The Scorched Throne duology had such a GREAT storyline idea and so much potential, but I wish the execution had done it more justice.

Everything happened too quickly. The story had all the ingredients to become something far more complex, emotionally devastating, and morally challenging, yet I never quite got the depth I was craving. I wanted more hardships, more impossible choices, more moments that would genuinely test their humanity… moments when staying humane meant standing against the very people in power, even when doing so came at a devastating cost.

And the antagonists… I needed MORE. I wanted a greater, more deeply rooted threat than characters simply standing against each other or someone possessing greater power. I wanted an antagonist whose presence alone would make me understand the magnitude of what they were fighting against. Someone who would make their choices, their resistance, and their forbidden love feel that much more dangerous.

I wanted to feel the weight of their world. To understand what it would cost them to remain good in a world that kept giving them reasons not to be. To see their humanity tested, challenged, and almost destroyed… and to watch them fight to hold on to it anyway.

Because the IDEA was there. The potential was THERE. I could see the kind of story this could have been, and perhaps that’s exactly why I’m so frustrated. I wanted to be more invested, more devastated, more emotionally wrecked by everything they had to endure.

In short, this duology needed DEPTH. More complexity, more meaningful conflict, more consequences, and more room for its characters and their relationships to breathe.

I’m sorry. I really am. I usually DO NOT criticize books!!! I would never… but… I’m sorry. I just wanted MORE.

@nbooky

I just finished A Court of Splintered Harmony, and I think this book does an incredible job of building up what’s coming in the next instalment: a very great war.

I also think there’s a reason behind the title. No court seems willing to ally with the Court of Night, meaning Rhysand and Feyre have to work incredibly hard to find allies before the war begins. But everyone has their own people to protect, their own peace to preserve, and their own reasons for not wanting to jeopardise what they have. And that’s exactly what makes the whole situation so complicated.

What struck me most was how much this reflected the wars happening in our world right now, particularly Russia and Ukraine, and Palestine and Israel. The alliances, the countries choosing sides, those staying silent, and those hiding behind political interests rather than standing up for what they believe is right… It was all there.

I mean, I already see these things happening in real life, but seeing such a reflection of them in a fantasy book made me think about them even more deeply. This wasn’t simply a story about an upcoming war. It was about the bitter reality of how the world works when peace, political interests, and human lives are put against one another.

And honestly, that was probably the most eye-opening part for me.

Thank you, Sarah J. Maas. I’m looking forward to the next instalment.

@nbooky gdnyt

#today

@nbooky