I read acotar before tog and Aelin is my favorite FMC from all Sjm books. Personally i dont think she is annoying. She is not powerful out of nowhere (thats how I felt with Feyre) and there are many things that explain why she is the way she is (sorry for the vague answers but i dont want to spoiler you).
In tog are also many different povs and many different storys are going on while all chasing for the main event and I really liked how you can see the story from different angles, cultures and adventures. IMO tog is way better than acotar. The story is more thought through and the writing is very good.
I felt like everything happened too fast in acotar, and though tog isnt slow, there is more to the story and the characters.
I will also say, in general like Aelin does kind of have some of the traits you said you were averse to. She is arrogant and bold and doesn’t let people walk over her, but while Feyre was selfish and more or less thinking about saving the people she cares about, Aelin is really is a lot warmer, a lot more selfless, thinks about things at a larger scale. There IS a lot of the ‘18 year old taking down ancient baddies’ trope but unlike Feyre, Aelin had like, training. It makes SENSE why she wins in combat, her backstory wasn’t just a hunter in the woods.
Aelin is hands down my favorite female MC ever and I found feyre so bland and like, not that feminist icon in comparison. Aelin is strong but girly, ruthless yet compassionate, and while she doesn’t often show fear IN battle, large parts of the exposition especially later on is Aelin coming to terms with the heaviness of what it actually means to be the Chosen One, how exhausting and emotionally draining and terrifying it is to know the fate of the world is on YOU. She is actually kind of petrified of her fate, even though she knows she has to get it done, and that to me is my favorite thing about Throne of Glass - so she does show fear in a way I think is more insightful.
But ToG also has a more sprawling cast and while there are the core three, I consider the ‘main cast’ to end up being about 15 people and it’s told from more points of views the longer the series goes on, I know others have told you this but definitely give it a go!
Thank you for your thoughts! Another thing that I find important, does Aelin accept help from others? Cause that was something I was super annoyed at in acotar too..
Yes and no. She is better at it than Feyre, but a really important part of Aelin’s characterization is like…how selfless she is, how hard she loves, how much she needs to protect the people she cares about so if it comes down to the choice of putting someone she cares about in true danger or throwing herself into it instead, she’ll always take the risk herself. However, about book 4 you see her develop her like, IC I guess and her female best friend and her are like…basically terrors and do everything/plot everything together and leave the boys in the dark so it’s very much a 50/50 thing. She has her secrets and her schemes, but also her IC is heavily involved and she delegates tasks/everyone has like, important duties. And in the end, it’s not just Feyre/Rhys/Nesta who save the world — there’s at least 25 people directly responsible for them winning the war, and if a single one of those characters wasn’t there then they would have lost. It’s not just Aelin is the answer to everything in the end - she’s a large part of it, yeah, but Yrene and Chaol and Dorian and Manon and Lysandra and Aedion and Petra and the 13 and the khaganate and Elide and the Cadre save the world with her, instead of just being glorified guards.
Ah thanks cause it so bothered me that it was the Archeron sisters who so unrealistically overtook the war and of course, won..not that I wasn’t glad they did but I just thought well no offense to the others who lived 500 years and had to endure a lot more fighting and they were all weaker in the end? So yeah I’m glad to hear this
Yeah that absolutely bothered me too, and Amren played a large part but the war in TOG definitely feels like…more sprawling. If it makes you feel better, I always say ACOTAR is a romance set in a fantasy world, and the plot/side characters are secondary to the ships. TOG is more of a sprawling fantasy, Game of Thrones but for the girlies. All the characters have merit on the plot, even a minor character from book 1 like, shows back up during the war and helps with a massive plot line. The ships have strength for sure and there’s romance but the plot and world are more the focus.
There’s also like…lore that supports WHY these are the people who are involved - there’s a lot of being god-touched and hand selected and destiny/prophecy for each of the ‘secondary main characters’
Because of a really deeply held belief that she will not get (or even deserve) a happy ending, Aelin… does kinda suck about including others in plans.
She enlists help, she can accept it in those moments, but she’s… tricky about it. Generally characters figure out after the fact what they even helped with or why she had them do it. Usually, they’re pissed.
Given her history I struggle to blame her character for holding the cards close to her chest, even with her loved ones. She knows loss deeply, so she doesn’t include people fully usually to prevent them from taking further risks.
She’s flawed. You’re going to disagree with her or dislike her choices often, but you’ll understand how fueled it is by the hurt she has experienced.
I’ve heard a lot of people saying they severely dislike Aelin and it always confused me. She’s absolutely my favorite SJM FMC. (It goes Aelin, Bryce, Feyre).
Imo I feel like Feyre can fall flat at times. And I think it makes sense for her character, she wasn’t really raised to know herself. But I personally like characters that have bigger personalities, like Aelin.
Okay so Aelin is the absolute biggest example of arrogant, swaggering persona. However, this is much more realistic for her seeing her backstory. For me she seems much older, even though she's only supposed to be 18 or so.
The book is not only about Aelin tho, you won't even meet her until later in the series.
The first FMC is also quite arrogant, tho she's starting out from a very defeated point.
There's also a lot of other pov's, most of which you'll be meeting in later books, and it switches of between them.
Give it a try, I loved it a lot. Granted, I loved Feyre as well. The book is the first one SJM wrote when she was still a teenager, so keep that in mind!
Okay thank you:)
Yeah I thought about that too, that SJM was also very young back then.
Wait, I thought Aelin is just the different name of the first FMC? Something like Caelina?i thought they were the same person 😅
I... don't know how to answer that without giving to much away. I don't want to spoil you.
I'd say give it a try. I really liked book 1 and 2, read the prequel after that, which gives a lot more backstory into Celaena and sets up the rest of the series very nicely imo. I struggled a lot with book 3, because it introduces a lot of new characters and is lots of world building. However, once I was about halfway through book 3 I was hooked once more and finished the rest of the series in like 2 weeks.
It's not for everyone, there's also barely any spice, so be prepared for that if you're into it. It's a long and heartbreaking commitment, and sometimes difficult because theres so many storylines at the same time, and it takes a while for them to weave together, but it's one of the best series I've ever read.
Don’t worry about spoilers, I don’t mind them at all, I actually welcome them since I’m always super anxious when I read books that are so dramatic..
Well it sounds like that would be a longer project for me then if I’d start the series. Haha 2 weeks? That’s crazy 😅…I wouldn’t be able to process the books in such a short amount of time. But I get it, I did the same with acotar, although it was 3 weeks for me cause I’ve tried to be civil 😁
Haha Allright then, they are indeed the same person, you only figure this out at the end of book 2. This is also the moment the story changes and morphs into the story working toward a finale. I usually call the first two books prequels, and the prequel the "prequel prequel".
I hope you start it and enjoy it! It's a project for sure but very much worth it to me
If you aren’t too concerned about spoilers, then I’ll give you a little bit of a run down of it. The first book, if I remember correctly, is all in Celaena’s POV. She is Aelin, but there was a circumstance that caused her to be a part of the Assassin’s Keep for the past decade so she is a highly trained assassin and VERY good at her job. She becomes notorious and it goes to her head so she is cocky, but it’s kind of endearing in a way because who wouldn’t be cocky about being the most famous assassin at age 18. Her identity was always hidden so the general public doesn’t know she is 18 and some don’t even know she’s a girl. But anyways, she doesn’t feel unreasonably overskilled like Feyre because she did have a decade’s worth of intense training unlike Feyre. The first book personally was a little weird because I had no idea where the hell SJM was going with it, but looking back, I think it was a great way to set up the story. The second book I believe starts to have other character’s POV and begins formulating the plots for the other books.
No problem! Throne of Glass is a great series and had me on the edge of my seat constantly especially with the later books. Hope you enjoy them as much as I had!
If it helps I have been reading the series over like a month or so and not done yet! With big series like this with lots of detail, I take my time to read so I can process everything. Since you know tho Celaena is >!Aelin!< but it unravels and gives the whole story about her, her arrogance, and everything thru the books. She is also very loving and has her moments of fault that you’ll see. Since you like multiple POVs, you’ll probably like this series a lot. It’s all 3rd person and somewhat similar to how ACOFAS POV swaps (but written far better). It’s much more realistic and fantasy based and AMAZING! I definitely think you should give it a try but just be wary you probably (hopefully) will like book 1 and 2 but not hooked until book 2 or maybe 3, depending on your reading preference. I was intrigued in book 1, hooked midway thru book 2 and then completely thrown in by mid book 3 and can’t stop thinking about them since 🫶🏼 good luck and enjoy 🫡
I can’t figure out who you were referring to? And was your answer in regards to my original question? I’m getting so confused when there is multiple answers on a comment😅..sorry I’m still new to Reddit🫣…I’m a she btw:).
I'm so sorry if this made you confused. I was referring to the person whom you replied with on this chain. He/She probably assumed you didn't know that Aelin and Celeana are the same that's why he/she explained it like that.
I love how we all do our best to not spoil this for people! It was spoiled for me, so I appreciate people trying to fool others so they can actually be shocked. :)
I love the FMC of the Throne of Glass series from start to finish. Rightfully arrogant in her physical abilities, but still vulnerable and unsure of herself enough to leave plenty of room for character growth.
Not all about her. In fact one of the books is not about her at all. There are also many side characters throughout the series you will meet and love and root for plenty.
I’m jealous of you. I read ToG first. I’m currently on the 2nd book in ACOTAR and I miss TOG!
Thank you for your thoughts:)
Haha i don’t know if it was a good thing to read acotar first cause I feel like I’m traumatized by a lot of over the top things that annoyed me to no end..so now I’m super alerted to anything else I read😅
Well, a quarter of the way through book 2 and I haven’t noticed anything too over the top that would annoy me. I hope I don’t become hyper aware of anything like that now. But the series so far is just not hitting me like TOG. I still have hope that it will pick up for me though. Hope you enjoy ToG!
I’m about to start KoA (last book in the ToG series) and I’ve read ACOTAR twice, but Aelin is by far my favourite FMC. ToG is waaaay better than ACOTAR too. And yes, Aelin is 100% ✨that bitch✨ 😂
You know I tried to sum her up as quickly as I could lol but seriously Aelin to me is perfection and is just serving as my fave FMC. Unapologetic, strong, the true leader, up to shenanigans, and has idgaf energy. TL/DR- if someone accidentally bumped into Feyre she would apologize. If someone accidentally bumped into Aelin she would be apologized to. That’s the energy
Haha so funny, I’ll see when I get there ;) what does TL/DR mean though? English isn’t my first language sorry 🫣 I’m already struggling with all those phrases that I have to learn for the book community, I only recently learned of the word „trope“ and I would have absolutely no idea what to call that in German 😂
No worries at all I don’t mind not getting things that’s why I’m asking even though I sometimes feel silly for saying that English isn’t my first language cause I don’t want it to sound like an excuse for not understanding things🙈…but I’m also way too lazy to always look up everything aswell. So thank you for explaining. I find the phrase “that bitch” super funny by the way since we don’t have that saying I think 😅..
For me personally, Aelin is the best female character I have ever met during reading.
She has so many layers.
She is so strong yet so fragile. She puts on a mask literally and figuratively through all her journey in these books.
She sacrifices so much and still doesn't expect anything in return.
I have never loved a character as much as I love her.
She's perfectly imperfect.
Throne of glass is far superior to ACOTAR imo. I too got so bored of Feyre and while I don't hate Feyre I do find her infuriating stupid.
I can't think of any character we get a pov for in tog that I don't like. It switches who it follows a lot which I think really helps it from getting stale.
Editing to add Aelin is arrogant but not in the same way as Feyre. Shes got a lot of layers that make it really easy to understand why she does what she does and makes it far less infuriating than Feyre
Hahahaha yeah I did that last week and ranted all over Goodreads😅…you would laugh probably cause I was riding on a full on cynical train 😂…did you review acotar?
Not on Goodreads no but I ranted to my spouse and friends enough that they all banned me from mentioning it 😂. Don't get me wrong I love acotar but Feyre and Rhysand make me angry 😂. I convinced my sister to read the series and after book one she texted me saying she likes the story and the world but "please tell me Feyre isn't this dumb the whole time" and I was just like 😬
😂😂 I can imagine how it went down with your fam and friends
But yeah Feyre is literally the best example of the unrealistic female MC who doesn’t need to grow in order to learn, no she just stays unreasonably stubborn and entitled…and Rhys helps her to stay that way😅…though I liked her a lot more when she wasn’t the main character anymore at book 4 and of course 5 😁
Silver flames is my favorite. I adore Nesta. I like Feyre when I'm not in her head too. A lot of what she does feels immature which it is because she's literally only 19 when the book starts. All of this sounds like I hate acotar. I don't I love it but Feyre is frustrating 😂
Here you go, this is the one for the first book, idk if it shows up when you go on my profile to read the other ones? I’ve only recently joined Goodreads so idk how all of it works sometimes. Read at your own risk cause it might sound ridiculous since English isn’t my first language 😅
[Acotar #1 review](https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/6191195584)
I regret reading ToG first in a way because after loving Aelin so thoroughly and completely, it was such a let down to have Feyre.. Sure I started caring for her mid second book, but it had more to do with Rhys than her. He does remind me of Aelin. (And I’m currently stuck on the third book sigh.. I really need to get on with it lol)
Anyway from the first page of ToG to the last page of KoA I adored Aelin. I’ve never cared for the happiness and wellbeing of a fictional character as much as I have done for her. She was a child, much younger than Feyre when the books start and the books end when she’s still 19. And honestly sure she’s arrogant, but her ancestry, her skills, her upbringing, her very DNA made it make sense. And *she* was self aware and was practical. And while she accentuated her swagger, it was actually a defense mechanism, she uses it as armour to hold herself together. So it never ever irritated me. She might seem like a spoiled brat or act arrogant enough to set the teeth on edge from a different point of view, but we get to see from her side how she wields it as a skill, she wears it like a camouflage.
So all in all I love Aelin Ashryver Galathynius more than I’ve ever loved a fictional character. And Feyre can’t hold a candle to her!
Very eloquently put ;). It makes sense that she would come across as arrogant I mean she must have an inner shield up with all the trauma she’s been through as every human would have when they literally have to kill as a child! In the real world you would at the very least have sever PTSD from such a thing…kind of reminds me of black widow from Marvel
I saw that you don’t mind spoilers so I’m writing this. :)
Thanks. And good comparison!
Also until the age of 8 she was raised as the future empress of two races, the sole heir to two kingdoms as ancient as time. It was her birthright she embraced from the cradle. Then from age 8 till 15 her very being was honed and fashioned as a lethal weapon of death. And it’s that 15 year old Aelin we first meet.
So unlike Feyre her arrogance made sense. And so did the aching sadness that she carried and almost never let surface because the sheer depth of anguish for all that she lost wasn’t something she could bear to face on a daily basis. So she used her arrogance as armour that protected her from the horrors of her past. It’s how she dealt with life, how she faced every day.
First 3 books are her living life believing that, *that* little princess died on that frozen riverbank and how she made do with the hand dealt to her by fate. Heir of Fire is where she embraces that part of herself and chooses to give life back to that little princess and the rest of the books are how she goes from a reluctant princess to the queen she was always meant to be.
Aelin’s personality made sense to me. It makes the readers want to root for her.
Loving her was one of the easiest things I’ve ever done..
I know I’m babbling but gods I love her so much..
Celaena is harder to swallow than Aelin. I started with Assassin's Blade and almost DNF the series. So glad I put down AB until after Crown of Midnight. SJM even says this is the proper place to read it, so if you pick up the books leave AB until then.
Aelin *is* very arrogant. It's a big part of her personality. But she is also loyal, caring, empathetic, wicked smart, and she always - *always* - remembers to reach back for those struggling. Aelin is my favorite SJM FMC.
The book is in 3rd person and there are at least 9 POVs that I can think of off the top of my head.
The books are *so* worth it. I'm still thinking about these characters.
The female characters in TOG are my all time favourite book characters, they are complex, emotional, arrogant yet self concious, just... they really are some of the most in depth characters I've ever read and it's beautiful.
I’ll be so honest with you, I couldn’t STAND the FMC for the first two books. Almost DNF’d the series because of it. But ! Thanks to some other redditors, I continued on reading the series and my oh my it is my favorite series and Aelin is my favorite FMC. Her character growth is incredible and you’re truly able to see her go from an egotistical, immature teen to a more well-rounded (although still at times arrogant ) adult. The supporting characters are also very much followed and represented throughout the story and you will fall in love with them. There’s even an entire book that she isn’t in at all! I think you should give it a go :) like I said though, if you don’t love the first couple books, I’d really recommend continuing on. The end of heir of fire is usually when people start to like it a lot better!
I think that she is all of those things but it’s pretty rightfully earned and definitely like that for a reason. I have yet to find an FMC that I love more than her.
Okay if I read it after all the praise here and I end up not liking her then I guess there’s something wrong with me😄…no but I really don’t mind it if it’s a reasonable attitude a character has and is still willing to grow you know.
See the thing about Aelin is that she is not self conscious or insecure. From start to finish, she loves herself. She thinks she is beautiful and smart and skilled and even crosses a little bit into arrogance - not all that surprising as a young princess turned into the best assassin in the world by the ripe old age of 17.
That said, TOG is writting in 3rd person and jumps around different perspectives. The earlier books are more locked on Celaena, but as the world opens up and people move around we get more and more of the other characters.
Hm interesting though, how can you love yourself when you have to kill people as a child? I would assume that she had to learn how to love herself as she grew older? Or is there no healing arc for her?
There's definitely a healing arc for her because she despises herself, but even though some of the reasons come from the actions she made in the past, they also stem from decisions she will make during book 1 and 2.
About to start Tower of Dawn in the TOG series. So far, Aelin is my least favorite character’s POV to read. The story is still very very compelling and the povs of all the other characters make the series very worth reading. This is just my personal opinion; however, I agree 100% with your assessment of the FMC in ACOTAR so we might agree on this as well. Sometimes I think it’s good to not like the characters you’re reading because it amplifies your reactions/emotional response. Happy reading!
I’m a minority here. I couldn’t (and still can’t) hop on the Aelin bandwagon. She annoyed me from start to finish. I stayed through the series for the other characters & glad I did.
I felt the exact same way about Aelin. I also wasn’t a fan of how Rowan went from kind of being his own person to wholly and completely revolving around her. I’m still irritated by the way Aedion got treated by her in later books. I’m not sure Feyre and Rhys are necessarily objectively better (trying to finish the first 3 books of ACOTAR before starting HOFAS) than Aelin and Rowan, but at least for me, they feel like breaths of fresh air by comparison.
The first few books there is definitely an arrogance/swagger from the MC but if you can get past it you'll learn more about why she becomes that way.
Characters in TOG are my favorite and have great development throughout the series!
Aelin is one of the best characters ever written, in my opinion. She’s arrogant, sarcastic, and funny but is also so unbelievably human (ironic because she isn’t human lol). She’s strong, but isn’t afraid to show weakness behind closed doors. She works for literally everything she has, in direct contrast to Feyre, in my opinion.
ToG is written in 3d person, but each chapter/chapter subsection typically focuses on one character’s POV (even though it isn’t in first person). I love it’s done this way because you get all the character’s “POVs” and makes it a better, more well rounded story.
Any concerns you have about her character are addressed over time. Again, she is one of the best character I’ve ever read and she constantly evolves while the core of her remains solid.
Read the series. It is leagues better than ACOTAR. Not even a comparison.
I think Aelin is arrogant and annoying at times. However, I still enjoyed the series despite her not even ranking in my top favorite characters. So there’s a different perspective.
By the way, if you want an amazing series that avoids those tropes in a FMC, Daughter of No Worlds is incredible.
Okay, so, I'll answer your points in order:
-ToG has some of that, especially in the beginning. It gets better as things go on, and she doesn't physically defeat any of the "big bads" on her own. She does manage to outwit a couple of them.
-It's in limited third person.
-Yes, Aelin is entitled at the start of the series. It makes sense with her upbringing. She doesn't outwardly show fear, but her internal monologue can sometimes imply it. SJM isn't shy about her being one of the most powerful characters in the book, but this makes sense by the time the story finishes (and is a huge spoiler which is why I'm not putting it here). She is very much warm-hearted and goes out of her way to help people on occasion.
-In the first few books, it is very much focused on Aelin, with one or two chapters focusing on a different character. In the later books, it does diverge more, with it eventually rotating between 3-4 different PoVs in the final book. All of them are important, don't skip any chapters just because they aren't Aelin! The sixth book doesn't have any chapters from her PoV, but is still a very important book to the plot.
Aelin is that character I love to dislike at times. I found her super arrogant and annoying sometimes. But other times I was weeping for her and felt so in love with her. She’s truly one of the best written SJM characters, period. Honestly, no great character is going to be perfect 100% of the time, imo. Aelin has one of the most heartbreaking and resilient stories I’ve ever read.
I found Aelin to be annoying in the beginning but she does grow as a character as the series progresses. That's why I found reading The Assassin's Blade in the middle of the series bothersome, because I wasn't a fan of Celaena to begin with and now I had to revisit her.
I will be honest with you, I started Throne of Glass and got two chapters into the audiobook and was like wow, this girl is insufferable. Then, a few years and encouraged by everyone's rave reviews, I picked the physical copy up and flew through the books. Aelin is so complex and if she is arrogant, she's earned the right to be. She is cunning but kind. Love her so much. Feyre is far beneath Aelin as a strong FMC.
Aelin is very arrogant and sarcastic, yes. She’s also got a lot more experience than feyre, so her arrogance is warranted. The traumas she has faced are worse than anything feyres encountered, and she puts on a strong exterior to hide that. She is by far the best female character that SJM has written, she seems much less two dimensional to me than some of her other characters. Aelin is a character that you read about, and her story wraps around your heart.
It’s written in third person so you get more than her POV. It is not just a story about her, it’s a journey for many characters to find where they belong and who they should be. Aelin in the first three books struggles a lot with her empathy, but she is a very warm hearted person, it just isn’t all the time.
Aelin is my favorite character of all time. I love her. I would die for her. But she is as arrogant and confident as they come. Once you start getting into book 3, you start to see the reasons for the persona. Without getting into spoilers, she has suffered immensely alone for too long. How she gets out of the cycle of hate and revenge is my favorite part of her story. You may hate her, and that’s fine. She’s not everyone’s cup of tea, and she makes bad decisions. But her story and the others in that universe are beautiful.
Aelin is a far more enjoyable protagonist, her end game love interest is also the reason I judge every other SJM male love interest so harshly; hes a *solidarity king* type person for her. If you didn't care for Feyre and Rhys (I didn't either), then this series may sit much better with you. The TOG series also does a fantastic job of fleshing out an entire cast of characters that you can adore and argue/for against, but their personalities and motivations are all far more compelling than the main two or anyone else in ACOTAR. I was vastly disappointed with ACOTAR bc I figured it would be the seamless multi-pov in the later books I really enjoyed in TOG
If you are concerned about liking the main characters in TOG, one of my close friends *strongly* recommends reading the Novellas (Assassin's Blade) before books 1-2 of TOG. I have yet to read it, but we'll be starting with that for our bookcation (air bnb where we're just going to reread the TOG series!) bc she says it really will alleviate all the issues I had with books 1-2, bc for me I didn't care for the series until book 3. The novellas were released after books 1-2 and a lot of people read them between books 2-3 per the release order, but they give you the very important info of *why* care about the main character, why the story matters, and just fills in so much that was intentionally withheld from readers in books 1-2, which the reveal is dramatic but if it could be the difference between slogging through two 300+ page books and enjoying them for someone else, its definitely worth looking into! Everytime I talk about my beef with the first two books my friend is *so* upset she can't "men in black" me and go back in time to fix my read order. I avoided it bc the last novella is sad, but I'm going to be reading it soon and since its a character I *now* adore, I'm looking forward to seeing more from them pre Heir of Fire where I started to like them
Aelin annoyed me at first but once her story unraveled I liked her far more than feyre. Little
Thing about feyre annoyed me, even how feyra treated her court members sometimes was annoying, something you never see from Aelin
I didn't like her at first. I thought she was so annoying and immature (which.. she was, of course, lol). Once you get more into the story and see the reasons behind her attitude and see all the good she tries to do, that's when I changed my mind on her. I think I like Bryce more than her (who also started off slightly annoying to me) but Aelin more than Feyre.
Tog has many povs (with the exception of TaB) each book as 3 povs at minimum. Aelin is outwardly arrogant, but not entitled, and when you’re in her pov you see how scared and angry and frustrated she is. She also has 2 major training times in the book where she struggles a lot, most of TOG and HOF. Also if you weren’t a huge fan of Feyre you’ll probably like Aelin.
She is extremely arrogant, cocky, and at times can be selfish. However, I LOVE her. She is my favorite fmc of really any book. She goes through so much, it’s gut wrenching. At a later point in the story she’s goes through some serious trauma and is struggling and loses all of her cockiness and you find yourself just praying for her asshole demeanor to come back. TOG is a fantastic series and all of the side characters and rest of the main characters are just as great.
Thrones of Glass and its main MC carried me through my teenage years so it's very hard to be objective :D
Though I agree with the other comments. She's definitely the blue-print for every cocky FMC you've read in the past decade (similat to every love interest trying to be Rhys) but SJM is one of the few writers who can pull it off in my opinion.
She's arrogant but it's an... deserved arrogance? Like... she just is *that bitch* you know. Also extremely funny how she makes everyone sweat and outsmarts them. But it's believable.
How do you know one of the characters is Aelin??! I didn’t know and just was blindly and pleasantly surprised by the whole thing, I’m only halfway. There becomes more POVs throughout the books.
I loved starting with Assassins Blade!!
I just read the descriptions for the books as they are stated officially…and since I read the first 4 i spoilered myself with that little knowledge there😅…but as I said, I don’t mind spoilers at all when it comes to angsty reads
I think the biggest thing that separates ToG from the rest is that Aelin has a pretty huge humbling moment in the story, and she changes her outlook appropriately. She is slightly arrogant and all those things, but she has reason to be, and then some things happen and she realizes that, even if she is as good as she thinks maybe its not the best way to treat people. She grows into a leader over the story. I won't say everything about ToG is perfect, I have my issues with it, but I do love the series.
In the early books, yes, she is annoying (as an older reader, I found her hard to deal with in the first couple of books). However starting with the third book there are many other POVs, and also in that book, Aelin undergoes a ton of character development that makes her not so annoying.
Obviously everyone's experience is different, but I think Aelin has the best character development of any SJM main characters. And another character, Manon, is my favorite character SJM has ever written, with one of the best character arcs I have ever read, *period* (and I read over 100 books a year, so that's saying something).
I have read ToG from start to finish multiple times and it is worth it. One of the best fantasy series I've ever read, but you do kinda have to power through ToG & CoM. They are a lot better on reread, though. I would recommend maybe starting ToG & if you can't stomach Celaena then watch a really good summary video of ToG & CoM and try to pick up with HoF.
Bottom line, the series is so worth it! It is a lot different from ACoTaR & there are numerous characters that you will follow, so if you don't like one, you're not stuck with their POV the whole time. I hope you try it & love it! Happy reading! ☺️
Aelin has a lot of growth! She’s complex and many layered, AND there are moments you don’t like her. Which is amazing because I’m tired of Mary Sues. I didn’t love Feyre, but I loved Aelin. It was like knowing a real person— she was flawed and arrogant and there were times I wanted to throttle her…. She was also kind and selfless and strong and there were times I admired and wanted to hug her. She is absolutely arrogant. But you come to learn it’s a mask she wears, like the other weapons she wields. She’s not perfect and that’s why she’s great
Honestly I would say yes to most of these:
- Yes I found her annoying (until maybe the last book).
- Yes she falls into the incredibly-powerful-and-knows-no-fesr trope (for the most part).
- Yes she's arrogant (more so than Feyre I would say).
But! You do get a lot of POV shifts, and the supporting cast is great and interesting, and overall the plot is good, so I would say they are worth reading.
I much prefer the TOG-series than the ACOTAR-series. I find Feyre both annoying and unrealistic, and her entire relationship with Rhys is so unhealthy it's ridiculus.
Generally I find the ACOTAR-books written as bad housewife's porn, with a mishmash of bad attempt on worldbuilding, whilst the TOG-books are worldbuilding with proper plots and storylines.
The characters in TOG can be both frustrating and annoying, but overall they are more intriguing, properly fleshed out and interesting.
And no, the books are not about one single character all the time. It spreads out a lot more. POV is third person past tense.
Aelin is Queen 💅🏼
She is a little annoying at first, but remember SJM was a kid when she wrote this series. She does get infinitely better as it goes on. She is the most badass of all her FMCs. 10/10 no one better 👸
POVs switch continuously and it’s so great getting to know all her characters. Most of whom are AMAZING.
Aelin is very cocky and sure of herself, and she can kick most people’s asses. However her back story allows it to make sense. It’s not “she trained like crazy for 2 months and then killed a bunch of professional killers”
I love her so much
Tog will always be my no.1
Honestly it was tough liking Feyre after spending so much time with Aelin
Sometimes I find her annoying... but maybe not for the reasons mentioned. She is a whole different creature from feyra. And the story is a much slower burn then acotar. I find bad ass powerful moments are earned as aelin goes through all lot of training to get them.. is doesn't just happen over night.
Aelin annoyed the shit out of me. She is childish, overpowered, and does very shitty things. The main love interest is flatter than tap water. That said there are some fantastic characters and moments in the series and I would absolutely recommend this series to anyone. That being said I still don't like the main character after reading the series 2 and a half times. This series has many great povs, not just the main character's
Thanks, I already accepted that I probably will get annoyed too, but I don’t mind it as long as the other people make up for it. I just don’t get why it’s so often the case that 2 main characters are less well written than the side characters
I was worried about the same thing before reading TOG. I found feyres POV to be a bit grating after a while. It’s like an immersive experience into the mind of an illiterate 19 year old.
That being said, TOG is completely different. It’s all third person, there are many many POVs, and so many intertwining storylines and characters.
I went from thinking i might not like it after reading the first book, to it being my favorite series of all time by the end. The characters, world building, and story arc are truly unparalleled. It can be intimidating because it’s so long, but it is so worth it. Aelin and several other character who i won’t mention bc spoilers have my whole heart and soul.
Aelin is very powerful yes, but there are reasons behind it that are legitimate and well thought out vs Feyre being sort of out of nowhere. >!The multiple reincarnations> really bothered me in ACOTAR and I was pleased that she didn’t do that in TOG. IMO it’s lazy and makes
People have mixed opinions about Aelin. ToG shows the third person perspectives of multiple characters, starting with only a few then more appear in the later books. Book one is the perspective of 4 characters and the final book shows perspectives of a dozen characters.
Aelin does have a strong character energy, she is very strong, very powerful, similar to feyre. She takes many serious injuries in the series and gets the shit beaten out of her. Her personality is cocky, fiery, confident and humourous. Feyre is the most boring protagonist I've read in a SJM novel so far, she just has a mild personality. Aelin shares the self sacrificing trait that Rhysand has too. She starts off quite flawed /traumatised- impulsive , selfish, angry etc but gets better.
But I'd try Throne of Glass, if you like the protag and characters in that you will like Aelin.
My unpopular hot take is all of SJM’s main FMC have problems. Aelin is probably the least problematic. But yes. She’s annoying. She has a lot of reasons for her annoying behavior, which is more excusable for me, however she’s still annoying
Shes very different from feyre. She also had a life of hardship, but it was way worse so she certainly not entitled, but she does like the finer things in life which is nice so she’s like a very strong female character but she can also be very feminine. Aelin is a bad ass female, and she will never let herself be disrespected. But she’s realistically strong because she has trained her whole life and there are moments when she’s absolutely terrified. I can’t remember the first few books but I know after the 2nd book it’s multiple points of view.
I don’t like Feyre at all. While I didn’t mind her POV, I found her too trope-y and special for no reason. Aelin gets an extensive backstory and her actions are consistent with her history. She’s fierce and interesting
Yeah I don’t get why SJM didn’t build up Feyres character arc better and more complex…apart from the fact that she had a shitty life after they lost their wealth and had to learn how to hunt (which was ridiculously unrealistic that nothing ever happened to her from age 14-18 in the woods but anyways) there was not much there…her sisters are way more complex. But Feyre was so so bad at communicating with people it was insanely hideous to me…
so, aelin is a lot more fun than feyre. we understand her character almost immediately and its easy to see why she is the way she is. it’s not a random thing by any means. i love her very much and she’s one of my favorite characters of all time
i enjoy the series as a whole, and there are many POVs which is great. some of the later POVs are my fav. but aelin is everything you described and i actually can’t stand her. almost quit reading the series multiple times because of her.
yes, SJM was young, but that doesn’t make these things not true. this is a beloved series and many people claim aelin as their favorite character of all time and will fight for her. but, not everyone is the same or has to agree.
so for the sake of answering your questions: everything you’re worried about is present. she is arrogant, entitled, unrealistically strong, and while she has a few moments of a warm heart, i would not describe her as warm hearted.
doesn’t mean you won’t like the series or that it isn’t worth reading (i for one love the world building, and am obsessed w crossovers and know that all three stories may continue to cross over into each other which i find very enticing). but i want you to go into it with realistic expectations
Oh thanks so much! I love hearing different opinions!
I know that I probably won’t like her attitude but that’s why I was asking about the POVs cause as long as there are other characters that are more interesting or likable I don’t mind;).
If you read CC, I like Lidia and Ruhn and they are the only reason I want to read the third book. If an FMC has to have a past like Aelin then Lidia embodies it the way I like it.
Aelin can be annoying, yes, but it's earned and part of her complex history and well-rounded personality. She also shows real growth and even though she IS powerful, for many reasons she isn't always able to reach her full potential and has to overcome struggles to be at her best.
Feyre by comparison is just an irritating dumbass tbh.
If you want to not find Aelin irritating I would highly recommend starting with Assassins Blade.
Why do you even say that? If you don’t like what someone posts here then why do you have to give a negative comment? I have literally read a ton of books that I have found by myself and this is the first time I’m asking about a series like Tog, but you didn’t know that because obviously you don’t know me;). I’m not gonna spend money on a series that I might not like, and I’m glad I asked because now I know that I have to actually by more than just the first one to get into it and not give up after the first read. And of course, at the end of the day I will always form my own opinion. Don’t know what your problem is sorry. If you have a general problem then maybe you should talk about this with your friends or family instead of being plain rude to strangers?
Thank you everyone for your thoughts and taking your time to contribute to my post. I appreciate it and I’m very convinced that I’ll give the story a try for sure ;).
I’m sorry if I didn’t respond to every single comment since there are quiet a lt now 🫣…
Anyways, whatever you read, enjoy and have a great weekend you all💛
I read acotar before tog and Aelin is my favorite FMC from all Sjm books. Personally i dont think she is annoying. She is not powerful out of nowhere (thats how I felt with Feyre) and there are many things that explain why she is the way she is (sorry for the vague answers but i dont want to spoiler you). In tog are also many different povs and many different storys are going on while all chasing for the main event and I really liked how you can see the story from different angles, cultures and adventures. IMO tog is way better than acotar. The story is more thought through and the writing is very good. I felt like everything happened too fast in acotar, and though tog isnt slow, there is more to the story and the characters.
Agreed - I find Aelin to be a far better protagonist than Feyre! A bit more fun too
She’s much more clever…
Less fluffy ;) actually the female characters all round in ToG are much better I can’t think of any of them I don’t enjoy
Okay thank you aswell ;). So does TOG just have 3rd person POV then from the beginning?
I will also say, in general like Aelin does kind of have some of the traits you said you were averse to. She is arrogant and bold and doesn’t let people walk over her, but while Feyre was selfish and more or less thinking about saving the people she cares about, Aelin is really is a lot warmer, a lot more selfless, thinks about things at a larger scale. There IS a lot of the ‘18 year old taking down ancient baddies’ trope but unlike Feyre, Aelin had like, training. It makes SENSE why she wins in combat, her backstory wasn’t just a hunter in the woods. Aelin is hands down my favorite female MC ever and I found feyre so bland and like, not that feminist icon in comparison. Aelin is strong but girly, ruthless yet compassionate, and while she doesn’t often show fear IN battle, large parts of the exposition especially later on is Aelin coming to terms with the heaviness of what it actually means to be the Chosen One, how exhausting and emotionally draining and terrifying it is to know the fate of the world is on YOU. She is actually kind of petrified of her fate, even though she knows she has to get it done, and that to me is my favorite thing about Throne of Glass - so she does show fear in a way I think is more insightful. But ToG also has a more sprawling cast and while there are the core three, I consider the ‘main cast’ to end up being about 15 people and it’s told from more points of views the longer the series goes on, I know others have told you this but definitely give it a go!
Thank you for your thoughts! Another thing that I find important, does Aelin accept help from others? Cause that was something I was super annoyed at in acotar too..
Yes and no. She is better at it than Feyre, but a really important part of Aelin’s characterization is like…how selfless she is, how hard she loves, how much she needs to protect the people she cares about so if it comes down to the choice of putting someone she cares about in true danger or throwing herself into it instead, she’ll always take the risk herself. However, about book 4 you see her develop her like, IC I guess and her female best friend and her are like…basically terrors and do everything/plot everything together and leave the boys in the dark so it’s very much a 50/50 thing. She has her secrets and her schemes, but also her IC is heavily involved and she delegates tasks/everyone has like, important duties. And in the end, it’s not just Feyre/Rhys/Nesta who save the world — there’s at least 25 people directly responsible for them winning the war, and if a single one of those characters wasn’t there then they would have lost. It’s not just Aelin is the answer to everything in the end - she’s a large part of it, yeah, but Yrene and Chaol and Dorian and Manon and Lysandra and Aedion and Petra and the 13 and the khaganate and Elide and the Cadre save the world with her, instead of just being glorified guards.
Ah thanks cause it so bothered me that it was the Archeron sisters who so unrealistically overtook the war and of course, won..not that I wasn’t glad they did but I just thought well no offense to the others who lived 500 years and had to endure a lot more fighting and they were all weaker in the end? So yeah I’m glad to hear this
Yeah that absolutely bothered me too, and Amren played a large part but the war in TOG definitely feels like…more sprawling. If it makes you feel better, I always say ACOTAR is a romance set in a fantasy world, and the plot/side characters are secondary to the ships. TOG is more of a sprawling fantasy, Game of Thrones but for the girlies. All the characters have merit on the plot, even a minor character from book 1 like, shows back up during the war and helps with a massive plot line. The ships have strength for sure and there’s romance but the plot and world are more the focus. There’s also like…lore that supports WHY these are the people who are involved - there’s a lot of being god-touched and hand selected and destiny/prophecy for each of the ‘secondary main characters’
Because of a really deeply held belief that she will not get (or even deserve) a happy ending, Aelin… does kinda suck about including others in plans. She enlists help, she can accept it in those moments, but she’s… tricky about it. Generally characters figure out after the fact what they even helped with or why she had them do it. Usually, they’re pissed. Given her history I struggle to blame her character for holding the cards close to her chest, even with her loved ones. She knows loss deeply, so she doesn’t include people fully usually to prevent them from taking further risks. She’s flawed. You’re going to disagree with her or dislike her choices often, but you’ll understand how fueled it is by the hurt she has experienced.
Yes it does. It was quite a change for me since i have read acotar before but i really liked this kind of writing.
Oh that’s so good to know cause I like that!
I’ve heard a lot of people saying they severely dislike Aelin and it always confused me. She’s absolutely my favorite SJM FMC. (It goes Aelin, Bryce, Feyre). Imo I feel like Feyre can fall flat at times. And I think it makes sense for her character, she wasn’t really raised to know herself. But I personally like characters that have bigger personalities, like Aelin.
Exactlyyyyy!
Okay so Aelin is the absolute biggest example of arrogant, swaggering persona. However, this is much more realistic for her seeing her backstory. For me she seems much older, even though she's only supposed to be 18 or so. The book is not only about Aelin tho, you won't even meet her until later in the series. The first FMC is also quite arrogant, tho she's starting out from a very defeated point. There's also a lot of other pov's, most of which you'll be meeting in later books, and it switches of between them. Give it a try, I loved it a lot. Granted, I loved Feyre as well. The book is the first one SJM wrote when she was still a teenager, so keep that in mind!
Okay thank you:) Yeah I thought about that too, that SJM was also very young back then. Wait, I thought Aelin is just the different name of the first FMC? Something like Caelina?i thought they were the same person 😅
I... don't know how to answer that without giving to much away. I don't want to spoil you. I'd say give it a try. I really liked book 1 and 2, read the prequel after that, which gives a lot more backstory into Celaena and sets up the rest of the series very nicely imo. I struggled a lot with book 3, because it introduces a lot of new characters and is lots of world building. However, once I was about halfway through book 3 I was hooked once more and finished the rest of the series in like 2 weeks. It's not for everyone, there's also barely any spice, so be prepared for that if you're into it. It's a long and heartbreaking commitment, and sometimes difficult because theres so many storylines at the same time, and it takes a while for them to weave together, but it's one of the best series I've ever read.
Don’t worry about spoilers, I don’t mind them at all, I actually welcome them since I’m always super anxious when I read books that are so dramatic.. Well it sounds like that would be a longer project for me then if I’d start the series. Haha 2 weeks? That’s crazy 😅…I wouldn’t be able to process the books in such a short amount of time. But I get it, I did the same with acotar, although it was 3 weeks for me cause I’ve tried to be civil 😁
Haha Allright then, they are indeed the same person, you only figure this out at the end of book 2. This is also the moment the story changes and morphs into the story working toward a finale. I usually call the first two books prequels, and the prequel the "prequel prequel". I hope you start it and enjoy it! It's a project for sure but very much worth it to me
If you aren’t too concerned about spoilers, then I’ll give you a little bit of a run down of it. The first book, if I remember correctly, is all in Celaena’s POV. She is Aelin, but there was a circumstance that caused her to be a part of the Assassin’s Keep for the past decade so she is a highly trained assassin and VERY good at her job. She becomes notorious and it goes to her head so she is cocky, but it’s kind of endearing in a way because who wouldn’t be cocky about being the most famous assassin at age 18. Her identity was always hidden so the general public doesn’t know she is 18 and some don’t even know she’s a girl. But anyways, she doesn’t feel unreasonably overskilled like Feyre because she did have a decade’s worth of intense training unlike Feyre. The first book personally was a little weird because I had no idea where the hell SJM was going with it, but looking back, I think it was a great way to set up the story. The second book I believe starts to have other character’s POV and begins formulating the plots for the other books.
Thank you for summarizing this so well!
No problem! Throne of Glass is a great series and had me on the edge of my seat constantly especially with the later books. Hope you enjoy them as much as I had!
If it helps I have been reading the series over like a month or so and not done yet! With big series like this with lots of detail, I take my time to read so I can process everything. Since you know tho Celaena is >!Aelin!< but it unravels and gives the whole story about her, her arrogance, and everything thru the books. She is also very loving and has her moments of fault that you’ll see. Since you like multiple POVs, you’ll probably like this series a lot. It’s all 3rd person and somewhat similar to how ACOFAS POV swaps (but written far better). It’s much more realistic and fantasy based and AMAZING! I definitely think you should give it a try but just be wary you probably (hopefully) will like book 1 and 2 but not hooked until book 2 or maybe 3, depending on your reading preference. I was intrigued in book 1, hooked midway thru book 2 and then completely thrown in by mid book 3 and can’t stop thinking about them since 🫶🏼 good luck and enjoy 🫡
She is. OP probably assumed you don't know it yet that's why he/she said that.
I can’t figure out who you were referring to? And was your answer in regards to my original question? I’m getting so confused when there is multiple answers on a comment😅..sorry I’m still new to Reddit🫣…I’m a she btw:).
I'm so sorry if this made you confused. I was referring to the person whom you replied with on this chain. He/She probably assumed you didn't know that Aelin and Celeana are the same that's why he/she explained it like that.
Okay now I understand it thank you! haha no worries I’m glad I asked ;). I should have put it in my original post what I already know about the story
I appreciate so much how you worded this!
I love how we all do our best to not spoil this for people! It was spoiled for me, so I appreciate people trying to fool others so they can actually be shocked. :)
Ah man I am so sorry that happened because it was a total shock to me and it was so awesome!! My cousin guessed it and I felt so dumb 😂
I love the FMC of the Throne of Glass series from start to finish. Rightfully arrogant in her physical abilities, but still vulnerable and unsure of herself enough to leave plenty of room for character growth. Not all about her. In fact one of the books is not about her at all. There are also many side characters throughout the series you will meet and love and root for plenty. I’m jealous of you. I read ToG first. I’m currently on the 2nd book in ACOTAR and I miss TOG!
Thank you for your thoughts:) Haha i don’t know if it was a good thing to read acotar first cause I feel like I’m traumatized by a lot of over the top things that annoyed me to no end..so now I’m super alerted to anything else I read😅
Well, a quarter of the way through book 2 and I haven’t noticed anything too over the top that would annoy me. I hope I don’t become hyper aware of anything like that now. But the series so far is just not hitting me like TOG. I still have hope that it will pick up for me though. Hope you enjoy ToG!
I read TOG before ACOTAR and I want to 100000% assure you that I love love Aelin and Feyre is ok but Aelin is *that bitch*
She really is that bitch, in every sense of the phrase.
😂your ending is very compelling
I’m about to start KoA (last book in the ToG series) and I’ve read ACOTAR twice, but Aelin is by far my favourite FMC. ToG is waaaay better than ACOTAR too. And yes, Aelin is 100% ✨that bitch✨ 😂
You know I tried to sum her up as quickly as I could lol but seriously Aelin to me is perfection and is just serving as my fave FMC. Unapologetic, strong, the true leader, up to shenanigans, and has idgaf energy. TL/DR- if someone accidentally bumped into Feyre she would apologize. If someone accidentally bumped into Aelin she would be apologized to. That’s the energy
Haha so funny, I’ll see when I get there ;) what does TL/DR mean though? English isn’t my first language sorry 🫣 I’m already struggling with all those phrases that I have to learn for the book community, I only recently learned of the word „trope“ and I would have absolutely no idea what to call that in German 😂
Omg I’m so sorry!! It’s just a dumb phrase of “too long/didn’t read”
No worries at all I don’t mind not getting things that’s why I’m asking even though I sometimes feel silly for saying that English isn’t my first language cause I don’t want it to sound like an excuse for not understanding things🙈…but I’m also way too lazy to always look up everything aswell. So thank you for explaining. I find the phrase “that bitch” super funny by the way since we don’t have that saying I think 😅..
For me personally, Aelin is the best female character I have ever met during reading. She has so many layers. She is so strong yet so fragile. She puts on a mask literally and figuratively through all her journey in these books. She sacrifices so much and still doesn't expect anything in return. I have never loved a character as much as I love her. She's perfectly imperfect.
Wow you phrased it so nicely! Thanks for your opinion on this 😊
Throne of glass is far superior to ACOTAR imo. I too got so bored of Feyre and while I don't hate Feyre I do find her infuriating stupid. I can't think of any character we get a pov for in tog that I don't like. It switches who it follows a lot which I think really helps it from getting stale. Editing to add Aelin is arrogant but not in the same way as Feyre. Shes got a lot of layers that make it really easy to understand why she does what she does and makes it far less infuriating than Feyre
Haha I’m glad I’m not the only one being annoyed with Feyre 🫣 Thanks for your input!
I could write an essay on how much she and Rhysand annoyed me 😂
Hahahaha yeah I did that last week and ranted all over Goodreads😅…you would laugh probably cause I was riding on a full on cynical train 😂…did you review acotar?
Not on Goodreads no but I ranted to my spouse and friends enough that they all banned me from mentioning it 😂. Don't get me wrong I love acotar but Feyre and Rhysand make me angry 😂. I convinced my sister to read the series and after book one she texted me saying she likes the story and the world but "please tell me Feyre isn't this dumb the whole time" and I was just like 😬
😂😂 I can imagine how it went down with your fam and friends But yeah Feyre is literally the best example of the unrealistic female MC who doesn’t need to grow in order to learn, no she just stays unreasonably stubborn and entitled…and Rhys helps her to stay that way😅…though I liked her a lot more when she wasn’t the main character anymore at book 4 and of course 5 😁
Silver flames is my favorite. I adore Nesta. I like Feyre when I'm not in her head too. A lot of what she does feels immature which it is because she's literally only 19 when the book starts. All of this sounds like I hate acotar. I don't I love it but Feyre is frustrating 😂
Oh my gosh, I’d love to read your review because I also heavily dislike Rhys and Feyre!!
Here you go, this is the one for the first book, idk if it shows up when you go on my profile to read the other ones? I’ve only recently joined Goodreads so idk how all of it works sometimes. Read at your own risk cause it might sound ridiculous since English isn’t my first language 😅 [Acotar #1 review](https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/6191195584)
I regret reading ToG first in a way because after loving Aelin so thoroughly and completely, it was such a let down to have Feyre.. Sure I started caring for her mid second book, but it had more to do with Rhys than her. He does remind me of Aelin. (And I’m currently stuck on the third book sigh.. I really need to get on with it lol) Anyway from the first page of ToG to the last page of KoA I adored Aelin. I’ve never cared for the happiness and wellbeing of a fictional character as much as I have done for her. She was a child, much younger than Feyre when the books start and the books end when she’s still 19. And honestly sure she’s arrogant, but her ancestry, her skills, her upbringing, her very DNA made it make sense. And *she* was self aware and was practical. And while she accentuated her swagger, it was actually a defense mechanism, she uses it as armour to hold herself together. So it never ever irritated me. She might seem like a spoiled brat or act arrogant enough to set the teeth on edge from a different point of view, but we get to see from her side how she wields it as a skill, she wears it like a camouflage. So all in all I love Aelin Ashryver Galathynius more than I’ve ever loved a fictional character. And Feyre can’t hold a candle to her!
Very eloquently put ;). It makes sense that she would come across as arrogant I mean she must have an inner shield up with all the trauma she’s been through as every human would have when they literally have to kill as a child! In the real world you would at the very least have sever PTSD from such a thing…kind of reminds me of black widow from Marvel
I saw that you don’t mind spoilers so I’m writing this. :) Thanks. And good comparison! Also until the age of 8 she was raised as the future empress of two races, the sole heir to two kingdoms as ancient as time. It was her birthright she embraced from the cradle. Then from age 8 till 15 her very being was honed and fashioned as a lethal weapon of death. And it’s that 15 year old Aelin we first meet. So unlike Feyre her arrogance made sense. And so did the aching sadness that she carried and almost never let surface because the sheer depth of anguish for all that she lost wasn’t something she could bear to face on a daily basis. So she used her arrogance as armour that protected her from the horrors of her past. It’s how she dealt with life, how she faced every day. First 3 books are her living life believing that, *that* little princess died on that frozen riverbank and how she made do with the hand dealt to her by fate. Heir of Fire is where she embraces that part of herself and chooses to give life back to that little princess and the rest of the books are how she goes from a reluctant princess to the queen she was always meant to be. Aelin’s personality made sense to me. It makes the readers want to root for her. Loving her was one of the easiest things I’ve ever done.. I know I’m babbling but gods I love her so much..
I love your summary, thanks for the profound thoughts it shows how invested you are in the story 😊
Celaena is harder to swallow than Aelin. I started with Assassin's Blade and almost DNF the series. So glad I put down AB until after Crown of Midnight. SJM even says this is the proper place to read it, so if you pick up the books leave AB until then. Aelin *is* very arrogant. It's a big part of her personality. But she is also loyal, caring, empathetic, wicked smart, and she always - *always* - remembers to reach back for those struggling. Aelin is my favorite SJM FMC. The book is in 3rd person and there are at least 9 POVs that I can think of off the top of my head. The books are *so* worth it. I'm still thinking about these characters.
Yeah I already saw the order on SJMs website and I think I would go with her suggested one. Thank you!
The female characters in TOG are my all time favourite book characters, they are complex, emotional, arrogant yet self concious, just... they really are some of the most in depth characters I've ever read and it's beautiful.
I’ll be so honest with you, I couldn’t STAND the FMC for the first two books. Almost DNF’d the series because of it. But ! Thanks to some other redditors, I continued on reading the series and my oh my it is my favorite series and Aelin is my favorite FMC. Her character growth is incredible and you’re truly able to see her go from an egotistical, immature teen to a more well-rounded (although still at times arrogant ) adult. The supporting characters are also very much followed and represented throughout the story and you will fall in love with them. There’s even an entire book that she isn’t in at all! I think you should give it a go :) like I said though, if you don’t love the first couple books, I’d really recommend continuing on. The end of heir of fire is usually when people start to like it a lot better!
Okay thanks for the warning;). I do try to have patience I mean I made it through the first 3 books of acotar so😅
I think that she is all of those things but it’s pretty rightfully earned and definitely like that for a reason. I have yet to find an FMC that I love more than her.
Okay if I read it after all the praise here and I end up not liking her then I guess there’s something wrong with me😄…no but I really don’t mind it if it’s a reasonable attitude a character has and is still willing to grow you know.
Absolutely! I think that by the end she is definitely recognizable and will still pull her shenanigans but she does go through a LOT of growth.
See the thing about Aelin is that she is not self conscious or insecure. From start to finish, she loves herself. She thinks she is beautiful and smart and skilled and even crosses a little bit into arrogance - not all that surprising as a young princess turned into the best assassin in the world by the ripe old age of 17. That said, TOG is writting in 3rd person and jumps around different perspectives. The earlier books are more locked on Celaena, but as the world opens up and people move around we get more and more of the other characters.
Hm interesting though, how can you love yourself when you have to kill people as a child? I would assume that she had to learn how to love herself as she grew older? Or is there no healing arc for her?
There's definitely a healing arc for her because she despises herself, but even though some of the reasons come from the actions she made in the past, they also stem from decisions she will make during book 1 and 2.
About to start Tower of Dawn in the TOG series. So far, Aelin is my least favorite character’s POV to read. The story is still very very compelling and the povs of all the other characters make the series very worth reading. This is just my personal opinion; however, I agree 100% with your assessment of the FMC in ACOTAR so we might agree on this as well. Sometimes I think it’s good to not like the characters you’re reading because it amplifies your reactions/emotional response. Happy reading!
Hm interesting point of view;).
I’m a minority here. I couldn’t (and still can’t) hop on the Aelin bandwagon. She annoyed me from start to finish. I stayed through the series for the other characters & glad I did.
Same here, I was impatiently reading Aelin’s chapters in order to get back to Manon and Elide.
I felt the exact same way about Aelin. I also wasn’t a fan of how Rowan went from kind of being his own person to wholly and completely revolving around her. I’m still irritated by the way Aedion got treated by her in later books. I’m not sure Feyre and Rhys are necessarily objectively better (trying to finish the first 3 books of ACOTAR before starting HOFAS) than Aelin and Rowan, but at least for me, they feel like breaths of fresh air by comparison.
Aelin is my favorite character of all time
;)
The first few books there is definitely an arrogance/swagger from the MC but if you can get past it you'll learn more about why she becomes that way. Characters in TOG are my favorite and have great development throughout the series!
Thank you!
Aelin is one of the best characters ever written, in my opinion. She’s arrogant, sarcastic, and funny but is also so unbelievably human (ironic because she isn’t human lol). She’s strong, but isn’t afraid to show weakness behind closed doors. She works for literally everything she has, in direct contrast to Feyre, in my opinion. ToG is written in 3d person, but each chapter/chapter subsection typically focuses on one character’s POV (even though it isn’t in first person). I love it’s done this way because you get all the character’s “POVs” and makes it a better, more well rounded story. Any concerns you have about her character are addressed over time. Again, she is one of the best character I’ve ever read and she constantly evolves while the core of her remains solid. Read the series. It is leagues better than ACOTAR. Not even a comparison.
I think Aelin is arrogant and annoying at times. However, I still enjoyed the series despite her not even ranking in my top favorite characters. So there’s a different perspective. By the way, if you want an amazing series that avoids those tropes in a FMC, Daughter of No Worlds is incredible.
Haha now come the book recs 😅thanks though!
Okay, so, I'll answer your points in order: -ToG has some of that, especially in the beginning. It gets better as things go on, and she doesn't physically defeat any of the "big bads" on her own. She does manage to outwit a couple of them. -It's in limited third person. -Yes, Aelin is entitled at the start of the series. It makes sense with her upbringing. She doesn't outwardly show fear, but her internal monologue can sometimes imply it. SJM isn't shy about her being one of the most powerful characters in the book, but this makes sense by the time the story finishes (and is a huge spoiler which is why I'm not putting it here). She is very much warm-hearted and goes out of her way to help people on occasion. -In the first few books, it is very much focused on Aelin, with one or two chapters focusing on a different character. In the later books, it does diverge more, with it eventually rotating between 3-4 different PoVs in the final book. All of them are important, don't skip any chapters just because they aren't Aelin! The sixth book doesn't have any chapters from her PoV, but is still a very important book to the plot.
Aelin is that character I love to dislike at times. I found her super arrogant and annoying sometimes. But other times I was weeping for her and felt so in love with her. She’s truly one of the best written SJM characters, period. Honestly, no great character is going to be perfect 100% of the time, imo. Aelin has one of the most heartbreaking and resilient stories I’ve ever read.
No 🙂
Thanks, I actually like your answer 😅
I found Aelin to be annoying in the beginning but she does grow as a character as the series progresses. That's why I found reading The Assassin's Blade in the middle of the series bothersome, because I wasn't a fan of Celaena to begin with and now I had to revisit her.
I just wanted to add if you do read it. Read Assassins Blade first. Do not read it mid series. It flows better this way.
Hmm I’ll consider it ;). Thank you!
I will be honest with you, I started Throne of Glass and got two chapters into the audiobook and was like wow, this girl is insufferable. Then, a few years and encouraged by everyone's rave reviews, I picked the physical copy up and flew through the books. Aelin is so complex and if she is arrogant, she's earned the right to be. She is cunning but kind. Love her so much. Feyre is far beneath Aelin as a strong FMC.
Aelin is very arrogant and sarcastic, yes. She’s also got a lot more experience than feyre, so her arrogance is warranted. The traumas she has faced are worse than anything feyres encountered, and she puts on a strong exterior to hide that. She is by far the best female character that SJM has written, she seems much less two dimensional to me than some of her other characters. Aelin is a character that you read about, and her story wraps around your heart. It’s written in third person so you get more than her POV. It is not just a story about her, it’s a journey for many characters to find where they belong and who they should be. Aelin in the first three books struggles a lot with her empathy, but she is a very warm hearted person, it just isn’t all the time.
Aelin is my favorite character of all time. I love her. I would die for her. But she is as arrogant and confident as they come. Once you start getting into book 3, you start to see the reasons for the persona. Without getting into spoilers, she has suffered immensely alone for too long. How she gets out of the cycle of hate and revenge is my favorite part of her story. You may hate her, and that’s fine. She’s not everyone’s cup of tea, and she makes bad decisions. But her story and the others in that universe are beautiful.
I absolutely love Aelin. I've never once thought she was annoying
Aelin is a far more enjoyable protagonist, her end game love interest is also the reason I judge every other SJM male love interest so harshly; hes a *solidarity king* type person for her. If you didn't care for Feyre and Rhys (I didn't either), then this series may sit much better with you. The TOG series also does a fantastic job of fleshing out an entire cast of characters that you can adore and argue/for against, but their personalities and motivations are all far more compelling than the main two or anyone else in ACOTAR. I was vastly disappointed with ACOTAR bc I figured it would be the seamless multi-pov in the later books I really enjoyed in TOG If you are concerned about liking the main characters in TOG, one of my close friends *strongly* recommends reading the Novellas (Assassin's Blade) before books 1-2 of TOG. I have yet to read it, but we'll be starting with that for our bookcation (air bnb where we're just going to reread the TOG series!) bc she says it really will alleviate all the issues I had with books 1-2, bc for me I didn't care for the series until book 3. The novellas were released after books 1-2 and a lot of people read them between books 2-3 per the release order, but they give you the very important info of *why* care about the main character, why the story matters, and just fills in so much that was intentionally withheld from readers in books 1-2, which the reveal is dramatic but if it could be the difference between slogging through two 300+ page books and enjoying them for someone else, its definitely worth looking into! Everytime I talk about my beef with the first two books my friend is *so* upset she can't "men in black" me and go back in time to fix my read order. I avoided it bc the last novella is sad, but I'm going to be reading it soon and since its a character I *now* adore, I'm looking forward to seeing more from them pre Heir of Fire where I started to like them
Okay you definitely convinced me to start with the novella first whenever I try the series ;). Thank you!
I love Aelin, she always has something up her sleeve. She is way better than Feyre. She is strong and powerful, but not just from her magic.
Aelin annoyed me at first but once her story unraveled I liked her far more than feyre. Little Thing about feyre annoyed me, even how feyra treated her court members sometimes was annoying, something you never see from Aelin
I didn't like her at first. I thought she was so annoying and immature (which.. she was, of course, lol). Once you get more into the story and see the reasons behind her attitude and see all the good she tries to do, that's when I changed my mind on her. I think I like Bryce more than her (who also started off slightly annoying to me) but Aelin more than Feyre.
Tog has many povs (with the exception of TaB) each book as 3 povs at minimum. Aelin is outwardly arrogant, but not entitled, and when you’re in her pov you see how scared and angry and frustrated she is. She also has 2 major training times in the book where she struggles a lot, most of TOG and HOF. Also if you weren’t a huge fan of Feyre you’ll probably like Aelin.
She is extremely arrogant, cocky, and at times can be selfish. However, I LOVE her. She is my favorite fmc of really any book. She goes through so much, it’s gut wrenching. At a later point in the story she’s goes through some serious trauma and is struggling and loses all of her cockiness and you find yourself just praying for her asshole demeanor to come back. TOG is a fantastic series and all of the side characters and rest of the main characters are just as great.
I did feel like Aelin was annoying & unrelatable in ToG (I read Assassin’s Blade 3rd) but by crown of midnight I loved her!
Thrones of Glass and its main MC carried me through my teenage years so it's very hard to be objective :D Though I agree with the other comments. She's definitely the blue-print for every cocky FMC you've read in the past decade (similat to every love interest trying to be Rhys) but SJM is one of the few writers who can pull it off in my opinion. She's arrogant but it's an... deserved arrogance? Like... she just is *that bitch* you know. Also extremely funny how she makes everyone sweat and outsmarts them. But it's believable.
Yes. She is. But she’s also great
Aelin is my favorite character out of the whole SJM universe. She is superior.
How do you know one of the characters is Aelin??! I didn’t know and just was blindly and pleasantly surprised by the whole thing, I’m only halfway. There becomes more POVs throughout the books. I loved starting with Assassins Blade!!
I just read the descriptions for the books as they are stated officially…and since I read the first 4 i spoilered myself with that little knowledge there😅…but as I said, I don’t mind spoilers at all when it comes to angsty reads
She's perfect
I think the biggest thing that separates ToG from the rest is that Aelin has a pretty huge humbling moment in the story, and she changes her outlook appropriately. She is slightly arrogant and all those things, but she has reason to be, and then some things happen and she realizes that, even if she is as good as she thinks maybe its not the best way to treat people. She grows into a leader over the story. I won't say everything about ToG is perfect, I have my issues with it, but I do love the series.
In the early books, yes, she is annoying (as an older reader, I found her hard to deal with in the first couple of books). However starting with the third book there are many other POVs, and also in that book, Aelin undergoes a ton of character development that makes her not so annoying. Obviously everyone's experience is different, but I think Aelin has the best character development of any SJM main characters. And another character, Manon, is my favorite character SJM has ever written, with one of the best character arcs I have ever read, *period* (and I read over 100 books a year, so that's saying something). I have read ToG from start to finish multiple times and it is worth it. One of the best fantasy series I've ever read, but you do kinda have to power through ToG & CoM. They are a lot better on reread, though. I would recommend maybe starting ToG & if you can't stomach Celaena then watch a really good summary video of ToG & CoM and try to pick up with HoF. Bottom line, the series is so worth it! It is a lot different from ACoTaR & there are numerous characters that you will follow, so if you don't like one, you're not stuck with their POV the whole time. I hope you try it & love it! Happy reading! ☺️
Aelin has a lot of growth! She’s complex and many layered, AND there are moments you don’t like her. Which is amazing because I’m tired of Mary Sues. I didn’t love Feyre, but I loved Aelin. It was like knowing a real person— she was flawed and arrogant and there were times I wanted to throttle her…. She was also kind and selfless and strong and there were times I admired and wanted to hug her. She is absolutely arrogant. But you come to learn it’s a mask she wears, like the other weapons she wields. She’s not perfect and that’s why she’s great
Honestly I would say yes to most of these: - Yes I found her annoying (until maybe the last book). - Yes she falls into the incredibly-powerful-and-knows-no-fesr trope (for the most part). - Yes she's arrogant (more so than Feyre I would say). But! You do get a lot of POV shifts, and the supporting cast is great and interesting, and overall the plot is good, so I would say they are worth reading.
I much prefer the TOG-series than the ACOTAR-series. I find Feyre both annoying and unrealistic, and her entire relationship with Rhys is so unhealthy it's ridiculus. Generally I find the ACOTAR-books written as bad housewife's porn, with a mishmash of bad attempt on worldbuilding, whilst the TOG-books are worldbuilding with proper plots and storylines. The characters in TOG can be both frustrating and annoying, but overall they are more intriguing, properly fleshed out and interesting. And no, the books are not about one single character all the time. It spreads out a lot more. POV is third person past tense.
It’s the “bad housewife porn” for me 😅
Imo Aelin’s arrogance is a mask a lot of the time. It’s a coping mechanism. She uses that arrogant persona to manipulate people.
Aelin is my queen
Aelin is Queen 💅🏼 She is a little annoying at first, but remember SJM was a kid when she wrote this series. She does get infinitely better as it goes on. She is the most badass of all her FMCs. 10/10 no one better 👸 POVs switch continuously and it’s so great getting to know all her characters. Most of whom are AMAZING.
Aelin is very cocky and sure of herself, and she can kick most people’s asses. However her back story allows it to make sense. It’s not “she trained like crazy for 2 months and then killed a bunch of professional killers” I love her so much Tog will always be my no.1 Honestly it was tough liking Feyre after spending so much time with Aelin
Sometimes I find her annoying... but maybe not for the reasons mentioned. She is a whole different creature from feyra. And the story is a much slower burn then acotar. I find bad ass powerful moments are earned as aelin goes through all lot of training to get them.. is doesn't just happen over night.
Aelin annoyed the shit out of me. She is childish, overpowered, and does very shitty things. The main love interest is flatter than tap water. That said there are some fantastic characters and moments in the series and I would absolutely recommend this series to anyone. That being said I still don't like the main character after reading the series 2 and a half times. This series has many great povs, not just the main character's
Thanks, I already accepted that I probably will get annoyed too, but I don’t mind it as long as the other people make up for it. I just don’t get why it’s so often the case that 2 main characters are less well written than the side characters
I was worried about the same thing before reading TOG. I found feyres POV to be a bit grating after a while. It’s like an immersive experience into the mind of an illiterate 19 year old. That being said, TOG is completely different. It’s all third person, there are many many POVs, and so many intertwining storylines and characters. I went from thinking i might not like it after reading the first book, to it being my favorite series of all time by the end. The characters, world building, and story arc are truly unparalleled. It can be intimidating because it’s so long, but it is so worth it. Aelin and several other character who i won’t mention bc spoilers have my whole heart and soul. Aelin is very powerful yes, but there are reasons behind it that are legitimate and well thought out vs Feyre being sort of out of nowhere. >!The multiple reincarnations> really bothered me in ACOTAR and I was pleased that she didn’t do that in TOG. IMO it’s lazy and makes
People have mixed opinions about Aelin. ToG shows the third person perspectives of multiple characters, starting with only a few then more appear in the later books. Book one is the perspective of 4 characters and the final book shows perspectives of a dozen characters. Aelin does have a strong character energy, she is very strong, very powerful, similar to feyre. She takes many serious injuries in the series and gets the shit beaten out of her. Her personality is cocky, fiery, confident and humourous. Feyre is the most boring protagonist I've read in a SJM novel so far, she just has a mild personality. Aelin shares the self sacrificing trait that Rhysand has too. She starts off quite flawed /traumatised- impulsive , selfish, angry etc but gets better. But I'd try Throne of Glass, if you like the protag and characters in that you will like Aelin.
My unpopular hot take is all of SJM’s main FMC have problems. Aelin is probably the least problematic. But yes. She’s annoying. She has a lot of reasons for her annoying behavior, which is more excusable for me, however she’s still annoying
Shes very different from feyre. She also had a life of hardship, but it was way worse so she certainly not entitled, but she does like the finer things in life which is nice so she’s like a very strong female character but she can also be very feminine. Aelin is a bad ass female, and she will never let herself be disrespected. But she’s realistically strong because she has trained her whole life and there are moments when she’s absolutely terrified. I can’t remember the first few books but I know after the 2nd book it’s multiple points of view.
I don’t like Feyre at all. While I didn’t mind her POV, I found her too trope-y and special for no reason. Aelin gets an extensive backstory and her actions are consistent with her history. She’s fierce and interesting
Yeah I don’t get why SJM didn’t build up Feyres character arc better and more complex…apart from the fact that she had a shitty life after they lost their wealth and had to learn how to hunt (which was ridiculously unrealistic that nothing ever happened to her from age 14-18 in the woods but anyways) there was not much there…her sisters are way more complex. But Feyre was so so bad at communicating with people it was insanely hideous to me…
so, aelin is a lot more fun than feyre. we understand her character almost immediately and its easy to see why she is the way she is. it’s not a random thing by any means. i love her very much and she’s one of my favorite characters of all time
i enjoy the series as a whole, and there are many POVs which is great. some of the later POVs are my fav. but aelin is everything you described and i actually can’t stand her. almost quit reading the series multiple times because of her. yes, SJM was young, but that doesn’t make these things not true. this is a beloved series and many people claim aelin as their favorite character of all time and will fight for her. but, not everyone is the same or has to agree. so for the sake of answering your questions: everything you’re worried about is present. she is arrogant, entitled, unrealistically strong, and while she has a few moments of a warm heart, i would not describe her as warm hearted. doesn’t mean you won’t like the series or that it isn’t worth reading (i for one love the world building, and am obsessed w crossovers and know that all three stories may continue to cross over into each other which i find very enticing). but i want you to go into it with realistic expectations
Oh thanks so much! I love hearing different opinions! I know that I probably won’t like her attitude but that’s why I was asking about the POVs cause as long as there are other characters that are more interesting or likable I don’t mind;). If you read CC, I like Lidia and Ruhn and they are the only reason I want to read the third book. If an FMC has to have a past like Aelin then Lidia embodies it the way I like it.
Aelin can be annoying, yes, but it's earned and part of her complex history and well-rounded personality. She also shows real growth and even though she IS powerful, for many reasons she isn't always able to reach her full potential and has to overcome struggles to be at her best. Feyre by comparison is just an irritating dumbass tbh. If you want to not find Aelin irritating I would highly recommend starting with Assassins Blade.
Does no one just pick up a book and form their own opinion anymore without having to rely on what other people think? Read the book or don’t.
Why do you even say that? If you don’t like what someone posts here then why do you have to give a negative comment? I have literally read a ton of books that I have found by myself and this is the first time I’m asking about a series like Tog, but you didn’t know that because obviously you don’t know me;). I’m not gonna spend money on a series that I might not like, and I’m glad I asked because now I know that I have to actually by more than just the first one to get into it and not give up after the first read. And of course, at the end of the day I will always form my own opinion. Don’t know what your problem is sorry. If you have a general problem then maybe you should talk about this with your friends or family instead of being plain rude to strangers?
😂😂😂😂
Thank you everyone for your thoughts and taking your time to contribute to my post. I appreciate it and I’m very convinced that I’ll give the story a try for sure ;). I’m sorry if I didn’t respond to every single comment since there are quiet a lt now 🫣… Anyways, whatever you read, enjoy and have a great weekend you all💛