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Me when the Summer Court and Tarquin the being the underdog in his own court, actively trying to fix class inequality between High Fae and lesser faeries after 500 years of oppression, when even his own family are vaguely against him. Also Alis and her nephews in the aftermath of UTM and a major invasion getting their deserved peace reunited in the Summer Court.

Me when the Winter Court, and a female (Viviane) actually has political power alongside the High Lord she married, and has a healthy romantic relationship with + the political intrigue of what really happened to those kids that Rhys may or may not have killed?

Me when Hybern. What’s happening over there? No seriously. The king, his niece and nephew, and his favourite psychopath are all dead, as are several other commanders, so probably a succession crisis. They failed at conquest again, so likely a repression, maybe even a civil war. Why are they all evil? They probably aren’t but biased narratives ig. It’s clearly geographically based on Ireland, but politically couldn’t be further from them, maybe they have older, more eldritch traditions and practices though bc they all seem to be really old (but god forbid SJM actually research the cultures she bases her fictional ones on)

Me when the human lands and the aftermath of their only sort of protection from the Fae literally comes crashing down. What about the seven human kingdoms who just found out their monarchs betrayed them for the fae who used to own them as slaves at a chance for individual gain of immortality? That sounds like a great motive for democratic revolution. Do any of them know about Jurian, who by all accounts should be quite famous over there, and what kind of reaction would a resurrected war hero have among the wider human military? Are the Band of Exiles just trying to fix Vassa’s curse, or are they more involved with post-war politics in the human lands — like organising border forces and actually informing people how to fight of fae assaults?

I mean, it’s very clear that SJM doesn’t actually care about her world building unless it suits the romance that her romantasy series has. But she decided to have a politics-based plot to add to the drama, and jeopardised it with her politically incompetent mc and male lead.

I’m more interested in Autumn than I’m ever in Night court. The whole concept of Velaris gives me the ick. What do you mean there’s this special city that is all dreamy, classy and modern, where only special people can enter. Sounds elitist. Remember Feyre’s initial reaction to learning about Velaris? How irritated she was and how she called Rhysand a classist right to his face for choosing a bunch of people to be worthy of saving while the others had to rot and die under tyranny. Idk how she quickly got over that. But I sure as hell didn’t. It still irks me that the self proclaimed dreamers of NC chose to rule over only 1/3rd of their court while the majority either self rules or rots in misogyny and classism. I’m intrigued by autumn because it has lots of interesting stuff going on. There’s clear acknowledgement that Beron hates lesser fae and becomes an ally with anything evil, Eris—the actual dreamer of the whole series who wants to save Autumn from his tyrant of a father , the secret affair of Lady of Autumn, Lucien’s growth and tragic love. Most of all I’m intrigued by the forest house. We got one description of it on how it’s this sprawling complex and it takes half a day to even reach the end of it. I’d like for Gwyn to visit it sometime, see the place where her mama grew up. If Eris ends up to be her grandpa, she’d be the only surviving heir of Autumn, and how cool would that be ?

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Oh, what a beautiful character we have here! I bet his personality is as beautiful as his appearance!

*After he opens his mouth for the first time*

Okay, he's the worst!

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i hate gay men who think cause they’re gay they’re allowed to say misogynistic shit and call women bitches and sluts

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My needs for ACOTAR 6:

1. Lady of Autumn killing off Beron — preferably beheading him Nesta-style but I’ll take poisoning.

2. Lady of Autumn x Helion — let this goddess have her happy ending.

3. Valkyries sleepover. Valkyries sleepover. Valkyries sleepover.

4. More Balthazar cameos. I like him and I want him to stick around.

5. Reveal that Merill was the last Valkyrie.

6. Tarquin x Gwyn — it can be platonic but they’re both lovely and deserve a good person in their life.

7. MORE BAND OF EXILES CONTENT

8. More Miriam and Drakon too — they showed up, fought a war and left. I need more.

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Imagine this whole post in the TikTok text to speech voice.

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happy pride 🏳️‍🌈🎉

happy pride!!!!!!!!!!!

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Comparison is the only form of logic this fandom apparently understands.

‘Nesta was self-sabotaging and she needed to be imprisoned.’

Feyre wasn’t eating or sleeping well to be in a fit form to encounter any creature she came across. But she wanted to partake in dangerous missions when she couldn’t handle seeing blood or anything even resembling it. Those are suicidal behaviours.

Feyre’s imprisonment was for her good, right?

‘Nesta was a threat to the people and had to be contained.’

Feyre was barely adjusting to her new fae body, let alone have complete control of her magical abilities especially when her emotions are haywire. She proved this to be true even months after she “healed" during the High Lords meeting. Feyre begged to be taken along on patrol duty along with the sentries who had no power or means to protect themselves from her outbursts, and she threw temper tantrums when Tamlin tried to reason with her.

Feyre was a bigger threat, right?

‘Nesta didn’t contribute to the court.’

Nesta didn’t have to. She was only a subject in the court, who already did a favour to Night Court and all of Prythian during the war.

Feyre was going to marry a High Lord. All she was asked to do was play the role of Lady of Spring and socialise with her peers and familiarise with the court matters. She couldn’t have one conversation with them without looking down on the people or their traditions. She wouldn’t learn anything about the court without griping about how boring it was.

Feyre was living off Tamlin without doing anything in return, right?

In Nesta’s case, it was abuse and unfair. Feyre (Rhysand and IC) forcefully dragged her back and imprisoned her when Nesta wanted a life far away from them. If she was being such a bother, Feyre could have just cut her off and let her come to her senses on her own, maybe have a suicide watch keeping their distance from her in case it was a genuine concern.

In Feyre’s case, there was no other way to stop her from running out of the manor without protection, running into dangers headfirst which she threatened Tamlin with. If anything, locking Feyre up doesn't essentially qualify as an abuse when she openly exhibited all signs of putting herself and others in danger, and it was called for.

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ACOTAR Villains, Part 2

We move on to antagonist №2 - Ianthe. For me, she is the leader among the ACOTAR villains, despite all the flaws I'm going to write about.

Let's start with the good. I like Ianthe because of her "down-to-earth" nature. Yes, she is a priestess with high status, but also just a fae, who doesn't have any physical or magical power that could compare to the HL. Any priestess is respected, this is not Ianthe's personal achievement, and all she has is her brains, cunning and friendship with Tamlin, although the latter, given his emotional instability, needs to be handled with skill. And Ianthe does it brilliantly.

And now on to the "buts...".

Spring Court

The presentation of Ianthe as a sexual predator is shit. We learned from Amarantha that women can be rapists too, SJM, we're not stupid. Why can't a woman achieve her goals without spreading legs? Her haunting of Lucien is stupid, what's it for? If Lucien is just a "trophy" she wants, the amount of effort and risk involved won't justify the result. And if Lucien is Ianthe's great love, we've seen too little to understand.

But Ianthe is Tamlin's friend. Am I supposed to believe she didn't try to get close to him at least for the benefit of it, especially after Amarantha? Ianthe is the perfect wedge to drive into Feylin's relationship and cause a breakup. Nah, it's better to make Tamlin an abuser and Feyre an emotional cheater than to put Ianthe into their forced, traumatized relationship - a woman who knows Tamlin better and longer, who will force Feyre to end the relationship with such "third wheel". Is this misogyny? If we present Ianthe as a rival - of course, but this is not bad, 'cause through Ianthe the author would reveal: 1) the theme of misogyny, 2) the influence of friends on love relationships, 3) the different views of a man and a woman on this situation, which leads either to a solution, or, as happened with Feylin, to a breakup.

Imo, it is better to make Ianthe asexual - not in terms of orientation, but in the sense she doesn't consider sex/romance as a tool. And then the "wedge" for Feylin would be Ianthe's envy and resentment personally towards Feyre, who received the honor and adoration of Prythian, which Ianthe strives for.

Night Court

Harassing Rhysand is bullshit. I just don't believe Ianthe thought it was worth the risk, given his reputation and Tamlin's presence. I can believe Ianthe was trying to play "two fronts," but quickly realized she couldn't handle it against the daemati and gave up on the obviously stupid idea.

(maybe I'm exaggerating her intellect because the other villains are even dumber?)

Starting ACOMAF, we could've gotten a whiny backstory about Ianthe being held captive by UTM because Amarantha was afraid that she and other priestesses were secretly organizing a revolution while Amarantha was terrorizing the HL. But then we would've learned from Rhysand it was a lie, and Ianthe has a shady past and ties to shady characters, but no proven ties, so accusing her would've been slander.

What do we have in canon? Rhysand knew Ianthe was rotten person. He might have ignored her because he hated Tamlin, but he KNEW Ianthe was hanging around Feyre now, and he didn't even mention it to her to be on guard. Would Feyre have believed him? I doubt it, but the point is that Rhysand tried. But it look like he was more interested in watching Ianthe plot at Tamlin's Court than he was in keeping traumatized Feyre safe from her machinations.

Feyre

Okay, she was never smart 😮‍💨. I'm not downplaying her UTM trauma, even dying painlessly would've been devastating to psyche. So I don't find fault with Feyre trusting Ianthe with everything. Feyre also (much to the chagrin of anti-Tamlins) admits she told Ianthe about Nesta and Elain and set them up for harm.

But what do we see later? Feyre is taking revenge on Ianthe not for her deceiving, not for her sisters, but for Rhysand (in the scene of Lucien's rape). Feyre, your fucking mate has obviously been through worse things from Amarantha, Ianthe is YOUR enemy. Btw, in the fandom it's often written that Feyre, the main character, didn't defeat a single villain, but in the interests of justice (suddenly, huh?) she killed Ianthe, luring her to the Weaver. Why is this forgotten? I think, it's precisely because Ianthe is underrated. She is presented as a "little evil" serving the "big one", a kind of rat, and ACOMAF is not "A Battle Of Wits and Statuses" between Feyre/protagonist and Ianthe/antagonist, but a fucking love triangle. Okay, this is a fucking romantic fantasy - then ☝️, let Ianthe be her rival.

Prythian

Compared to Amarantha and Hybern, Ianthe loses in "scale". A big omission, I tell you, which could've played into ACOWAR. Ianthe could've been reason for the HLs' mistrust of Tamlin (assuming an equal mistrust of Rhysand), reason for underestimating Feyre, who trusted her, and as a result her sisters suffered.

It would seem that Ianthe is just a pawn, but it's precisely this, her small figure compared to the all-powerful HLs, that became the source of big problems and discord at the war council. Because when I read about mega-giga-strong heroes and ultra-super-cool villains, I don't feel involved in the plot and can't empathize with the characters, their "great" problems for me are like stars exploding in deep space - too far and incomprehensible. In high epic fantasy it's easier to feel involved in the history and struggle between Good and Evil than in pulp fiction about pseudo-fairies fucking.

That's why I liked Ianthe, and I still felt a vengeful pleasure when she was killed. Even without a proper backstory, she was a credible antagonist, not just a sadistic psycho with murky motivations. In the last post, I wrote that Amarantha was supposed to be Feyre's moral compass. Ianthe could've been an example to her of how power and worship can corrupt, how easy it's to succumb to the idea of ​​"the ends justify the means," especially for a High Fae, especially the High Lady that Feyre had become (we'll skip the details).

And as a reader, I would've held my breath for the coming war with evil, who respected Amarantha and for whom Ianthe was just pawn.

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you don’t understand my need to know more about Jurian’s actions before the war because of his immediate reaction to Morrigan was to call her a liar, I can’t trust Morrigan to be objective about what all went down.

The closest I’ve got to an unbiased source was Alis (who outright states that Clythia was as bad as Amarantha), and from there it’s Amarantha who is incredibly biased, but more central to the events that took place.

Rhysand says he was there at the final battle, so we know how it ends, but he gives nothing about how it started. And Morrigan is also clearly biased against Jurian — for seemingly having bigger priorities (ending slavery) than a romantic relationship.

They talk about him being obsessed with finishing off Amarantha’s forces in the North — And he gets involved with her sister and lieutenant (crucial but overlooked fact — Clythia was a slaver and was actively fighting for slavery). Then eventually kills her.

Yes it was brutal, but what is so bad about that compared to the things Rhysand or Tamlin has done? Because to me, it really seems like Jurian, the human general defending the freedom of the entire human race, resorted to violence on a relatively lower scale than anything the Fae had done in enslaving humans in the first place (Amarantha, KoH, the daemati twins, Miriam’s family and Queen of the Blacklands). And yet, they want to victimise the Fae.

I cannot accept the Fae’s narrative here because they seem totally ignorant to the power imbalances between Fae and human that Jurian would have had to work against — of course he resorted to manipulation and assassination, because brute strength would never have cut it against a High Fae general.

But they also contradict themselves — Jurian shouldn’t have “seduced” (I have my suspicions that that relationship was not entirely consensual on his end from what we know about Amarantha) and killed Clythia, but the humans are inherently weak and couldn’t possibly fight the Fae in battle (Cassian’s comments in ACOSF which Jurian has to call him out on).

Anyway, something is off about the first war, and the pro-fae bias is obvious, even if they did fight for the humans. I need to hear it from Jurian, or Miriam, themselves, and not the High Fae like Morrigan.

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Headcanon that Will Kempen was born on Winter Solstice (longest night of the year) and that James St Clair was born exactly six months later on Summer Solstice (longest day of the year).

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**Spoiler for Dark Rise!**

Seriously boys, get it together!

(James and Laurent would probably get along too)

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hey does anyone wanna do the funniest thing ever

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A Quick Recap of Heavenly Tyrant - a live reaction to the audiobook

Aka: the many stages of ‘what the fuck?!’

— Minor Spoilers Ahead —

Stage 1: umm…. Yizhi?? 😅

Stage 2: omg my baby… how dare they! 😠

Stage 3: wtf Yizhi? 🤨

Stage 4: what. the. fuck. Yizhi? 😟

Stage 5: WHATHEFUCJ YIZHI?!!! 😡

Stage 6: my baby! HOW DARE THEY! 😤

Stage 7: Yizhi? Explain?? 😰

Stage 8: *muffled screaming*

Stage 9: … what.

Stage 10: *fully screaming*

Stage 11: *great sigh of relief* what the fuck, Yizhi.

Stage 12: OMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOMG!!!

Stage 13: fuck you Qin Zheng

Fin.

Thank you for listening to my TedTalk (read:shitpost)

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Catching up on Castlevania Nocturne and the only thought in my head when I saw Erzsebet was ‘that’s Amarantha’

If I ever bring up Amarantha in my ACOTAR rants, I will only be able to picture human Erzsebet.

(forgive the poor overlay) Bam! Amaranthas your vampire messiah.

Please tell me someone else sees this, but I just needed to share my 3am thoughts with someone.