ACOTAR/SJM: A MIXED EXPERIENCE
You have a wonderful fantasy setup, a vicious protagonist, a love interest turned villain, and deliciously wicked antihero. Even with all these wonderful elements, and two great books, you can still make a mess.
The journey begins in ACOTAR of course and of all the three books, plotwise, this one was the best (character development-wise, obviously goes to ACOFAM).
To me, the story really starts Under the Mountain. I never really could get behind the whole Feyre and Tamlin situation, and I suppose there is a reason for that. That being said, there were some truly wonderful scenes prior to reaching the mountain as well.
-Rhysand and all his entries into Feyres life. His initial appearance now has so many more layers to it, after reading the second book. Even his later dialogue with Tamlin makes more sense.
- Feyres encounter with the Bogge⊠a spine tingling encounter and really well written.
Rhys continues to outshine everyone Under the Mountain as well, but Feyres trials and the climax were chock full of action and vividly portrayed. As a fan of classic fantasy, this book was certainly up my alley, and I enjoyed it immensely.
This book was wonderful in terms of character development and really subverted many tropes. I loved so much what this book added to the SJMâs universe, and I simply adored Rhys. There was so much well done here:
- The depiction of Feyres depression and PTSD was so well done and felt so visceral. Her character growth was incredibly natural and her pace of growth, although frustrating to readers, was completely logical with what she has gone through.
-The new characters were great: Azriel, Mor, Cassian, and Amren are well rounded and have their own distinct personalities. Even though they are more or less introduced at the same time, they are easily differentiated, and that attests to their unique personalities.
-Rhys backstory and his PTSDâŠ. I donât think itâs necessary for me to elaborate on this.
-The entire Weaver scene: The best scene for me in the entire series. I could see this play out in my head like a creepy horror movie scene and it was just so incredibly well written, and the tension was genuinely palpable. Even after Feyre gets out of that situation, my heart was still pounding, imagining that creature still wailing and screaming in the distance with her heart set on vengeance. Truly chilling.
-The mating bond. I loved that the original love interest turned into a more villainous character, and the more villainous character turned into the love interest. That switch of both relationships, and that crossing of the line between love and hates makes them both more personal- an intimate enemy and a passionate lover. That being said, Rhys and Feyre have incredible chemistry, and their banter and emotional bond was a pleasure to witness.
-The climax was actually climactic and had devastating consequences. Cassians wings being shredded, Feyreâs family being mutilated, bonds being torn, and the mission epically failing were some incredibly powerful moments.
-The cliffhanger was wonderful
- The weirdly modern setting? This is just a personal qualm of mine and I donât expect everyone to agree with it. I always assumed that this was high fantasy, so Iâm thrown into a loop when characters mention sweaters or tights or other modern words.
-The Queen plotline. I thought the Queens would be more significant in the next book, but they werenât (other than as a link to an even more absurd plot line) so I see the importance of their storyline to serve as a betrayal of Velaris, but stillâŠdoesnât feel significant enough to me.
What I think must have happened in between the publishing of both books: SJM goes on tumblr, reads all the fanfics, starts hero worshipping her own characters, and begins to add elements which were never there in the first place. Why? Cause why not đ
The first book had the plot, the second had the characters, and now the third, a pure mess. The disappointment was real.
I canât even bother getting into what I enjoyed about it first because there are so many frustrating aspects to what should have been the thrilling conclusion.
- the terminology âIllyrian maleâ and the damn wing fetish. Someone do a word count.
Nothing she did in this book made sense. The previous book definitely laid the groundwork for her and Azriels relationship. But obviously, SJM decided a last minute, shoehorned, not well-thought of inclusivity was better than none. Honestly, it would have been a better and more canon choice to have Amren revealed to be asexual than Mor to be gay. I have nothing against any sexual orientation, but I do feel it is disrespectful to handle inclusivity as a last minute insert intstead of a well established component. Sexuality aside, Morâs weird treatment of Nesta made zero sense considering that Mor was supposed to be all about girl power and very feminist.
We,as fans, are allowed to rebrand characters and make them into cute little bats as fan art or dub them cinnamon rolls. SJM really shouldnât. I donât know when Rhys turned into a paragon of virtue, but this is a 500 year old cunning fae who is known to cross all moral lines to protect those important to him. I wish she played up that aspect of him. I wish we saw more of that as we did in the first book. He was a wonderfully gray character whose darker shades have been woefully underused, and even glossed over, especially in a battle of this importance.
Feyre has healing powers. Sheâs surrounded by soldiers who are dying and greviously injured. I was expecting some Lucy Pevensie action, but instead I got a soundproof tent and those two just going at it.
- The horribly written battle sequence
I wasnât expecting Tolkien, nor was I even expecting Rowling. But I was expecting at least something, something to visualize properly. But we just get a sprawling mess of things happening. Everything was underwritten, from the layout, to the surroundings, to the melee descriptions, to even where the characters are supposed to be situated. For reference, read the Battle of Hogwarts chapter, to see how a fast paced and chaotic battle should be written.
Lucienâs side quest. The firebird? Really? Honestly, more shoehorning here. There should have been more build up to this plot line in the previous books. It not only didnât fit in whatsoever, it just made no sense. Even Miriam and Drakon situation was a bit oddly inserted. Perhaps I would have valued them and their military more if I knew more about them or understood the battlefield to see their tactical advantage. I do understand the parallels between those two and Rhys and Feyre, but it wasnât enough. Well, at least itâs better than the firebird insert.
Also, Feyreâs fatherâs reappearance.
They all came out so unscathed, itâs infuriating. There are no repercussions to the battle (other than Nestas PTSD in the sequel which you know, nobody else cares about). Iâm not saying Rhys should have stayed dead, but they could have dragged that out a bit more, right? At the very least? But instead, she immediately resurrects him the next page. It would have been more of an emotional impact and gave more gravitas to his sacrifice if it was a bit more well paced, but nope. Amren, on the other hand, should have stayed gone. Her reappearance was not only anticlimactic, but it was also cheapened because Rhys literally just did that a few pages ago. Yeah, I know Feyres father died, but really who cares?
Also, the King of Hybern was surprisingly easy to kill?
- The implication that Eris might just get a redemption arc⊠the one who so cruelly violated Mor.
Honestly, Iâm sure thereâs more, so feel free to chime in.
The few good things in the book were Feyres sneaky machinations in the first half, and all the ancients such as the Weaver, Bone Carver, and Bryaxis. Itâs unfortunate the Weaver died the way she did, she had plenty of creepy potential.
I may have just skimmed through this one, but there were few glaring issues immediately seen.
Heâs been through enough. Heâs pitiful at this point and the contempt Rhys shows him, the contempt we are supposed to agree with, is completely unnecessary.
Feyres mocking attitude and uncharitable thoughts toward his new friend circle was incredibly harsh.
An absolute train wreck, but an unsympathetic one.
Alas, SJM, how can you make me fall in love with your books and then turn around and do this? What I love, I unabashedly love, but what I donât, I never can. Thank you for this truly dichotomous experience, SJM.
I would love to hear more views on this topic, so as long as the discourse is polite, Iâd love for everyone to chime in.
