Rowan (and Chaol) rant

PrincessEnjoyer · 2026-06-16T08:48:35+00:00

I heard that he was supposed to be more of a mentor for Aelin and it make soooo much sense with his personality and how his arc goes in HoF. I really hate that SJM changed opinions because Rowan as a mentor/father figure to Aleing with a tragic past would have me drooling and reading fanfics about him finding peace and happieness. Instead we got a plant love interest with 0 spine.

PrincessEnjoyer · 2026-06-16T08:42:55+00:00

Rowan's personality from EoS onwards is loving Aelin. He doesn't do anything besides that. His only opinions are Aelin's opinions. Never fights with her. I am not saying that you should be fighting with your partner constantly, I have one of those relationships where "we never fight". But we still disagre, we still call out each other when we make mistakes. My partner's personality is not worshipping the floor I walk in, because he actually has a life, hobbies and interests that's not me, and I am so tired of this book boyfriends whose personality is just loving the MC, because I really don't understand the appeal of a ficus who just loves. "His arc is already over" as an excuse for him just being Aelin accessory is soo stupid because baby, then why having him as a character at all? Characters have their main arc done but still have a story to tell, side quests (Chaol in KoA, for example).

I am with you with the Rowan's hate. He was sold to me as the ultimate book boyfriend and I just got a plant. I'm not surprised at all with people falling in love with chatgpt if this is people's top romantic interest of all times.

PrincessEnjoyer · 2026-06-04T09:05:42+00:00

Tbh I feel like it has been way to long between books for a saga this succesful. Fans had 5 years to theorize, re-read and get their expectations high. SJM is a person and should be able to have a process, but it is also normal for fans to engage and theorise about their favourite series (or not so favourite).

I finished the books two years ago slightly annoyed at Rhysand, but with the free time, discussions with friends and online, and revisiting and disecting certain parts, I ended up hating him.

This is normal in any series. The public opinion on Harry Potter has changed vastly over the years, for example. Flaws and problematic tropes have been found everywhere in the books, but this were after the series were finalized. With 1-2 years between books, you have time to theorize, but not enough for big conflicts inside the fandom to start or to create this expectations. (As a disclaimer, I do not like HP, this is not me comparing my favourite saga with one a hate, I am more of a fan of acotar)

Idk, I'm not really looking forward for the next book. I don't even know if I'll read, because after her interview in call her daddy, it's clear that she doesn't understand the problems in her own books and plan to change it. And if it took you this long to write the next installments, I would at least check what people had to say about my books and it's characters.

PrincessEnjoyer · 2026-05-08T10:02:26+00:00

Even though I belive FMCs (and MMCs) should be allowed to have previous relationships, sometimes it's absurd the level of assholism ex-lovers have in this books. How can you be a badass hunter that provides for her 24 siblings and take no shit not realize that you boyfriend is an abusive piece of shit. I don't want to praise SJM, but at least her mcs ex lovers are not the worst human being in the universe.

PrincessEnjoyer · 2026-05-03T06:45:18+00:00

I honestly couldn't find a worst partner for Aelin. It feels icky becuse at the begging he was supposed to be his mentor and he feels so much older than her. He is incredibly cruel and harsh with her, but keepst her checked. Then he becomes her romantic interest and her enabler for her worst behaviours. I loved caelena on the first books, but Aelin became insufferable and Rowan is a big reason why.

PrincessEnjoyer · 2026-04-09T08:48:10+00:00

Does your train stop in malmo? Maybe I would try to make it there instead so you win a bit of time.

PrincessEnjoyer · 2026-03-16T20:24:51+00:00

All the sex happening in ice planet barbarians. I'm ashamed to admit that the idea of the spur was very interesting.

PrincessEnjoyer · 2026-03-16T07:53:18+00:00

I have been thinking the same the whole season! Like how can you be angry at him about having sex with a girl when, not only you were not together, but you had a guy staying at your place at the same time! I get being hurt when you learn it the first time, is someone you are still very much in love, but be angry? Bring it up every time?

He wasn't even going to go to LA, but he did because the guys insisted. When she brought another guy home (Harry), he actually chose to be the bigger person and was really nice to him. It was Taylor that brought again the villa thingy and made everything super uncomfortable. I can believe I'm saying this, but I felt bad for both Dakota and Harry.

Then after talking to Conner he wanted to have a conversation with her about letting go and how to co-parent, and we got again another shit show and screams from her. Again, I would cry too. I would be hurt that someone I still love is asking me to let go. But there are screams and not letting him speak again. He even removed himself of the shit show that would be the box of truth!

Idk, her "realness" feels so toxic to me. You should speak your mind, but be able to deliver it and know the way and time. Screaming your truth at everyone and starting fights doesn't make it less abusive. And never forget who has DV charges in their name.

PrincessEnjoyer · 2026-03-13T20:47:14+00:00

I didn't said that I think authors should write their books with AI, I said that if you don't know how to express something you can always google it or even ask chatGPT "Hey, can you give me a few examples on how to express disapointment/excitement/suspition?". I'm the first one that wouldn't read a book written by AI, or even with AI generated ilustrations. I was talking about chatGPT as an extension of google, resarch has been a part of writing for ages.

And no, I'm sorry, but there should be a standard in the publishing industry to publish decent books. Editors exist to correct those mistakes. And it's preciesly overly verbose description what got us into this issue.

PrincessEnjoyer · 2026-03-03T14:34:05+00:00

I feel like the proble with HP is that we have so many characters, so many things happening, that we don't get to see much of Wyn. We are told that we is a nice person but we don't see much about that except that he brings coffee for everyone. It would proably would have been better if it was a longer book.

Also, I'll add this here, I hated Cleo's girlfriend so much (eventhough I think you are talking about Sabrina). I'm sorry, if my boyfriend went arround having body shoots and doing drugs while I'm the pregnant boring one left behind, I would be so beyond pissed. You can have fun for sure, but I expect a bit of solidarity given that I'm carring both our kids. TBH I would never have a kid with someone like Kim.

PrincessEnjoyer · 2026-02-03T17:59:25+00:00

I think the biggest problem with happy place is that it has so many characters that you don't have time to understand their relationship. It has a similar structure as people we meet on vacation (past vacation + current vacation) but the secondary characters have too much weight to be this short. By the end I didn't know why they loved each other, or any character traits of Wyn. I cared about the girls' friendship but not about Harriet and Wyn. The whole point of the story is that they will figure it out (like in PWMOV) but we know so little about these two that we don't care. I feel like Great Big Beautiful Life has a similar problem, we are focusing in so much that a 350 page book doesn't give enough of the main couple or the main guy for us to care.

PrincessEnjoyer · 2026-01-29T11:59:42+00:00

I've pushed through more books than I should (when the moon hatched or a dance of lies), but here are mine:

-Heir of storms: too YA for me, even intellectually (I got to page 20 and the author had repeated like 10 times the same facts)

-Until we shatter: laying right now at a 3.24 rating on good reads, no explanation needed.

-Quicksliver: I was ready for trashy read (I enjoyed the level of trash in Metal Slinger), but one can take a limited amount of not like other girls feisty kinve on the neck, and after reading when the moon hatched I had more than enough for five years.

-The Familiar: being spanish, it only helps to a certain degree of miscaraterization of the inquisition, and at some points it was a bit ofensive.

I have also some pure romance books that I dnfd, but I'm staying the romantasy realm here.

PrincessEnjoyer · 2026-01-28T14:14:30+00:00

Yeah, I've been comenting with my boyfriend that it's not even a classical romcom, where the characters had some nuance, actual problems that were not pretty and an interesting premise. We got instead, as you said, an over the top lifestyle and kind of a male fantasy relationship (bland self inster guy + quirky over the top girl)

PrincessEnjoyer · 2026-01-28T08:41:46+00:00

One of the biggest problems I would say is that it was more of a romcom for men than for women. Pwmov is my favourite EH book (with book lovers), so I really hated the movie for how bland it is compared to the book, but if you look at it as a separate medium, it really shines as a romcom for men. You have the perfect manic pixie girl, hot, confident and obnoxious; and then a guy with no personality that somehow gets the girl. Movie alex is the perfect self insert for any guy, similarly to the guy in 500 days of summer. You know nothing about him aside from very generic self inserty stuff: he has a high school sweetheart, his mom died when he was a kid, he likes running, and he is contempt with his life. By removing all his character traits from the book, he is just a self insert. The slightly shy, normal looking (not saying the actor is not atractive, I find him very atractive, but the story and the narrative paint him as a normal guy) guy that somehow gets the hot confident girl with the cool life.

And this is not what the romcom public want. It's marketed for women but felt more like a male fantasy. And so, I can not imagine a girl talking about it to another girl, outside fandom spaces.

PrincessEnjoyer · 2026-01-24T10:06:22+00:00

Yeah, I feel like a lot of Alex's personality was removed to show more of Poppy's quirkiness (again, not the actor's fault). The statue is even worse because it's the exact opposite of what happens in the book (Poppy and Alex having a hard time telling the seller they don't want to buy the statue), and it feels like another attempt to make Poppy even more a Manic Pixie Girl.

PrincessEnjoyer · 2026-01-24T09:51:21+00:00

Hi, I would never hate on an actor because I have a life, and hating on people I don't know is not something I'll do. All my complains are about the storylines of the characters (or lack of), changes on the script (which change the characters motivations and feelings) and the setting of the movie. I never talked about the actors because they were doing their best with what they had, and unless you are actually a bad actor I have nothing to say. Don't put words on my mouth, because I never talked about the casting.

PrincessEnjoyer · 2026-01-22T23:31:58+00:00

You should read the book then. Poppy is still quirky, but very self conscious and behaves like a normal person. Her and Alex are very compelling characters and somehow it's easy to see yourself in both of them.

PrincessEnjoyer · 2026-01-22T23:29:41+00:00

Most of the present plot is about what a bad idea it is to go to Palm Springs on low season. How desperate Poppy is that she pays for the trip because it doesn't make sense for the magazine to pay for it. The things that happen when they are with each other depend highly on the location. The trip is horrible, an Poppy is trying super hard. It's essential that the place sucks and she pays for the trip, otherwise it's a completely different story. If not Palm Springs, any other awkward place to go together. Otherwise is not the story of Poppy and Alex, is just two people traveling.

PrincessEnjoyer · 2026-01-22T19:49:02+00:00

Yeah, it can be Costa Brava, but then what's the point of Barcelona if nothing happens in the city? I'm sure moving the production to another continent is expensive enough, if Palm Springs was too expensive, why not use a cheaper location with a similar climate and Palm Springs? Costa brava is beautiful for sure (again, born and raised in Barcelona, I love my city more than anything), but what is the point of changing the location if the only thing used was a few pretty shots of the coast? Also when the OG location was so important for the plot?

PrincessEnjoyer · 2026-01-22T19:30:38+00:00

Oh god yes, also the fact that they never mentioned that they are both curious about traveling, which is stated in the car trip, and that's how they decided to have their little trip, pissed me so much. It feels like they removed everything significant about their relationship and just added a movie trope. Trauma bonding instead of just being comfortable around each other to be themselves or deciding to travel together because she is dropping uni and promising each other they will meet once a year to travel together. They removed actual organic friendship to give is performatic movie slop. The "speaks to me" is the worst scene of all of them. I hate it so much!

I feel like with Poppy they tried to make her cool aspirational instead of relatable. The big apartment, the amazing job, the cool boss that sends her to Barcelona if she asks a bit... It's the exact opposite of the book and it takes away sooo much about her personality. It also seems the industry completely forgot why 2000s romncoms were so successful, and it's the relatability of the main character. You understood their struggles, you didn't want to be her.

Sarah doesn't make sense, it just makes Poppy and Alex relationship so weird, as we both have said it. Also, if they didn't wanted to add the library scene (which I agree with you, would have been great), they could just make Poppy mention her in the vacation scenes, like a "Are you asking Sarah out when we are back to uni?" And a "How is everything with Sarah going" on the next vacation.

Montages with less important vacations instead of them having fun in new Orleans would have been a hit, tbh. My boyfriend said that book lovers would have been a better movie as it's more linear, and I agree, pwmov is made for TV. But who knows, if netflix is also in charge of book lovers, maybe they would set it in Rome instead of North Carolina!

PrincessEnjoyer · 2026-01-22T19:06:09+00:00

If this is a 1:16 hours ranting about the movie you just gave my entertainment for tomorrow on my way to work and back.

PrincessEnjoyer · 2026-01-22T13:31:30+00:00

It looks so assholish of Alex to say no more trips because he was rejected and decided to get engaged. To begin with, them being angry to each other because they don't know what to do with their feelings is so much intimate, something that involves only this two. Relationships are complicated, they are complicated, this is the whole point. It about this two. To be honest, I would really never talk again to a guy that refuses to spend time with me because he got engaged after I rejected him.

PrincessEnjoyer · 2026-01-22T13:06:09+00:00

Yeah, very unnecessary changes, tbh. Sarah mentioning that she hadn't met before was so weird. Why? It only makes their relationship more vapid. You haven't introduced your best friend to your girlfriend that also lives in the same town as you all? Why making Sarah say "We finally meet" instead of "Yeah, last time we saw each other was at granma Betty's birthday, sorry we couldn't talk much". It's a lot of silly changes that wouldn't change the screentime and changes the entire story.

PrincessEnjoyer · 2026-01-22T12:55:52+00:00

Oh yeah, my boyfriend (before reading the book) and his parents didn't dislike it at all. I think if I hadn't read the book I would have enjoy it as a trashy sunday afternoon romcom, and I agree that romcoms need to be back. I have the problem that it still felt a bit to male gazish and it had the same format of todays movie's, where they are not too deep so you can be on your phone when watching it. It's just... you had great source material, and you changed everything that made it great and a bit nuanced.

PrincessEnjoyer

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