#quinlar got their HEA

[redheadsdefender]

It's july 24th of the year 2024, HOFAS has been out for 6 months, and we still get Bryceriel jumpscare content and stans getting in our face.

Why.

Be graceful and take the Ao3 way like so many other ships did and leave the canon spaces alone. At least, I hope they'll do it when Azriel, too, gets his endgame (hopefully in the next acotar book).

[nikethestatue]

I know that sometimes the people in this fandom can come up with the worst takes in existence, but I think if you have a considerable number of people questioning if a mated pair who have already had their HEA are going to remain together or break their bond, then maybe the writer hasn't done such a great job with their romance. No one could ever doubt that Feysand and Rowaelin (and also Quinlar imo, but I know not everyone agrees) are going to stay happily together forever, but Nessian? They're not a side couple like Elorcan or even Daynight, they had a whole 800 pages to themselves and yet I'm less sold on their romance than I was in ACOWAR. Maybe it's just me, but a man in a romance book with split loyalties who isn't willing to swing for his girls 100% is unattractive to me. If I have to read about Az appreciating Mor's beauty I might just gauge my eyes out, if he doesn't stand up to Rhys at least ONCE the book is over for me.

So here is what I think happened--I feel like large chunks of info are missing, because of the re-write. I feel like like there is information that was there, whole scenes, which SJM took out. I also think that the 7 million bonuses that we got were originally in the book. I think they were part of the first draft.

There is absolutely, 100% something missing from Cassian/Nesta interactions, because I think they were cut. That line in the Ember and Randall bonus, where Nesta looked at Cassian and then thought that he was the one she was disappointing the most--that screams a missing scene.

I won't be surprised if we get something in the next book, which will say that Cassian KNEW that she was giving the Mask to Bryce, and that he implored that she didn't do it, but then agreed with her in the end, and hence, the scene between all of them yelling at each other reads so weirdly.

Or he warned her not to do it, and she did it anyway, and was now feeling guilty.

It sucks but I have to chuck some of it to the awful editing of this book, and the fact that it was rewritten, carved up, stitched back together and we got a Frankenstein monster now.

I dont think that the bonus scenes were simply a money grab--I think SJM wanted to include them and build a fuller picture for all of these couples and interactions.

Like if we think about the Azriel bonus in ACOSF, it reads like a bonus, because it's not from Nesta's POV, she isn't even present, it's from a completely different POV, kind of random, dealing with things which have nothing to do with Nesta as the MC.

However, the Az/Nesta/Bryce bonus, for example, definitely feels like it was part of the book, and not as a bonus. It was very organic and within the rest of the overall scene, also dealing with what SJM originally promised--the differences and advances in Midgard vs Prythian.

Basically, what i am trying to say is that I am not taking HOFAS as any indicator for the Nessian relationship. I think it's just a cut up mess, and I think initially Cassian played a bigger role, which was thrown away.

I mean. let's remember, people also hated Quinlar and thought that Bryce would end up with Az.

[lucienarcheron]

HOFAS Thoughts and Review!

This is also my review on Goodreads. Naturally, this is full of spoilers so proceed with caution!

4 star read!

This was a wild ride from start to finish. I found that you jumped right into the action and it literally didn't stop. The crossover with ACOTAR was very info-dump but I didn't mind since a) I don't remember anything lol and b) we needed to make the connection. I really loved seeing Nesta and Azriel in this different element. Given the timeline between ACOSF and HOFAS being about 3 months, I loved that Azriel and Nesta now know how to fight together and Nesta is so in touch with her powers. I love seeing how their friendship has bloomed.

Bryce is a menace and will forever be one. She's one of Sarah's MCs I relate to the least and therefore needed to warm up to her more. I found that in this book, I could despite a lot of her arrogant moments that will rub people the wrong way. I love Quinlar's love but didn't appreciate that she minimized Hunt's reaction to basically reliving much of his trauma with the first war. I'm glad she apologized and got to the point of understanding him but it left a little meh of a taste. The ending scene where he goes after her had my heart in pieces!! Through love, all is indeed possible and I love they were always with each other through it all.

Bryce basically being the High Lady of Dusk and controlling the land was amazing! I loved seeing those scenes. Saitha being the one to kneel first, declaring her as queen? Loved that. The two fae kings dying an awful death? Fabulously done! Hunt mf Althar removing his own slave halo and then removing Isaiah's while calling out that governor lady on her shit??? ADORE! Jesiba's everything in this book? I salute you, queen! Sabine's death??? The Under-King's death??? Literally had me gasping so much.

Ruhn my love, you will always be the Crown Prince of the Fae and that soundbite will always be on repeat every time I see your name lol.

Ruhn x Lidia's romance fell very flat to me. I love Ruhn and hated everything he had to go through but Lidia's character felt out of left field for me. I expected better/different? We find out out of NOWHERE that she's a mom of twins and suddenly, that's her whole personality. She went from this badass agent to everything being about her kids. There is NOTHING WRONG with her being a mother but why couldn't she be a mother AND care about the cause because it's the right thing to do? This was a missed opportunity in my opinion. I also felt like this was very self-insert of Sarah being a mom to have to include another character having kids. The constant talk about all these traumatized idiots having babies is getting on my last fucken nerves tbh. They have a million years to live so can we, I don't know, let them LIVE for five seconds without the absolute need to "start a family"? Let them go to therapy damn it. Sarah constantly writes about how awful it is that fae are obsessed with breeding and whatnot, yet every single of one her characters talks about babies...pls sarah, I beg. Give me ONE otp that doesn't have children. I know she's a HEA author which is what I love about her and her romances but it doesn't always have to end with kids and I just wish we'd see that more. Ruhn and Lidia did not strike me as characters who would be parents at all but now, Ruhn is a stepdad to the Hind's secret twins? It's very weird to me but I hope maybe down the line, we get to see Lidia realize that she is a whole person outside of being a mom. Aside from all that, the rescue scene was amazing. I loved seeing her destroy that asshole she had to endure and I just want to say, Aelin would be cheering mad hard at her for it! It felt like Lidia's fire abilities, the stag relation, and her son's name were all a nod to TOG and I loved that.

As for all the other characters, I really enjoyed seeing Ithan come into his own even though my guy was making mad stupid decisions along the way. His moment with Connor will always have my heart! l also loved the little bits of Ithan and Perry so much! Tharion my love, you will always be famous for making the most desperately dumb decisions before passing that one brain cell you have to Ithan but you know what? Sathia is going to be great for him and I ship it with my whole chest. Ari was wasted in this book and her ungrateful attitude annoyed me. Sigrid's whole plotline was pointless. Declan and Flynn are the best buds and I love them so much. Baxian, you are a gem! Pax being the one responsible for the actual HOFAS while being a healer who is making those antidotes was a great twist and I love it for her. The little fire spirits were so cute and their little moment with the viper queen made me cackle. The Viper Queen can suck it but I am also so very curious about what will happen now considering how that scene ends with Tharion/Ari/Sathia/Colin. I have a feeling all these characters will be showing up again in the future and I'd be excited to read how that will go. I have a feeling it might be done ACOSF style - in that, it'll be standalone in the CC world.

Bonus Chapters:

Bryce, Azriel, Nesta - hilarious and also so cute how Nesta was fascinated by the music playing from Bryce's phone. Azriel doesn't have a mate or partner so let that be clear LOL. Also Nesta already thinking about babies makes me wanna die tbh.

RuhnLidia - It was cute that she proposed and Ruhn is such a little dork crying left and right hahaha.

Quinlar - Hilarious how the big strong thunder boy was scared of those little dolls HAHA.

Ember/Randall - This made me want the Archeron sisters to have a mother figure so badly! The moment with Nesta and Ember hugging was so sweet in the book. I know people are mad at Rhys for yelling at Nesta but y'all...the whole world was at stake and that was a scary decision to make on Nesta's part given how the Pyrthian is STILL traumatized by the Asterie. I don't love how much he yelled but I get it.

Despite having parts I didn't like, I did overall really have fun with this. I think Sarah always does a great job with the action scenes in the end and giving us that found family connection. I could do without having the whole girl boss/girl power white feminist nonsense constantly shoved in our faces but alas! As I said, I still really enjoyed it! It had a lot of moments that pulled on all my emotions as every SJM book does. I will always enjoy what she puts out because I take it all at face value and read it to have fun. Sarah always knows how to enjoy her writing and you can tell while reading and for me, that's more than enough. The lore/plot is secondary to the characters for me and that is always how she sucks me in. She writes compelling characters who have amazing adventures and friendships that you feel through the pages and I will always enjoy that. Can't wait for more books! Here's to hoping we hear something about ACOTAR soon especially now that Bryce gave both swords back to Nesta! Can't wait to see how it plays out!

[elidelochans]

Oooh let's touch on something here. I believe Sarah said she drunkly pitched the idea of a Nessian spinoff while writing ACOWAR. Could be ACOFAS.

Anyway let's focus on this,

"Without getting too spoilery, there was actually a great deal of tension, growth, and healing to be found for both of them (together)"

Based on this quote, it sounds like she wrote alot more Elucien in either acowar, acofas or both! But what we got had neither. Lucien or Elain haven't really grown or healed since finding out they're mates. Especially not together

So what happened?

She got the go ahead to continue her series and had to move plot points, characters and storyline around. Extend others to the end of the series. Elucien HEA was already plotted years ago. It's just been delayed a bit because her series was extended.

Not acotar related but I wanna point something out for the Quinlar shippers in CC. What she says here about Nessian. She's said almost word for word about Hunt and Bryce.

Anyway, it’s a good moment to bring this back.

[whimsicallyreading]

Fic Writer Review! Thank you for the tag @stardstgf

how many works do you have on ao3?

Ten at the moment!

what’s your total ao3 word count?

65,385

how many fandoms have you written for and what are they?

Four, TMI, ToG, CC and one a long time ago I try to bury from memory lol

what are your top five fics by kudos?

DRNS, The Answer is Love, House Party Princess, ESR, Burn Brighter

do you respond to comments? why/why not?

I try to! Sometimes I'm not very good at it, but I appreciate them a lot!

what’s the fic you’ve written with the angstiest ending?

It was supposed to be Write Me, but I got talked out of it lol. I am more of a HEA writer.

do you write crossovers? if so what is the craziest one you’ve written?

I don't really write crossovers. The amount of characters to focus on breaks my brain.

have you ever received hate on a fic?

Not yet!

do you write smut? if so what kind?

Nope. I fade to black

have you ever had a fic stolen?

Um. Not that I am aware of? I don't think anyone wants to steal my writing XD

have you ever had a fic translated?

Nope!

have you ever co written a fic before?

........shh

what’s your all time favourite ship

Rowaelin. I will probably die on this ship. Followed by Quinlar and I am quietly a huge Romitri fan.

what’s a WIP that you want to finish but don’t think you ever will?

Hopefully I will finish them all?

what are your writing strengths?

When I have time to actually sit down, I can hyper focus on what I'm writing. A lot a secondary detail gets added when I edit that I feel makes my pics really tangible. If that makes any sense, haha

what are your writing weaknesses?

I cannot write fast for the life of me.

what are your thoughts on writing dialogue in other languages?

Unless I can convince a friend to verify my translation and slang, or unless its a dead language like Latin, I'm probably not going to add it in

what’s your favourite fic you’ve written?

Write Me. Some of my other WIPS may give it a run for its money, but it's the first time in a long while where I loved my writing again.

Tagging @morganofthewildfire @live-the-fangirl-life and @writtenonreceipts

fic writer interview!

@brucegf thank u for the tag😌

how many works do you have on ao3?

twenty five at the moment!

what’s your total ao3 word count?

uhhh 161874 okay thats. more than i expected lmao

how many fandoms have you written for and what are they?

four i think?? mcu, greys/pp, poison study, and harry potter

what are your top five fics by kudos?

the day always breaks, pdsily, i will spend my whole life loving you and uhhh when night falls ill guide you home.

do you respond to comments? why/why not?

i try to!! sometimes i miss them or just don’t have the mental energy to respond but comments make me so so happy and i really appreciate every single one i get<333

what’s the fic you’ve written with the angstiest ending?

probably you’re the first and the last thought lmao that fic was canon compliant

do you write crossovers? if so what is the craziest one you’ve written?

i haven’t actually written a crossover but i have a stevetony pjo au that will never get finished but was so fun to write lmao

have you ever received hate on a fic?

had a couple of hate ish comments that i just deleted and ignored but mostly everyone is so so supportive<3

do you write smut? if so what kind?

not really lmao i kinda love a fade to black

have you ever had a fic stolen?

as far as i know no??

have you ever had a fic translated?

this just reminded me that i got a comment abt a possible translation the other day lol okay but as of rn no

have you ever co written a fic before?

in the process of writing one w lou atm!!😌but okay i’d literally love nothing more than to co write a fic with some of my friends on here it would bring me so so much joy

what’s your all time favourite ship

i love steve/tony but i don’t really write for them anymore so?? i also currently very much love amelia/arizona but tbh if i had to pick a fave it would be inej/kaz !!

what’s a WIP that you want to finish but don’t think you ever will?

probably. all my two hundred harry potter ones and also love, what an act of faith (rip💔)

what are your writing strengths?

i can write a lot in one go when i have inspiration lmao wrote ch1 of forest fire in less than two weeks

what are your writing weaknesses?

i literally never have any fucking inspiration and also im bad at finishing multi chapters

what are your thoughts on writing dialogue in other languages?

i personally don’t want to fuck it up so i generally avoid it unless i’ve done the proper research but i think it just depends how it’s written and who by!

what’s your favourite fic you’ve written?

GOD this is such a hard question??? i love love love forest fire and we were angels, and i also loved writing clinging to the ruin of your broken home! my fav overall is. but this place could be beautiful too, right? just because its so close to my heart in so many ways

tagging @hurricanery @afsalta @whimsicallyreading and literally anyone else who wants to!<3