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kimmy0__0's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
lighthearted
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
This book was a slow start for me. I'm not sure if it was just the idea of getting emotionally invested with Nesta or the character herself, but it took time for me to get into this one but when I did, it was awesome. I love the friendship between the Valkyries. I'm excited for the rest of the series! (If we ever get them!)
Content Warnings
Graphic: Grief, Blood, Body horror, Death, Alcohol, Misogyny, Sexual content, and Murder
Moderate: Rape, Child abuse, and Sexual violence
Minor: Suicidal thoughts, Injury/Injury detail, Physical abuse, Child abuse, Pregnancy, and Torture
stellacar's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content
Moderate: Rape
emsteps's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence, Rape, and Torture
laurenbeetea's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Alcoholism, Murder, Rape, Physical abuse, Kidnapping, Gore, Domestic abuse, Violence, Torture, Pregnancy, Death of parent, Suicidal thoughts, and Sexual harassment
anabelkruse's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content and Violence
Moderate: Sexual violence, Rape, and Alcoholism
choffman21's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
inspiring
fast-paced
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content
Minor: Rape
obell98's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
hopeful
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: War, Violence, Sexual content, and Alcoholism
Moderate: Rape, Sexual violence, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Physical abuse, and Sexism
infusedchai's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
easily the best book of the series. the others felt kinda meh :/ but i am so glad i held out for this one. this audiobook was especially good because the narrator was amazing. nesta they could never make me hate you. if you hate nesta you just hate complex female characters tbh
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood and Physical abuse
Moderate: Rape, Suicidal thoughts, Sexual assault, and Murder
that_1_readergurl's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
hopeful
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Final Review
Housekeeping!
1. MY REVIEWS CONTAIN SPOILERS!!! PLEASE TREAD WITH CAUTION!
2. Due to the nature of this book, for me to write an accurate and thoughtful review, I must talk about triggering topics. These may include:d depression, eating disorders, murder, sexual assault, rape, death of child and parent, child and domestic abuse, suicide, alcholism, and possibly more. I will include trigger warnings before I talk about these topics, as well.
3. It is VERY important to remember that not everyone's experiences are the same. Therefore, my perspectives and opinions on Nesta's PTSD, depression, and eating disorder (more specifically depression and EDs) and how she is judged for it based on my own experiences are in no way reflective of anyone else's opinions, perspectives, or experiences other than my own.
4. I usually either write a review chronologically OR in my 3 part review way. HOWEVER, because the issues I want to talk about are so important I will be doing something else entirely
5. I read Wings and Embers (the deleted scene from ACOMAF) and MIGHT mention stuff from that in this review.
6. I write my reviews as if I am talking to someone. Basically it will sound somewhat ramble-y and excited.
Review!
The Issues I Have With The Treatment of Eating Disorders and Depression (TW: EDs, depression)
The issue I have is not so much related to how Sarah J Maas herself handles it as it is related to how the Inner Circle handles it.
First of all, they are putting Nesta down for drinking herself into oblivion after she experienced some serious trauma. I see this as hypocritical and callous, seeing as when she was Under the Mountain, Feyre did the same thing after her second trial by losing herself in the faerie wine to forget. Again, Nesta is doing the same. Thing. It is not fair to put Nesta down when you didn't put Feyre down for it. There is a similar situation for weight loss. Feyre lost a lot of weight after the experiences Under the Mountain, and Nesta lost a lot of weight after her experiences during the war. Again: it is not fair of them to put Nesta down for similar things that have happened to Feyre.
The caveat to this: Nesta is being positively awful to everyone on top of this. HOWEVER. As someone who uses biting words to hide harsh emotions, I understand what she is doing. This is another one of her coping mechanisms. And it is NEVER ok to put someone down for their coping mechanisms. Yes, you can help them find a better coping mechanism, but please don't put them down for it. It does. Not. Help. And Rhys getting so fucking angry when Nesta told Feyre that the baby would kill her...omfg like bro I love you but y'all should have told her. I'll come back to that later but that pissed me off on another level.
I'm not going to comment on the sex thing because I don't really know what to say and I don't want to like mistreat it or anything.
Rest of Review
To start...We finally got Nesta's Cauldron POV!!!!! It was so interesting to see how she felt and like what happened through her eyes. To see how she stole what she did from the Cauldron.
Moving on, I already talked about how I feel about them forcing Nesta and putting her down the way they did. It wasn't good. HOWEVER. Something I did enjoy about this section: how it is CANON that Nesta reads smut books (this gets better and better as the book goes on).
TWs FOR THIS SECTION: DOMESTIC/CHILD ABUSE; RAPE
Ok, so. I want to talk about how SJM treated Nesta's trauma and her growth and journey throughout the book, starting with the fact that Nesta went from hating the fact that Feyre made her own family to basically creating a mini-family of her own with two sisters, Emerie and Gwyn. They all have some serious trauma. Emerie watched her father beat her mother and he then turned his fists to her; Gwyn was raped by a Hybern commander and then had to face the idea of it continuing with other Fae; Nesta was turned into something other and then forced to live with this magic roiling inside her; and (this is going to sound so cheesy but its true) through all that, they faced it together. Gwyn left the library and went to Windhaven for Nesta. They trained together, became Valkyries together, lived through the Blood Rite together, read SMUT BOOKS together (which I love I need someone who will read smut books with me *sobbing*).
Nesta's personal journey was very inspiring too. We see her reconcile with her sisters (or at least Feyre) and become powerful and strong (although also willing to give up her power so that Feyre could live).
SPEAKING OF! We all know that Rhys is my favorite person ever in this series (or possibly ever literally). HOWEVER. I got SO pissed at him AND Feyre (more so Rhys tho). I want to talk about what is possibly the worst decision Rhys has ever made and how the Inner Circle, Feyre, and Nesta all handled it. I'm going to talk a LOT about Rhys in this section so if you don't want to hear anything bad about him you might want to skip ahead in the review. 🚨this emoji indicates the section where I will be talking bad about Rhys
🚨🚨🚨
So we all know that Rhys decided to NOT tell Feyre that the child in her belly would kill her because she didn't have the proper birthing canal. Now, this is a decision that I hated with a passion. I absolutely despised it. Feyre HAS A RIGHT TO KNOW that she will die in childbirth, ESPECIALLY with the bargain she made with Rhys that they only leave this world together. Now, I understand that the Inner Circle was bound by RHys's order to not tell Feyre, but like...c'mon Rhys just fucking tell her. Because I'll say it again: she. Has. A Right. To. KNOW.
Now. I will say, Nesta did not handle it well either. She acted out of selfishness...but at least she told her! AND! Rhys had ZERO right to say, "Get Nesta out of this city. Before I fucking kill her." That made my stomach roll. Like bro are you fucking serious? I legit could not believe Rhys for this. Honestly this is probably the most pissed off I've been with him since book one, and ugh ugh ugh it was just disgusting in my opinion.
Final note on this point: Feyre's reaction and forgiveness. I feel like the characterization for this was WAY off. Feyre and Rhys have a mutual respect and trust for each other, and I think that Feyre would have seen what Rhys did as a violation of that respect and trust. I don't think Feyre would have forgiven Rhys as easily as she did, and, while Feyre does deserve an apology from Nesta, she ALSO deserves an apology from Rhys.
🚨🚨🚨
Rhys Slander OVER. That hurt to write, but it had to be done. Moving on, what also pissed me off:
Them NOT EXPLAINING THE ERIS AND MOR THING LIKE COME THE FUCK ON SARAH. PLEASE SARAH I AM BEGGING YOU I NEED EXPLANATION.
ALSO ELAIN I HATED HER IN THIS BOOK CAN SOMEONE GO KILL HER FOR ME PLEASE?????
Things I liked:
- the HOUSE omg that was so cute
- the fact that Nesta canonically reads smut
- Nesta being like Enalius that was great.
ALRIGHT THEORY TIME!!! 🚨🚨🚨SPOILERS FOR CRESCENT CITY (idk which book I'm just going off what my friend told me) AND KINGDOM OF ASH!!!!!🚨🚨🚨
I'm going to go from most light-hearted theory to least light-hearted theory.
1: Gwyn and Az are mates. This is a theory that I half got off the internet and half got from my own ideas. My theory is that they are mates, and Gwyn knows, but Az can't realize it because he's too caught up with Elain.
2. The Bone Carver shows you the next person to kill you. This is probably my most (and least) rocky theory to date. The Bone Carver showed Feyre Nyx, even though he didn't kill her, and showed Rhys Jurian, even though Jurian didn't kill him; the theory is a stretch because of it. HOWEVER, I have some ideas that could verify this. I think the Bone Carver didn't account for Nesta either know how to/being willing to give up her power to save Feyre, Nyx, and Rhys. Therefore, he still thought they would die. Then, Rhys. Technically, the Cauldron killed Rhys, right? But we know that the Cauldron's voice can only be heard by those Made, right? Therefore, it wouldn't make sense for Rhys to be able to hear it...so the Bone Carver showed Rhys the thing most recently made by the Cauldron: Jurian! Idk it either makes sense or it doesnt and it seems like kind of a stretch.
3. We are getting an ACOTAR/TOG crossover soon!!! At least, this is my belief. Sarah J Maas has in no way confirmed any theories on this are true.
So. First things first: we KNOW that the worlds overlap and a crossover is possible. Bryce literally fell into the ACOTAR world. Aelin flew over BOTH worlds and Rhys even slowed her down enough to make it so that she wouldn't die.
On that note: this is MENTIONED in ACOSF - they talk about a red star that rattled Rhys. I don't think Sarah J Maas would have mentioned this if it wasn't going to be of SOME significance later on. We ALSO know that Merril believes that there are 26 worlds; there are 26 strings on the harp. We don't yet know what would happen if someone created a melody...but what if they did? Could it take us to other worlds? Perhaps.
I will need to keep fleshing out these theories and I'll get back to y'all on this, but I think it is very possible that we will get an ACOTAR/TOG crossover soon - perhaps even in ACOTAR 6? Idk, tell me what you think!
🚨🚨🚨OTHER BOOKS SPOILERS OVER🚨🚨🚨
PLEASE COMMENT YOUR THOUGHTS ON MY THEORIES! IF YOU HAVE ANY IDEAS I WOULD LOVE TO HEAR THEM!!!
Conclusion
In conclusion, I did very much enjoy this book. Nesta's journey was great, I got more info on my theories, the smut...well lets just say I understand why this book is NA instead of YA lmao. However there were some things that bothered me. Overall, this was a 4 star book in a 5 star series!
My series rating order:
ACOFAS - 3.75 stars
ACOTAR - 4 stars
ACOSF - 4 stars
ACOWAR - 5 stars!!!!!
ACOMAF - 5 starssssaslkdfhsoaiegpon!!!!!(legit my favorite book ever)
As of June 2
4 star rating!!! Review to come!
Housekeeping!
1. MY REVIEWS CONTAIN SPOILERS!!! PLEASE TREAD WITH CAUTION!
2. Due to the nature of this book, for me to write an accurate and thoughtful review, I must talk about triggering topics. These may include:d depression, eating disorders, murder, sexual assault, rape, death of child and parent, child and domestic abuse, suicide, alcholism, and possibly more. I will include trigger warnings before I talk about these topics, as well.
3. It is VERY important to remember that not everyone's experiences are the same. Therefore, my perspectives and opinions on Nesta's PTSD, depression, and eating disorder (more specifically depression and EDs) and how she is judged for it based on my own experiences are in no way reflective of anyone else's opinions, perspectives, or experiences other than my own.
4. I usually either write a review chronologically OR in my 3 part review way. HOWEVER, because the issues I want to talk about are so important I will be doing something else entirely
5. I read Wings and Embers (the deleted scene from ACOMAF) and MIGHT mention stuff from that in this review.
6. I write my reviews as if I am talking to someone. Basically it will sound somewhat ramble-y and excited.
Review!
The Issues I Have With The Treatment of Eating Disorders and Depression (TW: EDs, depression)
The issue I have is not so much related to how Sarah J Maas herself handles it as it is related to how the Inner Circle handles it.
First of all, they are putting Nesta down for drinking herself into oblivion after she experienced some serious trauma. I see this as hypocritical and callous, seeing as when she was Under the Mountain, Feyre did the same thing after her second trial by losing herself in the faerie wine to forget. Again, Nesta is doing the same. Thing. It is not fair to put Nesta down when you didn't put Feyre down for it. There is a similar situation for weight loss. Feyre lost a lot of weight after the experiences Under the Mountain, and Nesta lost a lot of weight after her experiences during the war. Again: it is not fair of them to put Nesta down for similar things that have happened to Feyre.
The caveat to this: Nesta is being positively awful to everyone on top of this. HOWEVER. As someone who uses biting words to hide harsh emotions, I understand what she is doing. This is another one of her coping mechanisms. And it is NEVER ok to put someone down for their coping mechanisms. Yes, you can help them find a better coping mechanism, but please don't put them down for it. It does. Not. Help. And Rhys getting so fucking angry when Nesta told Feyre that the baby would kill her...omfg like bro I love you but y'all should have told her. I'll come back to that later but that pissed me off on another level.
I'm not going to comment on the sex thing because I don't really know what to say and I don't want to like mistreat it or anything.
Rest of Review
To start...We finally got Nesta's Cauldron POV!!!!! It was so interesting to see how she felt and like what happened through her eyes. To see how she stole what she did from the Cauldron.
Moving on, I already talked about how I feel about them forcing Nesta and putting her down the way they did. It wasn't good. HOWEVER. Something I did enjoy about this section: how it is CANON that Nesta reads smut books (this gets better and better as the book goes on).
TWs FOR THIS SECTION: DOMESTIC/CHILD ABUSE; RAPE
Ok, so. I want to talk about how SJM treated Nesta's trauma and her growth and journey throughout the book, starting with the fact that Nesta went from hating the fact that Feyre made her own family to basically creating a mini-family of her own with two sisters, Emerie and Gwyn. They all have some serious trauma. Emerie watched her father beat her mother and he then turned his fists to her; Gwyn was raped by a Hybern commander and then had to face the idea of it continuing with other Fae; Nesta was turned into something other and then forced to live with this magic roiling inside her; and (this is going to sound so cheesy but its true) through all that, they faced it together. Gwyn left the library and went to Windhaven for Nesta. They trained together, became Valkyries together, lived through the Blood Rite together, read SMUT BOOKS together (which I love I need someone who will read smut books with me *sobbing*).
Nesta's personal journey was very inspiring too. We see her reconcile with her sisters (or at least Feyre) and become powerful and strong (although also willing to give up her power so that Feyre could live).
SPEAKING OF! We all know that Rhys is my favorite person ever in this series (or possibly ever literally). HOWEVER. I got SO pissed at him AND Feyre (more so Rhys tho). I want to talk about what is possibly the worst decision Rhys has ever made and how the Inner Circle, Feyre, and Nesta all handled it. I'm going to talk a LOT about Rhys in this section so if you don't want to hear anything bad about him you might want to skip ahead in the review. 🚨this emoji indicates the section where I will be talking bad about Rhys
🚨🚨🚨
So we all know that Rhys decided to NOT tell Feyre that the child in her belly would kill her because she didn't have the proper birthing canal. Now, this is a decision that I hated with a passion. I absolutely despised it. Feyre HAS A RIGHT TO KNOW that she will die in childbirth, ESPECIALLY with the bargain she made with Rhys that they only leave this world together. Now, I understand that the Inner Circle was bound by RHys's order to not tell Feyre, but like...c'mon Rhys just fucking tell her. Because I'll say it again: she. Has. A Right. To. KNOW.
Now. I will say, Nesta did not handle it well either. She acted out of selfishness...but at least she told her! AND! Rhys had ZERO right to say, "Get Nesta out of this city. Before I fucking kill her." That made my stomach roll. Like bro are you fucking serious? I legit could not believe Rhys for this. Honestly this is probably the most pissed off I've been with him since book one, and ugh ugh ugh it was just disgusting in my opinion.
Final note on this point: Feyre's reaction and forgiveness. I feel like the characterization for this was WAY off. Feyre and Rhys have a mutual respect and trust for each other, and I think that Feyre would have seen what Rhys did as a violation of that respect and trust. I don't think Feyre would have forgiven Rhys as easily as she did, and, while Feyre does deserve an apology from Nesta, she ALSO deserves an apology from Rhys.
🚨🚨🚨
Rhys Slander OVER. That hurt to write, but it had to be done. Moving on, what also pissed me off:
Them NOT EXPLAINING THE ERIS AND MOR THING LIKE COME THE FUCK ON SARAH. PLEASE SARAH I AM BEGGING YOU I NEED EXPLANATION.
ALSO ELAIN I HATED HER IN THIS BOOK CAN SOMEONE GO KILL HER FOR ME PLEASE?????
Things I liked:
- the HOUSE omg that was so cute
- the fact that Nesta canonically reads smut
- Nesta being like Enalius that was great.
ALRIGHT THEORY TIME!!! 🚨🚨🚨SPOILERS FOR CRESCENT CITY (idk which book I'm just going off what my friend told me) AND KINGDOM OF ASH!!!!!🚨🚨🚨
I'm going to go from most light-hearted theory to least light-hearted theory.
1: Gwyn and Az are mates. This is a theory that I half got off the internet and half got from my own ideas. My theory is that they are mates, and Gwyn knows, but Az can't realize it because he's too caught up with Elain.
2. The Bone Carver shows you the next person to kill you. This is probably my most (and least) rocky theory to date. The Bone Carver showed Feyre Nyx, even though he didn't kill her, and showed Rhys Jurian, even though Jurian didn't kill him; the theory is a stretch because of it. HOWEVER, I have some ideas that could verify this. I think the Bone Carver didn't account for Nesta either know how to/being willing to give up her power to save Feyre, Nyx, and Rhys. Therefore, he still thought they would die. Then, Rhys. Technically, the Cauldron killed Rhys, right? But we know that the Cauldron's voice can only be heard by those Made, right? Therefore, it wouldn't make sense for Rhys to be able to hear it...so the Bone Carver showed Rhys the thing most recently made by the Cauldron: Jurian! Idk it either makes sense or it doesnt and it seems like kind of a stretch.
3. We are getting an ACOTAR/TOG crossover soon!!! At least, this is my belief. Sarah J Maas has in no way confirmed any theories on this are true.
So. First things first: we KNOW that the worlds overlap and a crossover is possible. Bryce literally fell into the ACOTAR world. Aelin flew over BOTH worlds and Rhys even slowed her down enough to make it so that she wouldn't die.
On that note: this is MENTIONED in ACOSF - they talk about a red star that rattled Rhys. I don't think Sarah J Maas would have mentioned this if it wasn't going to be of SOME significance later on. We ALSO know that Merril believes that there are 26 worlds; there are 26 strings on the harp. We don't yet know what would happen if someone created a melody...but what if they did? Could it take us to other worlds? Perhaps.
I will need to keep fleshing out these theories and I'll get back to y'all on this, but I think it is very possible that we will get an ACOTAR/TOG crossover soon - perhaps even in ACOTAR 6? Idk, tell me what you think!
🚨🚨🚨OTHER BOOKS SPOILERS OVER🚨🚨🚨
PLEASE COMMENT YOUR THOUGHTS ON MY THEORIES! IF YOU HAVE ANY IDEAS I WOULD LOVE TO HEAR THEM!!!
Conclusion
In conclusion, I did very much enjoy this book. Nesta's journey was great, I got more info on my theories, the smut...well lets just say I understand why this book is NA instead of YA lmao. However there were some things that bothered me. Overall, this was a 4 star book in a 5 star series!
My series rating order:
ACOFAS - 3.75 stars
ACOTAR - 4 stars
ACOSF - 4 stars
ACOWAR - 5 stars!!!!!
ACOMAF - 5 starssssaslkdfhsoaiegpon!!!!!(legit my favorite book ever)
As of June 2
4 star rating!!! Review to come!
Content Warnings
Minor: Child abuse and Rape
fridajosch's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
Content Warnings
Moderate: War, Alcoholism, Injury/Injury detail, Violence, Sexual violence, Sexual assault, Sexism, and Alcohol
Minor: Domestic abuse and Rape