Back again! I'm actually reading TOG for the first time. You are fine with the spoilers; they do not bother me. See, I'm enjoying Chaol right now, he feels every realistic to me and is acting in the best way that he can, given the circumstances. Now I know he 'acts out' in QoS, but I do not trust the fandom with anything, so I will judge what happens next book.
I 100% agree that if we *had* to continue with Elain and Nesta, they should be away from the NC and allow Feyre to have her found-family with them. I read SF hoping to at least tolerate Nesta, and it let me down. Cassia, not to me, deserves better than Nesta, who spends as much time hurting others because she was hurt. And even if in the interview, SJM did say that it was just the start of her journey, then in HoFaS, she went back to square one. Nesta will probably never grow on me as a character because my mother is a Nesta. I also have to say I do not like Bryce. She was okay the first half of HoEaB, but then she just completely goes sideways and then gets worse as CC goes on. She says she wants people to have a choice, and then she goes and makes decisions that don't give them a choice. She treated Hunt like shit in the second and third books, completely disregarding his trauma of being tortured This is worst for me as I read TOG because I'm now realizing that Bryce is basically Aelin 2.0. And I didn't like Bryce, and Aelin hasn't grown on me.
Oh, my bad! I thought you were re-reading ToG. I’m really glad I put a spoiler warning in my previous reply, I hate spoiling things, and I’ll make sure not to include ToG spoilers from now on. Even though you said it didn’t bother you, I apologize anyway.
I completely understand your approach of judging the story yourself, especially in this fandom. I did the same, and I ended up with a lot of unpopular opinions, mainly because of the usual double standards and takes that defy logic.
I had a rocky start with both ToG as a series and Aelin (or better, Caelena) as a character. At first, I didn’t like her much, but she slowly grew on me, mainly post-HoF. QoS is when the series really became interesting for me, and by its end, it became, in my opinion, the most thought-out and rewarding series in the Maasverse. I tend to appreciate a series that starts mid and ends with a bang more than one that starts strong and gradually disappoints, which is how I feel about ACOTAR and CC so far. Of course, none of these are literary masterpieces.
With Bryce and CC, my experience was the opposite. I liked her at first, but gradually developed issues with her character, including her attitude toward Hunt. What I appreciated is that she was usually called out on her behavior and seemed to learn from it, even if subtly, sometimes after a while, and often through actions rather than words. So I have mixed feelings toward her, but I’m not an anti either. Still, what annoyed me the most was how Aelin-like her character was written in HoFaS. The plot in CC also gradually disappointed me, HoFaS especially, while HoSaB simply felt repetitive at times, which pulled me out of the story on several occasions. In general, I think I’m tired of seeing recycled elements within these series.
Hunt Athalar might be the only character in the Maasverse I have zero (or just minor) issues with... thankfully he exists!
And as someone who’s dealt with a Nesta too, you have all my sympathy and support.