#she has soooo many contradicting feelings about her home. but generally she loves it. she loves it and wants everybody else to love it to.

[glacierbash]

I am SO curious about #3 - how does Iverelle feel about Duskwight culture and Gelmorra? How did growing up there affect that? What's their relationship like to other varieties of Elezen?

Breakin’ this down but by bit, Iverelle is in fact very proud of being a Duskwight. There are small things about who she is she’d simply never give up—from superior hearing, to the practice she has navigating the underground systems that she called home, Iverelle is happy with being a Duskwight, and considers herself no different than any other out there. Unfortunately, compared to other races… Duskwights kind of lack in written culture, except “oh they’re bandits sometimes and can be rowdy” (Pointing at the dancer quest line, and msq). There isn’t much to go off of, unfortunately, but I do believe she’s proud of her heritage. One of her favorite hobbies, as well as being one of her biggest ways of showing affection, is taking people to some of the old ruins she grew up in, which were built to be self sufficient compared to the massive city that was Gelmorra itself. She adores taking said people on tours, and letting them try and follow the same paths she grew up following. She’s proud of how she grew up, she’s proud of being a Duskwight, and even if she DOES need glasses extremely badly (and will never admit it), she’s certainly not going to gripe about that aspect of growing up.

Of course, being a Duskwight in a family of Duskwights means she has some. Opinions. I’m going to expand a bit in the last little question, and go beyond just other types of Elezen—but, starting with that, her interactions with others are really… non-hostile until made that way. She doesn’t view Wildwoods any differently than she views Duskwights, despite growing up hearing a LOT of “it’s their fault our city fell” from her dad. Ishgardian Elezen are on a WHOLE different playing field in her eyes, she has no clue how to really… interact on the topic of being Elezen. Like, with a Wildwood there is the whole “we both are from Gelmorra, your great great great… grandparents just left when ours didn’t,” but Ishgard? Who different ballpark. This extends to Elezen who aren’t from Gridania at all. Of course, she’s always happy to see and interact with other Elezen, but it’s less important to her than the connection she’d get from another Duskwight who may also have grown up in old ruins.

Now. You did mention how growing up in Gelmorra impacted her views on the old city and Duskwight culture, but I wanna elaborate on something that has been in my head a lot: Iverelle. Does NOT. Like the Shroud. It does not help that she lives there with her wife. She doesn’t like the Elementals at all, and that spreads into a general wariness and a sense of unease whenever she’s in the shroud and Gridania especially. There are… worse places to be, yes, but all in all, she doesn’t quite love it. Yes she spent a lot of time there growing up whenever she explored beyond the ruins. Yes she detests it at times. Complex woman.

SO! Tl;dr: she’s proud to be a Duskwight and to have grown up in Gelmorran ruins, and despite how odd her early years might of been, from a lack of any real education to spending time playing in rather… dangerous areas, that’s one part of her past she’d never change for the world. One of her childhood wishes was always to learn more about Gelmorra, actually! Things like Palace of the Dead were always a treat for her for that reason—Issom-Har, in particular, is one place she’s always wanted to delve into (meaning she’s most definitely quite friendly with Rolandaix, that one npc that wants to restore Gelmorra lol). In regards to other Elezen, she’s more than happy to talk about things like Gelmorran history, and Duskwight culture, with Wildwoods—but this eagerness to discuss falters a bit with other Elezen with whom she feels she has no common ground. She just wants people to know about her home! She wants to learn more about her home! She also kind of wants more of Gelmorra to be explored than just wannabe treasure hunters going through the Palace of the Dead. Yes, she loves it, yes, she wants other people to take a bit more care. Come on. If the place is cursed and haunted by ghosts, maybe it's a good idea to. Dunno. Leave it be. Or at least be a bit more conscientious.

[acotarfrustrations]

An ongoing list of ACOWAR grievances I'm keeping track of while I read (because there's too many to make a post about all of them) pt. 2

I'm on chapter 15 now and feeling the urge to complain again so here we go

1) the writing is way too overdramaticized. Like every other paragraph is some remixed version of feyre going "I wondered whether it would be eggs or bacon for breakfast. But when I looked at Rhys I realized that he was giving me my own choice. My mate, my high lord. In our home. With our family. Every thing was always my choice" and its CONSTANT, LIKE OH MY GOD GIRL SHUT UP

2) every thing about Lucien's plotlineand the elain mating thing. I HATE this subplot with a PASSION

3) feyre immediately fucking rhys when she got back instead of going to see her sisters

4) feyre and rhysand acting like they've ben separated for forty centuries instead of a month

5) the contradictions about how the high lord thing works. Like it was established that its a government position given to you through basically fate and being chosen by the cauldron or whatever which is why siblings kill each other for a chance for the throne and yet they just went to a priestess and swore feyre in as high lady?? It makes her title not feel real like it's purely ceremonial. It doesn't even make sense that she would be able to be HL of the night court as she has no more ties to that court than she does any other court. Is it because she's mated to Rhys? I don't understand the HL lord at all, it just keeps changing

6) the fact that Feyre, Rhys, and Cassian tell Lucien about their tragic backstories and everything that's happened to feyre at the NC and he just immediately does a Feyre™️. Like he's suddenly "Oh yeah you had a horrible childhood and took feyre into your found family without letting her explore relationships outside of the IC, that totally makes up for all the evil shit THAT IVE SEEN YOU DO WITH MY OWN 2 EYES. wow i cant believe youre not evil even though you killed 50 winter court children and sexually assaulted your mate and mind raped her constantly to get her to like you"

7) the way they're treating Nesta. It has been a MONTH since she was stolen from her home, brought amongst a race that she is terrified of and THAT ENSLAVED HER PEOPLE, and was forcefully turned into ONE OF THEM and the IC is acting like she's being unreasonable for not wanting to talk to them or to mate with Cassian. WHY THE HELL WOULD SHE EVEN BE THINKING ABOUT CASSIAN RIGHT NOW?? WHY THE HELL AM I SUPPOSED TO FEEL BAD FOR HIM? Instead of him worrying about how his mate is doing regardless of his own comfort he's like WOE IS ME, SHE DOESNT WANT TO FUCK ME?????? GET OVER IT ASSHOLE?? WHY IS FEYRE EVEN LETTING CASSIAN COME NEAR HER AND ANTAGONIZE HER?? DOESNT SHE LOVE TO FLAUNT HER HL STATUS AROUND?? THIS IS THE TIME TO USE IT, PROTECT YOUR GODDAMN SISTER FROM HIM? ITS SO OBVIOUS THAT SHE DOESNT GIVE NEARLY AS MUCH OF A SHIT ABOUT NESTA AS SHE DOES ELAIN!!

8) the fact that sjm didn't keep cassian's wings shredded. Him learning to live with that would have been a badass character development but now sjm doesn't want me to have good things

9) the mating bond in general. I think it could be a potentially good plot device but no one ever employs it well and sjm is definitely the most egregious with it

10) the fact that the ic never gave consequences for their fucking actions. Feyre dies in acotar? Turn her into a fey and give her ALL of their powers. Stealing a precious artifact that they didn't even end up needing and getting a bounty on their head in the summer court and then getting that court invaded? That's fine because feyre is SOOO brave and says things that are common fucking sense which makes her SOOOO smart so we obviously need her as an ally so we'll just rescind the blood rubies. Getting the spring court sacked? That's fine we didn't like them anyway. Rhys and feyre's bond gets snapped? Well they didn't know about our super secret mating bond that is actually the only thing that gives our characters chemistry so we still like each other. Rhys causes irreparable damage to every court for 50 years and kills 50 kids? Well that's fine he was being held hostage and hey! We don't know he actually killed those kids 😡 Feyre, a 20 year old girl who's been fae for like 6 months and training for even less goes up against thousands of years old beings? She beats them effortlesslessly! Rhys gets sexually assaulted for 50 years! Well he planned all of it so it has no negative consequences on him. Cassian gets his wings shredded? Well he worked really hard and they're fixed now 🥰. Rhys FUCKING DIES?? Well that's no problem, tamlin can just resurrect him, nvm the fact that there's no reason why he WOULD. like no harrowing situation is ever interesting cause we all know sjm isn't actually going to do anything to the ic

11) "my mate" STOP SAYING IT PLS IM BEGGING

12) "males and females" STOP SAYING IT PLS IM BEGGING pt. 2

[nomattertheoceans]

My thoughts on Kingdom of Ash

Ok I just finished the book (and yes, I slept no more than 5 hours since Friday night, but hey, what are you gonna do?) so all my thoughts may still be a bit raw, but I need to talk about all of it!!!! All of this will be extremely random though.

Ok so first of all, thank you thank you thank you Sarah J Maas for giving us once again a very well crafted story that satisfied me so much, that allowed us closure for every storyline and character arc established in the books. I loved every second of it.

So, where to start?

Lysandra disguising as Aelin: Ever since the end of Empire of Storms, I knew it wouldn't work, and it was likely to fall apart at the first battle because of Aelin's power (and the lack of it in Lysandra), and I was hoping Maas wouldn't find a weird reason for it to hold when it was destined to fail. She didn't, and the disbelief and betrayal the soldiers felt was very realistic and very sad.

Speaking of Lysandra: her relationship with Aedion was... I have very mixed feelings about it. I'm very glad of how it developed (honestly I never saw much development between them before so that felt good). Aedion was... such an ass. Like, I get he's pissed and all, but come on, you don't throw someone naked in the snow because they lied at you, that was such a dick move. But this allowed for a development I loved, the dynamic between them throughout the book: Aedion being an ass even though Lysandra tries to explain, then he realizing how wrong he was and going to her, and then her being all "are you kidding?" And refusing him because he was such a dick. I loved it, Lysandra held on to her pride and didn't crawl back to him the second he wanted her to. Instead they rebuilt a mutual trust together. So in the end I managed to be happy about their love, and I know I wouldn't have been if she'd accepted his first apology, because he wasn’t worthy of her affection at that point.

Aelin in the coffin: ugh every second of this broke my heart, it was awful all along.... the idea of her suffering so much that they had to rebuild her body was... oh everything was horrible. The worst, I think, was when Maeve told her Rowan had been spotted in Terrasen, and Aelin admitted to herself that she'd hoped he would come for her. I literally was talking to my book going "noooo he's coming, don't lose hope!" It was so painful. But the way they freed her was amazing, the fact that their plan allowed her to free herself at first and then they helped her, all this was the best way it could’ve happened. Also, the scene where she yelled to take off the mask and the chains was... again heartbreaking but necessary I think.

Her relationship with Fenrys was EVERYTHING. The fact that they supported each other for all this time, the bond it built between them through their trauma, I loved it all. The scene in the cave when they say they'll be here to listen if the other needs to talk about it, it was great. Also, I loved the fact that it helped them in the end, with her helping Fenrys against Maeve. Amazing, all of it. And Rown wasn’t jealous or anything (maybe a bit hurt at first because he thought Aelin might not want him again, but then it got resolved quickly enough to not ruin anything).

Rowaelin. Oh these two gave me ALL THE FEELS. At first when Rowan is low-key afraid that Maeve broke their relationship, but then Aelin gives him the wedding bands 😍. And then their entire conversation about Lyria and the mating bond was perfectly crafted. But oh my god did my heart break when Aelin was on the verge of dying and Rowan felt the mating bond slowly disappear... awful. I loved it haha. Rowaelin always made me feel a lot, and this book was no different.

I have too many thoughts honestly, I might forget a lot xD

Aelin losing her scars and then later her human body was so sad.... Rowan describes her as haunted and it's heartbreaking.

I can't remember in which chapter it was, but can we agree that we had a scene where Fenrys describes being raped by Maeve whilst his brother’s blood was still on the ground? It wasn't that explicit, and I can't remember when exactly it was, but it was awful and made me cry.

Oh and I don't understand how Dorian's shape-shifting power works? Like, Lysandra always swaps back naked, but he somehow manages to keep his clothes and his sword and all? I don't get it. Maybe I missed some kind of information?

The wave of power in Anielle: I loved the whole scene, Aelin's power was amazing (I saw it coming from far away but it was still good. I'm generally surprised by Maas' twists but this one I knew was going to happen ^^)

Oh Anielle makes me think of my lovable married couple chaorene: the pregnancy thing was... very cliche, but I didn't mind it. I want them to be happy and hey, if they're happy with getting married and having a kid this fast, I'm fine with it. I'm a sucker for fluff anyway so I loved it even if it was cliche 😂 I was low-key terrified that they would survived but she would lose the child somehow... thank God that didn't happen!

Another thing I'm once again very happy with one of Maas’ books: she is not shy around the idea of her characters having healthy, enjoyable, sexual relationships. In this book, I loved the way she described Manon and Dorian in particular. Throughout the whole first part, they sleep together just because they want to, they're not in love, they're not involved in any other manner, but they enjoy each other and they both want it, so yeah, they have sex and nobody blames them or demands they be more "serious." It's great.

Dorian deceiving Maeve so easily was soooo satisfying XD

The King of Adarlan being able to replace his son because he'd been cursed to forgot his name was a bit... far-fetched? But it allowed to save Dorian's life so I'm not complaining ^^

Aelin trying to exchange Elena against Erawan annoyed me. I know we're probably supposed to consider it this grand noble gesture but... Come on, Elena died literally a thousand years ago, and destroying Erawan has the potential to destroy his whole army (and as we see in the end, it does), so no, saving Elena's soul was not a good idea from Aelin's part. And we don't know if the Gods wouldn't have betrayed her anyway and not upheld their end of the bargain even if she hadn’t asked for it, but I totally get why the khagan royals are mad at her. It was a reckless move and she's very lucky it ended well after this particularly bad decision.

Completely change of subject, but.... Nox was back!!!! I'm so glad we got to see him again even if it was a small role!! Great callback to the first book!

Speaking of cameos..... Feysand!!! I loooooved it  XD Mainly because I’m in love with every little mention of Feysand because they’re perfect  😍 But also because it definitely disproves any possibility of their story happening in the same world but at different times. I never very much liked these theories personally. But the idea of them in different worlds connected was so good. Plus, it gave me this new headcanon that maybe this happened during Starfall in the Night Court, and that the spirits might be indeed travelling like Aelin was in that case. There’s no evidenceof this but I love the idea (and it would strenghten the reaon why Amren prefers to stay alone during Starfall...), so I’m keeping it ^^

Manon once again was amazing. Her character proves once more that she's not perfect, she's willing to sacrifice some witches to gain their trust, but she still grew into a better person in the end and she does manage to reunite the clans. She learns to feel even more than in the previous books and I love it. Her letting Dorian hold her and telling him that she misses the Thirteen was a perfect moment of sadness.

I kind of knew some of the Thirteen would die but.... all of them?!?! I cried during the whole thing.... All of them looking at one another, Asterin smiling and saying goodbye, the collective yelding while Manon shouts for them from the city, and then the whole homage... all of this was so emotional....

I was also very sad when Gavriel died.... less emotional in a way because we know he died proud of his son and happy that Aedion accepted him, but ugh still so horrible when you understand he's sacrificing himself.... right in the feels :(

On a happier note, this book was so full of love, it was like an giant balm to my heart. Chaorene are the sweetest; Rowaelin are the most intense and perfect couple; Lysaedion were just the right amount of angst I need, with Lysandra being a badass; Nestaq was awesome through and through. I'm glad Manorian didn't exactly go canon in the end, the future is open for the both of them and I love it. Elorcan... I never cared much about their relationship so I would have been fine if it had been only left as a possibility, but hey, I'm still glad they found each other in the end.

Yrene is such a great character. She's soft, she loves her husband very much and needs him when she's afraid, she's very happy to be having a baby and to build a home for her family. And yet she's an amazing healer, she's not easily afraid, she's strong and willing to risk her life for the greater good. And those characteristics are not in contradiction to one another, they fit perfectly well. I love her, I think she might be my new favorite character.

Chaol telling her "Go save the world, Yrene" gave me life. Before the release of the book, I saw a lot of posts criticizing Chaol, people being sure he would ressent her for taking away his ability to walk when she worked, and not wanting her to risk her life. Those posts annoyed me a lot because Chaol is (was haha now it's his wife) my favorite character, and though he deserves a lot of criticism, I feel like a lot of people hate on him for no good reason, and will take the opportunity to hate on his character even if it forces them to criticize things completely out of character for him. And him resenting his wife or prohibiting her to do anything would have been so out of character. Anyway, I'm glad Maas included this awesome line for them!!!

Also, the two Valg royals being killed by the powers of the healers was amazing. But I was glad Fenrys got the first blow at Maeve. God knows he deserves it.

Ok I'm going to stop here I think. I'm sure I forgot a looooot more but I can't remember everything ^^

EDIT because I already have more to say xD

Dorian mourning Sorcha was so on point, it felt strange to me that he seemed to not think about her in EoS but his grief in this book was very well written.

And also

The scene at the end with only Dorian, Chaol and Aelin. THAT was perfect.

Overall, I'm very, very happy with this book. The happy ending was just amazing, it made me so happy myself (and honestly that's all I'm looking for in a book, to all the characters to get their HEA after all their sufferings). Some small points gave me mixed feelings but honestly, the rest was so satisfying that I don't even mind.

I loved it.

Don't hesitate to tell me what you thought, I want to talk about this book so much!!!! I would love to hear what you all thought so if you want to write to me about it (by ask or by message) I will be thrilled!!!!

If you want to read my other thoughts on stuff