don’t think nesta storie is finished despite the happy ending. There’s a lot of unanswered questions about ending. Her connection to the mother and the dead trove. I still think she’s very powerful and surpasses Rys. I still think she’ll be an important character in the future books. Feel like her story is not finished yet.
I do hope that there is more to be learned and seen with Nesta, I just don't know that I still want to read it, considering all that happened, and my general lack of faith in the author.
I think you're right in that the Mother connection and the Trove leave a LOT left open. In the scene with the kelpie, when Nesta uses the Mask, there is a line where she says "she wouldn't raise thousands. Not yet." So that sounds like foreshadowing... she might command an army of the dead at some point? Which would be cool, except that they also mention that anyone else who has used the mask couldn't take it off easily or maybe at all. (Although Nesta does, who's to say she could always do that, especially now that she doesn't have the major cauldron powers?) HOWEVER. SJM gets a lot of praise for her foreshadowing from the fandom, but I see just as many places where what looked like foreshadowing actually never materialized. Which leads me to believe that she really just drops dramatic lines and hints kind of willy-nilly, and picks what she wants to expand on later. In ACOFAS alone, there were sooo many things hinted at, that were either brushed aside altogether, like the Illyrian rebellion side plot, Feyre emphasizing fae period cycles (a lot of people thought that would come up with Nessian), etc. One issue with ACOSF, I think, is actually that ACOFAS existed. It sounds silly but I think SJM jumped the gun with some of the things she put into ACOFAS, and we know she went back to it, because there were edits made to the ACOSF teaser from the end of the novella. ACOFAS was trying to lay the groundwork for 3 more full-length books and that's a lot.
I would even argue that if we hadn't known what direction ACOSF was going from the publishing of FAS, people would have maybe been more receptive to ACOSF, because it all would have been new info, and we wouldn't have had 3 years to plot how Nesta was going to escape the Illyrian Mountains. (Lol. Just me?) Then again, maybe being smacked in the face with the intervention 3 years later would have made people angrier. (And note, not everyone is - some people def enjoyed ACOSF, and I ENVY them.)
I would LOVE to agree with you about Nesta still being more powerful than Rhys, but.. I think SJM has proven that Rhys is untouchable in the narrative. At this point, with him really being a dick to almost every single character by now, and facing no repercussions, he is really a bit of a Mary Sue. Tell me if you agree!
I think overall since we are told that the next full length books are going to focus on X characters, SJM is pretty much done with Nesta's main story. So any hints at remaining powers are likely left to future, unwritten conflicts. (Which yes, is kinda a bummer. But hey - fanfic exists!!)
I have to confess that it was actually someone on this hellsite that shared a quote from the Cauldron scene in Hybern about Nessian that brought me into all SJM books. I was like *stomps breaks*, who are THESE?? It sounded like a pairing right up my alley. Little did I know that they were far from an eatablished couple at that point, and of course, I got swept away with all the other stuff that happens in these books. So you could say I have been waiting a long time JUST for Nessian!!! So I would love more. I'll always want more. And in that sense, I hope you are right that Nesta is a part of the next books.
That was so long-winded! I never get asks! So thank you!!
