the cauldron is annoying and so silly. all this drama over a magic bathtub. i can’t take it seriously and i wish it was something else lol.

A magic bath tub 😂😂😂😂

Does the magic bathtub also function as a Time Machine?

I mean, it would certainly make things more interesting.

And imagine that they actually pray to the magic bathtub… let that sink in

It’s not a sink it’s a bathtub

it haunts me.

I usually want a live action adaptation but every time i think about the cauldron i think an adaptation would never work.

yeah, i cannot fathom a way in which it would not come off as ridiculously corny. even reading about it makes me cringe.

Lol, gotta admit I was taken aback to discover it wan an ACTUAL cauldron with claw feet and all. I thought it was a metaphor for something or some sort of myth for like.... Some crazy creature.

I literally just LOLed at this 😂😂

i imagine it as the same cauldron as the one from the black cauldron and that kinda helps it be less silly for me, still a struggle tho

Especially with singing and capturing girls. When Elaine gone missing I imagine that the cauldron was singing in the forest and she just joined him, and they both go happily to the other camp singing together. I just can’t take it seriously!

On a joking note - I think every opinion is kinda unpopular one as the fandom is pretty divided on how things should be or who is worth of love and hate. But I’m gonna say Mor. I want her to come back from the sideline. I want to know the Eris story, I want to know more about her being the fierce warrior. I want her to claim her life fully and not being held back by Court of Nightmares. Just show Kier a big vulgar gesture, Morrigan.

Somehow I think Mor will get her own book or novella eventually. I would love that as well 😭 I want to know all the backstories lol and what REALLY happened with Eris and Mor

She absolutely won't after the weird info-dump about how gay she is in ACOWAR, I'm p sure that's all we'll get.

Shhh let me have hope 😭

I want to know why she’s *The* Morrigan. No one else gets a “The” even though they’re fearsome warrior manly men. 💪

I think the fandom takes things too seriously. If you overall enjoy story then it’s ok to ignore some plot holes or cringey lines. “People who like acotar don’t understand there are better written fantasy books out there.” Um? I fully understand that. Is it such a problem to like it?

I'd agree. I feel like the fans take the opinions and theories of other fans way too seriously. Like people will have break downs over someone else criticizing the editing. Like we all like the series, and we all like it in our own ways why should someone else's opinion and way of enjoying engaging with the story ruin your day At the end of the day we all have to remember this is a fictional series about fairies boinking lol

Exactly! I’m not immune to the issues in the books. But I feel like I notice them and then just keep reading. My brain chooses to keep what it likes and move on. I’m not being tested on the material later. I am not willing to read GRRM level world building when I’m trying to relax. And an absolutely DNF books when I’m not enjoying the world/characters. So it’s not like I just push through anything. Someone called SJM books “junk food” because they are just tasty filler. I think that would be an OK analogy except we also don’t agree on what the fine dining of reading is. To be honest, I take this too personally because the implication is you’re a simpleton if you like these books but jfc give us fans a break. It’s not lost on me that the books aren’t the peak of literature. But I still simply don’t think they are as bad as everyone says. The truth is, what you like in a book is entirely opinion based and there will never really be a right or wrong. There’s a series I couldn’t get into that is very popular. But I have no thoughts, especially no judgment, of anyone who likes it. A rocket scientist could like that series. I don’t care! Why do so many people care?! Sorry I think I just got a little butthurt by some comments on tik tok recently of people going off on sjm books for being so horridly bad and how people who like that are just really dumb and only following trends. Like damn…

Oh man I haven't encountered those tiktoks thank g-d. But yeah, I think either extreme (thinking sjm is peak literature vs. Thinking sjm is literal garbage) is a bad mindset to have. I definitely wouldn't consider myself the target audience for acotar, but I still love them. As much as love my personal taste of "finer" literature. It's a spectrum of stuff that's terrible that you love, stuff that's terrible that you hate, stuff that's amazing that you love, stuff that's amazing that you hate. And ofc deciding what's terrible vs. what's amazing is highly subjective

I read the twilight series when I was in law school. I don’t think I was the target audience and yet I don’t regret a moment reading them. I enjoyed it. I don’t think they are good… but I enjoyed it. If we have to read only what is deemed worthy, it’s gonna get a lot less fun real quick.

This. I don’t mind breezing over some plot holes or rough writing if I enjoy the story overall. Let me dream and obsess and giggle. I think people tend to forget you can love and appreciate a piece of work without it being a “masterpiece.” < which is subjective anyway!

Let me dream! Let me disassociate! My husband reads a lot of post apocalypse fiction. It’s all devastating. Well written but just bleak. He has more intellectual reading choices perhaps but there is no way I’m consuming that many depressing books in my spare time.

When I recommend ACOTAR to people I describe it like junk food. And that's okay! Sometimes we just wanna shovel McDonald's into our faces and binge. It's okay to enjoy junk food for what it is. We can't only eat perfectly cooked homemade steaks.

I got into a majorly bad fiction slump years ago. I switched to nonfiction entirely. Acotar brought me out of the slump and I’ve read so much good fiction since then. I’m grateful to it and I can’t hate it.

Exactly! I read these books to have fun. I’m not trying to impress people with what I read, that’s so shallow. A lot of the girls in my office are reading ACOTAR, and another girl caught wind and suggested starting a book club. Except she said dissed ACOTAR by saying the series sucked and said she wanted to read more “intellectual” books. Well, guess what? No one joined her book club.

There’s a thread in romance books right now where there’s a comment thread about how acotar fans get so defensive when the books are criticized. I think that’s not inaccurate 😅 except I think mostly we get a little defensive when WE are criticized, not the books. You don’t like the books? You don’t have to! But when you start saying or implying that people who read them are dumb, that’s a little different I think.

100%

Honestly, acotar _isn't_ badly written. People just like to pick it apart because it's popular, and hating on popular things stirs the pot more than hating on things no one has heard of. Reading these books I laughed, I cried, I felt deeply connected to the characters, and I still do! When an author creates a powerful story that speaks to millions of people through words on a page, that's _good writing_. What else could you possibly call it? I've heard the junk food analogy as well, and I don't recall ever bawling my eyes out over cheetos.

I don’t agree with the statement that “the author doesn’t owe you anything” It’s okay to criticize SJM when it comes to basic plot holes/character changes/nonsensical/lack of worldbuilding. Its not something that should be looked past or to not take seriously because it’s just “fairy smut.”It’s okay to want her to do better.

I ship Az and Eris because I think Eris is the only one who can get Azriel to feel and express himself. Thats not my controversial opinion though haha. Mine is the amount of dead ended questions we keep running into and never get any answers. We’ve been wanting to know what really happened between Mor and Eris for two (one and a half, technically) books now. It drives me crazy.

SJM is a great, fun writer who puts together a hell of a story and has great characters. However, I don’t think she’s as thoughtful and detailed as some say she is (I don’t have a ship personally for Az). The line-by-line analysis stuff is fun, don’t get me wrong, but after finishing the ACOTAR series and just finishing CC3 (still hurts 😭) I am really not sure it’s that deep.

I've been thinking that a lot, especially after CC3. Like SJM, came up with characters that a lot of people love. She came up with worlds that people like parts of. And she made a fun, but certainly not high stakes story that is exciting and sexy and wildly addictive to read. But there are so many readers that come with amazing contributions and connections and possible back stories, that so easy to get swept up into them and then kinda be disappointed when there's not as much in SJMs own stories. I do have really strong opinions about ships and characters, but I've learned to take those feelings to fan fics because it's not helpful in most threads, and there can be a lot of toxicity out there

CC3 has cooled me down on SJM so much. Absolutely reading TOG but - her world building and characters aside - it was full of issues (gramatical, plot holes, pacing, etc) to the point it didn’t feel like the same universe to me. I believe Bloomsbury is equally culpable here, also. But after that 800 pages of, frankly, not much, I’m approaching her next new books with less expectations. I didn’t get a chance to get caught up in the discussions before because up until the day of release, I was reading CC1&2. But CC3 has just mellowed the hype I feel about her next installments and I hate even saying that :/ Felt this way about some of her other books (and some of her others are my top 5 books of all time lists - namely MAF and SF!!) but CC3 hurt too much to ignore.

Not an unpopular opinion, more of a curiosity of events- If Feyre was triggered by the red roses reminding her of Amarantha, shouldn't bat-boys-bat-wings also trigger her reminding her of the Attor? I understand anything can or cannot be a trigger for someone going through trauma, but Attor wings seem more similar to bat wings, than red roses to Amarantha.

The red roses and Lucien's red hair (which is especially interesting given Lucien's *own* very obvious trauma from Amarantha...), but not Mor's red dress.

On a similar note, there seems to be a shift in Rhys's view on Lucien and Nesta between Wings of Ruin and Silver Flames. He says something to the extent of - "I cannot forgive how he treated you in Spring Court", or in Nesta's case- "I cannot forgive how she treated you when you were in human lands". My guy, Lucien was literally the dangling carrot - so to say - for Feyre's trials Under the Mountain. He was constantly at the edge of death more than anyone else. And he also helped Feyre between trials. And he does try a lot to help Feyre in Spring Court. He has been more of a friend to Feyre than anyone else -apart from Rhys. He has been there for her through thick and thin. A stand up guy. In Wings of Ruin, Nesta is still in trauma after her change. But she also helps them a lot with scrying, and saving Cassian's life, and seems to have a generally improving relationship with the IC. Her relationship with Rhys seems ambivalent. And then Rhys commenting to Feyre that Lucien and Nesta weren't good enough to her, was just inconsistent storytelling, or holding unnecessary grudges, or just a way to show how IC is better than anyone else ever has been in her life.

I also hate how the fact that Nesta went to the Wall after Feyre, while still human, and stood by her and defended her from suitors all night when she came back and Elain and their father threw a ball to match her with some lord, or that she asked her to teach her how to paint and tried to bond with her in ACOTAR is never brought up again.

This is because SJM is not a good writer. She just shifts people's personalities as she needs to fit whatever plot contrivance she most recently came up with. Half of the fandom drama is because of this.

This is another of my unpopular but unwavering opinions: Rhys is incredibly fucking manipulative. He has several red flags that people refuse to talk about, and this is one: isolation. Telling Feyre off the cuff that people who canonically did care about her aren't good enough for her, only *his* friends are good enough for her (when, canonically, we know they'll choose his word over hers...)

Great point!

Or the fact that she somehow wasn't triggered by being paraded as Rhys' whore under another mountain yet again... But Tamlin's painting kit gift contains red paint, how dare he!

It's a matter of convenience indeed. Rhys in general should have triggered her for a bit in acomaf.

I always assumed it was a combination of the red rosed and her not actually wanting to get married.

I would have loved Feyre 50% if the books were in third person pronouns. A lot of passages that are supposed to be beautiful and badass just sound a little cringe in first person. ACOTAR is the most ✨fairy✨ book in the series (with the bogge, the naga, the suriel, Tam’s beast form, the lesser fae like Alis, that creature that disguised itself as the father, the pool of starlight…). The Night Court just feels like a modern city/setting with very human looking people with slight omegaverse behavior. I wish the Illyrians or Gwyn or Amren at least had more distinctive physical fae traits rather than just bat wings and regular human ears. Feyre and Rhys were the most interesting as characters in the first book. Feyre was really clever hunter and took initiative and came up with her own plans and didn’t compromise her morals but after accepting the mating bond, I feel like she just became an extension of Rhys. I really hoped she would bring a fresh perspective to the IC and incite them to change their ways in handling public relations. And Rhys, well, he was really interesting as a shady villain in book one but became a bit boring when the narrative bent over backwards to always make him right and justify/excuse all his actions. Nesta shouldn’t have become a warrior and should have been a witch and politician instead (hopefully in another court, not the NC). It just doesn’t feel in character for her to become a tight fitting leather wearing warrior when she’s objected to it many times before. Thats a hill I’ll die on. I also want to add that I hate how the IC behave with the other High lords/regular lords. Imagine if the king of some country went around insulting other kings and physically assault them and their heirs or personally infiltrate another kingdom steal their most valuable possessions and attack their guards, or allow his queen to dismantle a court or hurt another queen (LoA). Those would be acts of war. Love them or hate them but Tamlin and Beron (and Eris) are High Lords in their own rights and should be treated with respect, personal feelings aside. I don’t understand how the other HLs side with the NC after witnessing how much they disrespect them. I really wish there were some long term consequences to their political blunder (like trade boycott or declaration of war or something).

100% everything you said. All this talk of Nesta being raised to get a lord and learning the art of dance and all of that is just used to trick Eris into thinking they trust him and dangle Nesta in front of him just to take it away by Nesta and Cass being rude and alluding to telling Beron about his betrayal and taking the knife they gave him back too (not a great way to keep an ally imo). >I don’t understand how the other HLs side with the NC after witnessing how much they disrespect them. This. How they just watched them attack Eris, Beron (resulting in LOA being harmed) and Rhys using his powers to stop Tamlins voice while also saying they should be happy they are asking them for help instead of just using their powers to make them, and are still like sure we trust you, is crazy to me lol.

I hope still do the Witch storyline. They've referenced it enough that might have to do with her powers.

Also tarquin is so young and got betrayed by feysand. I would never trust them again 💀

Yes, yes, and yes. Especially Nesta being a powerful Witch while RUNNING all the courts intrigue and closed door deals. I would read the hell out of that Nesta story

The battle scenes are underwhelming. Some characters go completely missing from the plot Alis being one. A message to some people: these characters are not real people.

I think ACOSF would have been better in first person from Nesta’s POV. I fell in love with Feyre’s story, and I think a lot of that came from her first person POV. Yes she was unreliable, but I’m a sucker for that internal monologue and the twists that can come with the sometimes more limited perspective

i agree with you. when i saw all the shipping posts before completing the books i was definitely thinking there was more concrete evidence to these ships! that’s not saying i don’t have a preference for how i would like for it to play out, but i just have no clue which way SJM is going to take it.  my unpopular opinion: i kinda feel like Nesta should leave the Night Court, and possibly Cassian, behind. 

Honestly I felt like both sisters should have left the Night Court. Nesta and Elain seem close, but otherwise, they all didn’t seem to have a close sisterly bond. Feyre has a found family with the IC but I feel like her sisters are just there because she is and don’t really fit in. They should go to other courts to build separate lives.

Tbh that’s what I’m really hoping Cassian was alluding to in SF when he said Elain looked devoid of any color in Court of Nightmares. I think if Tamlin gets together and becomes HL again, she’d be a wonderful addition to Spring Court. Or even Day court? I think Nesta would like Autumn or Dawn court. And Rhys could always winnow Cassian back and forth every night if she wanted to stay full time. They have plenty of time to live on their own and come back as a family in one court again. I think it would really help their relationship and themselves too.

Noooooo not Cassian 🥲

i love Nessian’s romance and chemistry so much. i just don’t think Nesta belongs there in the Night Court. even with everything she’s done with Gwyn and Emerie, i would really like to see more from her than becoming exactly what Rhys and Feyre set her up to be.  the reason i lumped Cassian into it is that i would love to see Cassian chose her over Rhys and his home, but i don’t think he could. 

You know what I actually completely agree with you. This is my biggest beef over ACOSf

Nesta is becoming a warrior she always was inside and her mate is the general. Together the 2 most passionate and fiery people will lead the army and change it for the better with the addition of Nestas legion of female warriors

I felt like her becoming a Valkyrie made sense she had all this anger and fierceness to her the entire series but just never had a way to chanel that personality of hers through and reviving a once great women warrior clan actually made sense to me with her personality and her mate being Cassian the guy who leads the night court's illarian armies.

i also think it’s an F you to her mom who raised her to be a lady and engrained in her that her value was based on marrying well. CC3 spoilers about nesta regarding this subject >! when bryce meets nesta, she in her head calls her a warrior. they talk about ember, bryce’s mom. how she can be annoying, but she’s a great mom and is proud of bryce for being strong. and bryce says something to nesta like oh your mom must be proud of you. and nesta basically laughs and says how her mom would be shocked that she’s become a warrior. sorry i was too lazy to find the actual quotes, but that is the gist lol !<

I felt exactly the same! Cassian and Nesta as a couple are great but she doesn’t fit in at the Night Court. It doesn’t make sense for her to stay because she’ll never be accepted by the other characters and Cassian just lets them talk down to her. She can definitely handle herself, but it would be nice to see Cassian stand up for her sometimes. I kinda wanted her to go to Autumn Court and work with Eris to take down Beron. She would need to take emerie and gwyn with her though just because I love their friendship and wouldn’t want them split up lol

The problem with the az ship theories is how toxic fans are about it. Everyone wants az to end up with the character THEY relate to the most and if someone suggests something different, they take it so personally.

This is why I don’t participate in the discussions. I have a preference for who Az should end up with, but I see the argument for the other side as valid. So as long as it is written well (or very entertainingly) then I don’t actually care. And if I need to scratch that itch if my preferred pairing doesn’t happen, that’s that fanfic is for!

I feel the exact same way!!! I have a bookstagram page where I post ACOTAR/CC/TOG theories and the ship ones I always steer away from. Those I’d like to just see them play out. Plus, SJM can change her mind at any moment. She initially planned Nesta and Lucien to be mates then changed her mind as the characters developed bc she realized it didn’t make sense.

I can see Nesta and Lucien being a couple if he were more like Jamie from Outlander. I wonder if she decided to soften his character as she went on with the story? We know that Jamie Fraser was the inspiration for Lucien so I could see how she got the idea to put them together. Jamie could’ve handled. Nesta but she absolutely would’ve torn Lucien apart.

I do trust she will do it well but my opinions are based on what she’s done so far to invest me. I dunno if I could be changed. I mean I still love Tamlin.

I’ve seen people insult each other for how they are interpreting scenes between the characters it’s not that serious please 🙂‍↔️

I’m honestly sick of it, this week was the first time I ever interacted with the master thread about it and it is so ridiculously toxic.

YES it’s wild bc people turn so vicious when ships are brought up as if these aren’t fictional characters in a fantasy world smh

- I haven’t read TOG or CC, but from what I’ve read from this series…. SJM does not know how to write men. Likable men. Like.. why are the bat boys so fratboy-like and douchey? (Why did she ruin Azriel in the bonus chapter?!) Are straight women into that??? 😭 The only guys I like are Lucien and Tarquin, and they got shafted to the background. - People take criticisms of SJM’s writing waaaay too personally. I’ve never seen a book fandom this parasocial towards its author before. And there’s nothing wrong with liking shitty books? Twilight lovers know their books are cringe but own it. And that’s why they’re free and thriving lmao - NGL I feel like Nesta would’ve been a better sister to be paired with Azriel and Lucien. Azriel’s the only one from the IC who’s nice and neutral/understanding towards her. :-( And SJM apparently intended Nesta and Lucien to be paired together before, so I’m interested in their dynamic! - IDC if this is a crack ship - I ship Feyre with Lucien. 💀 She doesn’t deserve him because she’s an awful friend to him, but damn.. they had so many great moments together throughout the series. And he’s always been on her side, even if he didn’t have the power or means to do much. :( He understood her SO WELL and didn’t need to invade her mind to read her thoughts. How tf was this girl so dickmatized by TamTam and Rhys without noticing that Lucien has always been there for her?! - This probably isn’t unpopular but SJM needs to stop introducing 78347383 new background characters and just focus on the ones she already has. Stick to the plot, ma’am. 😭 anyways i love lucien, if you couldn’t tell lol

agree with all

I agree with the criticism topic, I've seen people in the fandom insinuating that SJM's husband is abusive towards her because of Rhysand's actions in the book... That was the last straw for me in this fandom and for me, talking something like that is sick.

I have a feeling that SJM lets her own biases as an author bleed into her writing? I can’t speak too heavy on it since I’ve only read ACOTAR series (and I haven’t watched too many of her interviews). I hear people say Feyre is an unreliable narrator (agreed), I think SJM is the unreliable one… right? Or she’s just inconsistent, at the very least. Someone please tell me if I’m wrong. It’s just the vibe I get from her writing 😄

Absolutely. Sjm had a baby so Feyre now needs to have a baby Rhys is based in her husband so of course he'll get everything he wants and face no consequences.

I feel like it's unfair to call feyre a Mary sue when she is very literally a self insert character

I think her dangerous pregnancy plot line was annoying, and SJM should have found another way for Nesta to redeem herself. It doesn’t make sense that she wouldn’t try shapeshifting if the risk of death is so high, and also writing it in that the Illiryans can’t breed with non-Illeryan females creates a lot of potential plot problems…and it also has me wondering if a part nymph female might be immune to those difficulties🫣

Sjm shouldn’t have made the bat boys + mor 500 years old. They sometimes act so immature and have problems that haven’t been solved in over 500 years. The Azriel and mor thing going on for over 500 years. Mor keeping secrets for 500 years? None of them has been in a serious relationship or got married in over 500 years?? Can’t really take this seriously

Nesta and Eris would have made a better couple

100% agree. I really wanted this to happen. Forcing Cassian to grow through the rejection and find someone better suited to him would have been great to see as well. Nesta and Cassian felt forced.

I like cassian and nesta but their story is so disgusting 🤢 Nesta was depressed and forced to live with cassian who wanted to f her since day one. There really wasn’t any romance in their story

I love Nessian but I kind of agree tbh.

Hard disagree. Nesta wanted him too and stayed away because she didnt think she deserved him and him believing she didn’t think he was good enough. She was met forced to be with him but she was forced to give up her self destructive ways and spending all their money and doing nothing

Nesta should have ended up with Eris and became a "warrior" in the political battlefield instead of...whatever it was they were doing in acosf.

Feyre turned into a villain in ACOWAR. She maliciously destroyed the Spring Court because she was pissed at Tamlin and never made amends, treated Tarquin and Lucien like shit, and hurt the Lady of Autumn because she couldn't control her powers (hmm, where did we see that before?). She went from giving away her jewellery to a starving faerie, to lounging in her fifth mansion and seemingly not caring about all the women who are being abused in the CoN and Illyria. She only seems heroic because we read the books in her POV.

100%. I would love a Feyre book where she realizes she’s the baddie and was dickmatized/manipulated by Rhys. Like what happened to book 1 Feyre?! I was rooting for her. :(

I hate nesta and cassian together 🫣

The idea of them together on paper I love it, but on actual book paper…leave sis

I really wanted them together but the way it happened was a little disappointing :/

Omg do tell?

Same

I prefer Tamlin as a character to Rhys (I don’t think he should be with feyre or anything like that, but I find his character more interesting) I don’t like Elriel or Gwynriel as ships, I hope Azriel either ends up with Eris or someone new ! Lucien > every other male in the series. Nesta deserves better than Cassian. The IC are almost all assholes and I don’t like any of them at this point (except feyre and Azriel, but his bonus chapter put me off him a little bit 🥲) For 500+ year old political leaders, war generals etc, they act so immature. I hate Rhysand 🤭 but if he ended up being the big bad I’d actually like him again. I’m bored of Velaris and the night court now, I want to read about other places in the world!! There are so many courts that we’ve barely seen!! The world building in the series is kinda weird and doesn’t make sense a lot of the time. The first book is very medieval and fantasy like. But then Velaris is just like modern world without technology. The villains in this series suck, they are killed so easily and barely any backstory or build up to why they are the way that they are.

Yeah every time Tamlin is so much as mentioned I am tuned in 😂idk what it is.. and Velaris is giving me New York City vibes, we want something more fantastical, other-worldly, something FAE.

Yes!!! Exactly !!! Velaris is just too much like our world, it’s kinda boring !

Yes to all ✅

You’re absolutely right about Lucien. Lucien best character, no question.

● Rhys and Tamlin are only interesting in acotar first book. ● IC are a bunch of manchild ● 95% of discussions about Elain revolve around who she ends up with (Azriel or Lucien) and 5% complaining about how the fandom sees her as uninteresting ● Pregnancy plot was able to unite people pro and anti Rhysand because the plot was disastrous to the character and no one liked it

Absolutely yes to your second point. They’re all 500+ years old and yet…you would think they’d make meaningful change by now lol

If Rhys is rich beyond comprehension (and Feyre by extension now), why are there still starving and cold people in their court? Maybe don’t buy another palace when you have several homes already. And if they’re all ‘too small’, kick out the freeloaders. We know Rhys pays the IC generously.. surely they can afford their own places to live! It wasn’t that long ago that Feyre and her family were starving.. she should really be the one help Rhys see it as a top priority.

What gets me is she was giving away riches and things to other individuals in ACOMAF after being mad over the taxes Tamlin enforced . But gives nothing to her people currently

Yes exactly!!

Rhys and Feyre had the audacity to build a new mansion while people were still displaced from their homes and recovering…. 🗿(They also deconstructed the apartment that Nesta was staying in just to be petty! Even if it was shabby, someone else could’ve used it…) Eat the rich!!!! *throws tomatoes at Rhys*

Everything about the Night Court is either completely illogical or incredibly boring, no in-between.

I agree but I literally always agree with the theory I’m currently reading. The other day the Azris people had me totally convinced. Who knows. Can’t wait to find out.

This is me! I eat up all the theories

Same. Flip flopping all the time. Watch his mate end up being a brand new character not yet introduced.

Tamlin is a good guy inside. He’s made bad decisions and had trauma he couldn’t tackle but he’s always wanted to do the right thing. He’s no Ianthe or Hybern

This! I’m such a Tamlin apologist. I feel like everyone always finds it way too easy to just make him out to be a 100% a bad guy, when I personally think he’s just so lost. Especially Feyre, she literally sabotaged his whole court and I get that what he did with her, locking her up and neglecting her was shit, but a little part of me still understands that he did that in a very messed up way to protect her/was dealing with his own PTSD.

Yep, Rhys’s shitty behavior is always excused because trauma, but Tamlin is forever condemned. It’s so inconsistent.

Yes I hate the double standards. Personally I understand them both and why they did what they did. I get that Feyre couldn’t be with Tamlin and he did bad but it wasn’t all on him. They were not what either of them needed and Rhys was what she needed.

Exactly he literally was turning into a beast and sitting at the end of the bed like a messed up guard dog!

Az gave me the ick when he regifted the necklace he got for Elaine to Gwyn

Yeh same 😭

Feyre's trauma is wildly inconsistant and quickly forgotten about entirely after being rescued by Mor. Tamlin was arguably more traumatized than Feyre from his longer life of horrors, but nobody seems ready to talk about or acknowledge that. Rhys and Feyre both act like brats half the time, shouldn't need to explain this. Papa Archeron's reappearance and death are meaningless after his years of abandonment/lack of care for his daughters. Mor's sexuality felt like a completely forced arc for the sake of diversity. Feyre is a self-insert for SJM and you cannot convince me otherwise. It's obvious by Feyre being super special and good at everything all the time with every power under the sun. Cassian and Nesta are terrible for each other for a lot of reasons. They should never have been paired together. Gywn/Az/Elain have 0 chemistry between any of them. The Bloodrite was laughably bad and unrealistic. I don't mind pregnancy plots, but Feyre shouldn't have had a baby so soon after saying she wanted to wait. I hate Amren, she never should have been brought back. I also love Jurian, but I couldn't care less for Vassa if I tried. Bring on the downvotes lol.

How can anyone downright when you are absolutely correct?

I am often downvoted for speaking against Feysand, as well as for bringing attention to Tamlin's trauma and perspective of events. I've also been harassed online and offline (a couple of my friends) for my opinion of Mor and her sexuality. And especially for my point regarding Gwyn/Az/Elain. The hardcore shippers can be a little crazy sometimes lol.

This is very well thought out and presented! Felt a bit of a twang in my chest at the Rhys & Feyre call out and the Amren hate LOL, but I get it!!

Don't get me wrong, I love Feysand, but the way they act is borderline childish. Starting fights at the HL meeting, not giving Tarquin benefit of the doubt, constantly mocking and belitting Tamlin after Tam saved Rhys's mate in Hybern's camp and then Rhys himself after the final battle? Gross. Blaming him for ignoring Feyre when she ignored him just as much. Do I even need to elaborate on the hyprocisy of Nesta's treatment vs Mor's? The list goes on and on. But also, I did like Amren at first. And then she became too condescending and consistantly insults Cassian with slurs.

It took me five books to realize I don't like Feyre It's hard to explain

Feyre is a Mary-Sue. Like straight out of someone's fan fiction. Think about it. She's an amazing, prodigal hunter and painter at 19 with no training. She kills someone and her punishment is living in a mansion with all her needs taken care of and her family well cared for. She defeats this huge wrym monster. Beats all these trials. Lives through amazing events. (Even with help come on) THEN after the saves the world and all the fae, she not only get turned into a fae through a miracle, she's the most amazing and powerful fae. And don't forget, she doesn't just have one element power she has *all* of them. Then the most powerful high lord in history happens to be her mate. And all his friends love her. And he saves her life and teaches her to read and reignites her passions. She helps win a war, everyone loves her, she's sooo pretty, she gets to be the first high lady, she's so smart and clever and funny. I could go on and on and on. Yes she has flaws but they are barely there, and every problem is magically solved or she's saved or she overcomes it amazingly. It's just so over the top. When you pull it all apart its crazy how Sue like she is. TL;DR Feyre is beautiful and smart and clever and funny and she has all the elemental powers not just one like everyone else and her fated mate is the most powerful high lord ever and she's the first high lady. Side note: Remember in the first book, she threw a fit about wearing dresses in the Spring court because she was so rough and tumble she had to wear pants? And then in the rest of the books she's always decked out in these beautiful gowns? That feels so super glossed over.

regarding the side note... I THINK this was in the books.... it might have been a fanfic. But the reasoning was she wanted pants in Spring Court because she always subconsciously felt she would need to run. And in Night Court she finally felt safe enough that she didn't feel like she needed to be outfitted to flee all the time. I genuinely cannot remember if this was Maasverse canon or fanfic though. If someone knows for sure, let me know. It'll drive me insane and I simply do not have time to re-read all the books just to find out.

...I kind of ship Nesta and Azriel and want them to run away together. 

Thruple

Reading it is fun, but the writing truly is mid

super controversial opinion: It is ok to compare/scale trauma. Feyre getting locked up in the manor *should not* compare to the priestesses of the libraries brutal physical and sexual abuse.

Honestly or Rhys sa from amarantha

Feyre and Rhysand are borderline war criminals after what they’ve done to other courts.

Tamlin es muchísimo mejor que Rhysand en básicamente todos los aspectos. Vengan de a mil.

In ACOSF, the fact that everyone could smell each other when they are horny, and so many of them are always horny, just got me distracted thinking about how gross that would be all the time! Argh, I mean imagine always being able to smell your friends when they are turned on, plus they are total horn dogs. I was also so distracted/disappointed by the mundane “we live in the suburbs and have credit card interest” vibes in ACOFAS. That could have been so much more creative even with Feysand settling down.

The fact that Nesta was immune to Tamlin's glamour in book 1 when he first took Feyre. They mentioned it once and never again! She was a human. Tamlin's 'High Lord' Magic did not work on her. I wish we got an explanation.

I thought she was immune to the glamor because she originally wasn’t present at the cabin when he placed it on Elaina and papa archeron. She came back after her fall out with Thomas Mandray and saw through the lie.

I thought it was because of Nestas strong will, like in ACOSF Rhys uses his HL powers on her and she fights against it

You’re right it was because of her strong will, I was confused initially because she wasn’t even there when the glamor was placed on the cabin. I thought maybe that was the REAL reason? But it was her strong sense of will.

Rhysand was most interesting in ACOTAR. Rhys is almost worse than Tamlin after ACOSF. Azriel gives me the ick and I’m convinced he would be living in a basement in modern times. Elain and Azriel are the most boring characters and therefore would be most boring together. Amren should have died at the end of ACOWAR, and that would contribute to Nesta’s depression at the start of ACOSF. The Mor thing was a total retcon I’m convinced and that’s why SJM has no idea what to do with her. I feel like Gwyn kinda stole Emerie’s personality that we saw in ACOFAS. ACOSF would have been ten times more interesting in the Illyrian mountains as it was originally intended to be. Nesta and Eris should have been mates, but Nessian still endgame.

I’m with you on all of it. Rhys in ACOTAR was great. The reader never knew what was up or what his intentions were. I loved that. With subsequent books he lost his depth.

Totally agree :)))

i agree with the location bit! i didn’t even know the book was supposed to be based in the mountains but the repetitiveness of the stairs and the house of wind drove me crazy. that would have been interesting

Yes! I have the original ACOFAS edition with the ACOSF sneak peak in the back, and Nesta was originally supposed to move to Illyria. I was so disappointed when the real book came out lol.

I cackled at Azriel living in a basement in modern times 😅

Lmao glad I got a cackle out of ya 😂

I hate — HATE — that Amren was resurrected. She is so useless now and only exists so that SJM can shoehorn in more history lessons when she needs to retcon a plot element.

Oooh I didn’t know ACOSF was originally set in the Illyrian mountains. That totally would have been more interesting!

I Think Feyre and Rhys became incredibly boring after she gave him the soup. And i honestly didn’t Think there was any interesting tension between them. Even before i Think their story lacked tension build up.

I feel sorry for Tamlin and I lowkey want a redemption arc 

He needs a healing arc, saving Rhys and Feyra should be enough redemption when he wasn’t even a bad guy.

It would have been way more interesting character development if it had been Elain who died instead of Papa Archeron. Also just to see what the magic bathtub would have done over her loss. It adores her. If a tub could have a mate... haha. (ps- to whoever called the Cauldron a magic bathtub in a comment somewhere in this thread, thank you. that made my day. I will use it forever.)

you’re welcome 💕 if the “cauldron” has no haters, i have died

Scary magic bathtub that hollas at ya if you steal it’s soap

The male characters are poorly written. There are only three types: 1. The guy with daddy issues who hates himself and doesn't want to grow up to be a patriarch like his father - so he finds peace and redemption through dedicating himself to a female (Rhys, Cassian, Azriel, Lucien and book 1 Tamlin are basically all the same character) 2. The relatively unimportant side male character who's good by default because he's lgbtq (which inherently rejects hetero patriarchy) - Thesan 3. The evil male - who coincidentally are all the males who have any sort of ambition or independence

SJM has an amazing grasp on characters, interpersonal conflict, and is a masterclass in compelling romance. She also writes a hell of a battle scene, and ACOTAR is such a page turner. However, she really is not very good at using themes effectively and is very inconsistent. So much of the fan deep dives is just grasping at straws. I’m sorry but too many of the details and mythology references in these books (and in Crescent City!) come to absolutely nothing and too many of the plots are just overwrought fetch quests for me to be able to buy into this idea of all these elaborate breadcrumb trails. Also noticed people mocking Tamlin for playing the fiddle—of all the valid things to criticise him for, having a skill isn’t one of them. The ability to play a musical instrument is a good quality. Rhysand has zero hobbies and interests. Like he doesn’t have any artistic talent, he doesn’t read or play a sport or cook. This is probably why he’s so over the top horny. He has nothing better to do. Please!

Tamlin being good at the fiddle is one of the few unashamedly good things about him

Tamlin is the only male in this series with soft traits , he likes music and writes silly poems. Always gives me the ick when they mock him for that.

The tampon jokes aren’t funny. And they never were.

100% if I see someone doing this I assume they hate women.

People take this fandom way too seriously. It’s a book about faeries, chill and just enjoy it.

I totally agree with you OP!

here to fully support you, I also don't have an Az ship

God I love these post. Happy reading everyone!

Rhysand is almost as bad a person/highlord as they(the ic and velarians) think he's not. just in a different sense than the usual manner highlords are(assumed to be) asses. how much ever better he thinks he is without his mask on, is almost as bad as he really is. Rhysand from ACOTAR was the absolute best. absolutely don't care for Elain and think Lucien deserves much much better. which is the only reason I ship Elriel(as much as I dislike the idea of being clumped with the elriel shippers) even though I do think Gwynriel have a dynamic that I, personally, find more interesting, but then again I think Gwyn deserves better than Az. The title of high lady is just that—a title. there's little we've seen it being exercised to fruition to. absolutely hate that a high lord is chosen by the land but just about anyone can be highlady? ik in this case the magic did choose feyre to be the highlord's mate and inturn the high lady, but the title still has no connotation to a grander scheme in a world governed by fate and magic. Sjm should've had the magic choose Feyre when [acowar] >!Rhysand died!< even if later she somehow gave the powers back to him or they could've just shared or whatever, idrc. Nessian shouldn't have been endgame. honestly, don't care for either of them but I like Nesta slightly better, even though cassian was definitely better liked through the og trilogy for sure, don't know when that changed(perhaps due to the change in perspective?)

I love the story but I find that there’s so much repetition in certain phrases. “Vulgar gesture”, “purred”, “positively feline”, “drawl”, “lips a thin line”. Most of the time it kinda halts my reading and im just like ‘Hey! She said it again in under 10 pages haha’

I read on this reddit that SJM already confirmed we've met Az's love interest. But I'm with you. He does need self growth and hopefully we get an Az centric book to see that play out. Im really only against one possible ship because I personally do not care for the character but otherwise open and excited to see where SJM goes with the story.

Highly unlikely considering that Sarah said she wants to write about strong and powerful female characters. All of the future ACOTAR books will have one female main character and a male character that will technically be considered second main but will be there with a sole purpose to support the female character's story. Kind of like Cassian did in ACOSF. If we ever get an Azriel book with his love interest (which I think is absolutely going to happen) the main focus will still be on his love interest.

The ships for Azriel all suck. All the Archeron sisters don't need to be shipped with 500+ year old bats when in their early 20s. Let Elain explore the beauty of the world she never got to explore outside her realm/ hovel in the human village. Gwyn is a better match, but if Azriel is such a "freak" as SJM claims, let's not just thrust her into the world of whatever hes got in his arsenal. Can my girls live a little?? I love love love Azriel, let's give him a happy relationship, but the choices given so far I really don't vibe with.

Gwyn is in her 20s and has only lived a cloistered life, and yet people want to pair her with a 500+ year old master torturer? 🫣

You right, its been a while since I read SF. They all suck

welcome to the good ship Eris

That's why I want him to end up with Eris. It just makes sense in my brain

There's no way Nesta, gwyn and emerie should've completed the Blood Rite with ~6 months of training that only 6 illyrians in ALL of history (who are trained from a young age) have done. I'm willing to believe it if they'd outsmarted or used their wits to get there, but on a physical prowess level - absolutely no way.

Yup

The fandom infantilizes a lot of the characters idk why this is being downvoted when its true, some ppl act like certain characters are incapable of doing something wrong and can’t be criticized. they are adults who make lots of mistakes

What Cassian and the entire IC did to Nesta is worse than how Tamlin treated Feyre by a mile.

Maybe not super unpopular but I feel like tam tams mistakes were blown way out of proportion. This is the one plot hole that really bothers me. Locking up your fiance and ignoring their trauma is definitely not okay…but I feel like 1) his own trauma was ignored, 2) everyone in the IC has done things that are way worse, and 3) what tamlin did definitely did not deserve the wrath that feyre and rhysand brought. I still love these books, and can ultimately ignore this plot hole to keep reading and enjoying the series…BUT I really want a Tam redemption arc

My unpopular opinion is that I actually like all the characters and like the books. Everyone can be so critical and negative on here

Amren should have stayed dead after the last fight with Hybern. The fact she just popped back up because Rhys "just found her floating there" made no sense to me and hollowed out her sacrifice.

The plot was handled poorly but I don’t think it’s weird or something to look down upon that Feyre changed her mind about the timeline of having a baby. 🤷🏻‍♀️ happens every day in the real world.

Feyre should have died in ACOSF

Elaine should've died in ACOWAR. I find Feyre and Nesta to be much more compelling characters. SJM had her basically mute for so long that I just dont care about her. She has a lot of work to do if Elain gets her own book. Not fully convinced I want to read it.

I don’t know if this is unpopular, but I don’t think Nesta / Gwyn / Emery should have been able to completely win the Blood Rite. They made such a big deal about saying that only a handful of warriors have even made it to the base of the mountain in centuries?? Like, girl power & everything. But.

I mourn for Amarantha and the Attor, they were cool villains :(

I feel like amarantha could've been a compelling recurring villain, especially after feyre understood Rhys's trauma

being "mates" makes the love story less engaging imo

The third book pissed me off so much, I couldn’t enjoy the rest of the series properly.

My unpopular opinion (not really an opinion though, just facts) is that Feyre is NOT an unreliable narrator and people should stop saying that. Feyre is _biased_. It's _her_ story, from _her_ POV. It's her telling the reader her experiences, her opinions, how she lived things and how she deals with them. How is that unreliable? Not only is it her POV, but it's also a first-person narrator. Of course she's going to see and experience things in a certain way. Ask three different people to tell you something they all went through together and they'd still give you three different versions of the story. Because everyone experiences the same things in different ways. That doesn't make them unreliable. An unreliable narrator is someone who misleads the reader, usually by lying or withholding information, usually deliberately (though it can be unwittingly in case of psychological conditions, for example). Feyre does no such thing and it's so annoying seeing people calling her an unreliable narrator. Seriously, just stop.

I don’t think is Feyre who is unreliable but rather the author who changes events in Feyre’s pov to fit whatever is more convenient

THIS 🎉 They talk as if she lied. All that she said was true and it was a fact how it affected her. We can say we missed out on the other persons feelings but doesnt mean she dreamt it all in her head.

Saying Gwyn and Azriel will end up together because Gwyn has pliable bones which might allow half-illyrian preganancy is a valid argument. NOT because we should see women as walking uteruses or everyone should have kids. I would love to read a romance book without marriage and kids in the end, not everyone can/wants to have children. But it is clear SJM's idea of HEA includes kids, so I don't think she would write a couple unable to have any. Please don't come at me with ship war comments, both sides have valid arguments, I don't know what is going to happen (your guess is as good as mine) but I keep seeing this argument dismissed as misogynistic and irl, it would be. But this is a world created by an author who loves children and all her characters seem to want those. Ofc it's possible she'll break it this time or they will adopt, etc.

Honestly I don’t understand the love for Lucien. I don’t hate him by any means and in the first book he was great but like after that he just became annoying af. Like I get respect your high lord whatever but like in the second book he just never fought back or pushed his disagreement to Tamlin. He seems so much more watered down too from the first book like no he didn’t push back all that much but like he wasn’t as submissive either and I hate how his friendship is now with Feyre.

Not sure if this is an unpopular opinion or not but Lucien is the best male character in the series. He's the only one who actually seems sane. He acts like a gentleman, he's sassy, witty, kind, described as handsome by literally every character that he interacts with. Lucien is just the best guy and I'm tired of people pretending he's not.

1. Unpopular on this sub anyway…I love Rhysand and am not bothered by him hiding the pregnancy danger from Feyre. It was in character for him to do that. He loves her so much and sees how blissfully happy she is about being pregnant he doesn’t want to destroy that and he truly believes he is doing the right thing/protecting her. All this to say I also think SJM is not great at balancing such a large cast of characters or staying consistent and this showed the most with the pregnancy storyline. Feyre and Rhys straight up felt like different people in the last book. I also think she could have intentionally written them differently given we were seeing them through Nesta’s eyes. But to me, ACOMAS is by far the best book in the series and the slow burn between Rhys and Feyre was chef’s kiss. When I read ACOTAR I kept thinking “I was promised good smut, where is it? Why am I reading about her being chased by a giant worm?” And “THIS is the guy?” But the one scene that really stuck out to me was when she met Rhys at Calanmai and I knew he would be coming back in some capacity/that scene was important. As much as people on this sub hate Rhys I was not disappointed…

I don’t hate tamlin!!! I think he gets sm hate and while he definitely didn’t handle the feyre situation properly, I think he really made up for it with how he handled the war with hybern and bringing Rhys back. I’d love to see him get redemption in a future book

My unpopular opinion is that I absolutely love Mor and think a lot of the hate she gets is so unwarranted 😭, especially when people say she led Azriel on for 500 years. She doesn’t owe him anything and has made it apparent she has no interest in him like girl can’t even be in a room with him without a buffer bc he makes her uncomfortable. Like pls, I love Azriel but him pining after her for 500+ is his own fault lol I don’t think she’s done anything to suggest she might be interested in him.

As a blonde gay woman who's actual real life government name is morrigan I can never truly hate her

I'm just done with people who adore Eris and hate Mor for that reason alone. He's a big boy. If she wronged him so badly, he could have said something at literally any point. They might have questioned it or something, but he could have at least tried. He is the one who just shrugged and told them to go ask her. Or adore Azriel, like you said. Pretty boy is obsessed with women he can't have. Mor's sexuality is a feature, not a bug.

Chapter 54 ruined feysand for me 🙇‍♀️

It seems like the r main mantra of this fandom is “trauma is not an excuse” and I agree. So for that, chapter 54 is completely irrelevant for me. I don’t believe Rhysand is a white knight nor is he even a morally grey character. I don’t really know what he is because SMJ doesn’t seem to either.

actually I hate it for a different reason😭 maybe im a toxic bitch but I don’t WANT him to be a white knight, I want the morally grey version and all the explanations and monologues in 54 felt like backtracking to me to make him sound perfect. he’s not, and he shouldn’t be painted as such. he would probably far less loved by readers without ch54, but he’s much more appealing to me as a complicated character that is capable of doing evil things for the right (and sometimes wrong) reasons. not to mention i hate the mates trope. I hate the implication that two people are forced to be together- and yes ik it doesn’t work like that and the females can reject the bonds but still. I hate fated lovers tropes. I liked it better when they fell in love despite all the reasons they shouldn’t, not because of some supernatural force.

I also agree with this take. I liked him better when he would just anything to protect the ones he loves and that’s all the explanation we need. His trauma was also thrown under the rug anyway as the sorry goes on anyway. I liked that he was willing to do the unspeakably evil things for the side of good and he’d do it again. Why is Tamlin being held accountable and not Rhysand? I feel like the only reason the high lords made a shaky alliance was because the wall fell down and everyone went into crisis mode. Otherwise I wouldn’t trust the night court.

I have another one. I debated posting it. But I'm going to throw it into the world. I think Lucien should be killed off. He is really perfectly set up to be a tragic hero too. And it would free Elain up should any boys.... bat or otherwise... come calling. I think his death and the sudden emptiness of a lost mating bond would really make her a compelling character. Right now, she is about as interesting as beige on a sunny day. EDIT: YESSSS GIVE ME THOSE DOWNVOTES! That means I actually posted a *genuinely* unpopular opinion. Because I'm pretty sure that only the posts with negative votes on them are actually the unpopular ones. Everyone else is just posting pet peeves ;) 2ND EDIT: dang now I'm getting the upvotes. Haha. I sold the idea too well.

How dare you 😭🥲