#tog worldbuilding

[anosrepasi]

Chapter 4: Lingurian / Read from the beginning

Chapters: 4/6

Fandom: The Old Guard

It is a long time, 400 years beneath the water.

--

A coda fic for Lingua Franca.

[lowenandbehold]

🌟 Exciting Roleplay Partner Search! 🌟 (Maybe a lil desperate too)

Hey there! I’m Low, a passionate 25+ roleplayer (she/her) with over 13 years of experience crafting intricate stories in a semi-lit to novella style. I’m on the lookout for fellow 21+ adventurers who are eager to dive into the worlds of our favorite fandoms!

I’m particularly excited to explore Throne of Glass, where I’d love for you to embody the fierce and enigmatic Rowan Whitethorn, or Fourth Wing, with you as the captivating Xaden Riorson. I always double up, so rest assured, I can bring any character to life that you desire!

World-building is my jam, and I thrive on OOC chatter to flesh out our characters and storylines. I’m all about taking the core plots of these two series and spinning them into something fresh and exhilarating that we can call our own.

Here are some of my other fandoms and the characters I’m eager to explore (character I’m looking to play against):

Prison Break (Michael Scofield): Let’s escape into the thrilling chaos!

Fruits Basket (Shigure or Kyo): Dive into the emotional depths and complexities of the Sohma family.

Inuyasha (Sesshomaru or Inuyasha): Unravel the tapestry of adventure and romance in feudal Japan.

FMA/FMAB (Edward or Roy): Explore the intricacies of alchemy and sacrifice in a world filled with wonder.

Maid-sama! (Usui): Let’s bring the playful dynamics of Misaki and Usui to life.

ACOTAR (Azriel or Rhysand): Immerse ourselves in the intrigue and allure of Prythian.

I’m also open to OC x OC scenarios, though I have a bit more experience with canon characters. If you’re as excited as I am about crafting narratives and building rich worlds, let’s connect and create something unforgettable together!

contact me on discord: Chanellenai or like this or shoot me a message here!

[fingertipsmp3]

I hate that I’m not only rereading Throne of Glass but enjoying it

[meliohy]

Need a new small but active and chill (and a bit crazy) fandom

[sirendeepity]

Tell me you use one specific tab more than the others without telling me you use one specific tab more than the others, I'll go first

[bonniesfamiliar]

I HAVE TO RANT.

The only series of SJM I can ever read is TOG (Throne of Glass) and that's it.

That is the only one of her series that has the best worldbuilding, plot twists, romance and characters.

ACOTAR RUINED fantasy novels for me and not even in a good way.

I mean, in a bad way, that I can't pick up a fantasy novel anymore, in fear that it'll be like ACOTAR.

Yes, I used to be a sweet summer child who thought ACOTAR was amazing, Rhysand was so romantic and Tamlin was a tool.

I was the tool.

I'm now in college and I read ACOTAR & ACOMAF & ACOWAR last year.

I stopped after ACOWAR because NEVER FUCKING AGAIN WILL YOU CATCH ME READ THAT SERIES.

I can't even begin with the non-existent lines between misogyny and romance and hypocrisy and the lack of actual world-building and how I NEED to drag the Archeron Sisters FAR FAR AWAY, YES ALL THREE OF THEM.

[separatist-apologist]

At this point I just like your posts with just skimming through it because I know your big, mature brain won't let me down with your opinions

And I need people know sjm is NOT a good writer lol. Just because she's famous doesn't mean she's the best one out there. Acotar is a missed opportunity at best. And most people who are hard-core fan of these book thinks these books are perfect and not because sjm keep retconing and changing and forgetting her own goddamn plot so they take everything for what it is. I've seen people criticised Mor and Feyre for leaving some dreamers at CoN and they don't care about them. No babes sjm just forgot about it all fkn together!!!

Okay I have thoughts about this. I'm once again slapping it under a cut just because its long. These are just my thoughts, feel free to disagree

There is nothing wrong, just to be clear, with SJM being a person's favorite writer. I think she is an entertaining writer and I think begrudgingly everyone in this fandom needs to admit that. I think she creates very interesting characters and places that people want to know more about and her writing is very accessible which feels like a burn but I swear isn't.

I don't think she's a bad writer, personally, but I do think she's just not interested in her own details or worlds the way her fans are, and I think this is true across every book series she's written. I think her problem is she writes the way I do- she knows how her stories end, she has a few key scenes in mind, and she figures the rest out as she goes.

This felt pretty evident in TOG, too- you could watch in real-time as her plots changed and she undid things it felt like she'd been building toward. ACOTAR isn't any better in that regard because I GENUINELY do not think she knew what she was doing plotwise when she started the series and it came to her as she went which is why the whole Amarantha things feels so ?????????

Even in TOG, SJM is not interested in the political maneuverings of her characters, the governing process, her political landscape or ANY of the things that a lot of people get frustrated by, to circle to your CoN plot. I think she relies very heavily on "x says they care and I'm telling you they're a good person, so the assumption is they're also a good ruler and we don't need to explore that any further". SJM drops these little pieces of lore like about Mor's cousins or the women of Illyria or whatever and then doesn't do anything with it or even recognize, in my opinion, the conclusions her readers are drawing.

And I think its because to her, she's told you what you need to know. Rhys is a GOOD ruler because the people of Velaris love him AND because she tells us so. Tamlin is a bad ruler because he exacts taxes on his decimated population AND she tells us so. And when people examine those statements, it starts to crumble, in my opinion, which is why I think people get defensive. They don't CARE about the political workings of this world, they just want to read about hot people doing hot people shenanigans.

I do think that going to a SJM book for thoughtful worldbuilding and an interesting magic/political system is a mistake. Having read every series she's ever written, I do not think this is her strong suit and I'm tired of being told I only think so because of internalized misogyny. I think SJM is a good character writer- her characters are compelling, and even anti's typically have a favorite character they wish had been better fleshed out or had been done more with or would be better explored in future books.

This is all over the place- I'm just writing my thoughts as they come to me. Ultimately, I think SJM's books typically don't stand up to heavy scrutiny and that depending on what you're looking for in a book, you're going to come away with different levels of enjoyment. For me, I hadn't read anything fiction in like, six years because I'd been knee deep in academia and it was the first thing I read just for fun and it WAS fun. It IS fun, even now. It's a brain off read. For better or worse, ACOTAR isn't complicated or hard to understand- SJM tells her readers what to think AND feel all the time, so you don't really need to think about any of it.

But when you read other fantasy in her genre, it becomes clear that like...oh. This is just mediocre. In some places it feels like a poor retelling of other stories (TOG has HEAVY LOTR moments, for example) and thoughtless culture stealing that feels offensive in places (CC feels especially bad in this regard given how she's stitched together like, 3-5 different cultures without a good understanding of any of them).

I'm not saying anti's shouldn't still discuss their issues with it. But I will say that if you're looking for a well fleshed out world and a political system that is interesting to read and characters who are consistent and don't bow to the whims of the author and plot, you're probably going to have a hard time with ALL of SJM.

[sixth-light]

Fic meme

List five of your least-popular fics, as well as when/why you wrote them (tagged by @themardia)

a beginning (TOG/WoT, Andy & Nile, gen) - If I recall correctly this was in response to a 'cross your newest and oldest fandom' challenge, and well before WoT crashed back into my life with the TV show in late 2021! I've got a whole lot more worldbuilding for this tucked away in the back of my head somewhere...

The Waiting Game (RoL, Peter/Beverley, Peter & Thomas) - it's tagged 'ask box fic' and I think I would have written it as part of a whole lot of post-Hanging Tree prompts, but the years have eroded my memory of who prompted me and what exactly they prompted me.

they choose to take you in (Court of Fives, Bettany & OC) - a Yuletide fic for a very small book fandom which features the clash of a matriarchal and a patriarchal culture; I was obsessed with the idea of a longed-for male heir (still in utero at the end of the series) being...whoops, not that.

The Sight of Other Skies (Eternal Skies trilogy, Samarkar & Tsareg Edene) - another Yuletide fic for a book fandom, ft. female friendship, but mostly an excuse to roll around in the series worldbuilding.

The Retirement of Gabriel Argent (Daniel Blackland series, Gabriel/Max) - I am extremely proud that I wrote the first fic on AO3 for this very tiny fandom. It was the unusual-for-me case of finishing a book trilogy and being absolutely unable to move on without getting this post-canon idea out of my head.

Tagging: @emjee, @raedear, @darlingofdots, @highladyluck, @butterflydm, and anybody else who feels like doing this!

[aelinfireheartgalathynius]

This may or may not be a controversial opinion but I do not understand why ACOTAR is Sarah's most popular series. It is, in my personal opinion, by far her worst one. I know people say the first TOG book is her worst book and that's fair, but I'd rather read TOG1 than ACOTAR1 if I'm being honest. TOG as a series is leaps and bounds ahead of ACOTAR in worldbuilding, characterization, plot, continuity and, honestly, quality in general — again, in my opinion. I'm glad more people have found Sarah's work, but it irks me that ACOTAR gets almost all the praise and attention and the vast majority of the good merch options.

[jue-viole]

Chapter 5: Time for Holidates

Rak: Slow down, turtle! 

Khun chuckles.

Khun: But I thought you preferred us to be fast and turtles are fast in the water!

New chapter of my ToG Fanfiction is out! If anyone wants to read! Chapter 5: Time for Holidates

Chapter 4 is also now out on Ao3. As always, I'll be updating earlier on ToyHouse. But if anyone wants to follow the FanFic there, here's the link. ^^

[longsightmyth]

Part of the problem with ToG is frankly the shallow worldbuilding, which I wouldn't judge as much except that everyone and their second cousin tries to sell the series as a grand sweeping fantasy. Where are the different cultural norms? Where are the different ENVIRONMENTS and how they influence how people live/interact? Different clothes? Accents? Perceptions?

Why has there been NO social change?!

Why does every government and monarchy operate EXACTLY the same way?!

Why does EVERYONE have the same legends?!

We get a little bit of different environment with the southern continent but that honestly just drives home everything else with the giant question: how did a nation of horse cavalry conquer a nation of giant bird cavalry who live in unclimbable mountains

[bookishfeylin]

And if we’re going by SJM’s standards, Tamlin’s red flags in book 1 is her fae standard, and therefore not actually red flags according to her worldbuilding. So even by those standard, Rhysand, Cassian, and Rowan are all worse, often mirroring the bad guys (Beron, Eris, Maeve, Amarantha) more than the bad guy Tamlin is supposed to be.

I haven't read TOG so I truly can't comment, so I'll tag @worldsnotsaid who can hopefully help with the Tamlin-Rowan comparison, but for the other ACOTAR characters--yes!

As I've said in all of my posts where I discuss Tamlin's red flags, he certainly HAS them, but I've yet to see anyone name a red flag he has that Rhysand doesn't also exhibit. While I don't necessarily agree that other characters are more of a bad guy than he is, ACOTAR!Tamlin does not stand out much from any other male in the rest of this series. Is he a significantly older male with power and influence courting a younger less powerful woman? Yes. Is he violent, possessive, and jealous to a degree (though it's not nearly on ACOMAF! Tamlin's level)? Yes.

But so is everyone else. It doesn't work as a red flag because everyone acts that way. If we indict ACOTAR!Tamlin, then either EVERYONE has red flags, or it's "just how faeries are" and we leave it at that. Is Rhysand a significantly older male with power and influence courting a younger less powerful woman? Yes. Is Rhysand violent, possessive, and jealous to a degree? Yes. Is Cassian a significantly older male with power and influence courting a younger less powerful woman? Yes. Is he violent, possessive, and jealous to a degree? Yes.

And i have more to say on Cassian especially in ACOSF because... he literally jailed Nesta and laughed when she tried to leave and hurt herself falling down the stairs? Like at least, at least, ACOMAF!Tamlin didn't LAUGH that Feyre couldn't escape the manor. It's a miserably low bar and Cassian can't even clear it. He locks up Nesta and then enjoys it. Disgusting. How is he on ACOMAF!Tamlin's level of bullshit?

Is Azriel a significantly older male with power and influence courting a younger less powerful woman? Yes. Is Azriel violent, possessive, and jealous to a degree? Yes (from what little of his personality we've seen especially from that ACOSF bonus chapter... yes. Very much so)

ACOTAR!Tamlin is no worse than the bat boys (or at least, he's not worse than Azriel, given Rhysand has molested and drugged and mindraped Feyre and Cassian has locked up Nesta and is comparable to ACOMAF!Tamlin so...) ACOTAR!Tamlin truly doesn't stand out in this series. It makes calling ACOTAR!Tamlin a walking red flag very very HARD when he's objectively not worse than the main heroes of the story--unless they too are walking red flags.

[shadowqueenjude]

The fandom is so lucky to have you! We appreciate having you here and all that you contribute to it ❤️❤️

1. What brought you into the fandom?

2. What character(s) do you feel the most connected to and why?

3. Out of all of SJM’s books, which one means the most to you and why?

4. Out of all of the SJM couples (fanon, canon, endgame, etc) which one means the most to you and why?

Keep doing you ❤️

This is so sweet! It made my day🥹

1. I finished the ACOTAR series late 2023 and I was devastated to find out that it wasn’t completed! It’s soooooo hard waiting for the next installment in a series. I went through this with The Land of Stories and The Trials of Apollo too 😭😭😭. So yeah I searched online for Elucien/pro Lucien/anti IC content and I couldn’t find shit ANYWHERE. The only place I even saw some decent content was on Tumblr, so I started posting my analyses and rants and writing about ACOTAR and it turned out many people agreed with me! It was such a relief to finally find Lucien stans who also saw holes in SJM’s writing!

2. I resonate with Nesta the most. She’s just so relatable and human to me. First with the parental trauma (real), second with feeling like they’ve disappointed everybody because they weren’t able to do things that no teen girl should have to do, pushing people away because she’s afraid they’ll leave, spitting facts and everybody getting mad at you for it. And Nesta’s modesty: damned if you do, damned if you don’t. I’ll never forgive SJM for robbing her of her modesty, but it’s honestly reflective of how women like her are treated irl. My own family wants me to be more modest (i’m already pretty damn modest) while the outside world wants me to be less modest, and it’s really frustrating being put in a box like that and not being able to be yourself. Nesta’s hard shell soft interior is me-core.

3. I think by far SJM’s best book is Tower of Dawn. The worldbuilding, the romance, the plot, the chemistry between Chaol and Yrene (and Nesryn and Sartaq) was perfection. And Chaol being a genuinely flawed and human character in a world full of Fae feeling useless and learning to grapple with himself and find his purpose and a man who had always prided himself on his body learning to see that he is so much more than that, that he is as much a man with his wheelchair as he is without it, and Yrene, a character who rules by peace and healing, not violence and destruction, showing everybody how strong she is…well, it’s unlike so many of SJM’s books and she didn’t write it to be popular and tropey (Chaol is wildly unpopular in the TOG fandom) which is why it’s so good.

4. My favorite SJM couple that is already confirmed endgame is Elide and Lorcan from Throne of Glass. God, I love them. Elide, the cunning little witch with a limp and innocent eyes, showing just how strong she can be, wielding Lorcan’s axe (😍) and saving him on the battlefield. Manipulating everybody with a few choice words and a flutter of her eyes. Lorcan being utterly mesmerized from the start. Being a menstruation king and taking such good care of her during her periods. Washing her clothes, bringing her dinner…i mean he is so malewife. Elide being a canon ace queen who only engaged in sexual activities after she trusted and loved Lorcan so deeply that she would allow herself to be vulnerable with him. Elide being sassy as hell and Lorcan being into it. Another human, very real character who is a survivor and quite unlike any other character in the SJM-verse.

Aside from that, Ruhnlidia is 🔥 and amongst those which aren’t technically canon endgame yet, Elucien. The political couple. The fashion-forward couple. The charming couple. The regency couple. The brown-eyed couple. The nonviolent couple. They’re the only two who know they’re mates from the start. Arranged marriage forced proximity trope. The tension, the yearning, Lucien as a fucking male lead…gahhhhhhhwodnwksnaklahiknj

Anyway thanks for the ask!

[azsazz]

Lol I love how you opened a can of worms with this discussion 😂😂 but it needs to be said. One thing I’m super grateful for is that as time passes by, people seem to be growing more critical of sjm’s writing than they initially were. It goes feel like she’s gotten lazy. Someone once said acotar feels like a fanfic of another series that exists, bc fanfic relies on the reader’s precious foundation of knowledge of source material, which makes sense bc the worldbuilding in acotar is barely there. “The king of hybern” doesn’t have a name??? Half the characters are nameless and everyone else doesn’t have a last name. Her plots are becoming less and less story driven, she recycled “redemption” arcs in each book, there are SO MANY inconsistencies in the plot. I could go on but I’m glad people are calling her out bc she’s getting lazy and greedy and doesn’t mind growing rich off fans she doesn’t care about and characters she doesn’t care about either. The fact that she’s the same woman who wrote tog is actually mind boggling

OH BOY DID I OPEN THE CAN OF WORMS IM THRIVING THO this has actually turned my day around im having so much fun

why does legit every character have daddy issues?

i mean like i said she's just reusing everything she's ever written because the nameless thing worked once, but now she's doing it again and again.

HER NET WORTH IS 10 MILLION like plz calm down sis take your time people will still eat it up if you plan it nicely! 😭

sometimes i think she thinks she's an actual celebrity or something

also i hate the way she acts in some of these online interviews i've seen. like she thinks she's the shit it's kinda funny to watch

[thefoulbeast]

PLEASE talk more about your roadside picnic pathologic au, that sounds like the most fascinating au ever

allow me to go off heeheehee >:) >:) (incoming wall of text of worldbuilding)

i talked abt this au a lot with my friend ksu and rilya so thanks for letting me bounce ideas to them.

Main things:

-it is set later than pathologic, around the 70ies or 80ies. But mind that the setting is eastern Russian steppe so the advancements haven’t quite reached so far.

-ToG and the surrounding steppe are a Zone (as well as a few small neighbouring villages and single-fence farmhouses). There are even some outcroppings of new-growth forests since the visitation. Theres all the weird physics fuckery going on – graviconcentrates, happy ghosts, thermal anomalies, hell slime etc. There are also various artefacts that human scientists struggle to make out the use of (basically u know the drill if u read roadside picnic). Since the old town and the abattoir are at the very epicentre of the visitation they have the highest concentration of loot and also danger.

- The new town – the place everyone settled after the Visitation is a couple of days by foot away, flush against the edges of the Zone.

-this is set some 25 years after the Visitation so the older generation stalkers have mostly died out and the new gen is taking over. There’s a lot less swag to be had in the outer parts of the zone, though stalkers still try.

Important bits:

-Daniil is a troubles scientist looking for a last hope to save his research. He hears of the zone and that people have been brought back to life in it and comes as fast as he can to the East. He’s still researching death and dying and how to prevent it, and there is a Thanatica in the capital.

-Artemy and Stakh (The Booha and The Mule, respectively) are stalkers. They’re lowkey famous in the new town for going on risky trips into the deeper parts of the zone where there’s still swag to be had.

-daniil comes to town with full intention to go to the zone to find Mother’s heart, a fabled artefact that can bring the dead back to life, which is located in the zone. Andrey suggests he go to the booha and mule for help with this dangerous mission.

-Artemy is the son of a first generation stalker, Isidor. Thus he has some non-human characteristics (again, par the course for- roadside picnic) and a very keen sense of the Zone. Almost supernatural, in fact. Which is mostly why he and Stakh can take on such dangerous jobs. They have a strict moral compass though so they refuse to bring back anything they know to be dangerous, like hell slime (looking at you, redrick. Smh).

-Isidor trained both artemy and stakh to be stalkers but artemy had a fallout with stakh somewhere along the line whereing stakh went on his own for a few years and lost a whole lot of companions (read: overconfident greenbeak stalkers) in that time which left him pretty jaded and wary of the zone. Hes sort of antithesis to artemy’s outlook – who loves the nature of the zone and the steppe and the zone-specific flora that grows there (twyre).

-artemy has a garden where he tries to cultivate twyre. He tends to it between trips and lara tends it when hes gone for more than a few days. He makes teas out of them that might or might not be slightly psychedelic.

-The Kin. Their settlement was a bit further from the epicentre of the visitation so more of them survived than the townspeople. There is still some struggle for the Kin to find work in town due to old attitudes and racism, so Kin are more likely to take up being stalkers because it might be high risk but its also high reward if you get swag (I am drawing certain parallels between being a stalker and being a butcher – a specific type of fear / reveration is reserved for them. And you can typically tell a stalker by their clothing, the smell of the Zone steppe clinging to them).

-clara is also the child of an older gen stalker, but she’s a lot less human than artemy. She’s chosen to give up on life in the new town and lives exclusively in the zone as a trickster, fucking around with any stalkers she comes across, either turning them all around ang getting them lost or helping them out to where theyre trying to get, depending on her mood.

-andrey owns the bar the stalkers favour in town and he also deals in selling off all the swag they’ve gathered off to the highest bidder, be they rich people, scientific institutes or anything shadier. Peter deals in turning stuff like black sparks and the little rings that spin forever into art and architecture. He’s very set on incorporating the alien tech into human lives. He and Andrey tinker a lot with engineering with the artefacts.

thats about what i have for now. more to follow... if u have any additional questions i would love to answer them <3

[ae-neon]

Reading Throne of Glass (4-9)

Again. I'm nitpicking, it's just how I enjoy a lot of my media. Overall I'm still giving the story a fair chance. (Except the Nehemia plotline)

Chapter 4

Really great opening paragraph, like honestly so good.

Proof sjm once understood that starvation would decrease breast size. Also proof that misogyny rots the brain cause god forbid Nesta didn't look hot enough for Cassian to fuck during her depressive breakdown.

Sorry, back to tog.

This chapter is great, amazing even.

Everything from Celaena falling asleep on the floor cause the bed feels too different after her horrible year in the mines

-> her reaction to sunlight and the small bits of hope she has

-> her figuring out a way to kill Chaol every 15 minutes.

-> her solemn reaction to the fact that no one else would be leaving the mines in anyway except death.

The scene with the dogs was nice. I like the interaction and characterization going on between these 3 main characters.

The scenery and worldbuilding is good too. We have Ellwye, the West, Wendlyn, The Witch Kingdom, the East, Endovier, Ardalan and Rifthold all mentioned and somewhat defined within narrative context. No info dumping, just small relevant tidbits.

Okay so Celaena is 18, Dorian is 20, Chaol is 22.

It's almost shocking how reasonable sjm used to be.

Celaena's a little crazy but it's fun sometimes. She says she's trying to get under Chaol's skin but she's the one saying he's not very nice and being bothered when he doesn't engage with her.

22 is much better than I thought. But he honestly has to be not only the best swordsman in the country but also a very high up, well connected young lord to be Captain of the Royal Guard.

Me and Celaena locked in, fr. She clocked him as a Lord.

Also characters with a strong sense of justice >>>>> another 5 points for Chaol.

Top tier chapter overall.

Chapter 5

The forest scene is cool. King Brannon. 2000 years ago. Fae. Hope this plays a big role.

If the Fae are just gonna be dudes who run around the same as humans (with pointy ears and magic) why make them immortal? I don't think sjm really comprehends the concept or how otherworldly it really is.

She knew plenty about this forest, knew that the denizens of this place had once been faeries: gnomes, sprites, nymphs, goblins, more names than anyone could count or remember. All ruled by their larger, human-like cousins, the immortal Fae—the original inhabitants and settlers of the continent, and the oldest beings in Erilea.

Just say Elves, I beg of you

Okay but surely the King of Ardalan, aka Dorian Senior, banning magic and making it disappear is an act of magic itself? Like unless bro is god, the simple act of banning magic would not erase its existence.

The King of Adarlan had outlawed it all—magic, Fae, faeries—and removed any trace so thoroughly that even those who had magic in their blood almost believed it had never really existed, Celaena herself being one of them.

This all just happened within the last maximum 30 years. She herself just told us Fae are immortal. How the fuck would they forget they ever had magic? There are humans old enough to still remember.

"It had been a while since she’d contemplated the gifts she’d lost, though the memory of her abilities haunted her dreams." okay so it's happened only in the last 10 years??? That means everyone still remembers. Why not just write that Celaena could barely remember instead of implying it was a common thing.

Still really like her descriptions of the forest and of the faeries.

I'm guessing gnomes left her flowers. We'll probably never see them again.

Chapter 6

Icy rain kept them company for four days, during which time Celaena was so miserably cold that she contemplated throwing herself into a ravine, hopefully dragging Chaol with her.

Her dedication to murdering him is quite endearing, I fear

The weather hits for me rn because it's autumn here too.

...the Crown Prince pulled out of line and came trotting toward them, his dark hair bouncing. His red cape rose and fell in a crimson wave. Above his unadorned white shirt was a fine cobalt-blue jerkin trimmed with gold. She would have snorted, but he did look rather good in his knee-high brown boots. And his leather belt did go nicely—even though the hunting knife seemed a bit too bejeweled.

Dorian the fashionista

Okay wait. The castle is half stone half glass... Can you just see into the castle? How did they even build that. If this was wheel of time or something I'd assume it was a modern skyscraper being seen through the eyes of people who didn't understand that. But there haven't been any other clues to suggest post apocalyptic fantasy stuff... Idk how I feel about this

The writing continues to be good. Celaena's dreams are pretty disturbing and her moment of quiet contemplation while staring at the greenish glow of the glass castle was really solemn and grounding. I think her thoughts about putting kingdoms behind her would have really hit if sjm revealed her identity and still had her refuse to rule.

"She wasn’t fated for anything. Not anymore"

During this scene the weight of her life experiences so far - running from her burning home at 8, losing her magic, being taken in by a man she couldn't trust, being made to murder for a living, being betrayed (most likely by that same man) and ending up in a slave mine - feels real, feels like it's made her truly lonely.

Still, the image haunted his dreams throughout the night: a lovely girl gazing at the stars, and the stars who gazed back.

Okay so why didn't sjm give Feyre a moment like this if we're supposed to believe Rhysand is her destined true love.

Chapter 7

There's a sense of life in this story thats really missing from acotar. Rifthold has flags and sigils and trumpets announcing the Prince's return. The horses smell, the city smells, the spices from the market smell, the river smells. Like there's a world here and it's tangible.

Acomaf really is the grave. And stans act like it's her magnum opus. No wonder sjm doesn't talk to them.

From bearded peddlers to servant girls carrying armfuls of hatboxes, everyone paused as the flag-bearers trotted proudly ahead, and Dorian Havilliard waved. They followed the Crown Prince, who, like Chaol, was swathed in a red cape, pinned over the left breast with a brooch fashioned after the royal seal. The prince wore a golden crown upon his neat hair, and she had to concede that he looked rather regal. Young women flocked to them, waving. Dorian winked and grinned.

Nobody in Velaris or the Hewn City or Illyria gives a fuck about Rhysand like this lmaooo

Now that she noticed, there were countless chained slaves working the docks, lifting and sweating, holding parasols and pouring water, eyes on the ground or the sky—never on what was before them. She wanted to leap from her horse and run to them, or to simply scream that she wasn’t a part of this prince’s court, that she had no hand in bringing them here, chained and starved and beaten, that she had worked and bled with them, with their families and friends—she was not like these monsters that destroyed everything. That she had done something, nearly two years ago, when she had freed almost two hundred slaves from the Pirate Lord.

I get what sjm was trying to do but the White Woman Energy™ is off the charts. It's not about you and you being seen as bad. Decentre yourself from the slavery narrative, please and thank you.

Kinda disappointed Celaena didn't spot any other spies or assassins lurking about. She was strangely unobservant for once.

Spears erect, they held rectangular shields, and their eyes were dark beneath bronze helmets. Each wore a red cape. Their armor, while tarnished, was well crafted from copper and leather.

Actual description of uniform and weapons rather than just "Illyrian leathers" "Illyrian knives/swords" BUT why does the description sound like Roman soldiers when we're clearly in a renaissance-esque fantasy time period

No, okay, I don't like the literal glass castle on top of a stone castle. Celaena agrees.

Dorian: you won't compete as yourself, we'll keep it a secret.

Dorian at the entrance to the castle while nobles and guards are welcoming him back: WELCOME CELAENA SARDOTHIEN

They were each armed with a sword, knife, and crossbow, and though they’d been alert while their captain passed by, she knew a crossbow wasn’t exactly a light weight to bear for hours on end. Celaena crept to her bedroom window, pressing herself against the marble wall, and glanced down. Sure enough, the guards had already strapped the crossbows across their backs. It would waste precious seconds to grab the weapon and load it—seconds when she could take their swords, cut their throats, and vanish into the gardens.

Smart, and even adding to her character weight and credibility. She surveys the room, makes a weapon and categorises what she could use to kill. Legit feels like a competent assassin.

Even the clothes are so much better than in acotar. What happened to sjm??

“He has a big heart, His Highness.” hahaha Dorian is apparently out here hoeing, I respect it.

Not the literal throne of glass.

And then there was the matter of Dorian’s sapphire eyes—not even his mother had his eyes. No one knew where they came from.

I hope this matters

The conversation between Dorian Snr and Dorian Jr is loaded with politics:

King Dorian I is a conqueror

Dorian II doesn't want to inherit the empire.

The younger brother isn't really a threat, neither of them take Hollin seriously.

Ardalan is in active war against Wendlyn

Why call Celaena a witch if the race of Witch exists. Why not just call her a snake or temptress or something

Dorian wants to kill his dad. He just like me fr.

Chapter 8

Okay. Chaol has an eagle shaped pommel on his sword. Dorian's sigil is a wyvern. The guy Celaena ends up with can turn into a bird I think. Rhysand, Cassian and Azriel have bat wings. The love interest in Ccity is an angel. SJM has a thing for wings, yes?

Tamlin not having wings is more proof of Feylin not being endgame than anything else you can point to in the text.

Chaol is giving the assassin a tour of the castle... Is he stupid??

The competition begins tomorrow??????

“I don’t understand why you refuse to enter the glass addition,” he went on. “There’s no difference between the interiors—you wouldn’t even know that you were inside it unless someone told you or you looked out the window.”

I lack the visual imagination to understand what the fuck is going on with this building. It really just sounds like a skyscraper

A clocktower made of black stone. Something like you'd see at the Gates of Wyrd. Hmmm. King built a spooky magic tower thing around the birth of his son. The same king magically made magic disappear.... The gargoyle on the tower points to a tile in the garden with a symbol on it. It's feeling very Da Vinci Code rn

A library... I miss Nesta.

The letter exchange between Celaena and Dorian is better than anything in acomaf. I said what I said. Including it for proof:

Your Highness—

It has come to my attention that your library isn’t a library, but rather a personal collection for only you and your esteemed father to enjoy. As many of your million books seem to be present and underused, I must beg you to grant me permission to borrow a few so that they might receive the attention they deserve. Since I am deprived of company and entertainment, this act of kindness is the least someone of your importance could deign to bestow upon a lowly, miserable wretch such as I.

Yours most truly,

Celaena Sardothien

Celaena beamed at her note and handed it to the nicest-looking servant she could find, with specific instructions to give it immediately to the Crown Prince. When the woman returned half an hour later with a stack of books piled in her arms, Celaena laughed as she swiped the note that crowned the column of leather.

My Most True Assassin,

Enclosed are seven books from my personal library that I have recently read and enjoyed immensely. You are, of course, free to read as many of the books in the castle library as you wish, but I command you to read these first so that we might discuss them. I promise they are not dull, for I am not one inclined to sit through pages of nonsense and bloated speech, though perhaps you enjoy works and authors who think very highly of themselves.

Most affectionately,

Dorian Havilliard

What happened to Sarah, when did she abandon romance?

Also. Again. This is supposed to be kept secret but she signed her name??? And Dorian responds "my assassin" any courier or spy would have had them by the balls before the day was done.

IS THAT KALTAIN??? Her ladies are idiots.

Ahhh, classic YA girlhate

Chapter 9

Super short chapter.

Aww, Chaol.

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Overall I'm still enjoying this more than I expected.

Again what happened to sjm? This love triangle is building so well.