#not really a fan of any of those artists but like they're not diametrically opposed

[shoechoe]

again no hate but i feel like mcr fans like to pretend its less popular than it is sometimes

[justhereforthepies]

Just wanna thank the people in this tag for reminding me that sane people exist.

I guess you can't expect better when the premises of the book are diametrically opposed to one another. Of course, SJM can't square a circle.

- morally flawed complex aggressive protagonist AND selfless good 'pure' victim protagonist

- fair, moral leader who believes in equality & justice AND all-powerful autocrat

- rich city with amazing artistic culture, delicious food with international spices, and expensive fabrics & gems aplenty AND secret isolationist protectionist nationalist fortress city

- war as an evil, harmful reality that changes everyone's lives for the worse AND sexy, cinematic battle scenes where hundreds are vaporized, have their souls consumed, and are drowned by the protagonist's team (whose core members are personally immune to death)

- people are morally complicated, we should acknowledge that everyone has mistakes & regrets AND some people are 100% evil with no redeeming value

- intimate parter abuse includes isolating, controlling, aggressive, and jealous behaviour AND a love interest who does all of the former

It's difficult to address the first truths when you are writing in a genre (mass market fantasy adventure romance) whose narrative conventions typically rely on the second.

So SJM has the narrators say espouse the truths while the plot and characters act according to convention. She keeps the actual characterization and world building incredibly stereotypical, so much that her descriptions of people and nations become repetitive.

But people love repetition in storytelling, that's why tropes are a thing. So even when these thin caricatures are portrayed as completely different people from book to book, and from narration to action - they still act as readers expect them to because their actions are stereotyped so strongly in each scene. Some of the highest ranked (by kudos, comments, hits) fan fics on A03 could easily 'find & replace' character names to adapt them to almost any fandom with almost no tweaks. Because the characters aren't... characterized - they're just stock. They have complex and traumatic backstories, but those personal histories feel like distant gossip for all the effects that they have on a character's motivations and actions. The plot needs the actions, so the characters take those actions.

Luckily, a lot of those actions are smut that just so happens to coincide with some of the most popular fanfic conventions of the past decade.

So, the ACOTAR series sold really well, and honestly - the plot is a fun ride even if the disconnect between the text and reality is sometimes a huge chasm that was incredibly frustrating.

I think I was most frustrated at the 'mates' Feysand plotline because that trope feels sooooo lazy to me! It's fine where authors wanna 'skip to the good part' or do some morally complex dubcon, but this is a modern mass market novel... so why are we doing it? Couldn't SJM at least justify it somehow - like the characters were fated to help each other take some critical action so 'fate' (the cauldron, the mother, the weaver - any of those characters are readily available) tied them together or reincarnation or... anything?

Seriously, it seems like Feyre & Rys never even work as a team because the rare time they try, they get caught up in their feelings for one another. They are on the same side but always doing their own independent tasks that don't rely on the other at all. Or the text says they are 'working together' while they don't have matching objectives or perspectives because they are always lying to one another or keeping secrets.

No, 'mates' is just lazy. It's not needed, and it runs so counter to the "independence and freedom are core virtues" message the narrators keep saying (despite being imperialist autocrats in a semi-feudalistic society). It's one contradiction that she could have skipped, but I guess it makes money, so what do I know.

If anyone has reading recommendations, I'd love some.