#idk i’m just kinda spitballing here. i’ve read through parts of the books myself for a bit until i gave up and watched review videos instead

[bookishlegacy]

Anyways the way that books such as ACoTaR (and many of its later copycats) could have been so much more interesting and entertaining to read if the authors had an ounce of self-awareness into the intricacies they could’ve explored with their main characters and were at least honest about what sort of characters they were writing.

Do you even know how interested I would be with a “Beauty and the Beast retelling with fae” but the protagonist is one of the selfish wicked older sisters (listen in my mind and heart feyre is the forgotten middle child between nesta and elain ok) instead of the kind and virtuous Beauty archetype. Do you even know how obsessed I would be about a female protagonist who is so self-absorbed and lacks empathy and obsesses with being a martyr for the people she doesn’t even seem to like precisely because she doesn’t know herself outside of that role. Do you even fucking know how hard I would go for a fairytale centering around the reconciliation of a family and sisters torn apart by tragedy and trauma and learning to understand and support one another amidst a weird and fantastical world and plot.

Likewise with Fourth Wing actually I would go crazy over a protagonist bound and determined to make her ableist mother proud of her in spite of her disability within the context of a “might makes right” dominant fantasy cultural hegemony and has internalized the whole “you just have to keep pushing harder” mentality to the detriment of herself and her wellbeing in this dangerous situation she’s nonetheless resolved to make the best of anyways and how she comes to realize and grow out of that mindset from the emotional connection she has with her own disabled bonded dragon partner as they learn to navigate a space that wasn’t made for either of them through said connection and mutual support of one another. Like I would be losing my mind if those were the plotlines we were given. But they’re not. Sad! Oh well there’s always my own wips.