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Don't forget about the whole, "Watery bowels" thing... so gross.

Isn't the phrase Power creep?

I feel like you didn’t really read the entire book lol

They lack the anarchist critique xd, but seriously yeah, democracies suck because capitalism and hierarchies and the state, if they went with the goverment of the poeople and showed withing the stori how that could work as it grew then it would be pretty cool

Suddenly I’m feeling so much better about my own fantasy story as I have done my best to make the politics realistic. I have done lots of research from real world history, combining different elements from different eras and places. I have also tried to make the people involved more realistic with different goals, not all of them altruistic but all of them valid even if they’re opposing. There is also no magic creep, no good versus evil, just humans being human which I find far more fascinating.

I like the middle part of political fantasies where they need to defeat the big boogieman at the end. Yes, it's all meaningless, but that's the point, that we lose sight of the most important things while they scheme and fight and have war. I like it because it's ironic that we root for one and when they win we are happy but while it happened, the most important thing was ignored or even worsened. It's like global warming, when we work at a job, we are happy that we and that company gets ahead but we will all freaking die because we needed to team up all along. If a political fantasy loses sight of the big boogieman and the winner does not care about it, I want it to be a tragedy :D It should work like scary kids' tales which make kids afraid of forests which are full of dangerous animals and people.

6:22 Isn't that the entire point of the series? All the political conflict and squabble became meaningless in the face of annihilation. It's up to both sides to stop fighting for a chair and put the supernatural threat as the number one priority. Yes, the political drama is more intriguing and thought-provoking but we can have both. It can be both a drama and an epic.

I 100% agree with you, I don not want to be impolite but this book is trask to me. I truly do not understand why it is so popular😂😂

...I should have discovered this sooner, would make my fictional nation lore a lot more easily fleshed out. A republic splintered, the remains reorganized into an absolutist monarchy...

I can’t stand how books like these get published but there’s great writers out there that can’t get stuff published because it’s apparently not popular enough. So what? We have to write about toxic relationships to get shit published?

I hated all the characters lol

If you want to go to sleep and feel like writing has died then read all Sarah J. Mass's book's 😂

I have enjoyed the series pretty well... I guess not every book is for everybody. It a FICTIONAL FANTASY smutty romance novel, I thi k your expectations are a little wild... and it's not beauty and the beast. Also, the way you go about telling your opinion is super prissy. 🙄

So for me, I didn't read ACOTAR until I had already read ACOMAF. I had decided I was never gonna read the series until I watched the Cari Can Read video about ACOTAR. Decided it sounded up my alley, and a friend said I would enjoy the Rhysand character. So i started with book 2. It's been a very love-hate series for me. Because there's a lot of things I really enjoy about it, but then there are so many moments that feel dumb or make things fall apart. When I finally went back and read ACOTAR I swapped to the audio book because the beginning was so boring, and I hated her family to the point of insanity (still hate her family and hate how people justify them sitting on their lazy asses and letting Feyre work herself near to death) Had I actually started with ACOTAR I never would've finished the series cause there is nothing appealing about Tamlin. 😂

I ordered the game of thrones collection and ended up receiving throne of glass collection instead, and now im here wondering why life has f me in the a

As someone who writes political fantasy, this video is gold. Thank you.

I’m so grateful for this review. I’m struggling with finishing this book. WTH are all these fairy servants doing waiting on a fairy killer? And the dialogue…good lord…stilted and unbelievable. And what an annoying personality for a protagonist. Silly book. I’m 340 pages in. It’s like running through water to finish a page. Life’s too short

I would look at the ending of House of Cards S2. Frank wins the game, and is in charge. The "monarchy" (in a literary sense functions more like a monarchy than a democracy) was overthrown and replaced with the protagonist. I think it can be a very satisfying and chilling ending to see the protagonist turn into the villain in order to achieve power. This is a common trope, but it is a satisfying common trope that fits for fantasy politics.

Do you have Aphantasia? (I have it.)

Regarding the second pitfall: you could do something along the lines of Dune.

Either you fuckers didn’t read the book or are too stupid to understand. Tamlin sent his comrade out with the intention of him getting killed by a woman who hates faeries. So that she’d fall in love with him and break his curse. Did you not read the fucking book?

This book was banned, I brought it cause I was curious.

When I read the riddle, I kept thinking "It's gonna be Love, isn't it?" Then after a long several chapters I very nearly threw my copy of the book in anger.

Ok I'm going to be honest. I found this book really annoying at the end. I loved it all up unit Maven does his big twist and is the villan. Because I really couldn't find any evidence that showed that he was bad (if I go back and read it i'm sure I will find something) but I personally feel like it wasn't a good step for his charecter because Cal is already this bad person. He's not willing to change and I genuenlly did love Maven't love for Mare. So when he turns on her and betrays her, it really makes me just no longer want to read this series because I am so upset with that. I do like though that it was wrapped up with the story "anyone can betray anyone" but I wanted Cal to be that person. He turns on her during the fight so why does Maven have to be this big bad I don't like it.

I know this is an old video, but came here to listen to this review because in hindsight, I can’t say I care a whole lot for this series anymore. I used to love it and think it was awesome, and I DO think Maas does have talent as a storyteller. That being said, there’s a lot of flaws with Celeana/Aelin’s character. I remember the scene where she finds a random bag of candy on her bed. Now, being an assassin, you’d think she would be wary and not trust it. Maybe even pick it up and toss it because….maybe it could be poison? Or it could be drugged? But nah, she just scoops it up and starts eating the whole bag. For a seasoned assassin, that makes no sense. The obsession with makeup and sweets on her part also seems very odd and out of character for an assassin. I didn’t mind Celeana being an arrogant assassin, it would make sense for her age and what not. But arrogant in a different sort of way, not arrogant like she’s ripped straight of the mean girls movie. Her always wanting to stand out just didn’t seem in keeping with being an assassin. I think I also feel this way because I read and re-read this series. I first read this series in 2015, stopped at Queen of Shadows in 2016 because the next book hadn’t come out yet, and then started re-reading it in 2019 but then put it down in the middle of the fifth book because the writing was bothering me and Celeana/Aelin had just gotten to be too much. That, and I also think Maas neglects characters that are actually good. Chaol comes to mind immediately. Maas developed a truly well written and developed relationship between Celeana and Chaol, and then made it seem as though they were going to work things out….only to not do that, and then stick Celeana with someone that previously she claimed she only had platonic feelings for, it’s like Maas retconned her own work at one point. I also noticed Maas likes to repeat phrases and is very repetitive with her writing. “Smirked.” All the characters “smirk.” Not smile, or grinned, just “he had a smirk on his face.” Same with “swaggered,” the amount of times I read about how Celeana or someone else “swaggered” over, ugh! “Feline” or things being described as “purely feline.” Or “a wolffish grin.” I’m honestly convinced Maas might secretly be a furry.

Great video! I’ve been writing a Science Fantasy novel centering on an interspecies romance

The soundscape on this video drives me crazy, it's like a medley of default alarm sounds.

Just finished reading this book and came looking for this. Thank you for expressing how I felt as well.

Celeana is 17 and so was Maas when she wrote it so the young thing makes sense

i love this series so much its such a comfort read for me (ive read it like 8 times), i think a lot of your critiques are really good. the thing is that most of the problems are fixed/developed in the later books in the series. its really unfortunate that if you want to actually understand and enjoy the story you kinda need to read it all

The first time I read a song of ice and fire (ten years ago) I thought it was a metaphor for climate change- while we all squabble amongst ourselves, “winter is coming”, meaning larger, global issues we choose to ignore in favour of the easier and more accessible infighting. That was just my take! It obviously didn’t end that way haha.

Live this review, your tales are great! I think the last fantasy series I read that got politics down pat was the Mistborn trilogy- especially the second book. The Lies of Locke Lampra tried something similar in their third instalment and I didn’t love it- but this one was done so well. Personally, I think what makes the politics so engaging are how Ali is a human example of the various loyalties, beliefs, and values present play out. I found his internal conflict between his values and his family to be some of the strongest parts of the book.

The problem with most fantasy is that fantasy nerds dont bother reading anything else than fantasy

I don’t think the book was the best writing in the world but I don’t agree with all of your critiques. A lot of it feels like nitpicks. The reason she wanted to go home was because she was concerned about her family.. she doesn’t find out right away that he has provided for them. Also, home is home. Miserable life or not. The second trial actually showed that she isn’t perfect, and gave her more characterization. The third trial was my favorite; I was shocked that the main heroine in a book like this would even do something that dark. I actually found the first trial the most generic and boring. And a lot of your complaints about the middle section of the book being boring were just strong character building moments. I don’t consume media primarily for plot, I like characterization, and I feel like this books characterization was actually pretty decent. Feyre absolutley had a personality. Maybe you didn’t like her (I didn’t at first!), but the personality was there. I also thought the Beauty and the Beast retelling was obvious. I figured it out within a few chapters. Some of the stuff with the curse was definitely really contrived and dumb, I’ll give you that. I also agree that the Alis exposition chapter was awful. I think this authors strong point is definitely characters and not plot.

This book read like a horny teenager with no common sense, experience or writing prowess wrote it. It was so boring that I wouldn’t have finished it, but I was listening to an audiobook, so I made myself listen to the whole thing.

My sister forced me to read Red Queen, it was fine in the start it just didn’t live up to my expectations. It was quite hard to finish the book properly since I’m not the biggest fan of dystopian books and the troupes used in the book. It was not my taste but I think it would be a lot better if someone else read it.

This was surprisingly interesting!

Because they're writen by white Americans and Europeans under capitalism. Next question

I'm currently researching and watching as many videos as possible on how to write political systems. This was a great video! These topics on political systems doesn't seem to be talked about much, which seems crazy to me as it's such an important aspect which is gonna effect the characters if they go do anything in the world. The main system in my story from the beginning will be a democracy, although like all are, flawed. And keeping the magic from becoming the big bad at the end is definitely something I gotta watch out for.

You ruin everything everything for me girl. You share much more than you need to. Uhhh.

I enjoy when politics must come to a head to defeat a certain monster at the end of the book (be it actually a monster, or an event threatening everyone), and everyone has to rally together, despite their differences, to defeat a common enemy. This was done in Mass Effect, where over the course of the game, you get everyone's help to launch an assault on the Reaper invasion of Earth. Depending on how many people you convinced to join you from various galactic powers also suffering their own invasions, the better the event plays out (albeit, it's a largely hopeless situation to begin with, but at maximum readiness, you get the best ending).

I remember really liking how The Queen of Blood series by Sarah Beth Durst ended. It didn't end in Democracy (wow!) because the magic system literally restricts that from being an option, so it was interesting to see how it all came together.

Totally agree. I had to quit after 2hrs cos it just didnt make sense to me and I didnt like the main character.

This was amazing. Great message. What camera was used for filming?

I lost it when they turned Feyre into a High Fairie.... like: WTF! Now she is boring...and immortal

To me the Beauty and the Beast retelling was so obvious in this novel, that it was bothering me while reading the story. It felt like such an obvious copy (!!). (I didn't know this novel was a retelling of Beauty and the Beast when I got it) I also thought the last part of the novel (the trials) was pure Hunger Games, but in a bad way (and if I want to read The Hunger Games, I will read these, please don't repeat here!!). And Tamlin + several parts of the story seemed too much like Twilight in a bad way. I enjoyed Twilight a lot when I read it many years ago, but now I just was seeing the bad parts of the Edward character and relationship dynamics (obsessive protection, etc.). I enjoyed the 1st part of the book (so the more idyllic story, even if there were parts bothering me quite a bit) until all the gore & sh¡t started to really happen - "the action". Then I was truly disgusted. I also thought Feyre's family was really shitty (but for some strange reason they become cool when they're rich?!!! Didn't make sense to me...), the beginning of the novel with the poverty situation seemed Dickensian to me too. And like you, it didn't make sense to me at all that the Fae wouldn't be upset at Feyre for killing one of them.

I also thought the "I became aware of every pore in my body" was completely out of place and thought to myself, "seriously?! WTF??" And remember stopping my reading for quite a bit (I was so put off), thinking she should have written "inch" instead of pore (so simple...).

It’s so interesting listening to your review and I agree with a lot of your points. But the reason I believe I liked this book, it was my first fantasy book and I didn’t have much expectation.

night watch terry pratchett. The best political fantasy

Well, I just like … stay there at first book lol 7:00