Bri's Lovely Little Library

Since I’m already seeing people say things like “How can you hear about SJM’s struggles and all that she poured into ACOSF/Nesta, and still hate that book/Nesta” after what she discussed on the Call Her Daddy podcast.

I would like to remind everyone that you can have sympathy for SJM and still not like ACOSF/Nesta.

Just because SJM was going through personal issues during the writing of ACOSF DOES NOT make ACOSF/Nesta exempt of criticism. This doesn’t just go for ACOTAR and the rest of SJM’s catalog, it goes for every book in existence. Every book is allowed to be criticized. Whatever the author was going through while writing it doesn’t change that.

You can like Nesta/ACOSF all you want, just like I can dislike her/ACOSF all I want.

the one who purposely destroyed his reputation to protect his people while he was held as a sex slave for 50 years (given The Files I can't help thinking of this one, especially since 39% of trafficking victims in 2022 were men and boys [United Nations, 2024, page 39])

the one who was emotionally, verbally, and financially abused by her sister for 5+ years and then physically and verbally abused by her fiancé

the one literally sold by her father then tortured and nearly killed when she managed to get out of it

the product of rape who refuses to even associate with his heritage at least in part because of the systemic oppression in place that allowed it to happen

the other product of rape who may have gotten revenge but still seems to struggle with feeling accepted

the one presumably abused by his father from childhood, was forced to watch as his love was beheaded by said father for loving him, then had to flee his home before ending up working for a guy who also abused him

the one who watched her twin sister be beheaded before being raped by her killer

the one whose family wants to steal her birthright and lives in a society that would rather see her dead than successful

No, it was:

the one who was the main abuser for one of the people above and verbally abused others on the list

the one who didn't make any changes to her behavior until she was forced to

the one whose behavior is seemingly excused — by either herself, the narrative, or the audience — because she herself was a victim (To be clear: I recognize that she's a victim. But that does not excuse her actions or absolve her of guilt.)

the one who never actually apologized for any of her actions except for a few specific instances

the one who is the author's self-insert

SF is very much written in a way that makes it seem like Nesta is “fixed” now. She has a good relationship with her sisters now. Everything is fine. She doesn’t even need to apologize for the years of abuse she put Feyre though! Saving her life is enough. Let’s ignore the fact that Feyre saved Nesta’s life countless times while being the victim of her abuse.

And SJM didn’t build up Nesta for years. She didn’t build her up at all until FaS. She gave Nesta a taste of a redemption during her last appearance in TaR then completely undoes it for almost the entirety of MaF and WaR.

Then Nesta doesn’t even fix anything herself. She only changes — like always — when she either has no other choice or when it’s too late for anyone without plot armor.

Baby sister in danger? Look at Nesta saving the day! Except she didn’t give a shit about Feyre until this point . How do I know? She spent the entire book without offering once to try and help find a cure until Feyre was already dead. Oh, also she says in her internal monologue that she didn’t care Feyre was abused by Tamlin. At least until she faced Tamlin’s anger for two seconds.

the one who purposely destroyed his reputation to protect his people while he was held as a sex slave for 50 years (given The Files I can't help thinking of this one, especially since 39% of trafficking victims in 2022 were men and boys [United Nations, 2024, page 39])

the one who was emotionally, verbally, and financially abused by her sister for 5+ years and then physically and verbally abused by her fiancé

the one literally sold by her father then tortured and nearly killed when she managed to get out of it

the product of rape who refuses to even associate with his heritage at least in part because of the systemic oppression in place that allowed it to happen

the other product of rape who may have gotten revenge but still seems to struggle with feeling accepted

the one presumably abused by his father from childhood, was forced to watch as his love was beheaded by said father for loving him, then had to flee his home before ending up working for a guy who also abused him

the one who watched her twin sister be beheaded before being raped by her killer

the one whose family wants to steal her birthright and lives in a society that would rather see her dead than successful

No, it was:

the one who was the main abuser for one of the people above and verbally abused others on the list

the one who didn't make any changes to her behavior until she was forced to

the one whose behavior is seemingly excused — by either herself, the narrative, or the audience — because she herself was a victim (To be clear: I recognize that she's a victim. But that does not excuse her actions or absolve her of guilt.)

the one who never actually apologized for any of her actions except for a few specific instances

the one who is the author's self-insert

— evajacks

like/reblog if you save/use.