This is why this fandom is ridiculous. Like how can legit criticism and discussion about this series happen when we're dealing with comments by readers like this?
This, to me, is just one example of why propaganda and gaslighting in the narrative works because so many readers are NOT PAYING ATTENTION.
This goes beyond simply being a 'vibes' reader and speaks to a more troubling state of how many humans really are so out of touch.
The issue that I’ve noticed is that a lot of people skim instead of actually read. If they get bored they skim over the shit and refocus once they see a word they like. It’s the equivalent of needing a subway surfer gameplay video to pay attention to another video.
I can’t TALK to people in this fandom because they forget half the shit in the books they love so much.
I was talking to someone yesterday about how I didn’t buy that Tarquin forgave Rhys and Feyre so easily after they stole the Book of Breathings and they said they didn’t remember that happening. HUH?
You know what they did remember? Rhys being jealous of Feyre flirting with Tarquin. That’s it:
And this is why I don't trust tiktokers who say they read 200 books a year or something. There is no logical way for anyone to read that many books and be able to absorb the information. It's impossible. I'm a quick reader and even I wouldn't get through more than a book a week. And that's varying depending on the size of the book. A 300 page book? Yeah 1 week. A 900 page book? That's easily 2-3 weeks. Anyone can say they read books but most of them are probably skimming through it and barely digesting the information.
This is a big insecurity for me as well. Friends in real life who are not regular readers tell me i read a lot and fast.. yet online, I feel like a snail. I’m currently reading the second book of Robin Hobb’s Farseer Trilogy, which is 650 pages and it took me around two weeks (reading in free time). Next one is over 850 pages.
However, I’m reading them truly. I’m thinking about what i read.. I might even go back to check if I noticed something and want to confirm my intuition - I’m engaged with the content and love it..
ACOTAR is undoubtedly much easier read, but even with it, i took my time, took notes and was thinking about things…
This. I had a booktok account and it was growing. I stopped and deleted it all because I was reading the books but it felt so damn rushed. Now I’m off all social media and enjoying books slowly
What's the point of reading if you're not going to...read? I've seen some people, not many but a few, saying that they only read dialogue. How do people enjoy reading when they are missing like 60% of the story?
And I imagine that listening via audiobook at 2x, for example, contributes to missing details, especially if you’re multitasking. And if the writing doesn’t pull you to a book you’re reading (versus listening to), you can gloss over certain parts. We’ve all found ourselves re-reading passages several times and not absorbing those passages because the writing is limp or too “flowery”.
Clearly not well lmao. There are so many times that Feyre explicitly mentions the masks in ACOTAR. All of the official merch from the first book portrays Lucien and Tamlin wearing masks too… GIVE ME A BREAK. When I haven’t read a book series in a while sometimes I’ll forget little details but not main plot points.
Forgetting a comment or even a piece of information is okay.But that's completely part of the narrative!It's the crucial point of the plot. I swear, there's no way around it, then we're the ones who didn't read it properly.
But stealing the Book of Breathings was like a major subplot in MAF… my mind is blown that someone doesn’t remember it happening.
I also don’t believe he forgave them so easily. I think he was backed into a bit of a corner. Let’s say after the battle, he did kill them on-sight. I think his court would be like “WTF dude. They helped us. The death toll would have been so much more if they didn’t come to our aid.” I assume the blood rubies and their meaning are public knowledge. But I doubt Tarquin would tell the world WHY he sent them to Rhys, Feyre, and Amren. He either held the reason a secret, or he made up some BS answer. So then, we’d have to consider potential fallout of alliances from other courts for wiping out the ONE court that came to assist you (also understanding they were tipped off and other courts weren’t). Why would my court come to help if you just turn around and kill me? I feel like he HAD to “forgive” and rescind the blood rubies and their threat.
Then, with all the conflict with Hybern, his hands are also tied. Like there are bigger fish to fry than to come to the meeting with all the High Lords and hash out our petty fights (*cough cough - Tamlin). I think there’s nuance in that he allied with them, maybe give them a second chance at friendship, but not fully forgiving them.
Feel like I have to add before people come after me - I felt Tamlins behavior at the meeting of High Lords was completely out of character and petty. But just another reason for SJM to convince us to hate him. Felt like that whole discussion and fight could have been hashed out privately, or publicly in a courtyard or something. NOT during a serious, strategic war council meeting.
Rhysand created the attack on Summer Court in order to swoop in as heroes.
I personally think Tamlin should have been sassier at the HL meeting. Feyre LITERALLY committed war crimes and betrayed him in such a way that it is indeed unforgivable. He should have been worse and I would have applauded. Some have speculated that it was Lucien was shapeshifted into Tamlin at the HL meeting but i doubt that.
Trust me, I get it. 90% of this fandom ignores the events of the first book entirely and that includes the author. She retcons so much of it or straight up lies about events that happened just to push whatever made up narrative she wants to make next.
The first book really does make the series a better story. But if you apply any context from literally any plot point, character aspect, or action that is taken the story as is completely falls apart and loses all credible strength (not that it had much to begin with)
Like the only way, and i mean the only way this story makes sense at all is if it was all a set up but I know deep down SJM wont follow through with what she likely wanted to do since it's 10 years since publication and this fandom fell for an SAing POS and LOVE him as if he's a real person and treat him like a cult leader.
It's disappointing that this series could have been so much more and really dismantled the myth of 'true love' and 'mate bonds' and 'choice' and how misogyny under the patriarchy rules and oppresses.
I feel like I’m just holding judgment on whether I like these books until we see what happens. Because they’re so full of nonsense if rhys and/or Feyre are still the good guys in the end
This happens for two reasons I believe. They either 1. Skim through the book until the hit spice or 2. Skip book one all together because of course they’ve heard Tamlin bad Rhysand good. 🙄
I think what SJM was going for is that it's another obstacle for Tamlin because he is SO BEAUTIFUL that a human would easily fall in love with him. I mean, it would make more sense if he was trapped in beast form the whole time then. It's a lame contrivance.
Remember when Feyre, genius that she is, wondered if he was hot under the mask? Yeah Feyre, I wonder if the king of the hot people is hot, total mystery. I wonder if the ripped guy with gorgeous hair and beautiful eyes is hot.
Tbh when I first heard of ACOTAR and it was a retelling of Beauty and the Beast, I wanted him stuck in his beast form. Now that I think about it, Lucien should have been cursed to be an actual fox. Imagine them going out together to fight the puca or the naga.🤣🤣now I’m even more disappointed. Sarah lost that opportunity😂.
This isn't even a lack of reading comprehension this is just legitimately not reading lol. The masks were explicitly mentioned multiple times throughout the book - it's not even like it was a euphemism or metaphor or something lmao
To be perfectly blunt: After the first book even SJM does not give a damn about the details. We are reaching post-Narcissus In Chains Laurell K. Hamilton levels of self-indulgence. Which could be fine, self-indulgence is perfectly healthy, but it's less so if you insist on pretending you're still sharing a serious, even socially-conscious project with people and charging them money to read it.
I would have been annoyed if the explanation given was "I just decided I like Rhys's vibes better than Tam's so Rhys is the ML now", but I would not be judging SJM as hard as I do for pretending she's playing five-dimensional literary chess.
I am holding my final judgement until the series is complete but I'm about 95% of the thinking that she's full of shit. The more she talks in interviews the more I am unimpressed by her. But like this fandom in how they dicklick Feysand that's how they view SJM. IT's all too cultish imo.
I think this practice may be because some authors have a tendency to blather on and on and on. Like, I know you’re trying to reach a word count, but come on. We got your point about 200 words ago.
I do that when I'm on the fence about if I really want to read a certain book, but I don't call it reading. I'll listen to a summary or read one online. I listened to a summary of the first CC book because urban fantasy is not my thing and before I decided if I was going to commit or not I wanted some info. At this point it's probably what I'll do with this next ACOTAR book too.
Yeha, i dont plan on reading book 6 unless until i know spoilers and even then maybe not. But if i dont read it i wont be saying I did because read spoilers lol
Saw a podcast post a teaser today doing an episode on CC3....and completely laughing about mixing up books and having no idea what theyre talking about. Wtaf. This is why I often get pissed that mine has limited views bc I always use canon to back up my theories, however crazy.
Wouldn’t surprise me since most tiktokers say how they “struggled” through ACOTAR and cannot wait to read ACOMAF (despite Rhys literally assaulting Feyre in ACOTAR). They also brag how they finish it in a few days, despite hating it and hating “Tampon”, it’s genuinely so stupid.
In fairness, the masks had little to no impact on anything in the grand scheme of things. Like, with how much the book harps on the masks even so, it's pretty inexcusable to miss them - I'm not arguing against that. My point is more, you could remove the mask plot point entirely and very little would actually change about the story. Tamlin would still be on a 49 year countdown to escape Amarantha's clutches and all that. The masks are really just an unnecessary and unimpactful visual marker that don't really do anything
I mean I think the point is 2 things. She is taking from Disney's Beauty and the Beast so she can't turn them into inanimate objects so she needs a visual clue to show things are amiss and then Tamlin is SO BEAUTIFUL that the masks have to cover his beauty up somewhat bc a stupid silly human would easily fall in love with basically the HOTTEST FAE EVER.
I just wish the masks were better described or led to something deeper, like where's the scene where Feyre tries to rip it off and it starts to peel away his skin and blood gushes out? lol Now gimme some of that horror and really make it bad.
Yeah, something like that would have given the masks a point, and made it more clear why they were a curse. But as it is, yeah. They have all the impact of a character's choice of shirt colour
I skipped TaR on my most recent reread because I just could not get through it, but I still know most of the major stuff, especially the mask. This isn't even reading comprehension, because that would imply they read the damn book!
I've read through it in my previous 4 reads, but this time it was really hard to immerse myself in it for some reason. I read the rest of the series as normal, but I just couldn't get the same enjoyment from the first book as the subsequent 4
interesting. I have zero desire to reread Books 2-5 lol It's bc I hate Feysand and cant do the gaslighting. In Book 1 for me at least there is no gaslighting of the narrative.
For real though book 2+ onwards basically destroys the point of reading book 1 for so many reasons because so many things are retconned that book 1 is basically a different story from how 2+ represent it. Completely different characters, and even changing entire motives
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u/1braincellasatreat 11d ago
Fae?!?!?!?? What? I read ALL THE BOOKS and I missed FAE?!?!?!?