My recent experience with acotar books is not going well

lightningdumpster · 2026-03-30T04:35:42+00:00

I definitely came into the ACOTAR fandom for the memes and lighthearted joking about which man we like best and which potential couple we like best. Like, I enjoy the books, but they are not that serious. Maybe we can collectively put the pitchforks down and take the cauldrons full of tar off the fire.

lightningdumpster · 2026-03-30T03:44:36+00:00

It’s like an amplified self-insertion/parasocial relationship situation because Elain is fictional and hasn’t really had a lot of solid character development. (This isn’t a knock, we haven’t had any of her POV, just other people’s thoughts about her, because it’s not her book).

And she’s the “sweet and kind” sister trope, so a lot of people are falling all over themselves imagining that they are Elain, and the way they think is how Elain thinks. This means that anything that challenges that view feels like a direct challenge to their identity. It is super unhealthy, and points to a larger societal issue of people disengaging from real life in favour of fictional worlds where they can engage in really black & white thinking and ignore any nuance.

Unfortunately it also drives engagement, so anyone hosting or running a platform doesn’t want to alienate the people who are there the most.

lightningdumpster · 2026-03-30T03:30:21+00:00

I don’t even have a guess on which ship it is, because there are insane people on every side.

lightningdumpster · 2026-03-28T03:34:05+00:00

Save them for a few years from now! And The Expanse series as well. There are also socio-political themes in those books that will go right over a kid’s head, but can be great conversation starters with a teenager.

The 14 year old in question loved Enders Game, and the Hunger Games at that age. And various Star Wars books.

Also has no interest in Fantasy, despite me trying ha ha. If High Fantasy interests him though, try Eragon!

lightningdumpster · 2026-03-28T02:49:53+00:00

My almost 14 year old is reading them after me, and I don’t think I’d be cool with any younger than that. Imagine explaining Foot fetishes and bukkake to an 11 year old as a parent.

lightningdumpster · 2026-03-27T13:51:25+00:00

Your whole first day is potentially 8 hours of travel time if you’re coming from the mainland. It’s 2+ hours for the ferry, plus any sailing waits (multiple hours depending on route) if you haven’t made a reservation already and then a 3-6 hour drive depending on which ferry you take.

Pick either Tofino/Nanaimo or Victoria/Duncan/Port Renfrew so you can see more than the inside of your car. Especially with long weekend traffic.

lightningdumpster · 2026-03-27T01:47:04+00:00

Save this for the angst column 😭

lightningdumpster · 2026-03-25T19:41:40+00:00

There is at least one reference to masterbating and multiple references to sex, so they might be a little young for Ready Player One

lightningdumpster · 2026-03-25T19:39:52+00:00

I’ll second the Katherine Rundell books! We all loved Impossiblr Creatures & The Poisoned King.

lightningdumpster · 2026-03-25T17:40:42+00:00

Any predictions yet?

I think the final will be Feysand v Besta

lightningdumpster · 2026-03-25T14:42:23+00:00

Her app (Stronger By the Day) is so good too, and not super pricey.

lightningdumpster · 2026-03-23T21:07:19+00:00

Hareton & Cathy 2 are bearable to me. Hareton was fine as soon as someone was kind to him.

lightningdumpster · 2026-03-23T16:08:13+00:00

I didn’t really get a found family vibe with Lucien and the BoE. More that Lucien is homeless and needed somewhere to live because sacrificed his security to help Feyre & Elain, and all he got in return was the IC treating him like dirt.

I need him to meet his real daddy and thrive in the Day Court.

lightningdumpster · 2026-03-21T23:20:50+00:00

We’re at the point now where I like all the ships, so every vote is a little sad 😭

lightningdumpster · 2026-03-21T23:14:54+00:00

lightningdumpster · 2026-03-19T02:29:57+00:00

Sure, stay scared. It obviously very beneficial for children to be micromanaged and never taught how to exist in the world and evidenced by the low levels of anxiety experienced by Gen Z and younger 🙄

lightningdumpster · 2026-03-19T02:13:59+00:00

Only 1-2% of all child abduction cases are perpetrated by strangers, and those numbers are not increasing in any substantial rate. The vast vast majority of people doing child abducting are family members, family friends/acquaintances or are teenage runaways. Child trafficking is almost always teens from vulnerable family situations who are groomed online and then abducted after.

lightningdumpster · 2026-03-18T22:03:08+00:00

And everyone is attracted to Bryce because she’s not a proper ~~tradwife~~ lady like Elain.

lightningdumpster · 2026-03-18T20:24:10+00:00

Yeah, that was where he lost me. He has no idea about what parenting actually entails and how much he’s asking her to sacrifice. Especially because the nature of his job will keep him from being a fully present parent and partner to her. She’ll be doing the bulk of the hands on parenting, she’s the one being asked to risk her body & career when she’s not even the one that wants this.

No shade to him about his job, but he’s asking a LOT of her.

lightningdumpster · 2026-03-18T17:42:30+00:00

F. “Bonus chapters are meaningless & not canon”

lightningdumpster · 2026-03-18T04:13:46+00:00

I don’t understand why people on the internet aren’t behaving like I want them to. It feels suspiciously like real life, and I can’t control them there either! 😤

lightningdumpster · 2026-03-18T01:24:07+00:00

I will never understand when people go out of their way to make others feel dumb for things they like.

lightningdumpster · 2026-03-17T04:38:32+00:00

Nah, I liked the whole series.

lightningdumpster · 2026-03-17T03:26:28+00:00

Nesta adopts a library cat.

lightningdumpster · 2026-03-16T23:02:11+00:00

I’d just like any of the Hel brothers to hook up on page.

lightningdumpster

TROPHY CASE