stole from summer court and are still in possession of it doing gods know what what it

feysand offered no real remorse of what they did to spring court and summer court

feyre has powers of all courts and is rhysand’s mate making night court a threat bc she and rhysand can take over other courts and rule over all of them

has no idea if feyre is not being manipulated by rhysand who they don’t like nor trust

rhysand made feyre a high lady even though its magic that makes that choice

they have no idea if feysand version of events after the mountain are true

oh night court has 2 recently cauldron made high fae with gods know what powers

probably missing a few more but other HLs are choosing to give time the benefit of doubt after one tense exchange but arent willing to do that with tamlin who;

tried to break the curse, got feyre who did and was the one who killed amarantha

saved lucien life UtM

when he shows his angry for what feyre did to his people and how she lied to him others see it as a “lovers quarrel” -basically letting feyre get away with her crimes bc if other HLs wont hold her accountable as well and want her to be punished for it then who will

tamlin does not start war against night court for their trespassing and bc feyre came in his court as a high lady of night court under disguise so she can destroy it for revenge

and when tamlin provides proof of what he has learned they still dont believe him bc why should they?

look tamlin did step out of the line in that meeting and made some comments but the attitude he got vs rhysand and feyre got from other high lords had me kinda baffled

rhysand can control minds! ffs

there is very little reason for other HLs to even listen to NC but they do?? these people should not be in charge, not a single brain cell or a backbone in that group aside from tamlin

the fact not once there was ever a talk of feyre being punished for what she did to spring court, these people are dumb as hell bc she can do what she wants and rhysand will back her up & she proves it in the same meeting when she attacks beron with fire and hurts lady of autumn and even then not once someone says feyre you cant do that

azriel attacks eris, heir of autumn court and nothing happens. rhysand attacks tamlin, high lord of spring and nothing happens.

ridiculous. the whole meeting was biased and feysand sucking

its not lost on me the things rhysand did UtM being revealed in the meeting are never brought up again within ic, so much for a group that dream about a better world and acts superior in morals

[alicents4lawyer]

I have issues with only men being able to be High Lord, as it just doesn’t make sense as to why magic would be sexist, but if we follow this logic, why would anyone apart form the Night Court give a shit that Feyre is High Lady?

The magic didn’t choose her. It’s just a title that Rhysand gave her. The other High Lords don’t answer to Rhysand. So why should they care?

And let’s say (although I find this nearly impossible to happen) that Rhysand and Feyre disagree on an important political matter, who do the High Lords listen to? Rhysand, chosen by the magic or Feyre, a woman who was given the title by her husband?

“High Lady” is just a title that looks pretty but is ultimately worthless.

[coffeebooksrain18]

as a fan, what are some criticisms about ACOTAR that you're sick of hearing? especially when coming from people outside of the fandom who refuse to engage with the story seriously and still choose to ''review'' it

The main one that it's just fairy porn because if they actually listened to people actually talk about the book besides the spice they would know there is much, much, MUCH, morn to the story.

The next is that its too boring. No what we say is the first book is atmospheric and 8s more about Feyra taking in the fae world compared to her human one. That is until she is under the mountain. It isn't boring it is amazing and very impressive because you see what she is you can understand where she is coming from in the comparisons even if it's trees.

Another is the dumbed down version of the sisters. Nesta is only a grumpy bitch, Feyra is only a main character (which I kinda agree with but still), and Elain is only the innocent one. This dumbed down version isn't even close to the sister. Nesta is a character with depth, she is a tortured soul who has gone through many abuses but keeps them quiet for her sisters as she doesn't want them to feel guilty over something they couldn't control. Feyra is a character who has struggled to find herself, she keeps changing herself for each guy she is with even Rhys and I hope we see her break from his grasps and find herself all while being with him. And Elain isn't innocent nor sweet, she is complex as well. She is a someone who uses those around her to shield her. We see this often she uses Azriel when Luecien is around but as soon as he isn't she drops him. She uses Nesta to as a shield and have her be the mean one with words as she sits there crying. She is someone who knows her power, knows her beauty and uses these facts for her gain and I honestly applaud her for it for it though I don't like her.

And finally that its just another smutty fantasy series. Because in a sense yes, but you need to keep in mind that's not all it is. It is more than that. It's about these girls being trust into a world they have no knowledge of, that they have to trust the people they feared most. It has a war about rights of people and what is right and wrong. It is about three sisters finding their family all while trying to stick together but they can't. It is a story I think MANY would love if they just gave it a chance. But sadly there are the people who haven't even read it giving it a bad reputation. And that is the worst part of this fandom.

Tha ks for the ask Anon sorry I went on a rant lol

[nikalaeva]

And we don't even know her name. EVERY Illyrian woman should know name of the first and only one of them who become the Lady of the Night Court. Of course, it's not a feat, considering she did nothing for them. So I don't believe that Illyrian men didn't mock her behind Rhysand's back, that their women are useless even with power, and Emerie wouldn't tell her friends in secret everything she thinks about Rhysand's mother. For the CoN it should be a disgrace that their relative was married to a barbarian woman.

She should be scolded, sympathized with, or just mentioned, but it cannot be that no one remembers her name, at least in the Night Court.

Is anyone curious about Rhysand’s parents? Because, what do you mean for the first time in their recorded history an Illyrian female is The Lady of the Night Court?

That's such an irrefutable statement in power and those who are deemed "worthy" that would shatter the discrimination against non high faes. The union could have brought about systematic change.

The sheer opportunity for the unification of all the NC populous that could have combined their strengths and been the biggest menaces towards all of Prythian and beyond as a unified front than the fragmented crap that was served is a missed opportunity. Like, be mean as fuck to everyone else, but treat your own court nicely, ya'know. Have your whole court prosperous.

Like, what do you mean you had this woman as the Lady of the Night Court but everything broken remains the same? What do you mean all we get is that she was a seamstress and wanted her sons future wife to fight for an engagement ring? Excuse me?

[room217prayer]

I'm reading acotar after years I haven't and it's so clear how much, in the beginning, SJM didn't have a real idea/plot behind the sisters and their characters from what we came to know them now.

Or how most readers - the ones who find no fault whatsoever in the story - do not forgive Nesta (or Elain) for what they said, did, and didn't do for Feyre.

While with Rhysand they forgive everything. He doesn't actually apologize truly (will come to that in my re-reading) about what he did to her in the first book, but the same readers will stand behind him.

It's strange how the first book is both forgotten and is not to be taken seriously for some things, but at the same time, it's what is used to condemn other characters. To use as evidence of their bad intentions/characterization.

How the same author and the next books try to forget about it, to only pick and choose the bits that are "ok". How it lies in the open with things that did happen, but suddenly, no. It's not true.

Anyway, I'm only at the 14th page, so we'll see, but I just needed a refresh and for now, it keeps confirming my thoughts/memories.

[lunamond]

I know most people are thinking about the Ghibli movie, but it's so uniquely hilarious to me when Acotar fans, Feysand stans specifically, are comparing Rhys and Feyre to Howl and Sophie. As if Howl in the book isn't literally a dumb green-eyed blonde, who carries around a guitar everywhere, and Sophie Hatter, a stern older sister, who is also a mean hardass.

Like sure, these characters might have some passing resemblance to some Acotar characters, but they sure as hell aren't Rhys and Feyre.

[vnfadinglight]

I have a question.

If Rhys was stuck UTM for 50 years and IC was stuck in Velaris, why nobody left Hewn City?

"We haven't seen our High Lord or his people in 15 years... Let's just... Leave. See what's going on."

"No, no, no. We're staying here. Let's just wait another 35 years, just in case."

[1800naveen]

If sjm added a scene where a man got pegged or absolutely dominated, I would somewhat like the series.

The women are always underneath, let them be on top.

LET THEM GET PEGGED.

Also, I KNOW Nesta got a strap on.

She ain't using it on Cassian though...

Y'all like the idea?

Y'all rocking with men getting dominated?

(Alexa, play Peggy by Ceechynaa)

[zeevbenoit]

I HATE HATE HATE when authors write a character that’s just terrible to other people but then reveals it’s just a mask so it’s “fine.” the harm they did to other people? doesn’t matter anymore because they had to. doesn’t matter that other people suffered because of them.

they suddenly become the sole victim of what they did to other people.

(yes I’m looking at you rhysand and will herondale).

[fenrysmoonbeamswife]

it's funny how people are outraged by the non consensual strip tease at that acotar ball but the same people think the feysand scene in hewn city and the feysand public sex is hot

[delaneytveit]

i decided to give myself a break from sjm and read zodiac academy in its entirety.

AND YALL

i made it to the third book and while this series is most definitely not my favorite its already so much better that acotar.

The heirs??? yeah i see where they’re coming from. do the mfc’s just let everything go and justify all of the heirs actions??? fuck no!

is it established that the fae have a much different culture? yeah it sure is. can you still recognize the abuse happening, and how it affects the heirs? absolutely

and its just so much more interesting after the first book.

[youareatragedy]

The self-unawareness of Rhys' cult should be studied. Saying Nesta is abusive and that's why they hate her, while being ride-or-die for Rhys, is a phenomenon. I haven’t seen a single Nesta stan claim she’s perfect or beyond legitimate criticism. But Rhys' cult? God forbid you insult his way of blinking or something, they’d be crying and wishing for your death. Weird ass cult.

[dippedinmelancholy]

Something about both Nesta and Elain having dreams of the continent and of travel in some capacity. The freedom and utter fucking dream of a woman in the era the human realms (and honestly the fae realms too) having the funds and freedom to do so, how rare it is as women have very little place outside of homemakers and wives. Nesta and Elain both having dreams of finding themselves and happiness after a childhood of trauma of watching their mother die horribly, their father broken, and losing everything they ever had with truly their only hope of escape being marriage. Nesta and Elain finally on the cusp of reaching for their dreams, of having the space to find themselves and their dreams without the terror of starvation and endlessly cold winters that brought the threat of death every year. Nesta and Elain, taken from their beds by cruel soldiers who mocked and abused them. Nesta and Elain, nothing more than pawns in Hybern’s attempt to get allies in the human realms. Nesta and Elain watching their dreams shatter into nothingness as they are violated, boiled alive, reshaped into a thing that once enslaved their entire race of people. Nesta and Elain, shoved into a home high reaching into the skies with no escape, no contact with their sister, surrounded by the monstrous race that enslaved them, both victims to this new, horrible alien power in their veins. Nesta and Elain, pawns to their sister and her new “family”, only welcome as long as they play nicely. Nesta and Elain, stripped of their dreams, watching everything they once wanted ripped away. Nesta and Elain, beautiful and immortal, but nothing more than pawns against the men they never asked to be connected to. Nesta and Elain, who’s stomachs don’t tremble in hunger, but a new starvation settled deep in the marrow of their bones, a hunger that will never be sated, because they will forever be pawns to these fae monsters. Forever trapped. Forever indebted.

There’s no freedom for those the cauldron reshapes. Only death and a place in a game they never wanted to play. There are no dreams now, only hunger for what they will never have again. They will never see the world, they will never know what freedom tastes like. There is no escape from the sins of their childhood, no escape from the men or court a monstrous entity tied them to without permission. There is only expectation and the death of all they were.

[wallflowers-in-the-wind]

I gotta go off about this before I lose it cause guys…

The hell kind of games are we playing here SJM? You save special edition, new cover, court specific book covers for when a series is complete! Even then you have the publishing companies put in more effort than this.

Though I got to admit they are as bland as your writing.

But in all seriousness you had an opportunity to go all out. Make each book designed to tell the story hidden within and you chose this.

ACOTAR could have been green with gold spelling out the words, appear to be wrapped in tree branches of an ash wood tree and have Tamlin’s mask painted along the edges.

ACOMAF could have a fade from green to black and the tree dying. Paint the edges like the moon rising.

ACOWAR can go full war mode. Keeping the tree theme by having it appear to be on fire and the black cover with a sword imbedded into the tree near the spine. The edges painted with flames that fade to black

ACOFAS could have more of a Christmas theme. The tree is there but it’s blanketed with snow. There are hints of it still being burnt but it’s recovering. The cover is a dark blue with snowflakes and the edges appear like the night sky

ACOSF would have the tree made new once more, the cover is silver with glossy flames that shimmer in the light. The edges would be painted with the mask Nesta found but her eyes have a furious glare.

I’m not mad, I’m disappointed. But you’ve been disappointing me since ACOMAF so nothing seems to have changed.

[rainbow-femme]

Ok there’s an ACOTAR thing that confuses me

It’s a whole thing that under the mountain, Rhysand got Feyre and Tamlin 5 minutes alone together and in that time he kissed her rather than saving her

But I mean, Rhysand was alone with Feyre a lot and still had some ability to control the minds of people around him, why wasn’t he expected to help her escape in the many opportunities he had but Tamlin, who was watched constantly to make sure he didn’t do that exact thing, was expected to do it in the one five minute shot he had that he was not told would happen until suddenly it happened?

Like I just don’t understand why Rhysand making her drink herself black out drunk to the point of being constantly sick and then have her give him lap dances every night was supposedly more helpful and why he isn’t expected to have gotten her out

Edit: Gonna turn the reblogs off with this, it was more meant to be a rhetorical question about the way the two characters are treated by the narrative but I guess it came off as too literal a question

[silverflameataraxia]

It's not that we don't want Nesta to face the consequences of her actions, it's that we're tired of her being the only character to suffer the consequences of her actions.

And, let's be honest, there's no amount of suffering that Nesta could go through that would appease her antis. We got a grand total of one Nesta book, and she was abused, sexually assaulted, punished, and beaten down all book long, and her antis still say it wasn't enough and that she deserves a lifetime of abuse and sexual assault.

Here she is saving all worlds by helping to defeat the Asteri, and her antis say she should have been executed because that would have been her being held accountable for her actions.

Yes, Nesta hurt people's feelings, but why don't we talk about those who have hurt her feelings? Cassian's the most verbally abusive character in this entire series, and all that abuse is hurled at Nesta, but yet, not once is he held accountable for his hurtful words. Only once is his abuse even registered as hurtful, and that's near the end of the book. Amren is another verbally abusive character who is never held accountable for her actions, and her words are never registered as hurtful. Say what you want about Nesta, but the IC has said and done worse things to her than she ever has to them, but yet, I don't see them owning up to it.

If characters like Feyre, Rhys, and Cassian were ever held accountable, they'd be dead. In fact, Feysand should have died in ACOSF (that would have been them being held accountable for their death bargain stupidity and for Feyre having sex in Illyrian form), but Nesta prevented them from suffering the consequences of their actions.

Nesta has been willing to sacrifice her life for others, she has been willing to die with others, she has saved people's lives, she has killed unkillable beings, and now she's saved all worlds, and it's still not enough. People still complain that she's never held accountable. People still want to talk about how she's hurt people's feelings (you would think saving their lives multiple times would make up for it, but I guess not when the character is Nesta). Antis still say she doesn't deserve Cassian, even though he's only alive because of her. Antis still say she deserves a lifetime of abuse and rape and mistreatment.

With the way this fandom treats Nesta, you would think she's done some of the monstrous things that Feyre has.