mostlypetty30

[mostlypetty30]

ACOTAR Thoughts of the night

SJM has brought 3 Main Characters back from the dead now. This has created a problem for if she wants to ever kill one off. At this rate, keep them alive.

Cassian or Azriel (not both, just one of them) should have been that one of them lost their wings. Unable to be healed fully. Unable to fly again. The ARC we could have gotten with that would have been cool. Don't at me with the line from the book either where they say "A true Illyrian would rather die than never fly again." that line was actually repulsive considering the sheer amount of female Illyrians that can no longer fly.

Feyre should have set more traps through the whole series. The first few chapters in ACOTAR when she was setting traps left and right as well as locking her room door because of the need to survive and feel safe was brilliant. I wish that would have come back in ACOMAF to showcase her not feeling safe even with Tamlin there. I also wish her sneaking out to sleep outside would have been a thing. It would have been another great representation of the effects UTM had on her and being confined. Show me, don't tell me.

After a High Lady / Warrior Arc and a Revival Warrior Arc, I will scream if Elain gets a warrior arc. There's more to fantasy and strong characters than putting a sword and powers in their hand.

Watching people call others "pick mes", "band-wagoners", "forced", etc for not liking or liking certain characters / pairings will always be hilarious to me. Don't take it so personal and don't make it personal. Just have fun and debate.

While I don't trust SJM to write LGBTQ+ characters because she doesn't do well ... at all ... with that. I hate the fact and will always hate the fact that Tamlin is a straight cis male that can shapeshift.

A High King plot line is going to blow. It's giving Season 8 GOT but in reverse. It's unnecessary and frankly unjustified / unneeded. It will not help the Rhys is a villain and Feyre is power hungry allegations either.

[mostlypetty30]

SJM, Research Things. I Beg You.

Things SJM could have researched that would have made the story a little bit better. Honestly, this is just me getting out my pet peeves. It's super picky so like ... take this with a grain of salt.

Village Dynamics. A small village often worked together to survive. There are also many parts to a village including hunters. We barely get anything about this village. It's weird.

Barter & Trade Systems. A poor town is not using only money for goods ... be so for real right now. Feyre should have been trading her furs for goods not coin. Small villages and areas even to this day primarily operate on barter and trade!

Hunting. Children 11 and 14 are not that young. That's average in modern times. It was often younger in older periods. Deer also weigh a lot. It's hard for a grown ass seasoned hunter to drag a deer out of the woods. Field dressing is a must.

Cleaning and Disease. I'm still mad about that dead bloodied deer being thrown and gutted on the kitchen table. That place is gross. They have a disease now.

Curing Meat. The meat could not have been cured overnight. At a minimum it would need 24 hours.

Weaponry. The fact that barely any weapons are mentioned in this story aside from swords, knives, daggers, and bows is a travesty. It doesn't matter that Feyre was just a hunter. There are more than just bows and snares for hunting. Illyrians having such base weapons for a warrior culture is abysmal. Did you know a lot of weapons were created from farming and building tools?

Disabilities. Enough Said.

Vegetable & Crop Rotation. I'm hoping Elain's book fixes this but as of right now it's criminal. Especially with Illyria again and not giving them crops and veggies to cultivate? Emerie has her garden, sure, but the rest of the camp? There are so many things you can grow in a cold mountainous environment. Imagine the stuff we could have had aside from just ... stew and porridge.

Foraging. Why isn't Feyre foraging? I get not many books mention it, but like it would be so cool if they did! Especially ones like this with a starving family and you are telling me hunting and Elain's failing garden are the only way?

The Arts: Dancing and Painting. ugh... at this rate if you know you know.

War, Battle, and Politics. I have a whole other issue with this trope, but these books really hone in on it.

Geographical Locations and Maps. Whole rant for distance and time here.

Biology and Anatomy

Hair color. Because not all red hair is the same. Thank you!

Political Power Structures & Government Bodies.

Magic Systems the magic use is basic (Except when Tarquin drowned those soldiers with sea water he conjured in them. That was cool!), the system has shown to have no balance, and there is no real power scaling.

Warrior Cultures. The way I am so pissed that her warriors nations have zero respect for Illyrian women but in the same breath says they explicitly breed for strength. Most warrior cultures while being patriarchal and having not great things for women. Still treat their women 100x better than SJM does her Illyrian women.

Also, because the village is roughly closer if not the same distance from the ocean as it is the wall ... why did Feyre not try to fish? They also have a lake near the village. It's where Feyre taught herself to swim, so again ... Fishing? No? Okay ...

[mostlypetty30]

TAMLIN killed Amarantha. Yes, Feyre eventually broke the curse that allowed him to get his powers back but Tamlin is the one who actually killed her.

I don't know what nonsense Feyre is spewing in FAS about her and Rhysand killing her. Miss thing, you did NOT survive Amarantha. She killed you. Rhysand attempted to attack her and was thrown against a wall. Yall didn't do shit to Amarantha except piss her off. Tamlin was pissed and going to kill her anyways, Rhysand did not have to parade Feyre around practically naked, make her drink and dance til she threw up and sa her to make Tamlin mad enough to kill her.

I feel like everyone forgets this (including the high lords who are "oh so powerful blah blah blah" but believe the lies of a 20 yr old and her mate who was evil for the last 50 yrs over the high lord who saved them).

Give the male his flowers.

[mostlypetty30]

And ANOTHER THING!

Also back on the dress issue. A lot of people like to compare Feyre's CoN (Hewn City) dress the first time she goes, to that of Cleopatra who they say used beauty and fashion as a way to assert political power in a male dominated world...Alright, let's have some History shall we? Cleopatra was one of many children who were products of incest. She was well renowned for her intelligence. She was multi-lingual in over a dozen languages and educated in math, philosophy, oratory, astronomy, and a leader that elevated scholars. Cleopatra mostly portrayed herself with more masculine features to display strength. Plutarch, an ancient writer, notes that Cleopatra wasn't unique in her beauty but she had an irresistible charm and a pleasant voice. The Romans and even Egyptians often portrayed her with more average masculine facial features rather than that of feminine beauty standards and feminine facial features. Rather than using fashion, Cleopatra used stagecraft to woo allies and perpetuate her divine status as a living goddess. Her trick of hiding in the rug and appearing in her royal garb is what drew Caesar's attention. To woo Antony, she arrived in a golden barge with purple sails and silver oars dressed as the Goddess Aphrodite. Attendants dressed as cupid fanned her under a canopy while sweet incense burned. It played towards Antony's belief that he was the embodiment of Dionysus. Cleopatra not only organized the overtaking of Egypt from her brother (who was also her husband) and potentially the murder of other siblings, but she also led several dozen Egyptian naval ships into battle. Cleopatra, even in ancient times, was never regarded for her beauty. She was regarded for her cleverness and intelligence. She was seen as sexually promiscuous by her enemies. Her fashion is said on multiple accounts as well to embrace the Egyptian Heritage to enhance herself as a true Pharaoh and establish herself as a ruler even if she did have to keep marrying a man to maintain a hold on that status. While she did use fashion to showcase her power it was more masculine enhancing rather than feminine enhancing. But yeah sure. Let's compare Feyre's Hewn City Dress and even the mask her and Rhys wear the first time she goes as an equivalent to Cleopatra VII.

[mostlypetty30]

ACOTAR Unfriendly/Friendly Reminders:

Even if it was consensual between Rhys and Feyre, the rest of the CoN that was present did not consent to the sexual actions that were performed. It's still sexual harassment.

Feyre actively does not reach out and talk to women of Illyria or the CoN therefore saying the women "enjoy" being there and are "content" is a gross falsehood. Especially, since we are shown and told how awful both societies are for them by different accounts. One of those accounts being a first hand account by Emerie.

Feyre acting as Rhys's plaything during the CoN meeting was not a power move. It is not a political or war tactic. It was unnecessary. There are other masks she could have worn. Other distractions they could have used to obtain the orb. (Also, for anyone's arguments this was 8 chapters before Feyre discovers she is Rhys's mate and 14 chapters after Feyre's break-up letter to Tamlin.) When people are talking about this scene the issue isn't inherently in the dress she wears but what the dress represents. She is NOT actively his mate at this point. She is playing the exact role she was playing UTM that the CoN already knew her to be. If anything, it did more harm to the women's morale there than good. Feyre could have been their hope but instead they had to see the "Savior of Prythian" demeaned and treated as an object just as they have been.

Cassian didn't give Mor lingere in front of Nesta. I love Nesta, don't fucking come at me, but this is what really happened. Cassian doesn't know what to get Mor. Mor tells Cassian to get her a very specific set of red negligee. Cassian listens to that. Solstice gifting happens and everyone is taking a turn. They're a turn based family rather than a free for all family. Cassian gives Mor the gift. She opens it and puts it aside. WHOA! My girl Nesta shows up. Oh hey, Elain hands Nesta a gift. Mor, being full mean girl, swoops in and throws her gift at Azriel for him to open. Feyre is torn between watching the two. Nesta starts to open her present carefully and Mor once again springs into action throwing Cassian's gift at him. Cassian does not open it and allows Nesta the chance to open hers with people watching. Once she's done he opens it and boom. Oh, look, Mor got him Red Silk Undershorts that perfectly match her own Negligee. Crazy...

I also want to point out that at this point time they were not established Mates. If we are going to hold energy for Rhys and Feyre not being established Mates then we need to do the same for Cassian and Nesta. Feyre didn't know until Chapter 50 of MAF even though Rhys allegedly knew since TAR. Cassian and Nesta are no different. However, anything outside of the mate argument is full game. I can be a strong Canon Cassian Hater but I'm gonna make sure my hate is in full Canon.

[mostlypetty30]

First Drafts Can Never Be Final Drafts

I wasn't planning on making multiple post about me losing my mind due to the internet, but here we are. It seems that in the more modern writing climate, where many are in route to become authors of varying varieties, the concept of editing and writing has been lost. Many think that a manuscripts first draft can be a final draft due to line editing as they write...Let me stop you there. Not that I had to because you already did it yourself. There is more to editing a manuscript than line editing. Most of the editing that must be done comes after the first draft of the manuscript. Let me break it down for you:

Developmental / Structural / Content Editing: This type of editing seems to be dying out as writers tend to forget this fundamental and extremely important aspect. This type of editing must be done when the manuscript is complete as it covers the overall content of a story. It checks a manuscripts overall structure, flow, and effectiveness at conveying a message. Editors often ensure the manuscript follows an intentional genre or sub-genres rules. Make suggestions on what needs revisions or critiques that will improve the manuscript. They will also help with what can be used for marketing. Plot: Ensures the plot follows a sequences of events from start to end. Structure: Ensures the manuscript's plot is organized. Characters: Ensures the characters are represented in a way the makes sense and that they go through some type of arc or growth. (Note: Stagnant growth is a valid writing device, but not all characters should have that.) Viewpoint & Narrative Style: Ensuring that the viewpoint is clear and understood well within each chapter. Ensuring the distinction is enough to inform readers. Tense: Ensuring that the book stays and follows within the established tense. (Note: Yes, this also matters if you write a time-traveling book that jumps into the past, present, and future.)

Line Editing: This type of editing is the most common and the one that most people refer to when they talk about editing. However, this editing isn't exactly a grammar and spelling type of editing. This editing actually looks at how to make your sentences stronger and flow better. They can do full manuscripts or smaller parts to help an author / writer with their craft. It checks for: * Phrasing & Word Choice * Character - Trait Consistency * Clarity and Consistency of Viewpoint / Narration * Clichés & Metaphors * Dialogue, Voice, Mood, and Intention * Pace, Flow, Repetition, Overwriting * Tenses * Told v. Shown Writing

Copy-editing: This is the editing that most writers / authors mean when they talk about editing. Mostly because some editors do combine this with Line Editing. This editing type is technical and can be done while writing but should be double and triple checked. It's better to focus on this after you have done Developmental and Line editing. Main Focus: * Chapter sequence * Proper-Noun Spelling * Consistencies in Writing * Dialogue Tags and Punctuation * Letter, Word, Paragraph, Line spacing * Logic in Timeline, Environment, Character Trait * Spelling, Grammar, Syntax, Punctuation, Hyphenation, and Capitalization * Formatting

Proofreading: Finally the end of our mini basic lesson we get to proofreading. Proofreading is always the last and final step before a manuscript is complete. It's all about quality control here and last minute run through. A final polishing of the Manuscript. Here you get to see what the book will look like in various formats and have the opportunity to fix anything. * Formatting, Page Numbers, Chapters drops, Line Spacing, Indentation, Font, Heading Styles * Raw text amending * Raw Audio listening * Page Proof viewing So NO. A first draft of ANY manuscript is NOT the final draft and never will be. I will never trust a writer or an author that believes the first draft can be the final. Take pride and passion in your work. If you can't afford an editor, that's fine. But at least take the time to go over it and get some beta readers or alpha readers. Be willing to listen to them. They are there to help you. They are not pointless. If I catch one more author saying that...I'm gonna flip and I'm not even an alpha or a beta reader.

[mostlypetty30]

ToG and Fourth Wing are not fucking Dystopian books. ACOTAR is not Horror or nor is it High Fantasy. Put down that Romantasy book you are holding and about to recommend for post-apocalyptic or apocalyptic right fucking now.

I swear to god people need to learn what makes up these genres and subgenres. I get you love these books but holy shit stop recommending them in every fucking genre.

You can look at these books through thoses lenses. That's fine. But don't turn around and recommend them to someone looking for a specific genre! You are setting up that person, those genres, and that book for failure.

[mostlypetty30]

No More Words For You

Having fun is one thing, but coming into spaces where fun is more academic leaning and disrespecting that community is another. No, I'm targeting those that do it, but then stay to learn. I actually love those that are willing to take a moment to learn. No, no, no. My petty gripe today are about those that instead of not engaging or engaging to learn, they are simply loudly wrong. The ones that dig ten toes and are here to ruin the moment.

The following contains a list of words and phrases that I would revoke from Booktok with zero to little explanation (maybe like a mini crash out). At least until they learned their meanings and usage because the mental pain I get daily is beginning to hurt.

Character Types

Morally Gray / Morally Black / Morally White 

Hero / Villain / Anit-Hero / Anti - Villain 

… this is a long one. 

Target Audience / Genre / Subgenre / Microgenre / Setting

This one actually makes me crash out when I see it. I could drone on forever about how people are mistaking these all and aren’t understanding the categorization of a book. Setting DOES NOT auto equate to a Micro-Genre or Sub-Genre. Criteria met does. Sub-Genre and Micro-Genre’s do not have to equate to the Main Genre. Criteria met does. TARGET AUDIENCE IS THE AGE RANGE!!!

Enemies to Lovers 

Tropes 

Listen, a lot of people don’t understand Enemies to Lovers and that stems from the misunderstanding of the history of tropes, what they are, and how they are utilized to enhance a story. Tropes are not meant for telling a story.  

Reliable & Unreliable Narrator

I’m going to scream if I see one more person call a main character unreliable for the simple fact that the book is only written in their POV and therefore can’t know it all. NO SHIT! That is NOT what an Unreliable Narrator is! 

Context / Subtext 

Literary Discourse / Literary Analysis / Literary Criticism 

Pick-Me / Gatekeeping / Pretentious / Not Like Other Girls

This is used right…sometimes. When it’s not used right is when someone gets made that another group is having fun picking apart a popular book. Then all of the sudden the group that isn’t just enjoying the book for the Vibes are pick-mes or gatekeeping or are pretentious. Or if someone doesn’t like a certain character or popular book then suddenly they are pick-me’s. Dude…really? Also, when they use it on a book character ... 9/10x they're not even close.

World-Building

World building…no matter if a story is surface level or not…needs to be somewhat solid. It does not need to be deep or complex but it needs a solid foundation. The world makes the characters. ALSO World-Building is more than just “The Planet of Earth 3.5 on Continent Prime in the city of GoneTomorrow

Subjective / Objective 

Literary Rules are not Subjective…..Grammer/Spelling are not Subjective…Literal Canon Fact on the page is NOT Subjective. For the love of whatever you believe in. Learn the damn difference. 

Complex (Round) Characters / Simple (Flat) Characters

*sigh* If I see one more character in a fast fashion book that displays little to no growth in a story get called a “Complex” character even though they already displayed that one or two traits before their “Trauma that Changed them” I’m going to scream. Like honestly. Most of these fast fashion books are simple flat Characters and I’m tired of acting like they aren’t. 

Canon / Fanon

Deep / Surface 

Mainstream / Expanded 

This is not so much a petty annoyance as it is a petty pet peeve. I’m guilty of this tbh because I am in certain media where I do get really into the world and stuff. However, I just wish more people took the time to understand that the Canon story has 4 different levels just as Fanon does. The lack of understanding causes so much strife on TikTok. 

Book Review

No, respectfully, eat my shorts. You will not police me on how I review my books just as I won’t police you. I give it one star and you disagree? That’s fine, I’m glad you liked it, but I didn’t and that’s okay. My dislike of your favorite book is not a personal attack so chill out. 

Storytelling / Writing

You can be a writer but not be a storyteller. You can tell stories and not be a writer. They can go hand in hand and they can be separate but they are not the same thing. 

Spice

I don’t care if it’s there. I don’t care if it’s not there. What I do care about is reducing certain book genres/sub-genres down to spice level. Romance, Erotica, Romantasy even, is fine but like…if the book is a Political Fantasy maybe like don’t do that? It’s a disservice to all readers.

Also, I need ya’ll to get this spice scale more consistent because some of these “Super Spicey” ones with “Lots of Spice!” are barely present and have me asking if the spice is in the room with us.

Illiterate

People are using Illiterate (zero reading and writing capabilities due to not being taught or forgetting) when they actually mean Functionally Illiterate (Reading/Writing around 5th Grade level or below). This is just me being petty at this point but like honestly…come on.

I'll probably end up making another list in the future, but until then... Just don't engage if you don't like something. Unless you are willing to have an actual conversation it's best to just not engage with a more critical side of the book world. As for the critical side, if you see someone enjoying something... leave them be. Let them have fun in their way and you have fun in yours.

[mostlypetty30]

Werewolves But Make Them Fae...I Guess

SJM’s ACOTAR series is a series that actively angers me on a daily basis. Don’t worry, I read them second hand. With the amount this series pissed me off you’d think I would step away and I do on occasions. Then I see something that triggers me into an annoyance or simplistic ranting rage where I have to release my frustrations into a chat forum or on paper. Welcome to one of those, by the way. Outside of the problematic Author herself, the most common irritations for me are:

Fast Fashion Fanatics1

Plastered Patriarchal Propaganda 

Rampant Racism

Shrouded Sexism

Vicious Victim Blaming

Weak Writing

Wrong Word/Phrase Warriors

But recently, I’ve come across another reason to be angered by this series. It’s the fact that the author was a coward. No, I’m not talking about being too cowardly to actually make good queer characters or write actual fae that aren’t just over “Spicy Humans”. I’m talking about the fact that this author legitimately wrote a Werewolf/Shifter novel, not the Omegaverse kind, and made them Fae...well made them into “Spicy Humans”. Perhaps I’m wrong, but based on the werewolf novels I have read this is what I have concluded. The following is a comparison of common Werewolf/Shifter romance stories and SJM’s ACOTAR Series.

TROPES NOT INCLUDED

These are just some you won’t find here because SJM has not done them yet. However…I would not be surprised if she does do them in the future for this series. (Yes, I have heard some of these happen in other series of hers but I have not read those). 

Rejected Mates

Fake Matebond via Magic

Second Chance Mates

Ranks (Beta, Omega, Delta, Epsilon, Gamma)

ROGUES:

This cliche is usually split into different sections. The first being the evil/bad guys who are used for a: 

Kidnapped: Evil Rogues capture the FMC and plan to kill her or use her to kill the MMC. The brave MMC rushes to save the FMC

Abandoned: The FMC was left in the woods at birth or kicked out of her pack. She is now a rogue and smells like one. The pack where she is jumped but the bond snaps into place and the MMC takes her in. 

Orphaned: Evil Rogues killed the FMC’s family leaving her orphaned and the Alpha/Beta family takes her in. Most of the time this leads to the FMC being abused/bullied by the family until the bond snaps into place. Even then she is still abused and bullied. Other times the MMC’s family is the one that is murdered and he blames the FMC for this. This often leads to broken bonds, abuse, second chance, and “forgiveness” story lines. 

How does this fit SJM?

The Rogue case doesn’t exactly fit SJM in the aspect of Wolf to Fae writing. You could make an argument that Hybern is a land of rogues and since they kidnapped Nesta and Elain that counts, but it leans more towards warring packs than that of true rogues. Especially since Rogues are often considered dirty, poor, rabidly vicious, and not super organized. Hybern is very organized, funded to a degree, and “sophisticated.” vicious. 

SPECIAL WOLVES:

Special Wolves are basically the Buffy of the werewolf world. If Buffy was shy, submissive, and immensely underdeveloped. They are the prophecy girls. One day normal and humanly weak compared to their pack. Then bam! Suddenly, they have magical werewolf power and they are the rare white wolf with uber strength and power. They are the Luna of all Lunas, the daughter of the moon herself! They’re… well they’re something. 

SJM sort of uses this concept for the Archeron sisters. Compared to the Fae, Feyre and her sisters are weak. They do not have strength or power. However, after being made fae they become powerful special beings. Their training arcs severely lack. Feyre in particular trains less than that of Nesta yet still ends up learning to wield her power rather quickly compared to her sister. They don’t necessarily fulfill the prophecy aspect or the shy aspect. That’s okay though because they make up for it by meeting the other check marks. 

FEMALE AND MALE TROPES

This is the one that really gets me. SJM nails a lot of these on the head. This is also the part that some of you might really hate me for. Listen… it’s about to get a little intense here so if you are triggered by Abuse, SA, Violent Relationship or anything along those lines please please do not continue. Skip to the next section. (Also note: Yeah, I’m about to come for some characters so if you don’t want to hear it…walk away now). 

FMC 

Physically often much smaller than the MMC

Typically Starving or Malnourished to some degree compared to the MMC’s muscular well fed stature. 

Innocent, unlike the MMC who normally has she-wolves in and out of his abode on rotation to some degree or pretends for reputation sake. 

Stereotypical Pretty

Note: The MMC comparatively is always brooding, possessive, and angry with a reputation for being mean and ruthless. 

Most of the time the MMC takes the FMC and she is forced to live with him. She is not allowed to deal with other men or the MMC will blow up in jealousy. At the same time though, the MMC blatantly ignores the FMC for lengthy amounts of time due to “work” or just mad for whatever reason. The MMC’s almost always only give the female attention when she is “behaving” how he wants her to. Outside of that, she is punished in some way. 

In almost all of these to excuse the behaviour the MMC is the Alpha of the pack. This makes him the strangest, most aggressive, most protective, therefore he “can’t help it”. Does SJM do this in her series? Oh, yeah. She really does and it’s a little crazy.

Tamlin x Feyre: 

Feyre is a stereotypical pretty yet starving and malnourished weak (by Fae standards) human.

Tamlin, the crazy tall, buff, grumpy, anger ridden High Lord High Fae kidnaps her to Prythian. 

He ignores her, is mean to Lucien when he sees her and Lucien being too cool, but it’s all cool cause that’s just how he is as the protector of his court. 

But it’s okay because Love

Later on, his aggression gets worse because magic has to be released, his trauma makes him even more protective, and it just gets really toxic. But you know…Love

Rhysand x Feyre

Oh no…the Mates!

I’m gonna ignore book 1 for this portion but yeah the SC assault, UTM Abuse/Assault…not cool man.

Feyre is a stereotypical pretty yet starving, traumatized, malnourished, weak (by Fae standards) High Lord High Fae.

Rhysand the crazy tall, brooding, dark, mean, slim buff, silent anger ridden High Fae kidnaps her (albeit because there's a bargain) to the Night Court. Where she can’t leave for 1 week. 

He ignores her when he gets mad, does a bunch of not cool mind stuff (I do not care if he was teaching her. No means No, Stop means Stop, Out means Out, end of story). He postures up to her, but like then is really cool and sweet to her when she does what he wants…yay!

Oh yeah, once they mate his aggression gets crazy, like he literally beats his friend for a comment and let’s not forget the protection bubble. Yikes!

But nah the covert Toxic relationship is all cool because like…Love I guess. 

When I say SJM follows the werewolf tropes, I’m not joking!

THE ALPHA AND THE LUNA

If you have picked up a werewolf story then I promise you, you are about to read a story of an Alpha who is an asshole (Alphahole) and a soon to be Luna. 

Alpha:

The Alpha is usually an MMC who is misunderstood and maybe they are a loner aside from either their Beta or their Beta/Delta/Gamma. They are often very macho and get girls. 

The Alpha’s fathers are normally dead and mother is typically 50/50. He probably became the Alpha after his father’s death but sometimes the father steps down. 

Alpha Command. When the MMC became the Alpha he got a special ability where he can use an Alpha Command that makes his pack members and in some cases other lower ranking non-pack members obey. 

The Alpha usually does the fighting in most instances and a lot more the out of home work. 

Luna:

The FMC will become or perhaps did become Luna in the first few chapters. She is often weaker or perhaps “special” and she is the one that understands and unravels the MMC’s cold exterior. She is the nice one. 

She was either once abused and sheltered  and learned to defend herself or wild and rogue wolf that is tamed.

Typically her parents are dead. Yeah, both are dead or just one. Honestly, Luna's backstories are tragic and filled with death and abuse. 

Luna Command: Not always but in some cases the Luna will get a Luna command. 

Luna normally ends up working as a healer or with the pack children. She is seen doing more of the domestic work. She can fight and sometimes does, but most often her job is to make sure everyone gets to safety. 

SJM…wow does she hit this. 

The High Lords have a High Lord Command and we see Rhys use it almost as much as an Alpha wolf would. 

Rhys is the one that fights the final battle while Feyre is stuck on the sidelines. 

Nesta is the weak luna trope that learns to defend herself — while Feyre is the wild wolf that is tamed. 

Tamlin is the Loner with just Lucien while Rhys is misunderstood with his IC. Both are macho and get girls. Both do the out of home work while Feyre is made to stay home and either be creative or do domestic work. 

MATES

Mates…mates…if done well Matebonds can be beautiful and amazing. However, the majority does it horrendously and SJM is no exception. 

In werewolf media, the Moon Goddess or Selene creates the bonds from a wolf's birth. When they reach a certain age 16 for some and 18 for others the bond makes itself known as soon as the wolf makes contact with their mate. 

This often leads to rejection, death, and second chance mates. 

Crazy toxic mate fest. 

Mates are often found through scent, then an electric feeling, and eye contact is made and boom soulmates.

Because of the matebond the wolves are often more protective and more aggressive when someone of the opposite sex touches their mate. Even before they are fully mated this will happen. If a wolf with a fully formed or forming bond gets with someone other than their mate the mate can feel it and it is excruciating pain. Most often the male does this and the female suffers. The mate bond can also trigger the female to begin her cycle. This often forces the male to go into a frenzy and for the female to beg and plead for the male to sleep with her to ease the excruciating pain. 

If the bond is accepted the pair will both verbally accept it to each other, mate, and mark each other by biting the neck and leaving a special mark. In some cases, the male will forcefully mark a female whether it be his mate or another who is not his mate. Ugh. 

From this moment on the mating and other play will not stop. Before mating most of it is intense flirting, maybe some other play that does not include the full act of mating. Marking can also happen before mating. 

What does SJM Do?

Well she makes the bond pretty one sided. Only males feel it and they get uber protective, uber aggressive, and they’re driven to Mate. For females, it’s more of a “eh”. She also specifies the bond isn’t one of love but one of power matching. Unlike Wolves, the bond in her story is one made by the Cauldron rather than the Mother. Another point is that for the bond to be accepted in this case the female must offer the male food, he accepts and eats it, then they mate. Boom. 

Tamlin x Feyre:

While Tamlin isn’t her mate he still manages to mark her before they ever do anything else. (granted it disappears after time unlike the werewolf ones). This is often a common trope in wolf novels as mark enhances the physical attraction. Hence why a male will mark a female whether she is his mate or not. 

Feyre gets uber jealous of other females that have been with Tamlin. 

Toxic

Honestly…dude. Red Flag. 

Rhysand x Feyre:

Rhys teases and lures Feyre constantly who is drawn to him. They have some play in the one bed trope before she figures out their mates. 

Feyre gets uber jealous of Cressida and really any female she deems a threat to her and Rhys even before she gets with Rhys. 

Rhys gets jealous of other males that are with Feyre. This leads to some toxic arguments where he storms off with silent treatment for a few days. Yay…

Rhys and Feyre mate and he gets uber protective and beats Cassian and basically growls at anyone that wants her or looks at her in that way. 

Rhys and Feyre get freaky everywhere from that point on. RIP Velaris Citizens that might have gotten stuff on them as Rhys and Feyre flew over. 

Feyre has her cycle and it sucks ass. 

Toxic…Red Flag.

Nesta x Cassian

He wants her and she is drawn to him physically. They do some hanky panky here and there with a good ol’ “thanks for the ride.” good game champ. (Cassian actually sucks relationship wise.)

The bond is later accepted but really he actually treats her like an MMC in a werewolf novel. She is his toy when he wants, he could care less about her actual mental health, he nearly gets her killed (Cassian you really thought passing a qualifier wouldn’t get her thrown in the Blood Rite? Dude, you are so dense.), and then like accepts the bond…I guess.

Toxic. I do not have enough red flags for this god forsaken series. 

I could keep going, but honestly I think I am running out of steam and not sure what else I wanted to say with this. So, I will end with this. 

SJM really is secretly a werewolf novel girl. It’s a bit obvious that she doesn’t read omegaverse because I’m sure if she did this story would be like 40% more queer and a bit better on world building or at least storytelling. I do think she was a coward and should have just made this a werewolf story. But of course, no matter how many times I scream these Fae are just “spicy humans” and not actual Fae no one will listen. 

What are your thoughts?

[mostlypetty30]

Ships

I've been in fandom for a long time now and it's interesting coming back into the depths after pulling myself out of the horrible toxic ship-wars that were happening all those years ago. It seems with Fandom spaces becoming more mainstream these last 5 years shipping has gone from the fun ship-wars to toxic new age "Well it's not canon!" or "That doesn't even make sense!"

The beauty of shipping is that it doesn't need to be canon, OC ships are great, and no ship needs to make sense. It's about having fun and creating something between two characters that never would have happened. It generates a curiosity and stimulates the fandom into surviving. Throwing everything to be strictly canon in this essence really destroys the enjoyment and culture that fandom spaces have created. Thus leading to dead/dying fandoms that disappear over time. I know I'm missing more points in here that I want to say and I'm not doing a great job of saying everything, but I did need to get this off my chest because it is exhausting to see. I would much rather have my toxic shippers back debating and going off on why their ship is the best than to keep dealing with the "You can't ship it because it doesn't make sense!" "Did you even watch/read the same thing?" "It's not canon!",. At least with ship-wars we still had crazy/canon/non-canon/crossover/albeit toxic at times/ fun ships.

[mostlypetty30]

Welcome!

Broke down and decided to jump back onto Tumblr. If you are here enjoy that ramblings and thoughts that I have. I don't really know what sort of account this will be, but I'm thinking it will be a fandom based one. (Even though I told myself I wouldn't do this again...but clearly I never learned from my SuperWhoLock/Rise of the Brave Tangled Dragons days...)

Without further ado. This account will probably cover the basic Writing, Books, Shows, Vampires, and Movies that I watch or perhaps it will delve into Fandoms.