This book sounds too long and too painful so watching other people suffer through is a different kind of entertainment

I genuinely hate how popular these books are, and when people uphold it as being feminist, or peak romance - acotar is simply for straight people who never read fics off of ao3. Not to mention the amount of repetition in these things. God Sarah, we get it, you think you did something. 😭😭

Ok so she’s able to figure out Tamlyn has a stone heart but CANT ANSWER THE RIDDLE?!?! 😒people have died feyra.

At least with Katniss she was suffering from extreme PTSD and didn't understand the social dynamics of the victors nor did she know how much she could trust them. She was surrounded by nature and the will to survive and so her mind was elsewhere. She didn't understand her feelings for Peeta because their relationship was extremely unconventional and most of the feelings she had towards him were that of comfort and not butterflies which is how she was likely taught love was. Not to mention constant stress and danger looming over her. She wasn't really given a life that allowed her to comprehend romance either. She was sixteen after all. But this girl had plenty of time in luxury and thought. She doesn't have an excuse lol.

Feyre should be way more distressed with the fact that she killed and skinned someone. That's genuinely horrifying.

I cannot believe this stupid MC actually stabbed and killed two innocent people bc she couldn’t figure out that riddle 😭😭😭😭

The most hilarious part of this series is that the King of Hybern, the MAIN VILLAIN who drives the plot for the next two books, never gets named. He is just “the king of that country”. That should tell potential readers everything they need to know if they’re wondering whether these books are for them. 😂

it's always crazy to me that rhysand sexually abuses feyre in the first book but it ends up being fine actually because he's a secret feminist

when i was closer to the beginning of this video, i was like "feyra... naming your human protagonist after the fey? she's obviously going to turn into one" and i was RIGHT when you were describing how she loses her mortality i was hollering. it's the worst foreshadowing any book has ever tried to pull. why is feyra even a name in this universe, you would think that would be considered some kind of terrible luck to name a child after these seemingly wicked and evil beings. awesome video

i noticed that most of the people who disliked the series (myself included) absolutely LOVED lucien… which is both funny and sad because my guy gets paid dust for the rest of the series 😭

Also yes at “you will never have to guess the motivations of a SJM character because at some point they will get on a soap box and just tell you” I think that’s a big thing that’s holding me back from really liking her books. Everything sounds good in theory but the execution is usually shallow and on the nose. There have been times when I’m reading SJM books where I start to skim because all that’s happening in my head is “I GET IT ALREADY”

4:48 I totally agree that Fayre is a blank slate that the cishet white target audience is meant to project onto. But Katniss? Nope, I don't agree. Katniss has a flat arc, but despite that she does have some development over the course of the series. She starts out as a reluctant hero, who is only concerned about her close loved ones and has little hope for change. By the end of the series, she makes sacrifices for others she doesn't know and settles down and has a family. She has a defined personality. She's stubborn, capable, practical and quick thinking. She also suffers from PTSD. More than what I can say about the heroine of this series.

27:00 yessss omg this was one of my biggest gripes with the series overall! It felt like it didn't have a relative place in time! Like I don't expect a fantasy world to fall directly somewhere on our real world timeline, but it needs to feel coherently rooted in a period of time relative to the fantasy world! It always felt so inconsistent, like I could never tell if we were going for a medieval folklore vibe, a 18th court drama vibe, or a 2010s prom vibe with how some of those dresses were described 😭

"So much happens and yet nothing happens" is the whole damn series honestly XD

no my rage progressively got more intense with each book by the time i got to ACOSF i felt like i needed to smoke a whole pack of cigarettes…please review all of them

The thing that bothered me THE MOST about that book was the use of male and female as a replacement for man and woman. It's weird, but OK sometimes, but not ALL THE TIME, you can't say that "someone is a good MALE" and act like it's normal. (Also the sexism, and the weird treatment of mental illness, etc)

I love how you can pinpoint the moment in book 1 where Sarah J Maas realized that Rhysand was a much more interesting character than Tamlin. Because he is. So she just rewrites Tamlin and hands over all that boyfriend development to Rhys.

YESSS THE first thing i thought of when i read that book was "huh. this is... this is katniss?" and then for the rest of the novel nothing about that aspect of her life (being a hunter who is used to provide for her family) is ever brought up again.

i love your little scream for lucien, i was also far more interested in lucien than tamlin lmaooo 💀

I'm so glad you saved the riddle for after describing the trials. Really drives home how much could have been avoided if Feyre had, if not immediately then surely the course of however many weeks or months she's UTM, at any point realized the answer to a riddle that a twelve-year-old would roll their eyes and scoff at for being too heavy-handed and obvious.

Honestly, I read enough bullshit in my middle school fanfic era that I wasn't too fazed by all the essentialist weirdness, the sexism, the SA etc. but I was absolutely LIVID about that fucking riddle. I got it the moment I read it, but I figure I was being stupid and it was a misdirect. Then I managed to convince myself that SJM was actually doing her job as an author when in that 'murder the innocents or kill Tamlin' scene the fey girl started singing the lullaby. I immediately mentally apologised to SJM bc I had underestimated her with the riddle - I was so certain that the lullaby contained the answer to the riddle. The lullaby had been set up earlier when someone sang it to that fey that was mauled, and when Amarantha gave Feyra the riddle all the fey laughed, implying it was something they didn't think Feyra, a human, could figure out, and then a la Chekov's gun SJM brought the lullaby back up in the pivotal scene. I was ready to be somewhat impressed with SJM actually using basic narrative devices and foreshadowing and then... it has absolutely NOTHING TO DO WITH THE FUCKING RIDDLE!!!!!! Instead it was some weird convoluted way for her to figure out Tamlin had a stone heart???

Its like SJM makes her characters clueless but gives the reader all the info Thats so weird

Feyre was no the badass hero girl Sarah thought she was. I listened to the dramatized version of the books and Feyre was constantly in her self-loathing and the shit was hilarious. "Im just a weak illiterate human" also when Amarantha said in her Juvenile voice, "So you don't know how to read, hahn?" Here's a challenge for you I was through with these thangs.

My mom was gushing about these books, and told me that I might like them… she’s been trying to get me to read them, and when I told her “nah”, she hits me with the “well YOU haven’t read them, so you can’t judge them yet”. MOTHER. I DON’T THINK SO

Dude the first book was MISERABLE to get through. I usually devour fantasy books but it took like a month for me.

I accidentally stumbled upon a positive review of ACOTAR and I needed to cleanse my pallet with a proper rant. Thanks!

As a writer and developmental editor with 12+years of experience, I have wanted nothing more than to take a red pen to this series. It needs work because honestly this series really isn't that good, and lacks developmental guidance amongst so many other things. I've read most of the first book and yea, it's messy, repetitive, snobby, and overall displaced as personally, it feels more befitting of New Adult due to the content, and honestly I haven't even touched the rampant sexism, abelism, undertones of homophobia, and how this series *desperately needs good sensitivity readers* and so much more. Sorry for the rant, this series gets to me. 😅

I also love LOVE Lucien and I am so happy I am valid in this. For some reason, my friends and I have SUCH different types that every time they tell me which man they like in a book I’m thinking, “Oh girl…you need therapy.” So far I am glad Lucien is a favourite amongst the majority of us. I will say though, Sara does like to ruin a man so I'm scared. If he breaks my heart, no he didn't.

Oh, sister, I knew the answer was "love" as soon as Amarantha mentioned that Feyre had to answer a riddle! 😂 I literally thought to myself... "wow, the author is gonna be real cheesy and make a long-winded poem all about LOVE..." and JUST LIKE YOU I knew the exact answer within the first line or two!!! 😂😂😂 ALSO.. I totally agree with you: I liked reading the progression of Tamlin's and Feyre's relationship, but after returning to the human world, I really didn't want to be bothered by the trials! I just wanted to know what the HECK was going on, lol! I really appreciate how you summarized this for others-I only wish that I had seen your video before actually reading the first book. 😅 Cheers to you! 💕

My toxic trait is I enjoy people roasting books that I absolutely love 🤣 No but seriously just found you on my recommended & you’ve gained a new subscriber! You’re doing great 💜

losing my mind at the Feyre bullying 😭😭 you have such good comedic timing

When she died in the end but got brought back to life as a faerie bc she was tethered to the person she loved I was like “oh this is twilight but faeries lol” like we already knew but like WOW that’s so similar

I'm so glad you did this because I NEVER EVER get tired of acotar slander and this was so funny 😭 my leeeeeeast favorite thing in any piece of media is when the solution is ~love~ (looking @ u harry potter) so that riddle really murdered me (not as much as it murdered feyre tho amiright)

omg "The setting in this book is really nebulus. Colonial america... england... 1600s france... idk but I know there are queens and courts and the women wear long dresses and then think about a bitch like katniss everdeen trying to survive in that world" this quote and then the spongebob worm reference had me howling 🤣🤣🤣

Oh my god this makes me happy because all my friends LOVED this book so I havent been able to rant about it myself. I spent MOST of my time reading this book trying to convince myself that I liked it. The straw that broke the camels back for me was the "his heart is stone" revelation. What???? They produce this mystery as if its something super important. Alis told her that even though every other part of the curse had run its course and could be talked about now, that there was ONE big mystery still left. Something so important that Feyre couldnt be allowed to know. But there was literally NO REASON for that to be a secret in the first place! I mean imagine if Tamlin looked over and told Feyre that his heart was made of stone while they were just chilling at the mansion. What would that impact? What would Feyre be able to do with that information?? NOTHING. Its secrecy ONLY MATTERS in the context of Amaranthas plan, which was not even conceived of during the whole time that this "secret" was supposed to be kept from Feyre. It was literally added retroactively to give Feyre a reason to look smart and come to some grand conclusion on her own, and to me its quite possibly dumber than the riddle = love stupidity.

I also tried to read the first book. I loved Folk of the Air and Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell and thought because ACOTAR featured fairies, it would be right up my alley but could NOT get passed the 47,000 ellipses. -_-

I was doom-scrolling on here looking for something to watch, and I didn’t wanna watch anything. But I saw your thumbnail and my apathy went away. I’m glad I came over here and watched your video!

I can't wait for the reviews of the remaining books in the series. I read ACoTaR a few years ago, when I was in college, and gave it 3 stars, it seemed way too mediocre for me. I never continued on with the series. Please, do reviews for the other books. You're awesome! 😊 Edit: typos.

Thank you for confirming my opinions on Feyre’s intelligence. I couldn’t continue the series simply because I was so frustrated with her empty brain.

I literally just caved and read this series this month. The timing on this vid….. and the way our thoughts are so aligned omggg

I’m so glad I found the place where people don’t think these books. As a struggling writer, seeing books like these get published and have a huge worshipping fan base is depressing. And now HBO is making it into a series…..

How can anyone not love Lucien honestly

OMG your mix of hilarious synopsis/ASMR/wine rant/impressions had me dying. So glad I stumbled onto your channel. Very surprised you don’t have more subscribers. Keep the book reviews coming!

The second you read the riddle I was like "yeah, that's love!".

Found you through my recommended lists and never been sooo lucky! I listened to this video on the way home from work and I was laughing so hard! All of your comments and gripes are so on point 🥲😂 it’s funny cause I read the books and actually enjoyed it but it’s so hilarious seeing it from other people’s pov (and realizing all these problematic things in it)

You actually make this book sound better than it was haha. In listening it occurred to me that the trilogy was probably one book that got drawn out into 3 because she was now a star author. I actually like the general ideas and world building, but the execution was...painful. I did read the whole trilogy, I regret it. I want it to be made into a movie or something because it can only be made better.

THANK YOU you said everything i felt and more. this book is almost insultingly bad, like sjm changed her mind about the plot/love interests but didn't bother to go back to edit. like she just wrote a straight first draft with no editing and got it published somehow

girl your energy?? I LOVE YOU, I DEVOURED THIS, I could watch you and listen to you for days, totally subscribed

READY for your videos of the next books! Love your commentary!

Immediately subscribed!!!!! I genuinely hate how popular this series is because it is mediocre and the booktok girlies hype up the WORST books like omfg. Give indie authors a chance! I will watch and enjoy the whole hour of this youtube because I live for SJM and all of her books being bashed, same with CoHo

This video is hilarious, informative, and very, very enjoyable. I read ACOTAR and enjoyed it, it was the following books that disappointed me and made me cringe. I still can't bring myself to read the fourth book because I genuinely just don't care. Thank you so much for sharing your opinions on this book!

Prythian/Hybern and all of that is set in the U.K. and when I say "set in the U.K." I mean "literally SJM took a map of England and slapped new names on top" because it’s completely unaltered

the way you opened the video already had me in stitches. please this is going to be so good

First I watched your video on the second book, loved it. Now watching this one. I really needed this kind of perspective. Like I enjoyed books a lot and my escapism was satisfied but lots of things were handled badly. When I went into fandom I just saw lots of toxic rants about ships that don't actually matter. Because Rhysand is shit. I liked him for a while with all of questionable 'feminism', but the last book... nope. He is just like Tamlin, but Maas likes him.

Lucian was the only reason I finished the first book, but not even he could get me to read the rest

girl I am so excited this popped up in my recommended because I haven't watched a review yet BUT I remember some girl in my creative writing course bringing this book to class

only 16 minutes in but you dont know how excited i am to see another lucien stan !!

Before you even said imagine the Alaskan bull worm that’s exactly what I thought of😭great video! Excited for the next one!

😂 I've Always said ACOTAR is Twilight but make it Fae, even down to the 2 🤮 love interests. I knew I clicked on your video for a reason. 🤣

I loved this review! I have not and have no intention of reading this series, but I love your energy enough to watch your reviews of the series. Now I have an idea of what my friends are talking about when they’re discussing this. 😂😂

ur fr so underrated the way you describe things is so entertaining

yes the spring court part is so good! the world building and writing in that section is immersive and beautiful. the rest is such caca

I’m excited to watch your video! A friend recommended ACOTAR to me (along with every other breathing being on this planet) and I decided to try the first book out. I reread the first chapter becuase I couldn’t believe how everyone found this book so amazing. I liked the world building, the settings, and pretty much everything except the characters. Especially the main protagonist… she came off as a YA character who was naturally the best at everything, smarter than everyone, completely independent, beautiful, and every other good quality under the sun. It extremely frustrated me and I had to put the book down. Good book for sure for teenagers (if there wasn’t so much humping) but the adult women I see raving about it just need to find a good series on AO3.

I got 1 minute in to this video and immediately hit subscribe. Incredible intro, absolutely a work of art.

I read the first 3 books and i enjoyed them so much - but in the same way you enjoy trash tv. I hate it but it keeps me so entertained. I loved your review

I really recommend the web comic Atonmen. It reads like a book. It's human x creature romance done right. Gargoyle and human woman. And it feels like an original story. Blew these new romance/light erotica out of the water.

so funny i'm also diving into the series out of curiosity! i loved your reaction to lucien because i also find him the most charming character of the series. i'm enjoying the start of ACOWAR because of how many more lucien scenes there are hahaha. Idk if it's because i'm mainly getting through the series via audiobook, but i'm on book 3 and still have barely an understanding of the war history and hybern's/durian's/etc's place in all of this! i totally agree on your assessment of feyre. As a person who enjoys drawing, I really wanted to relate to her as an artist, but it just felt like a trait to make her seem 'relatable' or 'normal' as a human, but i wasn't really sold on it. and then you would expect as a hunter she would have some pretty good survival/critical thinking skills but she failed to deliver so many times! That trait only seemed to become relevant to move the plot forward rather than as a part of the way she navigates the world. She wasn't even that guarded in the manor. I enjoyed the trials (particularly the worm) because it felt like we got to see that part of feyre more, but even then there was a whole lot of weird stuff going on there! Anyway, it'd be interesting to see your thoughts on the rest of the books! From scattered comments I've seen on KZfaq, the series just seem to get worse with latter installments, but hell I'm along for the ride lol

every video ive seen on this book always skips summarizing it and just goes straight to ranting so im glad to finally know just why its so dumb lol!! i love your humor and your voice is super nice to listen to. new subscriber!! edit: the point about stephanie meyer being mormon and that's the reason for her changes to the vampire lore is............... maybe im stupid but i never thought of that before.

babes I’m waiting in bated breath for your next video. mist n fury takes a huge ol turn imo,,, for better or for worse, idk, but definitely more entertaining than the first book. I don’t think I could read the first book again tbh, but the next ones are….interesting. I love your Nesta take tho. So many people in the acotar fandom hate her (for valid reasons prob) and love Feyre but nawt me ~ I love how you think Feyre is not very smart because I felt similarly looool she’s my least fav sjm protagonist by a lot. Anyways, you got a follow from meeee, great video

No, absolutely, I hate this book sm. The world building is info dumping in one glob of conversation?? Everyone looks the same, but not? Every male in this book is henry cavill with new hair. Every female is skinny, fair and flawlessly skined girl from wattpad 2014 ff. Amarantha slowly tortured clare as soon as she saw her, but with feyre she gives her a chance to prove herself first bc plot. Also why is Amarantha this magnificent, also flawlessly skinned, pale, snow-white-ish woman who, in my head, looks like feyre but new hair, instead of like a war brute with a heavy build seeing as she was one of the cruelest faeries in the war. WHY DO THEY ALL LOOK THE SAME. And her world building left the spring court feeling like a mansion on a grassy plane, with a forest a few steps away (just me?). The big bad fairy king just exists and is bad bc he's bad. The sexual tension between tamlin and feyre felt forced and, yes, assault-like. I cannot imagine someone consenting to a fxck-ready fairy after almost being rxped by three goblin-like fairies from the night-court just bc he's standing there and wants her *now*. Kudos to Lucien, the one with personality who was also my fav, I never made it past the first book sorry 🫠🫠🫠

I’m terrible with riddles, but even I knew the answer halfway through reading it.

Ngl the way miss Sarah writes her smut scenes reminds me of when I’m trying to find good M/M romance ( I’m a trans man) and I gotta like search super hard on kindle unlimited cause it’s all written by straight women writing under names that sound like it could be men like H. J Smith or whatever. She gives off the same energy with her scenes as them cause it just doesn’t seem like good sex? Like in some of the romances I’ve found they use wild shit like Vaseline as lube or god forbid none like good lord at least do some research before you write these I’m begging and praying lmao.

I can't get over the fact that her name literally has fae in it 😭 mainstream ya fantasy is so exhausting omg

Ohhhh this is the best review I’ve listened too. So entertaining 😂 And that’s coming from someone who was OBSESSED with the books at one point haha ❤

i read this book and i remember getting to the riddle and immediately going "its love" and then also immediately going "it's probably something else because that's just way too obvious the book isn't gonna be like that" and lo and behold. i was right and sjm is not as smart as she thinks she is.

I am so glad you thought of the worm from SpongeBob too! 🤣🤣🤣 that’s all I kept thinking about!

I made it halfway through the first book and had to give up. It is objectively awful writing. I truly believe fans of this have never read anything good. This rant and some others I watched have convinced me that the series can’t decide whether it is an actual fantasy story with a plot and characters or just a trashy smut book and it fails at both.

I'm so glad that you reviewed this book series. I have so many thoughts on this, and none of my friends will read the series because they constantly complain about how trash it is, but I really need a sounding board for all of my opinions. 😂

THE TAMLIN IN HEAT WHISPERING😭

I started the first book out of morbid curiosity and am now essentially trying to finish it out of spite (I’ve been struggling for 3 months off and on) and your recapping them may be the only thing that pushes me to finish bc this video was so entertaining Edit: or maybe this was enough and I don’t need to see the rest of the book with my own eyes lol

Now I never read Hunger Games (yes I know I was #toocool as a teenager to read it when it was popular) but just recently watched all the movies. Does Katniss really lack agency in the books like she does in the movies?? I finished it and had to google if the books are better than the movies cause they HAVE to be, right?? But everything said it was! Katniss feels like a hollow character with no agency, is it really like that in the books too?

I have never heard the riddle before. There was all this buildup in the video. Then after the first line i went 'is it Love? No can't be that feels too obvious'

Excellent summary of this book, which I couldn’t quite make myself finish…..So I’ll see if you like any of the subsequent ones any better.

your review is so fun to listen to you seem like a sweetheart thank u

here's the thing...i love sarah J Maas...not because the books are well written or the plot is complex and well thought through (i would argue both of those statements are not true)...but the characters are so relatable and she can make me feel things when I don't want to fee things....so i keep reading despite the flawed plot lines and themes

bruh you have that naturally comedic vibe. I love that LOL.

Amarantha apparently makes bargains the same way as Barbossa from potc. Clearly Faera should have specified when and where!

I'm thanking the algorithm for recommending me this video, lol 🤣. I really hate the ending, because as bad as her character was when she was human, Feyre was at her most interesing exactly because she was human. I cannot stand how OP she becomes. I find it very interesting that you like the first half better, becase as far as I saw(in reviews and stuff), most people prefer the UTM part because there is some action going on. Also Lucien and Nesta are my favourite characters in these garbage books. However I will not stand for Katniss slander 😤. To compare Feyre with her in one breath, like please 😩.

God I literally recorded and didn’t post a rant about this book and you said all the exact things I said right down to “Feyre is dumb AND NOT BECAUSE SHE CANT READ” lmfaoo

I picked this up a few weeks ago, and then I came to my senses. I just couldn't do it. Thank you for your sacrifice. 😂

I’ve heard the riddle before in other reviews of this book, but seeing it written out made me realize how awkward the meter feels. I’m not gonna pretend I’m a professional poetry guy or anything, but the number of “beats” per line is inconsistent and the wonky meter just really bothers me (how are you supposed to read the line that starts “by large”? there are three de-emphasized syllables in a row no matter what way I try to read it, and it just feels so weird lol) (also just in general there isn’t a super smooth rhythm pattern, but I could be reading it weird idk). If any of y’all actually study poetry and have anything to say about this (maybe it’s fine, idk) please lmk, I would love to learn :^)

super entertaining review and recap!

Ok but I’ve never actually heard vampires described that way and it gave me quite a fright!!!!!!

I just "read" the first book (via audiobook) and I'm almost surprised that Maas wasn't sued by Robin McKinley's publisher for ripping off Rose Daughter 🤔 I understand that it's a "Beauty and the Beast" retelling but this was SO similar. When it comes to fairy tale adaptations, I much prefer Robin McKinley, Jane Yolen, or Gail Carson Levine. Highly recommend any of their novels over this! I'll probably go through the other books in this series to pass to time, but as a huge fairy tale fan I wasn't overly impressed by this either.

So like burning man…..the wacky party. Great review!

I love the commentary but man it hurts someone ripping into a series I love so much🤣 points are valid though

thank you for making this, it was very entertaining

Apart from Feyre being a fantasy Katniss Everdeen, her first meeting with Rhys reminded me of Howl finding Sophie in Howl's moving castle

I heard ACOTAR has been trashed around by readers who are ironically fans of Sarah J Maas' books. Maybe it's because the storyline is a bit redundant or feel as though there's a lack of depth to the characters themselves present in the novel. Overall, authors are capable of improving. If only they'd let themselves be more open to the idea of change.

I also got the riddle right away... and I'm terrible at riddles XD