So, uh...look who I brought home today.

Well, here goes nothing...

I'm willing to forgive the stepmother and sisters being bitches (at least for now), because that's just Fairytale Tropes.

"Fey-ruh"

The compulsory part in Chapter 1 where the heroine explains (to the reader) how to pronounce her Fantasy Name always makes me wince. No one will ever do it as hilariously as Fritz Leiber.
"Ef ay ef aitch ar dee." I laughed so hard at that my eyes crossed.

I have a bad feeling about Isaac's chances of survival...

I am in physical pain from having to read the word "martax".

There can't possibly be an irl etymology for that, can there? It's so ugly.

(If this was a retro-sci-fi pastiche, I could get behind it as the name of a species of alien or something, but...this is not that).

Forgot to mention before: Always, always begin your bildungsroman YA fantasy with the slaughter of a deer, as a metaphor for the heroine's impending loss of innocence. It's the Cardinal Rule.

o.O This is somewhat more mature than I expected it to be.

I will just passingly mention how much I hate the magically 100% effective but conspicuously non-specific herbal contraceptives pervasive in pseudo-historical fantasies. It's such a lazy fanfic excuse.

"Nesta had always known and hated that she and I were two sides of the same coin..."

Well, I hope she gets proper character development and is your character foil at least for the rest of this book, or I'm going to be disappointed.

Wait a minute...

> disrupted life of reluctant protagonist
> encounter with magic animal
> barrier separating mundane and magic worlds

This is the monomyth again, isn't it?



HELLO, NEW OBSESSION, YOU ARE LOOKING FINE

(for better or for worse)

The first threshold crossing happened so fast, though...

I really hope this isn't another Shadow and Bone situation, where the whole journey could have been wrapped up in one book, but there's just so much monotonous filler instead.

Really, I will try to be positive about this one. My commentary on anything is nearly always ruthless and acerbic, but it comes from a place of love and lamentation over missed potential.

Confession: I don't mind heroines who are Not Like The Other Girls, because that's the attitude I had when I was a horrible teenager. Painful as it is, I remember and I can relate. But what I want to see is the heroine grow out of it, not be encouraged by the author.

"Your hands are suited for it—they’re already so rough.”

The countdown to the beautiful-all-along makeover scene (where the heroine complains every step of the way, so we know she isn't vain and girly, how terrible) begins now.

(Sorry I keep rewinding, I am bad at live reaction tweeting. Sometimes my brain is a bit slow to connect the dots, and I have spontaneous revelations after the thoughts have percolated for a day or so).

Also, mercenary woman in Chapter 3 got a suspicious amount of description and dialogue for a one-off character. I expect her to return at some point, will be frustrated if she doesn't. Is she going to be the mentor, perhaps? Or is she a Failed Hero type?

> Tamlin

Wait, he's not the love interest, is he?

So, there's a sexy wolf man who kidnaps the heroine and takes her to his big fancy castle, and...I'm not supposed to ship them?

I am confus

Personally I like Lucien better, but I can tell he's not in with much of a chance.

"I hadn't worn a dress in years. I wasn't about to start, not when escape was my main priority."
"I'd prefer not to wear that dress." etc etc

At least she justifies it with practicality, but complaining about being forced to wear dresses is still a check on the YA bingo card.

"Invisible hands clapped on my arms and shoved me back into the seat...I tried to twist in the chair, testing the invisible bonds. But my arms were secured, and my back was pressed into the wood so hard that it ached."

Sexy wolf man has BDSM magic and I'm STILL not supposed to ship them.

This is no fun at all.

"I went still as the tang of magic seared my nose."

Does anyone know who invented/popularised the trope that magic smells metallic?

I can't think of any irl basis for it, and it seems odd in this setting where magic creatures are allergic to iron.

" "Ignoring this" - he waved a hand at the metal eye and brutal scar on his face - "surely we're not so miserable to look at." Typical faerie vanity and arrogance."

My current favourite man Lucien is a fox, has a false eye AND a scar, and is snarky and arrogant, and he's not the love interest either.

This faerieland sucks, I hate it here.

"...my nose was relatively straight...I had my father's soft mouth, though it made a mockery of my too-sharp cheekbones and hollow cheeks...I couldn't bring myself to look at my uptilted eyes."

Yawn. So she's conventionally attractive but just doesn't *think* she is. This almost reads like parody.

For once, give me a YA heroine with spots, or a broken nose, or a horrible birthmark, or something.

Even as a teen, I remember having trouble relating to YA heroines over appearance-drama, because they never seemed to have REAL physical flaws, only imagined ones.

"When I asked Alis what I was to do now - what I was to do with the entirety of my mortal life - she shrugged and suggested a walk in the gardens."

...Is there a library in this castle?

(Honestly this kidnapping doesn't seem bad at all so far. Tamlin, I am available).

"I could have stared at it for hours - and the countless paintings along this hall alone could have occupied my entire day..."

Talking about paintings again. I already made the joke comparing Feyre to Xenogears Fei (still thinking about that), but even Xenogears managed to make

Fei's Special Protagonist Trait of "artist" relevant to the plot, even if it was utterly bizarre (which goes without saying, because...Xenogears).

I hope Feyre's artistry is going to be important in some way.

"There is...a sickness in these lands...These masks...are the result of a surge of it that occurred during a masquerade forty-nine years ago."

WHAT

Is this a Poe reference?

(Once again, I hope this means something and is not just point-scoring to show that the author is Very Smart).

So...the magic is going away and the land needs to be healed from (thus far) Mysterious Evil Event that occurred at the exactly even interval of 50 years before the story gets going.

And I assume that the heroine associated with floral imagery is the Chosen One destined to heal the world from Mysterious Evil.

This is fine, it's just...very transparent so far. I am getting paranoid about attempted subversions lurking behind every corner, which is ruining the effect somewhat.

I have vague memories of this style of writing being very popular amongst aspiring/self-published fantasy authors back in Ye Olde LiveJournal days.

This is the kind of stuff I wrote when I was 14.

" "A half-wild beast," Nesta had called me. But compared to him...we were all half-wild beasts to the High Fae. Even if they were the ones who could don fur and claws."

This is the sort of thing I mean. I HATE it when authors patronise the readers like this, because they don't trust us to be clever enough to pick up on things we read 5 minutes (or less) ago.

I'd already understood the irony for myself when I read the first line. I didn't need her to spell it out for me, and it broke my immersion.

It just feels grasping, as if the author NEEDS to be sure the reader will know to be impressed at the use of every literary device.

"Do you talk to mercenaries often?"
"I talk to whoever bothers to tell me anything useful."

You would make a good RPG protagonist, Feyre. Always talk to everyone.

"...didn't your mother tell you anything about us?"

Protagonist's Dead Mother is getting a few mentions and is a bit mysterious, I hope she gets to be a posthumous character, and not just a source of Trauma to be brought up and then forgotten about periodically.

The Lenore/Merlin flashbacks were one of my favourite things about Cursed.

Side note: About a million years ago I read all the Dresden Files novels that were out at the time. I remembered them recently, because that was the last time I read anything set in a Faerie Court.

One of the best things about that series was Harry's Dead Mother having her own amazing backstory.

I wonder if the eternal "Who's the REAL misogynist - Harry Dresden, or Jim Butcher?" debate is still raging to this day...?

"What happened to the magic to make it act that way?"
"Something was sent from the shit-holes of Hell."

There's a Hell (with a capital H) in this cosmology now. I expect demons.

(I'm really setting myself up for disappointment at every opportunity, aren't I?)

"But something moved out in the garden...Not a faerie, but a man. My father."

lol There's no way that's really her father. It's the monster, isn't it?

*sigh* It was a different monster.

Moving on, Tamlin has a father; this is interesting. It's still not really clear to me why SJM picked Tamlin as his name when the stories don't have much in common so far.

I'm going to assume the "She" that Lucien mentioned before, whom they are afraid of, is the Queen of the Faeries.

"The story of...of Prythian." etc

I'm glad the world situation has been explained a bit more; this wasn't the worst way to do it. I suppose the Cauldron is a reference to the cauldron of Cerridwen, but elevated into a creation myth.

"That large island I'd seen on the map, the one that hadn't yielded any lands to humans after the Treaty. And - a throne of bones." etc

I now even more think this is upside-down Westeros, which itself was derived from Osten Ard. I hope there's going to be magic spaceships.

"He resents that he is forced to sign it, to let his mortal slaves go and to remain confined to his damp green isle at the edge of the world."
So Prythian is fake-Britain, Hybern is fake-Ireland, which was obvious enough from the map, and the Hybernese(?) are The Bad People.

If they are the Slytherins of this world, I am obligated to stan.

It's been...a VERY long time since I read Lloyd Alexander's Prydain series, so I can't tell if there's any influence there.

"The naga - faeries made of shadow and hate and rot...were sprung from a nightmare. Covered in dark scales and nothing more, they were a horrendous combination of serpentine features and male humanoid bodies whose powerful arms ended in polished black, flesh-shredding talons."

YES PLEASE

FINALLY some real food for the monsterfuckers.

I was getting so bored, too, this happened just in time. Well done SJM.

"The Dark Mother" wow she sounds like fun.

oh no Tamlin killed them

I have been betrayed

So...are we not going to talk about the fact that Feyre swallowed the Naga blood?

Seems like an opportunity for her to get some magical powers, or a magical illness, or *something*

The other day I found that someone wrote a whole essay on the bathing scenes in this series. Unfortunately only the abstract is available online, but I would really like to see the whole thing. I'm caught halfway between pity and awe.

"Iron?"
"Doesn't do us a lick of harm."

Oh so that was made up, then. I take back my complaint about the scent of magic, then.

But what was the point? To make the reader second-guess themselves about all the irl folklore they already know about faeries?

This Chapter 17 with the dying faerie was my favourite so far.
Feyre showing compassion for the faeries and Tamlin being a good Lord.
I'm starting to feel invested now and I don't want...whatever is going to happen that's going to make it go wrong.

> Lucien backstory

hElP, I'm going to sympathise with him more and then the author is going to turn him into a villain, I just know it

"females" "mating bond"

urk urk urk this really is mid-2000s LiveJournal fic, isn't it?

I can't believe people still write this stuff in...*checks book* 2015 ?!?!

I suppose it's not inherently terrible, but I feel like I've been sucked through a time vortex.

This old loyalty and friendship between Tam and Lucien is by far the most interesting and touching part of the book so far, and I really don't want to see it ruined. I'd rather be reading about that.

"Such a brutal, harsh world - with families killing each other for power, for revenge, for spite and control."

That's also what human nobility did, though. I'm still not clear on what is the state of human government in this world, I might have missed something.

Feeling apprehensive about the politicking in these books; moralising about monarchism and other real-world political issues in fantasy books is always very messy when there are people who are immortal with enormous magical powers.

La la la "His short black hair gleamed like a raven's feathers off-setting his pale skin and blue eyes so deep they were violet..." la la la

The prose has also taken a deep dive into the realms of purple, so I'm going to assume this guy is the real love interest.

He's got a darkness/night motif, at least, and Feyre is floral, so I suppose I can get on board.

I'm yet to understand why I've had to spend half a book developing a relationship with an equally valid Beauty/Beast ship, though.

Let Lucien say "fuck" in the TV series. He clearly wants to.

"Cauldron" as a swear is going to sound so stupid on screen.

So...are we going to talk about this "Great Rite" thing any more, or nah? Was that really important worldbuilding, or just an excuse for drama? I honestly can't tell.
It was a mish-mash of Beltaine, the Wild Hunt and 20th century Wiccan Great Rite rituals, I think...?

Also somewhat reminiscent of the ritual in Mists of Avalon, but last I recall that was banished to the forbidden list.

Now Feyre is feeling beautiful and happy and wearing dresses. I'm waiting for her to get punished.

"I've had many lovers...But they never understood. What it was like, what it is like, for me to care for my people, my lands."
I find it implausible that this 19 year old human with next to no education understands you better than all your contemporaries, but if you say so, Tam.

Aha! I was feeling very frustrated that this giant castle seemed to be completely empty except for four people. Who was doing all the work?
But there were invisible servants all along. I can accept that, but it still bothers me that I wondered about it more than Feyre did.

"The Night Court does what it wants...They live by their own codes, their own corrupt morals."

I have found my people.

What are we waiting for? Let's go, let's go!

Oh, mysterious darkness man is back, and yes, I was right, he is the love interest.

"Under the Mountain"

As in, King Under the Mountain, I have to suppose. Is the Mountain a place, or a concept?

Is "Amarantha" the She-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named? That's not a very dramatic villain name, amaranth isn't even poisonous.

At least she's getting some from the sexy dark prince before Feyre steals him, good for her.

"Mortal trash"
"An invisible, talon-tipped hand scraped against my mind. And I knew - one push, one swipe of those mental claws, and who I was would cease to exist."
"I'd forgotten that human minds are as easy to shatter as eggshells."
I can't wait to meet the antis for this ship

"Thorns and all."
She's trying way too hard to push the rose imagery here for the sake of tying this to BatB/traditional Tamlin, but why bother, when this relationship is about to be over, and the story is (presumably) going to move on to other things for the next several books?

Feyre isn't really that thorny, and she and Tamlin have been on good terms for months(?).

I shouldn't even have to say it, but...

Show, don't tell

Hooray! The sisters are back. I was really getting worried I wouldn't see them again in this book (although I've seen Nesta's name around a bit so I knew she would be back in the series at some point).
It's character foiling time! (I hope)

"She had looked at that cottage with hope; I had looked at it with nothing but hatred."

So purest heart Elain is destined for either horrendous suffering and/or an early grave.

Isaac has made a reappearance to...show that the world has moved on without Feyre and she no longer has a place in her native society (which she didn't have before, anyway)? To show that human men aren't impressive enough for her anymore?
idk
At least she isn't bitter, I guess.

"Apparently, an iron will is all it takes to keep a glamour from digging in."

Aaaaah the magic didn't work on Nesta! Yes, she's amazing!

It's good to know that strong humans aren't totally helpless against faeries.

"...long-simmering anger that she could never master."
"...icy rage and bitterness, because the anger had been a lifeline, the cruelty a release. But she had cared...loved more fiercely than I could comprehend."

Feyre who? WHY is Nesta not the protagonist?

"...I'd stopped looking for answers, stopped fighting it...glad to be able to set down that wild, savage part of me that had only survived hour to hour."

At least she acknowledges what a boring and passive protagonist she's been so far...

Why does the narration keep saying "aristo"? I let it go the first couple of times, but is she allergic to the full word, or something?

The Evil "She" is Amarantha the High Queen, right again.

This is now the third time Feyre has been *shocked* to learn that a faerie is a High Lord/Queen, despite that fact that she's met about five faeries. I hope it's not supposed to be shocking for the audience.

I still think Amarantha sounds awesome, I like her backstory. Since it's all about her great love for her younger sister, surely it's going to correspond with Feyre and/or Nesta's story in some way.
Is Amarantha the dark foil for one of them?

For real, if she's going to be a Shadow Archetype and she is killed in the end, I will ragequit, I can't do this anymore.

Also it would be some good writing if this blight was caused by Amarantha following the betrayal of her sister's human lover, and in the end it was healed by the union of another human/faerie couple, but I've seen spoilers and I think Feyre gets transformed into a faerie...?

"...and she stole their powers from where they originated inside their bodies - plucked them out as if she were taking an apple from its branch..."

Ok I liked that one, well played SJM. Credit where it's due.

"Now they call her the Deceiver - she who...built her palace beneath the sacred Mountain in the heart of our land."

So is she a Satan analogue as well, now, and she has usurped the traditional mythic resting place of the sleeping king?

This is chaotic.

Oh no, Amarantha was the one who took out Lucien's eye...

Can I continue to love both of them...?

(Of course I can, it's fiction, lol)

lol wut?

It was all a set up...This is so whack.

It's a better plot twist than "HE WAS THE BLACK HERETIC ALL ALONG, MWAHAHA!", I'll give her that.

But I'm not sure how I feel about this yet.

My suffering continues.

Until...

Yes! My Dark Queen is here! Red-gold hair is not what I was expecting, but ok. The bone necklace is cool, the eyeball ring is fascinating - is that Lucien's eye, I wonder?

I am enthralled.

Oh never mind, it was Jurian's eyeball. I wonder what her fascination with eyeballs is.
It's sad that Tamlin (apparently) let her kill Clare, but since we didn't get to *see* anything that was happening, I can't hate him for it.

His conflicts in this book are much more interesting than Feyre's, I wish he had POV chapters. :(

And we're back to Fairytale Tropes again with the three tasks of love.

Yay, it's Lucien, still my favourite man thus far.

"I'm glad she didn't do the same to me. She seems to have an obsession with that sort of thing."

lol I *just* said that.

We are on the same wavelength, I'm so happy.

"The rage and despair and horror Jurian must endure every day, for eternity."

I like it that Feyre is empathising with Jurian.

Thinking out loud - I like the idea of Amarantha being Feyre's Shadow archetype, and Jurian representing the greater, nebulous force that is the true embodiment of evil (e.g. Amarantha:Saruman, Jurian:Sauron). His spirit could be influencing her through the jewellery, even.

I think that would work better as a feminist narrative as well, with Clythia being a tragic figure and a cipher for women in general, and both Amarantha and Feyre having to overcome the consequences of a man's betrayal of women.

And it would be a neat and meaningful twist to have the human be the greatest evil, rather than a faerie, and to have that human evil overcome by the power of another human (Feyre).

Unfortunately I doubt this is where it's going, since I don't think Amarantha is supposed to be at all sympathetic any more. : (

I get the sense we are leading into hard confirmation of Tamlin's "betrayal" of Feyre.

I hope SJM relates the "betrayal" scene back to the story of Jurian and Clythia in some way.

I won't lie, I was secretly hoping "the riddle" would be somehow related to one of the classics, like the Sphinx's riddle. I have a real weakness for that one turning up in fiction, even if it is a cliche. It's comforting (I know that isn't the desired effect here, lol).

I thought about it for a few minutes, and...

*sigh* The answer is "love", isn't it?

So...Feyre has already said she loves Tamlin; is her non-realisation here supposed to indicate that she hasn't yet experienced "true" love, and so she will be able to solve the riddle once she is in true love with Rhysand?

There's some awkwardness to this because familial love is also of such great importance to the story, but seemingly does not "count" for the sake of this riddle, which implies that romantic-love is the be-all-end-all most important kind. Way to go SJM.

These books are translated in over 30 languages, right? I wonder if any of the translations use different words for "love".

If I have to endure this story for 5 books, at the very least I want each of the different types of love described in the riddle to be experienced by different characters.

(lol if I am wrong about the answer I will look stupid, but I am pretty confident).

omg Feyre's first task is to defeat the TRoS giant snake, I wasn't expecting that!

Big ol' snake friend is the "Middengard"; we're adding Norse mythology into the mix now as well.

As you can see, I am taking this book very seriously indeed.

"Had there not been an insurmountable trench between us, I would have ripped her throat out. Someday...I would skin her alive."
I do not endorse these thoughts. :(

I'm still in a moderate amount of suspense over whether Tamlin is helpless, acting, or being controlled.

I'm sure this would be much more effective if I didn't already know he wasn't the proper love interest.

"For two weeks every month...you'll live with me at the Night Court."

So I suppose this is where the Hades and Persephone bit comes into it, then...?

"...they'll find your arm so infected that you'll be lucky to keep anything above the elbow."

Don't tease me, SJM, one-armed protagonists are my weakness.

"It's custom in my court for bargains to be permanently marked upon flesh."

Oh so this is why everyone has tattoos in the fan art. I approve.

"A large eye was tattooed in the center of my palm."

Hamsa?
Or...can he spy on her through the eye?

"I had an absurd, creeping feeling that it watched me."

lol called it. I like that, though.

"Sorting lentils from ash and embers..."

Cindereeeellaaaaaaa

There really is nothing subtle at all in these books, is there?

I just feel like SJM made some sort of bingo card.

"[Amarantha] asked me to put that head in the garden."
Ye gods, I was warned about this, but it happened SO SOON.
If we're going to use "Amarantha made me do it" as an excuse for all Rhys' actions, then we had better be going to use that as an excuse for Tam's actions as well...

"...that I belonged to him. I wouldn't have been surprised if he'd attached a collar and leash around my neck...I was bound to him, the bargain marked on my flesh."
One small, grudging gold star for SJM, at least she isn't completely wasting all the BDSM fetishism like LB did.

"...the embroidered symbol of a sleeping dragon glimmered. Amarantha's coat of arms."

A dragon sleeping under the mountain...? I can't really tell if this is supposed to be a reference to something specific, but for now, it is noted.

"...the killing had been a mercy."

Oh gosh, we're excusing murder again already.

Not sure how I feel about this scene specifically.

Side note: One of my favourite Terry Pratchett novels is Night Watch, but it's divisive amongst his fans because it was written around the point when some people felt his personal politics became too intrusive in his books.

There's a euthenasia scene in that book which is somewhat similar in context to this one but much less gruesome. But in that case, there was no option of magical recovery for the victim, and the scene was written very compassionately, whereas this one was a gore-fest.

Is there ever any way someone's mind can be recovered from being wiped by magic? If later on it turns out there is, this "mercy killing" disturbs me a bit.

I'm probably not supposed to read into it this much, but I can't help it.

"I was going to be skewered by burning-hot spikes and then crushed on the ground like a grape."

This is starting to feel very Poe-ish again.

"I couldn't read, and it had almost killed me. I hadn't even won properly."

Ok but if I had just barely survived that ordeal due to unexpected magical interference from Rhys (who was still allegedly my enemy), I don't think I'd be complaining I didn't do it "properly".

That's just such a strange thought to give her at that time. She doesn't even feel relief for a moment, or anything.

Oh I just remembered I saw something saying Rhysand teaches her to read later.

So that's why it's such a big deal all of a sudden; this is the thing they're going to bond over.

Never mind, I suppose.

"I couldn't entirely blame [Amarantha]; I doubted I would ever forget or forgive something like that being done to Nesta or Elain, no matter how many centuries had passed."

Yeeessss Feyre, keep identifying with your dark self.

"Because I'm tired and lonely, and you're the only person I can talk to without putting myself at risk."

I honestly can't tell if this is supposed to be sarcastic or not.

If it is, I will loathe him even more for mocking me.

But if not, hElP, the dark wizard admitted he is lonely and therefore I must love and protect him forever.

The chink in my armour has been found.

You win this round, SJM.

"...the only thing that will make Tamlin think twice before entering into a battle with me...Believe me, I would have liked nothing more than to enjoy you..."

Holy yikes

The Men (sorry, males) are cockfighting over the protagonist when they should be working together to overthrow the tyrannical regime?

He's never going to get any sort of comeuppance for this territorial bullshit, is he?

"...Amarantha decided that she especially wanted to punish the son of her friend's murderer - decided that she hated me enough for my father's deeds that I was to suffer."

Once again, is this sarcastic? Does she actually have friendships, or not?

I'm desperate for her to have some sympathetic qualities, but I'm 90% sure that isn't going to happen.

Back to Rhysand, I'm SO MAD that this bs happened immediately after the first time I ever considered feeling anything positive about him.

If I was totally unspoiled on this I would probably let it go, but knowing in advance that he gets away with it,

I'm starting to really doubt if I can come round to him, even if he does turn out to be sad and lonely.

If this is the case, I just don't see what his character arc could be for the next four books, since he's not going to become more corrupted or anything...?

Is he just a flat, trophy love interest, but male?

And if so, how is that interesting for four whole books?

I'm in pain.

Oh no what is happening now

I didn't comment on this before, but...I tend to think of characters eavesdropping/accidentally overhearing plot-relevant conversations at the exactly convenient time as one of those plot devices that is a necessary evil sometimes.

It's totally implausible according to the rules of real life, but I'm willing to let it go in fiction unless it's a really chronic case.

But this last-minute twist where Feyre realises that Tamlin (somehow) ensured that she overheard these cryptic references to "heart of stone" and was sure that she would be able to see through that metaphor and apply it at the critical high-emotional-pressure time?

This doesn't feel like a rewarding payoff to me.

To her credit, I went back and checked and it is vaguely hinted at in Ch 12 where Tamlin says "But with your affinity for eavesdropping, maybe someday you'll learn something useful."

So maybe I should have called it, idk

Today has been my worst day in...a while. I've been battling to get through more than a few pages at a time, but I really want to finish this book tonight so I can read something good.

"Then the memories began - a compilation of the worst moments of my life, a storybook of despair and darkness. The final page came..."
This is petty, I know, but I think it's a bit weak to use this metaphor in Feyre's POV, when it's an important plot point that Feyre CAN'T READ.

Yes, the answer to the riddle was Love. How shocking. I'm still surprised that the revelation came from Feyre's doomed love for Tamlin, rather than something to do with Rhysand, though.

Having Amarantha's torture be the catalyst for Feyre's understanding of the riddle is supposed to show that "evil contains the seeds of its own destruction", I suppose.

That's fine as a theme, but I don't think it's been hinted anywhere previously...

"...something forever cracked in my spine."

Yeah yeah, I'm sure it'll be forever.

Just imagine if any one of these horrific injuries Feyre keeps getting (or being threatened with) actually stuck.
The disability rep is right there but she keeps waving it away with magic.

(I will take it back if one of them does become permanent).

Oh Feyre's really dead lol. I heard she died and resurrected but I figured that was in a later book.
I kinda stopped tracking where we were up to in the Hero's Journey, but...if this is Resurrection, I take it the Journey structure only applies to this book...?

SO WHY ARE THERE FOUR SEQUELS

WHAT IS THE REASON

Wait what Amarantha's really dead???

I thought she'd be the antagonist for the first 3 books, at least...

So what was the point of all her backstory if it was never relevant to anything? I thought we were just skimming the surface, here...

I'm so sad wtf

"Jurian's bone and eye were somehow missing."

GOOD

This history of Jurian and Clythia is pretty much the only thing I'm still interested in.

"As much as I wanted to hate her, as much as I wished I could have spat on her burning body...I understood what had driven her - a very small part of her, but I understood it."

Yes but she died still evil. I am once again asking, what was the point? https://twitter.com/NightbloomWitch/status/1379041744000446466?s=20

Closing thoughts, I expected whatever betrayal Tamlin does to come at the end of this book, what a kick in the guts it would have been to be invested in Feyre and Tam's relationship for the whole time until book 2 came out, and then have it ripped away.

I only read this for the sake of keeping up with The Discourse when the show was announced, and I expected it to be mediocre, but...wow, was it awful.

I don't want to speculate too much about the themes and things, since I've only read the first one, but I admit I didn't really get much from this one except for a coming-of-age story.

I liked the part in the end where Rhysand said, "Be glad of your human heart, Feyre. Pity those who don't feel anything at all." ("Devils never cry...Tears are a gift only humans have." is still better though, just saying). Feyre is still grieving for the faeries she killed,

and that's good, but I feel that the journey to self-forgiveness in the next one will be very hollow if she doesn't also forgive her enemies, and if she continues to kill them. I would have liked to see a lot more of Elain and Nesta in this one as well, especially in the ending.

Since Amarantha's motivation was supposed to be love for her sister, I think Feyre should have had at least one more scene with her sisters in the ending.

This book really made me sad, and drama about the show seems to have died down for now, so as I said I don't think I'll read the second one for a long time, or at least until all the other fandom dramas aren't so bad. I only want to be sad about one fictional thing at a time.

A vow is a vow, so once more unto the breach.

I have been given opinions on this one ranging from "it's the best" to "it's the worst", so this will be interesting.

#acotar (I will start tagging this thread so people can mute, sorry, I am bad at twt)

https://twitter.com/NightbloomWitch/status/1390091974292639745?s=20

#acotar

The map has more details this time, which is promising.

ACOTARland continues to be Not-Europe/GB, with this newly labelled "Vallahan" being Not-Norway, so I expect a warrior race of fantasy Vikings. https://twitter.com/NightbloomWitch/status/1377447093497827329?s=20

#ACOTAR

"I'd always been broken and dark inside...The lines between me and [Amarantha] had long since blurred."

I am still Big Mad about Feyre's dark mirror being killed in the first book. There are a very few stories where the Shadow character died in https://twitter.com/NightbloomWitch/status/1379041744000446466?s=20

#acotar

the end and I thought it was handled appropriately; it's not a total deal-breaker for me, although I am getting increasingly sick of it.

The end of Book 1 felt much too soon and Amarantha did not get nearly enough development for it to work for me, however,

#acotar

if it is addressed as part of Feyre's trauma in this book and Amarantha still has a significant posthumous influence on the rest of the story, I may be appeased.

My gauntlet has been tossed.