🏹Pro-Feyre Post as I kick of 2021 rereading ACOMAF (again), ft. a vibey palm tree shadow 🏹
SPOILER ALERT IF YOU HAVE NOT READ ACOTAR AND ACOMAF.
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ACOMAF is a host unto itself within the world of YA/new adult fiction, and a huge part of that - to me - is the result of the unfettered access SJM gives us into the gritty, deadened reality that is the inside of Feyre’s head after surviving the horrors of Under the Mountain.
Within the YA/new adult genre, I can’t help but notice how miraculously characters tend to bounce back from tragedy for the sake of rising action. In YA, someone’s best friend will die and after 100 or so pages of intermittent mourning, the main character will literally be like, “wait, who?” and the former best friend is never mentioned again. It’s annoying because it takes something - something human - away from the characters who suffered.
But the plot of ACOMAF is not contingent on Feyre having impeccable mental health. In fact, the book weaves the often dismal state of her mental health through the plot in way that feels authentic and organic. Her head is a miserable, dimmed-down, sometimes scary place to be, and the unguarded honesty with which she reveals how debilitating her pain can be - not to other characters but to you and me , the readers - makes her, in my opinion, an easier character to trust and understand. It makes her vulnerability accessible and relatable.
This book is the DEFINITION of “the only way out is through.”
Feyre’s journey back to herself is slow, unsteady, non-linear, and sometimes involves taking one step forward to stumble two steps back, but she perseveres and struggles until she ultimately gets to say, “I know who I am because I built myself this way.” Rhys points her in the direction of the door to healing, but Feyre is the one who mustered the courage to stand up, open it, and walk through. She grows and matures in the depths of her struggle, and I find myself inspired by her each time I reread. To me, she’s is the embodiment of a strong female protagonist and if you feel otherwise, call me because we gotta talk.
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