I know I suck cause I didn't end up reviewing ACOMAF when I read it last year – I'm sorry, but it made me so mad I couldn't get the words out. But here I am with something that I hope is coherent.

Overall, I "enjoyed" ACOWAR a lot more than ACOMAF. Which is why I gave it a 3 stars. I couldn't justify giving it a 2.5 because there were parts that I did like. So...because of those parts, I probably will read the novellas once they come out. And no, I'm not going to be happy to read a 500-page novella about Feyre and Rhys having lots of post-war sex. I'm only reading it for Azriel and Elain. That's pretty much it. Oh, and Lucien kind of. And I also want to know what's going to happen with the human Queens.

Okay, getting into the thick of it...

I hate the writing. I don't know why, but in my ACOTAR review, I actually wrote that I enjoyed SJM's writing. I'm not sure if something changed – it probably did – but her writing went from pretty good to overly flowery and contrived. That's the only way I can describe it. It just didn't read well. There were parts where I rolled my eyes, especially when it came to dialogue. And it wasn't just Rhys and Feyre who annoyed me, but also Azriel and Cass and Mor and Nesta. Their lines sometimes just didn't work. They felt too perfect. And that's something I'm going to touch on after...

Let's talk about the plot. IT WAS THERE. There was plot, you guys! Don't get me wrong, you get plenty of sexual tension b/w Nesta and Cass (*rolls eyes), and don't even get me started on Feyre and Rhys...but there was something other than relationships lol

I won't say the plot was amazing, cause it wasn't. I felt bored a lot while reading this book. Like I'd read a bit, then groan at how long it is, then read a bit more, then take a break and wonder when things are actually going to happen, etc. The one thing I didn't like at all was that SJM wrote all these terrifying, oh-my-god-everything's-gone-to-shit scenes, and then ta-da it's solved two seconds later. I ABSOLUTELY HATE THAT. What's the point of something dramatic and horrible happening when there aren't any serious consequences. Like yeah, Hybern breaks through the wards in Velaris and attacks Nesta and Feyre in the library. And as the reader, you're like YES LET'S SEE WHERE THIS GOES. But then, Feyre obviously decides to go and find the crazy monster living at the bottom of the library. *dies from rolling my eyes* And everything's fine. Rhys is just pissed that "his family was hurt" and that's the end of that.

There's this thing with Feyre where she happens to do everything that no one else can do and it annoys me so much. She's such a special snowflake, and so is Rhys. It bugs me so much!

Going back to the plot. This book is pretty much a how-to-deus-ex-machina-the-hell-out-of-a-book. Whenever something went wrong, Feyre came to save the day. Or Rhys. Or someone else. Like the final battle...everyone's dying, and it looks like they're going to lose, but oh wait, guess who arrives?? Miryam and Drakon – who've only been mentioned five billion times throughout the book. And when Feyre's dad arrived, I literally rolled my eyes and they fell out. Great way to "tie up" everything and make everyone redeem themselves. Lucien arriving was like not even a surprise. And I was already spoiled for what happened after the battle ended.

Spoiler

Rhys dying was so anticlimactic. Reading as Feyre screams and cries and tells the High Lords to bring him back was like rereading the final scene in ACOTAR. It worked okay once, but the second time...no, it just felt repetitive. Like of course he wasn't actually dead-dead. And of course he would grab onto Amren and bring her back cause Varian needs to be happy.

Let's talk about Lucien. I still don't know how I feel about him. Like the fact that he went with Feyre just because he wanted to see Elain and not because he felt that what Tamlin did was wrong bugs me. I wanted something more for Lucien than that.

Spoiler

The whole reveal about his birth kind of came as a shock. Like I'd heard that Lucien is biracial, but I couldn't see it cause SJM made him sound like a "tanned white guy". So I was kind of confused, but I liked it cause Helion is pretty cool. I want to see him and Helion together, and his mother too.

And I definitely don't ship him with Elain. I kind of see a Vassa-Lucien thing happening instead.

I'm sidetracking here, but since I was talking about skin colour...was it just me or did anyone else notice that Cassian and Azriel seemed more darker-skinned in this book than in ACOMAF. Like the way they were described seemed like SJM was saying "no, they're not very tan white guys like in the previous book, they're actually brown"??? I hope I wasn't the only one picking up on that. I felt like there was a lot of convenient diverse-dropping in this book. Now don't get me wrong, at least SJM tried??? But I don't think she executed it well, and it really felt like she did it to appease the people who were kind of boycotting/hating on her books. It didn't feel sincere.

Tamlin was a douche during this entire book. I hated him in the beginning, he annoyed me (and amused me) during the meeting. Surprised me during the whole beast-mode-phase, and at the end I was just like – I don't know where SJM is trying to go with his character. I'm not sure if she's trying to redeem him or something, but it just made me not like him even more? I don't know. I'm still confused about how I feel.

Cassian and Nesta...I still don't like Nesta. I like her more than I originally did, but she changed a lot. And the reason for her changing bugged me. Like I'm all fine when character's develop and change and become better people. And obviously, a lot of the times it's because of certain circumstances or a person. But I'm not a fan of a person changing because they have a love interest now. I honestly felt like Nesta got her hands dirty (quite literally) just because of Cassian. And can we talk about the VERY OBVIOUS sexual tension. Like every time they were in a room together, Feyre literally points out how she's watching them watching each other. And I don't doubt that everyone else is watching too. WHAT IS IT WITH PEOPLE IGNORING THEIR FEELINGS BUT BEING TOTALLY OBVIOUS ABOUT HOW THEY FEEL. It bugs me. I just want them to get a room, or admit it, or something, instead of staring at each other. The banter between Cassian and Nesta was fun, but eventually it was just too much. I do want to see what happens with them after the war. I know Nesta is not in the right place after what happened, so that will be interesting...if the sexual tension can stop already.

I wasn't expecting the whole Mor reveal at all. It came as a total shock for me, but it made sense why she hadn't said anything to Azriel. I just hope this is resolved in some way, cause I feel sorry for Azriel who has no idea what's going on.

Speaking of the Shadowsinger. I really liked Azriel in this. He has more of a role in ACOWAR than he did in ACOMAF, and more lines! While I loved watching Cassian fighting in the battles – it felt like I was watching Achilles fight against the Trojans – I loved seeing another side of Azriel. I definitely ship him with Elain. I knew there was something there since ACOMAF, so I hope they're endgame cause they're perfect for each other. He cares about her so much, but it isn't super obvious like it is with Cassian, and I prefer that so much more. I don't like the whole in-your-face romance that you see with Rhys and Feyre and Cassian and Nesta. Honestly, Elazriel is the reason this book is a 3 stars and why I'm going to read the novellas.

Onto Rhys and Feyre. I don't like either of them. Feyre is just annoying, she's too perfect and capable of everything. I just want to strangle her sometimes. And Rhys is TOO DAMN PERFECT. Actually, the whole Night Court is too damn perfect – and yeah, that includes Azriel and Cassian too. That's what I really didn't like. Feyre makes it sound like Rhys is the best of the best. He's perfect, can do no wrong, he's super understanding, gives her so much freedom (I don't have the actual sentences saved or anything, but I'm sure you know which ones I'm talking about. It was like a legit contrast between Rhys and Tamlin all the damn time), plus he's the most powerful of the High Lords. I get this book is from Feyre's perspective, so she's biased, but well...I hate her for that. She seems so blind to everything else. Even Rhys' faults are perfect: he wants to die for his people, he sometimes doesn't know where to draw the line for himself, he's super into self-sacrificing, he blames himself when things go wrong, he's hard on himself (I know I'm repeating myself, but all these supposed "faults" aren't really faults). And you get the same feeling with the other members of the Inner Court, though it isn't as bad as with Rhys and Feyre.

Amren's story in this was boring. She didn't do much till the end and when it looked like she had

Spoiler

betrayed

everyone, I wasn't even surprised cause SJM would do that, but then she didn't turn out to be doing what Feyre thought she was doing and I was like *le sigh*.

I don't know what else to say. Oh...the post-battle sex scenes. WHY. Everyone around you is hurt or dying, you're tired and sore from battle, but nope. It's time for some sexy time. LIKE PLEASE STOP. That is so unrealistic. It's literally a fantasy of a fantasy of a fantasy. I am definitely not looking forward to the novella because of this.

I did like seeing the other High Lords and more of Prythian. So there's a plus. I was really excited to see more Day Court since that's the court I'm in apparently!

Anyway, that's it I think. I should probably mention that I was shocked about Jurian – but then again, I feel like SJM needed to add something that wasn't predictable. I hope the novella has some decent plot in it, cause otherwise I will probably die from reading it.

Hope you enjoyed this review! I'm trying to come back to reviewing more regularly on here!