OKAY I HAVE OFFICIALLY FINISHED THE SERIES!!!!!!!!!
Here's my thoughts:
Things I liked:
+I really like the side characters <3
+Nesta and Cassian were a ship I enjoyed in Wings and Ruin. Not so much in Frost and Starlight
+Amren is my fave, followed by Mor and Lucien.
+I really think that Lucien and Vassa will be a good couple if SJM goes that direction.
+I love the descriptions of Velaris, it really felt like I was there. Heck, descriptions of locations in general were really good!
+Fave of the books is Thorns and Roses.
+Nesta's death salute to the king when she was Made was amazing!
+I like that it didn't just gloss over the PTSD from what happened in any of the books to any of the characters.
+It dealt with female-on-male rape without excusing it.
+It didn't shame Feyre for having a purely sexual relationship in Thorns and Roses.
+Bi rep. Well, technically homoromantic-bisexual rep, which is even better!
Things I disliked:
-Feyre. She just felt very whiny and bland to me, like a poor attempt at a Katniss Everdeen knockoff. She was also very OP and could have used some training or limits to her powers.
-Rhys was OP as well. Should have had his powers toned down a bit.
-Tamlin. Not his character by itself, but the way he was absolutely trashed to make way for Rhys. There are many ways to have set up Feysand, and trashing a formerly decent man was not the right one. He could have been killed off, fallen in love with someone else, found his mate, or just sworn off relationships after being Under the Mountain, but no. He had to be twisted into a caricature of himself and character-assassinated.
-The fact that everything Rhys did Under the Mountain was excused. He should have faced consequences for how he treated Feyre.
-The overuse of certain words and phrases. Mainly 'mate', 'male', 'purred', etc.
-The use of 'male' and 'female'. It was really grating and became cringe-worthy quickly, especially in situations when characters are called 'gentlemales'. Not to mention pretty cissexist.
-The overload of sex. I'm asexual so that does play into this, but I really wish SJM would have been less detailed. I'm fine with fade-to-black sex or sex that uses heavy figurative language so it's not vividly clear they're having sex, but SJM's sex scenes were straight up graphic. Like, that's the stuff that belongs in erotica, not YA. Not to mention the copies at my library had no 'mature content' warning on them so I had no idea what I was getting in to.
-And the use of words like 'feasted' and 'devoured'? Oh hell no. That's nasty and it makes me think of two wild animals doing it, not two High Fae.
-Why does everyone end up in a relationship? Besides Mor, every single character is with someone. Even Amren, who I will forever headcanon as asexual, has a shoehorned romance with Prince Varian.
-ACOFAS just felt like a poorly written fanfic to me. It was just shopping, sex, and snowball fights.
-Rhy's 'death'. I liked the way it was written, and Feyre's response, but it was painfully obvious that he would come back to life. Amren too.
All in all, I enjoyed the series and will probably reread it at least twice. But I'd rate it as a solid 6/10 stars.
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