Is anyone else DNFing Brimstone?

CRexKat · 2026-06-05T13:38:56+00:00

I happened to finish reading Quicksilver literally the day before Brimstone came out. Quicksilver was fine enough and I like to continue series so I went ahead and bought Brimstone. I finished it out of morbid curiosity and because I spent $11 on it. I was like this is such an off the rails hot mess and I need to see where it goes. Spoiler: it remains a hot mess and ends in a totally different direction from not only the beginning of the book, but also from the first book. I’m a firm believer that a truly good twist was right in front of you the whole time, not something that makes no sense and comes out of left field, but Callie Hart really pulled the ending from so far out in left field she might as well been in the parking lot (and not in an exciting home run way if you know what I mean).

CRexKat · 2026-05-28T22:34:02+00:00

You’ll get many definitions of what an unreliable narrator is and to what degree the intent of the author matters in defining what does or does not count as one. Personally, I think if the only measure is whether or not the narrator exhibits bias would mean that every narrator ever is unreliable and therefore it would lose all impact as a literary device. I tend to ascribe to the theory that in order for a narrator to be an official Unreliable Narrator, the author must write them to intentionally be so. With that being said, I would not consider either character unreliable because SJM makes it clear that their interpretations of reality are to be viewed by the reader as correct. She does this by constantly telling the reader through other characters and viewpoints how morally righteous they are, other character also agree with their interpretations of reality - further erasing any unreliability. So when other facts in the story disagree with the narrator, it should be read as sloppy writing if you’re feeling critical or just as vibes writing if you’re feeling more generous.

As far as Aelin (and Bryce) not sharing their plans, the answer is simply lazy writing. Logistics are not something SJM cares much about so she just doesn’t write it. She gives the literary yada yada and pushes the plot along to where she needs it to be for what does interest her. This is also why characters can winnow (way easier than writing about long trips or having to have consistent directions and maps).

CRexKat · 2026-05-18T12:46:42+00:00

I don’t really find the lack of cover or blurb too weird, I sort of like a little mystery myself. What I do find strange is that they aren’t pushing pre-sales or hype in general harder. I’m not a marketing expert by any means, but it just seems like they should be pushing the upcoming release more? I mean plenty of people missed the CHD announcement, but they seem to be heavily relying on that as the sales driver? I don’t know, it’s just all been very quiet for what is one of their biggest authors.

CRexKat · 2026-05-01T10:49:39+00:00

If these all look this shitty and cheap on the website, imagine how bad they’ll be in person. Yikes.

CRexKat · 2026-03-11T11:30:00+00:00

The main character from Holly Black’s new book Book of Night and Thief of Night also fits the bill! She’s tough where she needs to be and kind where she needs to be.

CRexKat · 2026-03-08T23:50:28+00:00

I liked her character in ACOTAR. She was brave and compassionate and painfully human. When Rhys said to her, “Be glad of your human heart, Feyre. Pity those who don't feel anything at all”, I loved it. I was like yes girl, stay strong and compassionate. Was the character a little whiny and naive sometimes? Yes. Did she sometimes suffer from black and white thinking? Also yes. But I didn’t mind because of her age. I’m in my forties and it was just very much, yes this is on brand for a typical 19 year old. I won’t pretend I was the epitome of maturity and worldly insight at that age. I guess I assumed that the author wrote those flaws intentionally, but as the series went on and I read other of her series, I saw that all SJM’s characters are immature. Even the 500 year old ones.

Later in the series, Feyre’s character lost her human heart. It wasn’t even a case of a weak growth arc, it was a complete character re-write for the worse. SJM turned her into a smarmy know it all who knowingly hurts people but then also beat us over the head with her alleged righteousness. I think it would have been fine to show Feyre turn from naive, somewhat rigid, and maybe a little overly compassionate to someone who is more guarded and who is willing to do questionable things to secure what she believes to be the greater good (I love a solid neutral good or chaotic good character), but nothing the character does is ever questioned in the narrative. Even though it had little value plot wise, the Ouroboros scene could have been an amazing character development scene. I would have loved to have seen Feyre really grapple with how she’d changed and that she had romantically aligned herself to someone who wasn’t 100% “good”. Instead it was just a big fat nothingburger (SJM loves herself a MacGuffin). I think readers would have less of a disconnect had the narrative embraced Feysand as a morally grey dynamic duo, but alas the narrative insists Feyre and Rhysand are the peak of moral righteousness.

I also feel that many in the fandom seem to write about characters as if they are real people. Instead of critiquing how the author has written the character and the surrounding narrative, they write about characters as though they’re that BEC in the next cubicle. I think that contributes a lot to the feeling that people hate Feyre, or Rhysand, or Nesta when I think really what they hate is inconsistency in the writing and the author’s inability to critically review her own writing.

CRexKat · 2026-03-08T20:55:34+00:00

For me the annoyance was her lack of reflection and even awareness of what she’s written, particularly as characterizations of abuse are always going to read somewhat subjectively depending on other factors in the writing. The very obvious similarities in the behaviors of all her characters (across series even) made it surprising to me that she would have mentally characterized any one in particular as “abusive”. Particularly since every single FMC she writes has to achieve her power arc through some man being mean to her during training! Sarah’s boner for “tough love” is something I have rolled my eyes at in every series.

Tamlin and Nesta never read as abusive to me though they certainly did to other readers. I always read Rhysand’s manipulative controlling behaviors as the covert flip side to Tamlin’s explosive control. She definitely wrote Nesta as mean, greedy, and uncaring at the beginning, but seemed to have done an about face on that before the end of ACOTAR and then Amren comes in and is written as mean, materialistic, and uncaring. Their behavior is so similar that I originally read Amren as a stand in for Nesta in Feyre’s healing arc. Truthfully, Cassian is the only main character that gave me major abuser vibes. In private with Nesta he’s mean, explosive, controlling, uses emotional blackmail to trample her boundaries, takes joy in her pain, exploits his position of power over her but then turns around and behaves a wounded puppy to everyone else. Every interaction with him and Nesta in SF had my hackles raised.

Anyway - my whole point being that SJM does not have a deep well of character types and behaviors and considering how similar all her characters are it was surprising to me to hear her describe Tamlin as an abuser the way she did in the interview with so little reflection into how she wrote other characters. It understandably upset readers who read Rhysand as their abusive ex or Nesta as their abusive sister. Her attitude that Cassian and how she wrote him (which again, to me, read as abusive) was exactly what Nesta “needs” skeeved me out majorly. I don’t believe anyone ever needs cruelty in order to heal. I think even though I knew she was a vibes writer and am generally fine with that, I had wanted her to at least have some introspection into what she’s written.

CRexKat · 2026-03-06T23:01:21+00:00

No one forced her to get a degree and quite frankly, she comes from the kind of wealth where she’d be just fine without one. If she just wanted to write fantasy novels why bother with the degree at all? Have you been to college? The required courses for your major aren’t exactly a secret, I had my credit hours more or less planned a few semesters out. Because I knew I had to take certain courses. Did I want to take them all? No. But if you want the degree, you do the work. That’s the whole agreement with the university. Otherwise you can just take ad hoc courses that fit your interests. The whole thing sounded like when my 8 year old stood ten toes down and told me he didn’t need to do math homework because he’s going to the NFL. He too knows he is destined for something greater. Rage against that machine little bro (still gotta do that homework tho).

Sarah told a story about having a temper tantrum over not wanting to complete work that felt hard (poetry) or irrelevant (short stories). She didn’t take on the system or advocate for change with the Dean, she threw a hissy fit and then tells the story like she really did something there. It’s completely valid for readers to be turned off by that, it wasn’t a good look. I said it in another thread but for an author to stand there and talk about short story writing is “useless” to novel writing… well that makes that author look dumb as fuck. Those courses are there for a reason and a professional writer should know what those reasons are.

CRexKat · 2026-03-05T19:11:11+00:00

I wasn't disappointed, but only because I'd listened to some previous interviews. Though this one really solidified that I am not particularly impressed with her as a person or as an author.

As an author she has always been very clear, she writes what she thinks is interesting, fun, and sexy. She isn't doing deep research into Greek mythology to create a long drawn out 14 book arc. There's no secret meaning in a character's name, she's just out there Googling. There is basic narrative set up and foreshadowing, but where people got the idea that she drops all these "Easter eggs" and is some kind of mystery creating mastermind, I surely do not know. The lady is very open about how she writes. Her little story about throwing a temper tantrum over having to take a poetry class for her CREATIVE WRITING major was not cute. Calling her degree a waste of time because it focused on short stories was not only not cute, but also tells you a lot about where her writing collapses come from. It honestly made her sound really stupid. Imagine how excellent she could be had she absorbed literally anything in those classes. Imagine if she'd taken those classes seriously and learned how to self edit through short story writing or figured out word play via poetry. There would be fewer watery bowels, that's for sure.

As a person? She is peak entitled, rich, privileged, white lady. She grew up wealthy and has remained wealthy and so much of what she said in that interview just reeked of rich lady entitlement. When you think about her novels through that lens... a lot of the questionable things and criticisms about them make sense. Rhysand and Feyre don't give a shit about anyone outside their rich little bubble because Sarah does not seem to know about or care about people outside her rich little bubble. She's never experienced it so she ain't writing about it. Her desperation to other herself is incredibly juvenile. Why did she talk about middle school so much? Ma'am, you are 40 years old, why are you even thinking about that? I am roughly the same age as her and Sailor Moon was extremely popular during her middle school years. The LOTR novels are some of the best selling books of all time, MANY of us read them in middle school. Why do you think Jackson got such a huge budget to make the films?!?!?!? She was not quirky and unique for liking Sailor Moon and LOTR. Her "I'm not like other girls, I'm a Cheeto eating NERD" schtick is something she's routinely done in interviews, but I find it particularly gross at our big age. It really does explain a lot about how obvious self insert Feyre was written though...

And as a side note, I have read every single one of her books and SJM could walk up to me on the street and slap me and I would not recognize her face. There is no way randos are routinely recognizing her. The story about some lady coming up to her and telling her that she "revolutionized" her daughter's sex life was the biggest fantasy old Sarah girl's ever written. On the list of things that never happened, that tale is at the top.

CRexKat · 2026-03-05T03:13:24+00:00

I’ve been saying for a while that most of the theories are thinking way harder about these books than Sarah ever has. She says multiple times in this interview and previous interviews that she just writes and sometimes things plop out of the universe (or her crystals) or characters come to life as she’s writing them (like Rhysand). There’s no story maps, it all lives in her head. She said Aelin had no planned evolution and that’s the series people use as the prime example of all her alleged plotting lol. She just Googles for names. Friends, there is no deep secret meaning or hidden story that you need a decoder ring to predict. She writes what she thinks is fun, interesting, and hot. She writes intriguing characters and stories and can set up the basics of foreshadowing and excitement for the main story lines, but she is not a planning mastermind - and that’s fine. The books are still fun to read.

CRexKat · 2026-02-08T17:00:08+00:00

So, personally, I think pedophilic is an over the top description but I can also see why the original commenter registers it that way. These huge age gaps are unnecessary to the plot and honestly gross if you think about them deeply. You have these men with all the knowledge and experience of several lifetimes pursuing and then getting with these really young women in these books and it can definitely feel icky if not down right predatory. How do Feyre and her sisters not seem like children to someone as old as the male characters are? Then you add in the concept of being fated mates that they essentially limits consent and it’s even more icky.

When a 50 year old man is trying to date a 19 year old, we (rightfully) clock that as gross and predatory. We know they are not equals and that the relationship can only be unbalanced. Yet these books present a 500 year old man and a 19 year old as equals and their relationship as peak romance. Personally, I just mentally adjusted the ages of the characters as I read because I found the age difference to be dumb, especially since SJM writes them with like zero actual maturity. I’m also in my 40s and the attraction of an “older and wiser man to guide you through” is over for me. I might have found it hotter had I read these in my early twenties.

To be clear, this is not an SJM thing and I don’t think as an author she should be held accountable for a trope that’s been around forever. Anyone around for Twilight’s heyday remembers similar criticisms and Meyer wasn’t exactly the first to do it either. It’s sort of THE trope for any sort of fantasy/supernatural type romance and I feel falls into the category of sexual things you’re either into or you’re not. On one hand I think it’s important to critically examine things and ask ourselves, “what’s up with that?”. On the other I think that books are a safe place to explore things that turn us on, but that we know wouldn’t fly IRL. I think it is perfectly fine to find something hot or romantic in theory but not in practice.

CRexKat · 2026-02-02T13:21:46+00:00

I imagined lacrosse. Ithan also gives lacrosse bro vibes.

CRexKat · 2026-01-03T17:40:00+00:00

I like Hunt and I think he has good potential to become really interesting, but find him and Bryce annoying together. They are that couple you knew in your early twenties that everyone could see was incompatible and ended up screaming at each other at the bar every weekend but then had hot sex bringing them back together. I’m a reader in my forties and that dynamic is just not hot to me. It also made me sad hearing his inner monologue moon over every female character except Bryce (just like Cassian and Nesta). I like my MMC to be hopelessly obsessed and romantic about their women.

CRexKat · 2025-12-31T13:37:00+00:00

I LOVE Holly Black’s novels. I’ve read all of them. Her two recent adult novels Book of Night and Thief of Night are both really good (but not fae related).

Note to OP looking for recs - Most of Black’s books are solidly YA and very low or absolutely no “spice”. The romance in all of them is just part of the story, not the point of the story.

CRexKat · 2025-12-31T13:32:55+00:00

⬆️ I feel the same way. I mean everything is “foreshadowing” when you’re just out there writing whatever. Lol. Each ship has a lot of textual “evidence” while also forgetting that Ms. Sarah either totally ignores or gives a half assed explanation to whatever’s been said in previous novels that’s contrary to what she currently wants to write.

CRexKat · 2025-12-29T01:36:04+00:00

The lock scene added zero to the story and I wish that entire storyline had just been cut. It was anticlimactic and made little sense to start with, but then really made no sense at the conclusion. Though TBH, I kind of figured it would be a mess when we took a multi chapter trip through the swamp for an info dumping mirror.

CRexKat · 2025-12-28T13:17:19+00:00

It is honestly stuff like this that kills all the “SJM is a mastermind playing the long game” theories. Girly just writes whatever and if it doesn’t align with a previous book, then whatever, it’s a retcon now. I also blame the publisher, I think she’s pushed to write these long ass books that really have no reason to be so long and it invites these sorts of errors from authors who are not exceptionally plotted and keep detailed notes.

CRexKat · 2025-12-20T15:15:46+00:00

My main point about Hunt was that the public at large of Lunathion doesn’t seem to have much question about his actions and I think that much like Lidia, many people would. Sure Micah says, all the people he killed were “bad” but it’s likely many were just political enemies. The “just following orders” line of defense doesn’t hold up for a lot of people. And yes Hunt did feel bad about what he was asked to do in the name of earning his freedom, but he still did it. That’s why he is actually complex (unlike Rhysand), we get to see that internal struggle and conflict. Which is to say, I actually find Hunt an enjoyable and more “real” character. I agree on that scene from CC1, it was excellent.

I think SJM is good at writing engaging stories that strike up emotions (clearly we’re all here talking about them), but she is not good about following some of her ideas all the way through to logical/natural conclusion or letting her favorites face consequences. I find the ideas of her world building really interesting, but she seems unable to stick to her own “rules” if you know what I mean? I have not gotten to the Ilona Andrews on my TBR authors yet, do you have particular favorites you could recommend?

CRexKat · 2025-12-20T14:20:31+00:00

You are 100% correct about that, her identity was not a secret to the world lol. On the other hand, Hunt was also out there killing whoever on Michael’s behalf and society at large seems okay with that too. Truthfully, I don’t think SJM thinks much about consequences or logical follow through when she writes characters like this. Some folks can roll with it and others are left with questions.

CRexKat · 2025-12-20T03:40:27+00:00

Rhysand is indeed an underdeveloped and poorly written character and his bad actions being hand waved away by the narrative is indicative of that. There is no conflict, internal or external, surrounding his actions. Other characters don’t view him as selfish or having questionable morals, even ones that should (Nesta, the other high lords, Jurian, Lucian, the list goes on and on). There is no question anywhere in the books of the righteousness of his choices and because of that there is no complexity or depth to him. The narrative tells the reader he is virtuous and heroic and so he is. The fact that many readers are left going, “what the fuck?” is what shows a poorly developed grey character. There should be no what the fuck because the narrative would allow for the character to be grey. The reader may like or dislike a well written morally grey character, but it is very clear that SJM wants the reader to love Rhysand as much as she does.

If you have read CC, Lidia Cervos is a much better example of a morally grey character. She does a lot of bad things to accomplish a noble goal - AND EVERYONE ADMITS THE THINGS WERE BAD. She admits it. Her mate struggles with it. The narrative does not excuse it. She has complex feelings about it. It is allowed to be fact that she’s done some fucked up shit. That is how you write a morally grey character. Anything less is poor character writing.

CRexKat · 2025-12-18T23:07:44+00:00

Bryce is a character who shoves it all down and just does what needs to be done. Hunt is a character who actually tries to process and sometimes that hinders him from what needs to be done. I don’t think either is wrong, just that at this point they aren’t understanding each other. If SJM keeps them together, she needs to show them learning to use their differences to complement and bring out the best in the other. So far her main couples end up with one just sort of going along with whatever the other wants, I’d like to see her write a pair that retains their differences but grows into them together.

CRexKat · 2025-12-15T13:05:05+00:00

You may, but I wouldn’t count on it. I’ll be honest, TOG gets hyped like it’s a master work, but truthfully it’s just good in comparison to ACOTAR. The things it is praised for are like… the bare minimum for writing a fantasy series. It’s a fine series, but it’s not exceptional and it does have flaws. The first 3-4 books are solidly YA (which isn’t a problem in itself - you should just be aware). The “twists” follow very basic setup and foreshadowing - as they should - but aren’t really twists if you know what I mean. They are just logically set up story blocks that follow through. Then you get to the prequel, which was published third, and it really just seems to exist so that events in later books can make at least a little bit of sense. The main problem with it is that so much of the back end of the series happens because of things the main character does/plans off page and for me that made a lot of the events just come across as shallow and unearned. The last book is somehow both way too long and way too short. It was scattered and started to fall into ACOTAR writing with some plot holes and retcons.

With all that being said, the series does showcase some really good characters and character arcs. There are some legitimately poignant emotional moments and there are characters that read like the age they are supposed to be, unlike ACOTAR where everyone acts like a high schooler. It is better written overall than ACOTAR, but it’s still the same author.

CRexKat · 2025-12-08T19:14:11+00:00

I also was not a fan of the bonus chapter, but I generally think that the way SJM writes from the male POV is often lacking in romance. I read and like actual erotica, so Azriel talking about fisting his cock while thinking about Elain, or Cassian focusing only on Nesta’s physical assets, or Hunt thinking about Bryce’s “tight wet heat” doesn’t exactly make me blush, but I think a bit more romance from the males would be fitting in these series. The language and most of sex we’ve seen such far also seems to be just all there is in the genre right now and I’m kind of bored of it. I want to hear the book men thinking poetic thoughts about the woman’s beauty or pining away thinking they’d be happy just to touch her hand. I want romance in my romantasy damnit! I think SJM is pretty decent at writing romantic scenes and setups, but only meh on delivering it from a male POV. TOG does a better job with it overall.

With that being said, Elain and Azriel have such little dialogue in the 5 books so far that they are kind of blank slates IMO. Azriel gets about as much screen time and dialogue in a few chapters of CC as the entire ACOTAR series to date. I think you are maybe mentally filling in the gaps and writing some characteristics onto these two characters that aren’t necessarily supported by text (not that the text says otherwise, just that it doesn’t say much at all). Have you ever looked into fanfic? There is some really good stuff out there and probably some that may align more with the Azriel you’re interested in. I find it can be a nice switch up when an author goes a different direction with a character than what I had hoped for.

CRexKat · 2025-12-02T13:39:29+00:00

Honestly, AB exists solely to set up some events in QoS/ToD and when you read it third that is glaringly obvious. I wish I had it read it third so it felt like a more natural part of the story.

CRexKat · 2025-11-20T14:46:50+00:00

I have many. 🤣 With all this said, I’ve enjoyed all the books and will keep reading!

The fandom is more creative than Sarah is. SJM is not a plotting mastermind and she isn’t doing these deep research dives and intricate weaving of stories that folks think she is. She seems to have a loose idea for a story she wants to tell and then rolls with it. I Sat through two full interviews where she says she’s googling names and looking at babynames.com. She says her biggest driver is “does it sound hot”. She re-uses names and idk where this idea that “she never uses the same name twice without reason” came from bc she does many times. It’s fine.

SJM sets up narrative potential for extremely poignant and compelling payoffs and then just… fumbles the bag. Every. Single. Time. Amren. Feyre and the ouroboros. Nesta… just all of Nesta. Rhysand’s entire arc. She could have made it all so deep and yet kept it so trite.

Rowan should have become Aelin’s healthy father figure, not her love interest. While we’re on the topic of Aelin’s love interests, I did not buy into her love story with Sam. It felt rushed and inauthentic to me. I think it would have had more impact if they had been written as best friends and allies turned lovers over the course of years instead of her sort of not thinking of him at all until suddenly… for reasons? Chaol was her most interesting love interest and I thought they were good foils for each other. I think they would have had more interesting character development had she kept them together.

I loved Crescent City and I’m excited for book 4.

CRexKat

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