{"id":13554,"date":"2023-09-08T11:00:00","date_gmt":"2023-09-08T15:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/jennytrout.com\/?p=13554"},"modified":"2023-08-30T14:44:52","modified_gmt":"2023-08-30T18:44:52","slug":"a-court-of-jealousy-and-haters-acotar-chapter-7-or-the-bold-and-the-beautiful","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/jennytrout.com\/?p=13554","title":{"rendered":"A Court of Jealousy and Haters: ACOTAR chapter 7 or “The Bold and the Beautiful”"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

As promised, I\u2019m importing the A Court of Thorns and Roses recaps here from Patreon. These were originally written beginning in August of 2020, so there will be references to upcoming or seasonal events that won\u2019t fit with our current timeline. I am not a time traveler and you\u2019ll never be able to prove that I am.<\/em>\u00a0I will also include editors notes like this every now and then as we go, mostly to amuse myself but to give re-read value to those who\u2019ve already been on this awful, awful journey with me.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

Feyre is taken back to the dining room where the faeries are waiting and she continues to notice that these bros are rich. She’s thinking about how they have nothing back home, which naturally leads into:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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A half-wild beast<\/em>, Nesta had called me. But compared to him, compared to this place, compared to the elegant, easy way they held their goblets, the way the golden-haired one had called me human \u2026 we were all half-wild beasts to the High Fae.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Nothing in the opening paragraph connects in any way to thoughts about beasts or anything else but whatever, let’s go for it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Beast tells her again that the food is safe and she needs to eat, etc. He asks her what she wants and she thinks, like, escape? What the hell do you think she wants, Beast Dude?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lucien notes that “Tamlin” has lost his game with the ladies in the past “decades,” and Feyre realizes for the first time that oh, wow, these guys could be really old.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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I carefully studied their strange, masked faces\u2014unearthly, primal, and imperious. Like immovable gods or feral courtiers.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

That’s another one of those great lines that are just making me more and more furious as the book goes on. This is what I want to hear about. The deadliness. The scariness. Not, you know, whether or not the fairies find her hot, which of course is brought up immediately. Lucien makes a comment about how much better she looks but that she should have worn a dress.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Wolves ready to pounce\u2014that\u2019s what they were, just like their friend. I was all too aware of my diction, of the very breath I took as I said, \u201cI\u2019d prefer not to wear that dress.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Gosh, I hope her dislike of dresses and her Strong Female Character insistence on wearing pants and not dresses is a topic of conversation from here on out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\u201cAnd why not?\u201d Lucien crooned. <\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

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It was Tamlin who answered for me. \u201cBecause killing us is easier in pants.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

It’s Tamlin, of course, who apparently sees that she’s a scrappy little fighter or whatever and that the clothing choice is based on that. Wow, he really sees her. Or whatever.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I’m being harsh here because something went sproing in my head in the middle of the night and I remembered that Tam Lin is a character from some ancient fairytale that druid-type people who like to go to Ren fairs tell their children instead of Cinderella <\/em>or whatever. From what I remember of Bronwyn Green’s explanation, Tam Lin had to be rescued from capture by the fairy queen or something, so we’ll assume that Tamlin here is somehow oppressed by an evil fairy woman who is exactly like “other girls” because that’s the hell slope we’re skiing down and it’s liberally dotted with trees and boulders of internalized misogyny. ed. \u2014 This is the first time I’ve re-read these recaps since I wrote them and I’m astonished at how well I guessed this plot point.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Feyre asks the High Fae dudes what’s going to happen to her now that she’s their captive and Tamlin is just like, sit down. The table is set with all these amazing foods that she still hasn’t eaten.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The servants had probably brought out new food while I\u2019d washed. So much wasted. I clenched my hands into fists.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

How do you know that’s what happened, Feyre? This is a magic world with magic creatures. They could have magicked the food. They could have magicked some fucking sterno cans, you know?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Intent on packing in every fantasy novel cliche into his character as possible, Lucien makes a crack about how he won\u2019t bite. Tamlin fixes Feyre a plate and somehow does it in a way that is \u201csmooth and lethal; a predator blooded with power.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019m a bit insulted that my children have never praised the lethality of my dinner table skills. Never once.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Of course, Feyre is quick to point out that she can fix her own plate, but this time she\u2019s not doing that Strong Female Character thing over a teensy stupid point. She actually just doesn\u2019t want him to get any closer to her.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Tamlin paused, so close that one swipe of those claws lurking under his skin could rip my throat out. That was why the leather baldric bore no weapons: why use them when you were a weapon yourself?<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Why wear a baldric if you\u2019re not carrying weapons?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tamlin points out that it\u2019s an honor for a High Fae to be serving Feyre. I\u2019m surprised she didn\u2019t already know that from the incredibly detailed yet extremely vague stories she\u2019s heard.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For some reason, Tamlin decides to compliment Feyre on the fact that her hair is clean and she looks better. Personally, I look forward to hearing more about how Feyre looks. I will never get enough of how Feyre looks. And that’s good because this chapter has a lot to provide in the “Feyre is gorgeous” department.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Still, I leaned back and kept my words calm and quiet, the way I might speak to any other predator.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

You know how sometimes you write something and you think, wow, that is such a good metaphor, I\u2019m a god of craft, and then you go back later and read it and you\u2019re like, that doesn\u2019t make any sense? She should have gone back later and read that and got that feeling. I get what she\u2019s going for. It just falls apart the moment you think to yourself, \u201cWait, when she speaks to what, now?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Anyway, that\u2019s the tone of voice she uses to ask them if they\u2019re High Fae (they are) and what\u2019s gonna happen to her.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\u201cWhat do you plan to do with me now that I\u2019m here?\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

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Tamlin\u2019s eyes didn\u2019t leave my face. \u201cNothing. Do whatever you want.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

This marks the beginning of Feyre generally asking the wrong questions for getting the answers she needs. \u201cDo whatever you want\u201d is intensely open-ended. What\u2019s the next thing she asks?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\u201cSo I\u2019m not to be your slave?\u201d I dared ask.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

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Lucien choked on his wine. But Tamlin didn\u2019t smile. \u201cI don\u2019t keep slaves.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Good to know, Tamlin, but you might also point out that were she to be your slave, that would not fall under \u201cdo whatever you want.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

See what I mean? She\u2019s told she can do whatever she wants, she asks if she\u2019s going to be a slave. These concepts are in polar opposition; the question has already been answered.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Feyre has mistaken this castle for the guidance counselor\u2019s office and asks like, no, what am I supposed to do with my life now that I\u2019m here? And Tamlin is like, I don\u2019t care what you do, you can do whatever you want as long as you\u2019re not a pain in the ass, and Feyre jumps the tracks and is like:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\u201cSo you truly mean for me to stay here forever.\u201d What I meant was: So I\u2019m to stay in this luxury while my family starves to death?<\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

The relationships in a toxic family are tricky. You know that scene in Tangled<\/em> where Rapunzel\u2019s mom falls out the window to her death? You know how in spite of all the abuse and evil and kidnapping, and all the reasons Rapunzel has to not love and to even hate her mother, she still lunges forward to try and stop her from toppling out? I think that\u2019s what\u2019s happening here with Feyre. Otherwise, I have absolutely no idea why she would give a shit about her family again, suddenly, when she\u2019s made it clear that she\u2019d be fine if they died so long as she got to murder another faerie.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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I didn\u2019t mind begging\u2014not for this. I\u2019d given my word, and held to that word for so long that I was nothing and no one without it.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Hey! Look at that! A clear, understandable motive for why she kept her vow that she made to her shitty mother to take care of their shitty family. Do you know when this would have been helpful? Literally, any time before the \u201cvow\u201d started to feel like a forced and lazy plot device.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Feyre asks if there\u2019s another way to atone, and Lucien is like, LOL bitch you haven\u2019t even said you\u2019re sorry yet. So Feyre does the bare minimum to apologize and it seems kind of sarcastic, and Lucien asks how she killed his friend.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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My spine stiffened. \u201cI shot him with an ash arrow. And then an ordinary arrow through the eye. He didn\u2019t put up a fight. After the first shot, he just stared at me.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

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\u201cYet you killed him anyway\u2014though he made no move to attack you. And then you skinned<\/em> him,\u201d Lucien hissed.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI didn\u2019t know he was one of you,\u201d Feyre would have said, had this book gone through more than a cursory glance at edits.<\/em> She\u2019s sitting here like, I killed this faerie, here\u2019s how I did it. Awesome, Feyre, but you could be honest and say you didn\u2019t know it was a faerie. And you can then be dishonest and say that you used the ash arrow because it was bigger and heavier and more likely to bring down a wolf that size.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I have a feeling that just not talking is going to be what drives like 900% of the entire series conflict.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tamlin doesn\u2019t want to hear the gruesome details of his friend\u2019s death. Feyre responds by reminding him that her loved ones are still alive. Like one does in the face of someone else’s grief.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\u201cMy family won\u2019t last a month without me.\u201d Lucien chuckled, and I gritted my teeth. \u201cDo you know what it\u2019s like to be hungry?\u201d I demanded, anger rising to devour any common sense. \u201cDo you know what it\u2019s like to not know when your next meal will be?\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Why is he supposed to care? Why are you calling upon the mercy of a creature you\u2019ve spent the entire story describing as merciless?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But ha ha, check fucking mate, Feyre:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\u201cYour family is alive and well-cared for. You think so low of faeries that you believe I\u2019d take their only source of income and nourishment and not replace it?\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

This is a much different picture of faeries than we\u2019ve previously gotten. Like, you killed my friend, allow me to care for your family…doesn\u2019t make sense. I\u2019m not objecting to the idea that Feyre must have learned prejudice and, gasp, the humans might be the real bad guys. That\u2019s a perfectly expectable fantasy novel plot. I\u2019m just having a difficult time understanding why the humans need a treaty to protect them from these allegedly raping, murdering, eating-peopleing creatures that…lavish food and fine clothing upon their captives and make sure that their enemies don\u2019t starve to death, or why mercenaries routinely have to fight against these hideous terrors who aren’t bad.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\u201cWhy should I trust a word you say? You\u2019re all masters of spinning your truths to your own advantage.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

And here, right the fuck here, is what I mean by not asking the right questions. She knows they twist their words. So, when Tamlin said that Feyre could do whatever she wanted to do, that was the time when she should have said, \u201cDo I have your word on that?\u201d quickly followed up by, \u201cI want to go home and you said I could.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

You’re playing by your captor’s rules, Feyre. Use that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\u201cSome would say it\u2019s unwise to insult a Fae in his home,\u201d Tamlin ground out. \u201cSome would say you should be grateful for me finding you before another one of my kind came to claim the debt, for sparing your life and then offering you the chance to live in comfort.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Okay, but are we ever going to find out…WHY? WHY is he letting you live in comfort? WHY did he specifically come claim the debt if he doesn\u2019t want to deal with ungrateful humans living with him forever? These are some enormous plot holes. If a plot hole like this opened up in your yard, you\u2019re losing your swimming pool, friend. If plot holes were sinkholes, this book would be the Yucatan Peninsula. If the plot were a dairy product, it would be swiss cheese. And none of these are a) difficult to catch or b) difficult to fix. It\u2019s so frustrating to read.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Feyre\u2019s response to this is to try to attack him. Remember, that one thing that was too dangerous to do? He uses magic to restrain her in her chair. She can\u2019t move her arms or get up.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\u201cI\u2019m going to warn you once,\u201d Tamlin said too softly. \u201cOnly once, and then it\u2019s on you, human. I don\u2019t care if you go live somewhere else in Prythian. But if you cross the wall, if you flee, your family will no longer be cared for.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

OMFG IS THAT MOTIVATION I SEE?! IS MOTIVATION ACTUALLY HAPPENING?!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now, Feyre has something tangible hanging over her head. It\u2019s not about the vow to her mother that she resents, it\u2019s not the starvation keeping her there, it\u2019s the fact that her family is being cared for–fulfilling her vow–and they won\u2019t be if she leaves.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So far, the reasons we\u2019ve been giving for why Feyre absolutely, positively must stay with Tamlin forever have been that the treaty demands it, that there\u2019s some kind of magic component to the treaty that prevents her from leaving, that she\u2019s starving, the faeries are too dangerous to chance it, it\u2019s just been heaped up and heaped up in confusing and unconvincing ways and literally the only thing we needed to focus on ever is the part about her family.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019m so relieved to know we\u2019ve got at least a half-way decent reason for why she has no choice but to stay. Obviously, the thing about the vow would be way more believable if the entire first part of the book hadn\u2019t been about how much her family sucks and she hates them and her mom also sucked but for some reason Feyre can\u2019t bear to let dead mommy down but at least this is a start at…something.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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His words were like a stone to the head.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Oh, if only.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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If I escaped, if I even tried to run, I might very well doom my family. And even if I dared risk it \u2026 even if I succeeded in reaching them, where would I take them? I couldn\u2019t stow my sisters away on a ship\u2014and once we arrived somewhere else, somewhere safe, we\u2019d have nowhere to live. But for him to hold my family\u2019s well-being against me, to throw away their survival if I stepped out of line \u2026<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

In chapter four, her entire plan is to put her family on a ship and sail away to be safe. Also, he\u2019s been holding her family\u2019s well-being against her since the second he showed up at her house. Why the constant retreading? We get it. She\u2019s there. There are now good reasons she can\u2019t leave. Let\u2019s move on.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tamlin tells Feyre that she can either eat or starve but the food isn\u2019t tampered with, and he also says that Lucien will be \u201cpolite\u201d which I guess it\u2019s impolite to openly antagonize someone who murdered your friend?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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One glance at Tamlin\u2019s smoldering green eyes told me what I wanted to know: his guest or not, I wasn\u2019t going to get up from this table until I\u2019d eaten something.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Oh, his eyes are smoldering now, are they? And he\u2019s controlling what you eat? Fantastic. This is exactly the type of thing I like to read in books, especially when I\u2019m STRONGLY suspicious that she\u2019s going to bone down with this dude.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Feyre gives in and eats like a wild person, just shoveling it in until Tamlin is like, yo, you\u2019re gonna puke, no more food for you. He\u2019s probably right but I\u2019m still not super thrilled to see this theme running strong through every single genre aimed at the New Adult age bracket.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At least, we find out what Tamlin meant about Lucien being \u201cpolite\u201d:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\u201cIt\u2019s been a few decades since I last saw one of you,\u201d Lucien drawled, \u201cbut you humans never change, so I don\u2019t think I\u2019m wrong in asking why you find our company to be so unpleasant, when surely the men back home aren\u2019t much to look at.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Sexual harassment was what Tamlin was talking about. It was sexual harassment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Feyre wants to know why Lucien would bother sitting around with a human at all. I have a similar question, but specifically, why would anyone want to sit around with Feyre?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Lucien said, \u201cTrue. But indulge me: you\u2019re a human woman, and yet you\u2019d rather eat hot coals than sit here longer than necessary. Ignoring this\u201d\u2014he waved a hand at the metal eye and brutal scar on his face\u2014\u201csurely we\u2019re not so miserable to look at.\u201d Typical faerie vanity and arrogance. That, at least, the legends had been right about. I tucked the knowledge away. \u201cUnless you have someone back home. Unless there\u2019s a line of suitors out the door of your hovel that makes us seem like worms in comparison.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Writing tip: don\u2019t be afraid of paragraph breaks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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There was enough dismissal there that I took a little bit of satisfaction in saying, \u201cI was close with a man back in my village.\u201d Before that Treaty ripped me away\u2014before it became clear that you are allowed to do as you please to us, but we can hardly strike back against you.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Now, here\u2019s where Feyre really fucks up, I think: Lucien and Tamlin give each other a look and Tamlin asks if she loved the dude and Feyre says no.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I have a feeling that\u2019s going to come back to bite her or something. That true love would have made her obligation to stay in Prythian null and void. But if that does happen, if that\u2019s a thing we discover? I wholly support Feyre\u2019s reasoning for not saying she loved Isaac, which was that if she really did love him, she wouldn\u2019t want Tamlin and Lucien to know he exists, anyway. That\u2019s actually decent motivation there.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tamlin questions her again about whether she loves anyone and she\u2019s like, uh, is this really why you brought me here? Which thank you, Feyre, I would also like to know why their handsomeness and your sex life are the prime topics at this dinner.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Before heading off to bed, Feyre again asks Tamlin why he\u2019s keeping her there, and he says he kills enough already and she\u2019s not even going to make a blip on the radar of his life (I\u2019m paraphrasing here) so why not let her just stay as long as she doesn\u2019t kill anyone?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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A faint warmth bloomed in my cheeks, my neck. Insignificant\u2014yes, I was insignificant to their lives, their power. As insignificant as the fading, chipped designs I\u2019d painted around the cottage. \u201cWell \u2026,\u201d I said, not quite feeling grateful at all, \u201cthank you.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

What are you complaining about? You were miserable and unappreciated at home, you\u2019ll be miserable and unappreciated here. But you leveled up in the food, clothing, and not being murdered by your fellow villagers for rabbits department.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I gotta admit, it takes a lot of balls to murder someone\u2019s friend, be granted mercy instead of a death sentence, receive a massive banquet and new clothes, then be like, woe, anguish, they\u2019re not enthralled with me and making a big ole fuss.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This section ends with Feyre going to bed, and we rejoin her when she\u2019s awake before dawn…remembering her sisters fondly?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Nesta must be stretching her legs and smiling at the extra room. She was probably content imagining me in the belly of a faerie\u2014probably using the news as a chance to be fussed over by the villagers. Maybe my fate would prompt them to give my family some handouts. Or maybe Tamlin had given them enough money\u2014or food, or whatever he thought \u201ctaking care\u201d of them consisted of\u2014to last through the winter. Or maybe the villagers would turn on my family, not wanting to be associated with people tied with Prythian, and run them out of town.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

I love that nobody really has to be present or doing anything at all, Feyre will just victimize herself on their behalf.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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If Tamlin had indeed provided for them, if those benefits would cease the moment I crossed the wall, then they\u2019d likely resent my return more than celebrate it.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

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Your hair is \u2026 clean.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

First of all, they told you to never come back. Second, how did thinking about Tamlin providing for her family lead to remembering that he complimented her on her clean hair? There is no connection here, but it leads into her thinking that surely Tamlin is somehow a nice High Fae who can help her find loopholes in the treaty so she can get away.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Because he said her hair was clean.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Alis enters and there\u2019s a comical thing about her walking through a rope that Feyre had strung across the door to protect her from intruders.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Alis looked me over from head to toe. \u201cYou think a bit of rope snapping in my face will keep me from breaking your bones?\u201d My blood went cold. \u201cYou think that will do anything against one of us?\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019m actually starting to like Alis as a character because at first, she came off as a nice, doting, nanny-like figure and now she\u2019s sinister as fuck out of nowhere. I hope that gets developed even more as we go along.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Feyre says the rope was a warning to give her time to run and Alis is like, yeah, that wouldn\u2019t work, either.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Alis clicked her tongue. \u201cAt least you\u2019re willing to put up a fight, girl. I\u2019ll give you that.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Have there been others? Ones who didn\u2019t put up a fight? That\u2019s what I want to know. But Feyre doesn\u2019t ask.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Another bird-mask servant comes in with Feyre\u2019s breakfast.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Alis poured me a cup of what looked and smelled like tea: full-bodied, aromatic tea, no doubt imported at great expense. Prythian and my adjoining homeland weren\u2019t exactly easy to reach.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

How does the main character of this fantasy novel keep forgetting that magic exists? Does she think that creatures that can make food appear and disappear on a table couldn\u2019t do the same with a cup of fucking tea?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Feyre asks Alis what kind of place they\u2019re in.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\u201cIt\u2019s safe, and that\u2019s all you need to know,\u201d Alis said, setting down the teapot. \u201cAt least the house is. If you go poking about the grounds, keep your wits about you.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Okay, so Feyre definitely is going to want to stay inside and not go outside at all, ever. Glad we got that settled.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Feyre asks Alis what kind of fairies she should stay away from.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\u201cAll of them,\u201d Alis said. \u201cMy master\u2019s protection only goes so far. They\u2019ll want to hunt and kill you just for being a human\u2014regardless of what you did to Andras.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

So, staying inside. She\u2019s definitely not going to go outside. Again, glad this is settled. Also glad to learn that no, the fairies aren’t actually nice, after all.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I just realized that a book I had planned to revise\/re-release has a hero named Andras and the fact that it was published in 2011 will mean nothing so I guess it\u2019s back to the drawing board on that one.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Not because names are copyright or something. Just because I don\u2019t want people to think I\u2019m being snarky.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The point is, Alis has told Feyre that everyone in Prythian will want to kill her, which makes Tamlin\u2019s offer to let Feyre just roam around the countryside on her own, for all that he cares, pretty much a death sentence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

When I was done eating and bathing, I refused Alis\u2019s offer and dressed myself in another exquisite tunic\u2014this one of purple so deep it could have been black. I wished I knew the name for the color, but cataloged it anyway. I pulled on the brown boots I\u2019d worn the night before, and as I sat before a marble vanity letting Alis braid my wet hair, I cringed at my reflection.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

I don\u2019t remember Alis offering her anything. I guess she declined help getting dressed? Why not just say that?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Gird your loins, Dear Patron, for our heroine is in front of a mirror and cringing at her reflection. So, you know what time it is: Woe Is Me I\u2019m Not Pretty Time™.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

It wasn\u2019t pleasing\u2014though not for its actual appearance. While my nose was relatively straight, it was the other feature I\u2019d inherited from my mother. I could still remember how her nose would crinkle with feigned amusement when one of her fabulously wealthy friends made some unfunny joke.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

We have reached an entirely new level of Not Like Other Girls™. It\u2019s not that Feyre is worried that she might be ugly. She tells us right off the bat that her appearance itself isn\u2019t what\u2019s horrible. No, what\u2019s horrible is that she shares features with her horrible family. I mean, look at what she\u2019s cursed with:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

At least I had my father\u2019s soft mouth, though it made a mockery of my too-sharp cheekbones and hollow cheeks. I couldn\u2019t bring myself to look at my slightly uptilted eyes. I knew I\u2019d see Nesta or my mother looking back at me. I\u2019d sometimes wondered if that was why my sister had insulted me about my looks. I was a far cry from ugly, but \u2026 I bore too much of the people we\u2019d hated and loved for Nesta to stand it. For me to stand it, too.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

A soft mouth? Prominent cheekbones? THINNESS? Don\u2019t even get me started on the \u201cslightly uptilted eyes.\u201d She says she\u2019s \u201ca far cry from ugly,\u201d but her reflection is cringe-worthy because she looks like her shitty, shitty family.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I get it. Feyre got handed a raw deal in the family department. But I would sympathize with her and understand internal conflict better if she didn\u2019t spend all her time talking about how much she hates them. Because now she\u2019s in a palace with everything she ever dreamed of and I\u2019m supposed to think she\u2019s desperate to get back to these people who made her so gorgeously hideous or whatever she\u2019s trying to say here?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

I would have lived up to my namesake were it not for the effects of poverty, but I\u2019d never particularly cared. Beauty didn\u2019t mean anything in the forest.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

She said, after listing all the ways she\u2019s gorgeous, up to and including directly telling us twice. It\u2019s not important to her.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In a move that cements Alis as my favorite character so far, she suggests that Feyre go out and take a stroll through those gardens that will probably kill her. Instead, Feyre decides to explore the castle, where she finds a beautiful still life painting of a vase of flowers. After a poetic description of the skill required to create such an amazing piece, she thinks that maybe the fairies aren\u2019t so bad, after all.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Because they have an interest in common with her.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Did the author realize how narcissistic her character comes off? Not in a psychology way, just in a really self-absorbed, the world revolves around me way.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Feyre is mulling over her plans to appeal to the kind side of the fae and convince Alis, who has already threatened her with death like a bunch of times in one morning, to show mercy and find a way to free her, Tamlin shows up:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

He wore those warrior\u2019s clothes, cut close to show off his toned body, and three simple knives were now sheathed along his baldric\u2014each long enough to look like it could gut me as easily as his beast\u2019s claws.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

So…why does he need the knives?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He\u2019s gruff with Feyre, demanding to know where she\u2019s going. Which is like, dude, you told her you don\u2019t give a shit what she does and the first thing she does you\u2019re like, wtf?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Feyre even tells him, hey, I didn\u2019t realize I wasn\u2019t allowed to leave my room.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

\u201cOf course you\u2019re not under house arrest.\u201d Even as he bit out the words, I couldn\u2019t ignore the sheer male beauty of that strong jaw, the richness of his golden-tan skin. He was probably handsome\u2014if he ever took off that mask.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Man, this is some rapid-onset Stockholm Syndrome. Which may have been the title of the last recap, wasn\u2019t it?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tamlin asks Feyre if she wants a tour and she\u2019s like, hard pass. So, he\u2019s like, yeah, I need fresh air, let\u2019s take the tour and she\u2019s like, nah, you\u2019ve done enough.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

A half-smile, not so pleasant, no doubt unused to being denied. \u201cDo you have some sort of problem with me?\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

What, like, aside from the kidnapping her and holding the safety of her family over her head as a punishment if she leaves your fortress? Women. Will we ever truly understand them?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So, where\u2019s Tamlin gonna take Feyre? Into the big ole danger garden, where else! But he reiterates that he\u2019s not going to kill her.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

I almost stumbled down the garden steps as I glanced over my shoulder. He stood atop the stairs, as solid and ancient as the pale stones of the manor. \u201cKill\u2014but not harm? Is that another loophole? One that Lucien might use against me\u2014or anyone else here?\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

\n

\u201cThey\u2019re under orders not to even touch you.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Then she\u2019s not actually in danger? Because that\u2019s not what Alis said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

\u201cYet I\u2019m still trapped in your realm, for breaking a rule I didn\u2019t know existed. Why was your friend even in the woods that day? I thought the Treaty banned your kind from entering our lands.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

You thought a lot of shit about the Treaty that wasn\u2019t true. But what I can\u2019t understand is why she doesn\u2019t just stick to the truth of what happened: she saw a wolf, she didn\u2019t know if she was in danger or not, so she shot it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

\u201cThat Treaty,\u201d he said quietly, \u201cdoesn\u2019t ban us <\/em>from doing anything, except for enslaving you. The wall is an inconvenience. If we cared to, we could shatter it and march through to kill you all.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

But they do<\/em> cross the wall to kill people? And they do<\/em> take them back to be slaves? That\u2019s all we\u2019ve heard about all along. And yeah, Feyre clearly had some bad intel, but what was that mercenary getting paid to fight, if fairies aren\u2019t getting through the wall?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The entire sense of danger we\u2019ve had so far has basically been built on A Big Misunderstanding™ and I know this series goes on and on so…how does that conflict get maintained? I can\u2019t see a path toward any suspense or surprise or anything because the only reason our main character is afraid of the fairies is that she doesn\u2019t know anything about them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At least she asks why Andras was in the forest if they don\u2019t care to have anything to do with humans.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

\u201cThere is \u2026 a sickness in these lands. Across Prythian. There has been for almost fifty years now. It is why this house and these lands are so empty: most have left. The blight spreads slowly, but it has made magic act \u2026 strangely. My own powers are diminished due to it. These masks\u201d\u2014he tapped on his\u2014\u201care the result of a surge of it that occurred during a masquerade forty-nine years ago. Even now, we can\u2019t remove them.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s that episode of Goosebumps<\/em>!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The choice Tamlin and his friends have now is to either live with the mask on forever or live in their animal forms. Andras had come to the woods to find a cure, which apparently he was going to find inside of a deer? Because when we saw Andras, he was killing a deer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But don\u2019t worry: whatever is going on with the magic curse can<\/em> affect mortals, but probably won\u2019t make it over the wall.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

That he\u2019d even admitted so much spoke volumes about how he imagined my future: I was never going home, never going to encounter another human to whom I might spill this secret vulnerability.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Yeah, that\u2019s pretty much the \u201conce you see the kidnapper\u2019s face” moment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Feyre does have the sense to ask if they plan to attack, based on the info the mercenary gave her. But Tamlin turns off the info faucet and instead asks her if she rigged the trip wire in her room for him. Although, I\u2019m not sure it\u2019s really a trip wire if it smacks you in the face. He tells her it\u2019s not necessary because he\u2019s civilized. He says he\u2019ll see her at dinner and then, hey, remember the thing about how everything in the garden will kill her?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

It wasn\u2019t a request, but I still gave him a nod as I strode off between the hedges, not caring where I was going\u2014only that he stayed far behind.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

The one,  the ONE, place she\u2019s supposed to be afraid of stuff and she wants the only person who can actually protect her from that stuff to stay away. Brilliant, Feyre. You\u2019re really crushing this.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

A sickness in their lands, affecting their magic, draining it from them \u2026 A magical blight that might one day spread to the human world. After so many centuries without magic, we\u2019d be defenseless against it\u2014against whatever it could do to humans.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

It sounds like what it does is fuck with magic and diminishes magical power. If humans don\u2019t use magic\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But what do I know? I\u2019m just a confused reader.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Feyre\u2019s worries provide us with the chapter hook:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

I wondered if any of the High Fae would bother warning my kind.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

\n

It didn\u2019t take me long to know the answer.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

So, tune in next time for the answer, I guess.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As promised, I\u2019m importing the A Court of Thorns and Roses recaps here from Patreon. These were originally written beginning in August of 2020, so<\/p>\n

Read moreA Court of Jealousy and Haters: ACOTAR chapter 7 or “The Bold and the Beautiful”<\/span><\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/jennytrout.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13554"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/jennytrout.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/jennytrout.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jennytrout.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jennytrout.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=13554"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/jennytrout.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13554\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13555,"href":"https:\/\/jennytrout.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13554\/revisions\/13555"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/jennytrout.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=13554"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jennytrout.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=13554"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jennytrout.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=13554"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}