#sarah j maas

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rhysands-rightknee:

just this whole ass reddit post analyzing Eris Vanserra.

“Eris is a dreamer, but there are no stars in his world.”

UPDATE :: The next book reviews are….

  • The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkin Gilman

It was on my long list of to be reviewed books, mostly because it’s one of my favorites. The books I’ve already read are actually taking me longer to review since I have to go back and read them, but someone in my inbox told me I should review it so it’s the first on my list now to review.

  • The Tell-Tale Heart by Edgar Allen Poe

Another short that I absolutely loved, so why not bundle my two favorites to review.

  • A Court of Thorns and Roses Series (1-3) by Sarah J. Maas

I read the series last summer and I have to revisit my thoughts of the series, but I did immensely enjoy them. I’m not reviewing the last book, A Court of Silver Flames, because I haven’t read it, yet and I’m sorta hesitating until the next book is released (Mostly because I hear it might be around Azrael, so might as well bundle the two books together).

  • Throne of Glass Series (1-7) by Sarah J. Maas

literally just finished the last book yesterday and while I did review the first one and wasn’t all that excited to read the rest of the books, I have to say I was pleasantly surprised. I never doubted Sarah J. Maas (one of the few authors I like off of BookTok), but the first two books were an uphill battle to get through. Though the last books make me emotional unstable…I’ll just save the rest of my comments for the reviews.

Throne of Glass by Sarah J. Maas

[Originally published on my Medium page: link here]

I may or may not have a love-hate relationship with book series that holds over 3 books. Either I love the story from the first installment or I push through the first couple of books before I can actually admit that I’m obsessed or just wasted my time waiting for the epic moment that’ll convert me into a fan. I’ve heard a lot of great things about Sarah J. Maas and mostly it culminates in the thousands of TikTok’s that have praised all of her series (ACOTAR is on the “To Be Reviewed” List, while I still have to read the others). I wanted to start with Throne of Glass because it’s her earlier series and I’d like to think authors get better the more books they write. Might not want to judge this book too harshly; it is a young adult fantasy, which means a highly more subjective review.

Honestly, didn’t really like the book at first, most of the characters seemed too cliche and got an awkward vibe (which I will pass as new book jitters). I will say that the book grew on me.

Celaena Sardothien is not the typical heroine read about. She’s a trained assassin taken out of her prison sentence by the prince in order to compete with others to serve the king. That’s the plot, and it’s not half bad. In between the testing/competition, champions are mysteriously killed off and Calaena wonders what exactly is happening around her. I think the key element that made me cringe-smile was how unapologetically themselves the characters were; Dorian a playboy prince who dislikes his father, Calaena the assassin who is still very much a 17-year-old girl, and Chaol an honorable friend and solider. Prince Dorian and Captain Chaol bring forth the ever-important love triangle, which did not overpower the story — might hold off on that for the next book. I’ll say that as of now, I’m preferring Chaol over Dorian. While the main plot was to win the competition, I found the extensive amount of loose ends amusing. It started with a competition, then a murder mystery, and now we’re at a place that is not entirely safe, but better from where we started. I won’t spoil anything, but I’d love to see how every component concerning wyrdmarks and magic plays out later. As the first book to a long series, I will say it’s an okay introduction. We’ve covered the basics of what’s occurring, but Maas doesn’t give out as much information hence why I’m already ordering the 2nd book.

Read this book if the plotline interest you and you’d like to see what all the fuss is about over on BookTok, but I get the sense that the hype might be for things further along.

  • Rate: 3/5
  • Time: About 3–4 days
  • Book-shelf Worthy: I think I’m going to have to read the rest of them to see

Quoteworthy

My name is Celaena Sardothien. But it makes no difference if my name’s Celaena or Lillian or Bitch, because I’d still beat you, no matter what you call me.

Libraries were full of ideas — perhaps the most dangerous and powerful of all weapons

We all bear scars,… Mine just happen to be more visible than most.

We each survive in our own way.

aedionashryvers:@acotarnet event 13: antagonists → amarantha, the never-fading floweraedionashryvers:@acotarnet event 13: antagonists → amarantha, the never-fading floweraedionashryvers:@acotarnet event 13: antagonists → amarantha, the never-fading floweraedionashryvers:@acotarnet event 13: antagonists → amarantha, the never-fading flower

aedionashryvers:

@acotarnet event 13: antagonists → amarantha, the never-fading flower


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tog is not bad but it would have been 1000x better if Dorian and Chaol had made out at least once….

Just One Word March BPC - Day 9 - Passionate:Celaena from Throne of Glass by Sarah J Maas

Just One Word March BPC - Day 9 - Passionate:

Celaena from Throne of Glass by Sarah J Maas


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cozisaidso:

The Night Court is a hotbed of cronyism and definitely to its detriment. Cassian has been a “general” for hundreds of years and yet remains admittedly inept at political manoeuvring and socialising with anyone outside of his family; Azriel is repeatedly fed bad information and is so terrible at spying that he resorts to butchering people for information instead, and is extraordinarily racist against the Illyrians; Mor can’t interact with anyone from the Court of Nightmares without having PTSD flashbacks, and yet it’s seen as appropriate for keep sending her there as an ambassador; Feyre is 22, clueless of Prythian’s history, totally reliant on Rhys for biased information about their political neighbours, and after learning how to write 1 year ago I imagine her written communication is abysmal—I don’t even want to know how she manages anything related to maths—and yet “her word is law”; and Amren repeatedly displays a desire to blow up entire cities or engage in conquest and that’s just tolerated.

All of these lawmakers, these all-powerful members of his political Inner Circle, wrestle daily with unresolved trauma. Rhys does not have a single emotionally healthy person in charge. And when all of this untreated mental turmoil comes out as some atrocity or violation of the rights of others, it’s just ~shrugs~. Their own people, and in fact a lot of other people across Prythian, are accepted as collateral for their squabbles with other rulers, or as meaningless casualties of their temper tantrums. Because of the positions of power they hold, their trauma becomes everyone else’s problem, with 0 accountability—and boy do they make the most out of that. Unreal that they haven’t been invaded or overthrown at this point.

Rhys encourages the Velaris locals to ostracise the citizens of the Court of Nightmares—to refuse them goods and services, as a punishment because he dislikes their leader, as if this isn’t a powder keg of social unrest waiting to blow. He steals from and attacks their neighbours with his daemati powers, not to mention openly orchestrating a plot to destabilise a neighbour. He allows (his idea or no, it happened on his watch) low-income housing to be destroyed in Velaris just to make a point to his sister-in-law. He cooks up this image of himself as a villain for 500 years and then expects his contemporaries to just blithely believe him when he says “oh i’m a good guy actually”. He lies through his teeth about everything, even to his wife, and rather than make any attempt to bring Keir’s army onside, he instead actively makes personal enemies of the Court of Nightmares’ leaders and civilians. The law against wing-clipping in Illyria is not enforced (why was Emerie’s father not prosecuted? How can Rhys be powerless to stop the men clipping the women’s wings, yet maintain enough control over the Darkbringer army, even when the CoN locals actively hate him, to send them out to fight on his behalf? He is the most powerful High Lord in history, and yet the wing-clipping is completely beyond him?) and he hoards an obscene amount of wealth, far too much for it to be believable that he is not economically exploiting his people outside of Velaris. In order for one person to be that rich, other people have to be poor.

It’s kind of shocking that Velaris hasn’t yet been besieged. Although it’s explicitly stated that the Illyrians are disenfranchised enough to want to rebel—only they are terrorised out of doing so by threats from Cassian.

Rhys is an awful politician. Truly awful. Dire. 

The Valkyrie’s sleepover or my version of it

Instagram: @bec_speight.art

I need ideas, what are names for Nessian’s daughter???

I can’t stop picturing her as looking like Nesta except growing up taller, having darker skin, Cassian’s smile, and rivaling Cassian as the greatest Illyarian warrior while staring her enemies down with her chin raised and her own I will slay my enemies look

Also any artists want to capture this?

Re-reading ACOMAF I noticed this on page 392 Cassian is trying to compliment Feyre


I caught Cassian glancing at me for the third time in less than a minute and demanded, “What?”

His lips twitched at the corners. “You just look so…”

“Here we go,” Mor muttered.

“Offical,” Cassian said with an incredulous look in her direction. He waved a Siphon topped hand to me. “ Fancy.”

“Over 500 years old,” Mor said, shaking her head sadly, “a skilled warrior and general, famous throughout territories, and complementing ladies is still something he finds next to impossible. Remind me why we bring you on diplomatic meetings?”


I love this in regards to Nesta because she does not care for frivolous compliments. When Nesta meets Helion again in acosf and he calls her lovely she just stares at him. When she dances with Eris she is just amused by his interest in her. Also beyond her outfit and crown for the ball, Nesta is never described as wearing jewelry or ornate outfits. Nesta is devestatingly beautiful without trying and she doesn’t need anyone else telling her that.

So it doesn’t matter to her if Cassian isn’t good with words or compliments. Nesta herself doesn’t talk that much, often choosing to remain silent*. They both value actions more, and express their love long before they say it aloud.

*Nesta uses words strategically or as weapons to hurt, but never physically gets violent. Her love is the opposite. She doesn’t know how to express love and her feelings through words, so she does with her actions.

The reason I love Nessian is because they are a realistically messy couple. They are never portrayed as perfect or without faults like freysand is portrayed (which has issues that are ignored or glossed over). Nesta and Cassian are so alike, and their stubbornness and fire clash all the time. They hurt each other in the same ways and what I loved about ACOSF is they slowly realize it and try to change.

The last fight between them along the Sidra shows that, as Cassian uses a *very* poor choice of words and immediately regrets it and try’s to take it back. Nesta stops herself from saying things to hurt him like he hurt her by sending him away. Both made mistakes but acknowledged that. For me this shows potential of a healthy realationship.

My problems with freysand that they are portrayed as perfect when they are not. Despite SJM stressing that they are equals, Rhysand’s actions and attitude toward Feyre portray the opposite. Rhys continues to be hostile to Nesta even after Freye tells him to stop and is super critical of Nesta despite knowing how traumatized she is (he literally feels her trama during Nesta’s nightmare and is horrified by it, yet doesn’t change his attitude towards her). When Feyre does disagree with Rhys she quickly forgives him and they go have s*x. Finally, from Rhys’ point of view Freye never makes a mistake. I can not think of one time Rhys is critical of Feyre. I know it is a fantasy series but that is not a remotely realistic relationship. Nor is it healthy for one side to put the other on a pedestal while making all the decisions himself. 

I want more Nessian in future books and I want them to continue to be messy and fight. Not only because it leads to amazing s*xual tension, but because relationships take continued effort by both partners.

A piece of advice that has stayed with me is “Love is what you do when you are feeling unloving”. Even when Nessian fight, they want the best for the other.

worldofsarahjmaas:

WIN a signed copy of #ACOTAR by Sarah J. Maas! Tell us, if you were a fae shapeshifter, which animal you would be and why using #24HrsofACOTAR

Personally, if I was a fae shapeshifter, the animal I would choose would be…

An octopus

  1. They can change the colourandtexture of their skin instantly, which would be handy when it comes to tricking human senses.
  2. They have 3 hearts. Can you imagine having a heart attack as an octopus? Would you even know you had one since you’d have 2 hearts left to pump with? And it someone cast a spelltostop my heart, it wouldn’t be lethal.
  3. With8 tentacles I could stranglehug so many fae courtiers at the same time. Not to mention being able to get all my chores done in a fraction of the time from being able to multitask with so many appendages.
  4. Ink cloud. I’d never be without a convenient sample of ink to pen a letter, and I’d be able to escape potential assailants by releasing one.
  5. No bones means superb flexibility. Good luck trying to ensnare a fae that can change themselves into a cephalopod. If I was caught in a snare, it’s a quick fix.
  6. Asharp beak with a powerful clamp force. Worst case scenario, I have to reduce myself to biting my attacker. How uncouth. Cauldron-willing it won’t go through to the bone of the dim darling that dared raise a hand to me. (And…if I don’t have a nutcracker handy on Christmas Day I’m not too worried).

I suppose the fae /mythical creature I would be is a Cecaelia - half human, half octopus people (like Ursula from the little mermaid).

I’m not in the business of predicting stories anymore…. At least, it wouldn’t be a hill for me to die on, or what have you. I’ve learned my lesson. At the same time, I have opinions, and often they’re pretty strong, and my feeling that I naturally get the narrative subtext in a given story and others seem misunderstand at a basic level is also strong. In a way, it almost seems funny, ‘cause these days it seems like people misunderstand a lot more important information, to a lot more problematic results. It’s like, well, misread fiction all you want. That’s what it wants you to do, especially when you’re talking about plot points that haven’t happened yet. Misreading the news and otherwise factual information is just a bit more dangerous and unfortunate.

Still… I’m not sure I want to forbid myself from arguing with people about low-level fangirl stuff, especially since I mostly do it in my head. It’s okay to have some innocuous debates and disagreements, even– or even especially– in today’s fraught times. Actually, it could even be seen as training wheels for your viewpoint tolerance. If you can’t handle courteous opposition to your interpretation of a book, how can you live in a world where people may violently disagree with your right to live, at least without living in a bunker?

Anyway, to the degree I’m exposed to fandom of any kind, it’s people’s comments on the fanart they post or repost on Instagram, so… really minor. Even so, they often feel the need to preemptively defend their ship from attack, claiming hate won’t be tolerated. No one leaves any room for disagreement, on either side of ship wars, anymore than they do in politics. It’s sad. And you see familiar claims and reactions– new theory comes out with new content, is popular, and before you know it– boom! The old ship/theory is oppressed, hated, persecuted. And the worst part is that the debate probably *does* devolve into persecution. Though I mean, I also think people become pretty sensitized to disagreement and criticism of their beliefs/interpretations, too. I’m not 100% convinced that when the minority shipper fanart posts say 'hate’ they actually mean harassment, stuff that goes beyond strong disagreement.

Of course, I mean, I suppose people are even more justifiably interested in a 'safe space’ in their shipping than most other contexts– certainly moreso than political discussions. You don’t have to entertain debate about your favorite ship. It’s really only because, as usual, people try to justify their ship using rational arguments. But the whole point of a rational argument is that it’s *arguing* something. A ship itself is not an argument but a preference. It’s only once you make up supposedly 'good’ reasons that I start getting twitchy.

I suppose I’ve mostly talked myself out of engaging with the arguments, per se. Overall, it leaves a bad taste in my mouth, especially when the ship in question is seen as the 'minority’ interpretation. Like I said, it’s just because of the argument itself.

In this case, the ACoTAR series Elriel fan quoted Cassandra Clare, who wrote that “Being told that love is forbidden doesn’t kill love. It strengthens it.” This appears to be a reference to Rhys, as the High Lord, forbidding Azriel not to pursue Elain in the book extra epilogue everyone’s in an uproar about. This takes the whole situation in the epilogue out of context, basically. Like, yeah…. this would apply, but only if you claim the relationship in question is *love*. Based on the epilogue, it seems a lot more like lust and loneliness, even entitlement. The whole epilogue interaction before that conversation with Rhys was clearly showing the cracks in the reading which previously portrayed Azriel as a romantic, sweet gentleman when it comes to Elain. Not that he’s not a gentleman with her, but it’s more like he’s not really being himself. The context makes the situation more complex than 'Rhys stands in the way of a strong but forbidden love bond’, and in fact that interpretation is pretty silly.

Anyway, in a book series where 'pure love’ with both main love interests so far involved letting the woman go…. basically, there’s a lot of missing context. I can’t help but come up with these rebuttals in my head. I miss arguing with people about books who were actually up for it… but to be honest, fandom was always pretty bad about enabling healthy debates, especially about anything to do with shipping. You don’t even get to feel good when you’re right (unless you’re in your fannish safe space), 'cause most people whose ships sink tend to blame the author and not their own reading.

Not sure what the ideal would be, though. Probably only if I was actually personally friends with a person who shipped something I didn’t, and then we had a conversation about it when their ship sunk. I have this feeling like a part of the problem that creates ship wars is just that these opinions, once they’re widely enough shared, are automatically presented as *groups*, and therefore they’re part of group dynamics. Basically, disagreeing with a friend or even just a single person is not the same as a whole group constantly saying they’re right and your opinions are wrong. Tbh, though, a lot of times even friendship is not enough. I mean, it’s enough not to ruin the relationship between us, but fans who’re really disappointed tend to just be angry and sad, and not in the mood to care much about the book or show in question. I generally tend to retain some interest in open-ended deconstruction even when I’m really wrong, but even my analytically minded friends have been more likely to just quit the fandom and/or stop engaging with the subject.

Not like all my ships have come true by any means, but generally, I have an innate sense of what’s likely and why things make sense in context, especially in retrospect. This reconciles me to all sorts of unfortunate events in stories that I wouldn’t have otherwise preferred. The type of people that see things this way tend not to take sides (or have ships) to start with. Myself, I am like a true believer/fangirl type and the centrist/canon only type rolled into one. I definitely take sides and have strong feelings and preferences… just… retaining a sense of humor and rational criticism of my own preferences and thoughts. Alas, most people are… not this way.

“To the stars who listen, and the dreams that are answered.” You probably would’ve guessed, A

“To the stars who listen, and the dreams that are answered.”

You probably would’ve guessed, A Court of Mist and Fury is no doubt, my best book of 2016. It’s exceptionally mind-blowing. The world-building, character developments, twists and turns, banters, magic system. Everything was just fantastically crafted. Big thanks to queen Sarah J. Maas for creating such a masterpiece. The wait for A Court of Wings and Ruin is real. Are you ready?

What’s your top book of 2016? I’m not surprised if it’s ACOMAF too *smirks like Rhysand*


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Emerie because she’s amazing and deserves all the love I’m glad I finally found the time to finish this piece. This was one of my favourite scenes because we really got to see Emerie and Nesta bond.

“Who are you talking to?”

“The light female’s voice had Nesta twisting around, stiffening as she found a priestess in the robes of an acolyte standing between the two nearest shelves. Her hood was thrown back, and faelight danced in the rich coppery chestnut of her pin-straight hair.”

Here is my drawing of Gwyn because I absolutely loved her. I’m not gonna lie, I definitely struggled with this because it wasn’t turning out the way I imagined and I really wanted to capture her spirit. But I’m proud of the end result and I hope you like it :)

“A queen, terrible and proud, beautiful as a winter sunrise.”

Nesta Archeron in a crown of silver flames like the queen that she is. That’s it. That’s the post.

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