feysand's bitch

STARTING OFF, feyre immediately confessing she was the one who killed the wolf when questioned by a beast. looked directly into his eyes too, no hesitation. many people would be scared here.

feyre showing compassion and empathy to a creature that she was brought up hating. one that belonged to a kind that enslaved her people, while she was kidnapped by a faerie currently. in his last moments, she chose to comfort him and show him kindness and that he was cared for.

feyre clocking tamlin and lucien after tamlin bit her the night before. "two faerie pigs wallowing in their own filth." WELL, SAY THAT QUEEN!

rhys goes to feyre for some sense of reprieve after being tortured and raped by amarantha. he's exhausted, and feyre can sense that, even though he has his guard up and has been a prick to her, she can still sense that there is something more laying beneath the surface. a part of her wants to jab back at him, and she easily could, but she feels an understanding between her and rhysand at this point. even if she doesn't like what he's done, feyre knows it's been for a larger purpose and she can see that being utm has taken a toll on him. FEYCOMPASSION! FEYEMPATHY!

i can't possibly sit here and list all the moments that show feyre's sensitive, compassionate nature. HOWEVER, this one will always get me. feyre knows what it's like to go hungry, to have no money to feed yourself and your family, and she goes out of her way to give the water wraith all of the jewelry she has on her. after, when tamlin is uppity about it, she stands by her decision to help the wraith out.

feyre all of acomaf is grappling with her ptsd from being utm (and her relationship with tamlin) this scene, where it really hits her and she's able to say it out loud, is so gripping to me. she's processing her choices under the mountain here, how she had to kill those two fae to save prythian. also, moments before, she is processing tamlin's lack of action under the mountain and how he reacted to her dying after, and the hurt that was caused by tamlin centering himself in her own trauma. here, cassian (and rhys) shows understanding to feyre that validates her experience.

this really encapsulates feyre's uniqueness. she's not just one thing. she's multifaceted, and layered. she's not some quippy, sword-slinging, and brash character. but she's not a soft, delicate, primrose either. it also has a seed of the loneliness and isolation she has experienced in her life before finding a home with the inner circle.

FEYRE KILLING THE ATTOR. WELL YES!!! WEDDINGS, GRADUATIONS, FUNERALS. EVERYONE KNOWS THIS SONG!

AND THE ULTIMATE MOTHER MOMENT! when this book came out and i read this, i sat at the edge of my seat, GAGGED and i was impatiently waiting for MONTHSSSS! THE ENEMIES SHE MADE WITH THIS DECISION! in the words of beyonce, YOU KNOW YOU THAT BITCH WHEN YOU CAUSE ALL THIS CONVERSATION!

rhysand: too bad. anyway, here's my second and third in command, both women. and here's my war general and my spymaster, both illyrian men.

hewn city: we won't submit to you if you keep them.

rhysand: then you'll be banned from velaris.

the fandom: OH MY GOD RHYSAND DOESN'T CARE ABOUT THE PEOPLE OF HEWN CITY, HE'S A BAD LEADER!!!

illyrians: women are beneath us, they don't deserve their wings or to be warriors.

rhysand: actually, women can be warriors if they choose to be, and wing-clipping is now illegal and punishable under the laws of my court.

rhysand: *gets kidnapped for 50 years.*

illyrians: *go back to wing-clipping and breaking the law.*

the fandom: OH MY GOD RHYSAND DOESN'T CARE ABOUT ILLYRIAN WOMEN AND HE DOES NOTHING TO STOP WING-CLIPPING FROM HAPPENING!!

The main criticism I have for sjm’s writing (bc some of you act like she’s the worst writer to ever exist which is sooooo LOL to me but whatever) is how she approached Nesta in HOFAS. No I don’t like acosf, and I think the book could’ve been way better than what it was but I think Sarah went into it with the idea of I’m going to show Nesta’s trauma, give you the pov of someone who doesn’t like Rhys (bc as someone who loves him, that perspective intrigued her), and introduce the plot that is to unfold in the remaining books. Some may think that’s too gracious of me but if you think about it that way and read acosf she essentially hits all of those points. Whether I like the book or not, it did what she had seemed to set out to do. Liking it or not does not make her a bad writer, you just didn’t like the direction she took it. I didn’t, therefore it’s my least favorite book. It’s that simple.

However with HOFAS, she lost me with Nesta once again. By the end of acosf I thought ok, this was a great turning point for her character and she seems like she could really become a better sister to not only Feyre, who again still deserves an apology, but also Elain. I mean she literally called her a fucking dog in a fit of anger when Elain was trying to extend a hand to her, and then never apologized. But in HOFAS, while yes her perception was from Bryce’s POV, she was STILL shit talking Rhys and Feyre. To Azriel and a fucking stranger. For NO reason. I felt so much whiplash when I read that because I just left with this feeling that this lady is never going to learn from her mistakes and she’ll never truly feel remorse for how she treats the sisters, the one who kept them alive, and the one who stood by her through everything.

Something that I feel a lot of Nesta stans gloss over when discussing her treatment of Feyre is that she explicitly states that when she hears the voices in her head criticizing her and telling her she’s worthless, it’s Nesta’s voice she hears…because Nesta was the one who used those words to cut her down, all because she was bitter that Feyre was the one who stood up and took care of the family. She felt undeserved resentment because she didn’t do what Feyre could. As someone who had a mother that treated me the way Nesta treats Feyre, and as someone who is an older sister and would never in my life speak to my sister that way because I actually love her, I cannot get over this without some sort of sincere apology. And Feyre never got one. Women in this fandom will use the “I’ve said awful things to my sister too” as an excuse and I’m sorry but that’s massive cope.

So basically I don’t hate Nesta, I think she still has apologies that she needs to give especially to Feyre. Until that happens though, I as a reader cannot forgive her poor behavior, and HOFAS cemented that for me. In that book she doesn’t appear to have made a lot of progress that I thought we would see post acosf, and I hope we see more of it in Elain’s book or in the final book. I don’t need her to kiss Rhys’s ass, but I do expect her to show respect and love for her younger sister, who again, never did anything to warrant the abuse that Nesta inflicted on her. This series is still ongoing so we could see more change with her as time goes on, but at this point in the story I can’t grant her a whole lot of grace.

I think a lot of people don’t realize that Nesta and Elain, and I’m not saying this to be rude, I am stating the facts, are not actual FMCs of this series. Just because they get one POV in one book, it does not make them co-leads of the series. This series is Feyre’s story, and her sisters are getting perspectives because, yes sjm wanted to expand on them as characters, but to also fulfill a prophecy that was alluded to in acomaf. Why else would they have been turned Fae? It’s very simple lol. But again that’s another convo.

“azriel is canonically the most attractive in acotar” “lucien is the mosy handsome in acotar” “floptron3000 is the most beautiful in acotar” when you all know deep down it’s papa rhys who was not only described as the most beautiful man feyre has ever seen (but a lot of #yall don’t listen to whatever feyre has to say unless it suits your narrative). he’s also been described as very good looking by characters from other universes as well as had many in-universe acotar characters get flustered over him/be attracted to him.

“when bus driver gets his redemption arc and we find out he’s been hiding a secret and his evil facade was a mask the whole time!” we read that already and most people who say this are going to hell for being mor/feyre antis btw💗

“xyz is going to be high king!” not in my world. not in the world i’m living in…

the people want rhyscharm, rhysbeauty, rhysimpact for their faves so bad. no wonder they keep basing their faves personalities/backstories/arc predictions off of him

meanwhile, half of these people act like they hate rhys and yet look at the material they conjure up for their faves … a lot of people do this with feyre too stealing her traits/aesthetics/powers/plot points while disregarding her importance in her own series.

Not like, “OMG MY SON IS MY LITTLE BOYFRIEND NO WOMAN WILL BE ENOUGH FOR HIM” Boy Mom