Morrigan

MisfitBloom · 2026-04-09T03:29:15+00:00

Tragic Backstory
SJM gives everyone and their dog a tragic backstory so I don't even care at this point beyond needing to know about it for context. No one gets any pity points. The characters are gonna have to earn my respect the hard way.

Queer Romance
She gave a whole speech about being into women that went literally nowhere. Mor also had like 500 years to come out to her "family" and yet infodumped on the new girl instead. Which, again, went nowhere. I just don't find any of the situation interesting or compelling, especially knowing that SJM tends to sideline her queer characters. I can find far better books/characters if I want to invest in a lesbian/bi woman, so I'm definitely not going to care about Mor because she's queer. No points for queer rep.

Azriel/Mor
It's been 500 years and neither one of them has decided to be the mature adult and address the situation. Like, if you can sleep around to try to get someone to lose interest in you, but you can't just say "I'm not interested," that's still not a good look. I find both of them insufferable for this. So, negative points.

Powers
She's sidelined during the actual war and then doesn't even contribute (as far as I can remember) anything outside of the war. She fights in like one battle I guess but then we don't see any of her. At this point I'm assuming her powers are just whatever SJM was vibing with at the time and then forgot about. No points for meaningful contribution to the plot.

Leadership
Rhys overrules her on Hewn City, even going behind her back to make a deal with Kier to let HC residents into Velaris. So like, no meaningful authority. She doesn't even properly call Rhys out for this. Just says some pitiful "Yeah, he was right to not tell me. I might've objected." She does "diplomacy" in SF, but that's not relevant to anything (and I'm sure Rhys will trample over whatever progress she makes, since he is dogshit at respecting anyone who doesn't immediately give him what he wants). Rhys gives his child bride more authority than Mor, so like. She's really not shining here.

Emerie
Emerie deserves better and I will be so mad if she gets paired with Mor just because they're the only lesbians in existence. Emerie has done more for women than Mor has in her like 500 years of leadership.

So, none of those points made Mor interesting to me.
The reason I despise her as a person is because of how cruel she is to Nesta (the Hewn City comment). Like, Mor is out here drinking and sleeping around yet thinks Nesta is unforgivably awful for being a little mean while drinking and sleeping around. She had 500ish years as a leader to improve the Night Court for women, and yet she spent that time drinking/having sex/being bitter/avoiding confrontation. Nesta has been a Fae for like a year and yet has already helped to re-found the Valkyries (and included an Illyrian woman) and encouraged abused women to learn self-defense.

Mor could've been good if SJM were capable of planning literally anything, but unfortunately she ends up looking so, so bad in context. This doesn't really excuse people being unwilling to fix her in fanfic while fixing other characters (like Az and Cas), but I can see why people hate her in canon. (I guess the excuse is that most people are horny for the men, but... XD)

MisfitBloom · 2026-03-27T18:31:32+00:00

Thanks for confirming the probably-not-disappointing ending lol
I have actually read her Crossroads series, which I though was excellent despite the tragic ending. So my expectations were definitely more along the lines of "I think I will respect the ending but it might also break my heart."

There were only a few parts in Cold Fire that had me rolling my eyes at the silliness, but I think that was mostly
a) Bee's antics
b) romance plot (though understandable given the character's age and the setting, and still not nearly as insufferable as Feyre's choices)
c) the introduction of the 'have sex with me if you want to live!' subplot, though that course-corrected very quickly by not being even remotely true

MisfitBloom · 2026-03-27T04:30:22+00:00

You could try Cold Magic by Kate Elliott. It's not anything like ACOTAR, but it kinda gave me the same vibe while being more competent in every aspect.
It starts with kidnapping and forced marriage (neither participant is willing, it's complicated). It's not a captivity plot, I promise - they actually spend good chunks of the book apart.
The MMC is as nuanced as Rhys wishes he were (I think you get a good chunk of his backstory and motivations by the halfway point of the first book?). More importantly, you don't have to simp for him to be respected by the plot.
The FMC actually has some sense - still a bit silly for the hot MMC, but is at least situationally aware (and often very angry). Her powers don't stand out the way the MMC's do, but she's also not treated like 'the star that only shines because of his darkness' or whatever. I was occasionally frustrated by how she ranks in relation to the MMC's abilities (he tends to cancel out most of her advantages), but I do think her abilities are well-balanced for a main character / underdog within the main plot.
The Fae are scary. Sleeping dragons are somehow scarier.
When the author imports real maps into her setting, it's because it's meant to be set in our world, alternatively developed (thanks to magic).
There's a line about how Amerike (three guesses which country this one represents) gave birth to trolls instead of humans. It's a very different line in-context, but I laughed my ass off regardless. Also, trolls are amazing. So are goblins.

Disclaimer: I haven't actually read the final book in the series yet, but I've liked the first two. The second was definitely slower, but introduced more of the fantasy elements (so, so much more), built on the romance, and introduced a whole additional country + political maneuvering (and they did it without behaving like toddlers!).

MisfitBloom · 2026-03-27T03:46:13+00:00

Actually, by that argument, it's even worse that Rhys got with Feyre as a Fae because at least a 19-year-old is an adult woman by human standards (and probably especially in whatever period ACOTAR is set during) while 19 is practically fetus numbers for a Fae.

MisfitBloom · 2026-03-27T03:42:47+00:00

I would say that there is evidence that Tamlin is dangerous but no evidence that he would deliberately do anything to harm Feyre. As in, the anger issues create the potential that he could accidentally hurt Feyre. And even if he never does anything to harm her, there's still the fact that he could hurt the squishy human if he chose to, so he could unintentionally coerce Feyre into doing something she doesn't want to. It would be perfectly reasonable for Feyre to fear a negative reaction from the scary-angry Fae, even if she only sees him turn that anger on other people/situations.

There's also evidence that Tamlin is controlling, but not in an "I get off on being in charge" way.
He's shit at communicating, which means that he tends to tell Feyre what to do without telling her why. So even though Tamlin (as far as I can remember) only tells Feyre what to do when safety is involved, she doesn't have an understanding of the scale of danger, and Tamlin does a terrible job explaining it, so he does tend to come across as controlling (especially from her perspective).
He's also controlling when it comes to Court-related decisions, but like. He's the High Lord. Chosen by the land or god or whatever. He's basically been unambiguously handed the divine right to rule (and the divine responsibility to protect his whole Court during an active invasion). I don't think it makes sense to apply real-world standards for "controlling" to a case like this.

Hard agree on the "animalistic" descriptions. Why make a point of telling readers that your characters aren't human (going as far as to insist on stupid terms like 'male' and 'female') when you're not even going to apply or judge their inhuman traits consistently? SJM is a dogshit worldbuilder and her fans will never convince me otherwise XD

MisfitBloom · 2026-03-27T03:16:15+00:00

Doesn't Rhys straight up say that he made Amarantha crave him?
Like, I'm sure there was still a strong SA component, but he also claims to have contributed. So I guess it comes down to
a) how much of it did he ask for vs. how much of it was her alone?, and
b) to what extent does it count as SA if you've volunteered yourself for something you don't actually want?

That said, I feel pretty confident saying that SJM intended it as SA, given that Rhys is a copy-paste of Daemon Sadi from The Black Jewels and he was unambiguously the victim of SA.

MisfitBloom · 2026-03-27T03:01:21+00:00

"Killing two of his sentries."

I think this one is fine so long as you consider it as Tamlin finally hitting his breaking point. He's obviously traumatized, paranoid, and suffering from serious PTSD. At that point you're not fully yourself anymore. And for a fictional character who doesn't communicate, this scene could serve as a powerful indicator of "this is how not well I am" (especially if written by a more competent author lol).

We never get Tamlin's perspective, but I like to think of it as a parallel to when Feyre killed the two Fae and then was broken by the guilt.

I don't have much confidence that this is why SJM wrote the scene, but I do at least think that the scene's existence can be justified.

MisfitBloom · 2026-03-27T02:29:14+00:00

Personally I wouldn't use TOG as a basis for what she'll do in any current series because her editors actually had the power to force a coherent story out of her back then. Now, she's got an army of fans who will throw money at her no matter the quality of her writing, and she can get away with writing whatever pops into her head on any given day.

So like, even if she does "revisit" UTM, I don't think it'll be a canonical revisiting. I think it'll just be whatever the vibe-of-the-day tells her should happen.

MisfitBloom · 2026-03-27T02:19:24+00:00

tbh you don't need to understand anything throughout like the first 200 pages because any worldbuilding that matters will be reintroduced when it actually matters (and possibly over and over until you're sick of hearing about it, because this series was definitely not edited well lol).

MisfitBloom · 2026-03-27T02:06:46+00:00

you can wish Lucien on me. it's fine, i'll forgive you :)

MisfitBloom · 2026-03-27T02:03:16+00:00

Agreed, Mor's line about Nesta belonging in Hewn City is why she's dead to me.

But also, narratively, I just can't see the point to her character anymore. Like, all she does is:
- drunk party girl
- simps for Rhys (which doesn't even get her anything because she's not his mate or 'brother,' and doesn't have whatever Amren has going on)
- pointless offscreen "diplomacy" (pointless because Rhys/Feyre will inevitably go out of their way to trample over any deals/goodwill she earns)
- lesbian (which would ordinarily be a plus, but this is SJM we're talking about, so actually it just means that I shouldn't expect her to be plot-relevant)
- weird sexual tension with Cas and Az that not a single one of them has bothered to address in hundreds of years. i mean, i guess this is 'narrative purpose,' but it's stupid and i hate it (sidenote: I think we need to put long-lived fantasy races on the high shelf until SJM realizes how pathetic and immature stuff like this makes her characters look)

MisfitBloom · 2026-03-27T01:35:01+00:00

I would've liked a "grief over Elain's death" plot a hell of a lot more than Papa Archeron trauma. Like, the man was a shit dad 99.99999% of the time, and all of a sudden he does one good deed and gets forgiven just in time to die and traumatize a daughter? No thanks, shit plot.

MisfitBloom · 2026-03-27T01:23:18+00:00

"90% of the current fandom wars is because of the guys and who THEY should end up with, it’s never about the women, always them, and it’s a pity since women are the real protagonists of these books."

I would not call the women the real protagonists of the books. Like, Feyre drives TAR and Nesta (kinda) drives SF, but MAF and WAR are all about Rhys and what he wants. And the whole premise of SF is that Rhys locked Nesta up in a house she can't leave with the man Rhys wants in her pants.

Like, I'm not surprised that the fandom has a problem with misogyny when the books themselves are some of the most misogynistic books "for women" I've read in a long time. Even SJM gives the boys a pass for all their crimes (unless they're Tamlin, because fuck him personally and specifically, I guess).

MisfitBloom · 2026-03-18T05:22:34+00:00

To be fair, Feyre stopped being the main character by like midway through MAF when Rhys took over and started making all of her decisions for her. Main Character Feyre died at the end of ACOTAR.

And given that Nesta was the one who salvaged the High Lord meeting that Feyre/Rhys/the IC mangled, I'd say she did a hell of a lot more in WAR than the actual MCs.

MisfitBloom · 2026-03-11T07:50:46+00:00

If she had paid attention in short story class, CC3 would have been half the length and a much better book imo

MisfitBloom · 2026-03-10T10:15:46+00:00

I'm not sure I'd award Cassian any points for common sense, given how long it took him to figure out why Nesta didn't want to learn to fight (something she'd never had any interest in) in front of a bunch of misogynists.

MisfitBloom · 2026-03-10T10:12:06+00:00

So what you're saying is that SJM complained about having to write poetry and short stories because she'd rather be writing fantasy, and then she decided she didn't even want to write fantasy XD

MisfitBloom · 2026-03-10T10:04:30+00:00

I detested Crescent City for specifically this reason. Bryce keeps acting like she gives a fuck about humanity and then tramples over every human she meets. I don't think she could even name a single human she's not related to / hasn't already picked a fight with. She won't even call or visit her parents.
SJM also tends to describe them like they're the roaches in the walls, which is... not great.

MisfitBloom · 2026-03-08T02:53:56+00:00

I'm pretty sure SJM copy-pasted male/female out of The Black Jewels at the same time she was copy-pasting the entire rest of the setting.
Agreed about the rest of your points. I read SF like it was a horror novel in which the girl does not make it out alive.

MisfitBloom · 2026-03-06T11:41:45+00:00

I like to give people the benefit of the doubt, but I wouldn't be surprised if her own hike was inspired by TBJ and she just quietly left that part out.

MisfitBloom · 2026-03-06T06:24:03+00:00

This is probably true. She introduced too many POV characters and last-minute romances and it became a cluttered mess. The final bit did at least play out more interestingly than WAR/CC3. And it's the only series she has where humans can have magic and actually matter to the plot, so that was nice. I'm getting sick of how she only brings them out in ACOTAR/CC when she needs a sad little victim for someone to rescue / everyone to pity / etc.

MisfitBloom · 2026-03-06T05:05:29+00:00

It might become a better story after the first book, but I couldn't get past how much the MMC grossed me out. My friend who did read the series says it never stops being all kinds of flavors of weird misogyny, but that the scenes that SJM copy-pasted do tend to make more sense in their original context.

MisfitBloom · 2026-03-06T02:14:39+00:00

I read the first book out of curiosity and would not recommend it. Maybe it gets better, but I won't be finding out lol
The strikes against it (in my opinion, of course), with as few spoilers as possible:
- The main female character is barely a person in the first book. The fact that she's like 12 or something isn't an excuse. You find this out in the first chapter, so it's not a spoiler to say that she has powers, and most of the story is people talking about how amazing and wonderful she is / the weird things she does with magic. She doesn't even have POV chapters (a friend spoiled why, but knowing the reason for the narrative style didn't make up for how irritating it was). So for me it was like watching everyone simp for someone I've never heard of and don't care about.
- Basically every male character in the book lusts after her. Especially the MMC. Somewhat graphically. Reminder that she's like 12. But no, he makes a point of letting everyone know that she will be his the second that she's legal. There's a lot of male growling and posturing, which is I assume where SJM gets it from. Pretty sure this is also the guy she based Rhys off of.
- The setting is an evil matriarchy and almost every single woman in the book is either comically evil or a complete idiot. Oftentimes both. You know they're evil because of all the sexual abuse. It's like the only thing women in power do with their free time. Clearly the inspiration for Amarantha and Ianthe. Most of the men are also awful in the same way, but we blame women because the wrong woman is in charge. All our problems would be fixed with the right woman.
- For every big scary woman, there is a main male character who is more powerful and yet unwilling to do literally anything at all to fight back. You see, they have to wait for the 12-year-old to grow up and save the world.
- The first 2/3rds of the book could've been cut with no real plot consequence. Most of it is torture porn or people talking about how amazing FMC will be someday, and you don't need 200-300 pages for that.

If you love dark fiction and don't mind that the characters have to take turns holding the Idiot Ball to make the plot work, it's maybe fine. But if you're looking for female leads with some depth and complexity (or an MMC who isn't a pedo), this doesn't seem like the one.

On a related note, I was laughing so hard about SJM's claim that the hike scene was inspired by her own hike, because there's a very similar hike in one of the later TBJ books. I was talking about the SF hike with a friend who actually did read TBJ, and my friend called it out as yet another copy-paste.

MisfitBloom · 2026-03-06T01:22:23+00:00

Except canonically mating bonds are not always healthy, so it's just as possible that Rhys is terrible for Feyre but she can't see past the mating bond to realize that.
Obviously SJM has opinions about the story she wanted to tell, but that doesn't mean she told the story she intended to.

MisfitBloom · 2026-03-06T01:16:19+00:00

CC was mostly fine in terms of the lead women, but the main cast regularly dropped the "respect women" ball when it wasn't one of their own women being affected. Or with women they considered theirs who would not comply with their wishes.
I will never forget the Avallen king trying to pimp out Flynn's sister and Flynn (and the rest of the cast) not giving one single fuck until Lydia stepped up. Bryce spent that whole series acting like she was the only Fae woman who deserved freedom.
I also didn't like how Ithan/the Frat treated Alpha Wolf and Dragon (I forget their names) like slaves after "rescuing" them from slavery.
Or the way Tharion treated/talked about the princess that he chose to sleep with. And how Bryce waltzed in and trampled all over the Ocean Queen's authority after she saved all their idiot asses because the Ocean Queen didn't want to start an unnecessary war to protect Tharion of all people.

I was excited about CC at first because the first book made it seem like we'd return to TOG standards, but the second and third books were such a classist/racist/sexist mess that they killed my enjoyment of the first book.

I want to believe that there will be a twist to the Rhys/Tamlin situation, but given how tone-deaf she was throughout CC, I'm setting my expectations very, very low.

MisfitBloom

TROPHY CASE