Previously, Ariel told Matthew that she was going to be out of town in a few weeks and suggested they take the week off, but then Matthew totally forgot and then got too anxious to actually tell anyone they were already in the middle of a break he forgot about haha WHOOPS. Also, Feyre and Rhysand discussed their plans to have a meeting to see who’s on their side in the war, which oughta be an amazing meeting since the entire last book was about how it was ok for them to piss off every single person in the world because they totally knew how to win the war by themselves. Would you believe that plan somehow didn’t work?
A Court of Wings and Ruin: Chapter 17
The gang is having dinner the evening before they send out the invitations to all the High Lords for their super cool “hey everyone that we lied to and stole from and generally have had an antagonistic relationship with for centuries! So, uh, you wanna fight on our side of this huge war that’s about to happen, or…” meeting.
And oh boy. You guys. There’s a whole lot of nothing this chapter. I was going to try to cover two chapters because this one dinner conversation is arbitrarily split across two chapters, but they just keep talking and none of it seems important which is actually really tough when you’re writing a summary because any of it might actually be important? I still couldn’t tell you what was important about A Court of Mist and Fury, which – and I will never stop harping on this because my struggle needs to be told – had neither mist nor fury in it.
Feyre talks about how disquieting her sister Nesta’s change has been for her. Tell us what it’s like, Feyre!
“Like … looking at a house cat and suddenly finding a panther standing there instead.”
Don’t forget Feyre is the artist in the group.
Cassian expresses shame that he couldn’t keep his promise to Nesta to keep Elain safe. Feyre points out that he had literally just suffered loss of limb at the time. Cassian cryptically says something about how he “can’t stay away” from Nesta. GUYS, DO YOU THINK CASSIAN LIKES NESTA? IT’S UNCLEAR. NO ONE HAS SAID SAID “MY MATE” FOUR HUNDRED TIMES YET, HOW AM I SUPPOSED TO BE ABLE TO TELL
And speaking of Nesta, she surprises everyone by showing up for dinner! Well, first, Lucien has to talk about how sad he is that the Night Court is so much nicer than the Spring Court.
Elain, not surprisingly, didn’t leave her room.
Nesta, surprisingly, did.
Lucien [was standing] near the windows and watching the sun set over Velaris […]
“What did you do with yourself this afternoon?”
“Slept,” he said. “Washed. Sat on my ass.”
“I could give you a tour of the city tomorrow morning,” I offered. “If you like.” […]
Lucien said, “You don’t need to waste your time convincing me. I get it. I get … I get that we were not what you wanted. Or needed. How small and isolated our home must have been for you, once you saw this.” […]
His focus shifted behind me before he replied—and Lucien shut his mouth. His metal eye whirred softly.
I followed his glance, and tried not to tense as Nesta stepped into the room.
Because Feyre is actually the kind of narrator who’ll tell us something happened, but two pages before it actually happens.
And speaking of Nesta, she surprises everyone by showing up for dinner! Yeah, see? It’s weird when you do that, Feyre.
Yes, devastating was a good word for how lovely she’d become as High Fae.
The only reason why I actually want the protagonists to win this war is because Feyre will write the hokiest-ass history books and they will be delightful.
Cassian looked like someone had punched him in the gut.
Ya know, I was thinking about the blog the other day, laughing about our Fifty Shades of Grey days when all of lady main character’s friends and family got paired off with all of dudebro main character’s friends and family. I missed that trope.
Mor tries to act like this is all very normal by gushing about how beautiful Nesta’s dress is, and technically Rhysand’s inner circle passes the Bechdel Test. Also maybe Mor is into women?
“It’s a good thing we’re not the same size—or else I might be tempted to steal that dress.”
“Likely right off her,” Cassian muttered.
Mor’s answering smirk wasn’t reassuring.
Yeah, I can’t tell if this is a barely-there acknowledgement that Mor is the story’s first queer character in a jarringly discomforting moment (“Can we do anything to make you feel more at home, Nesta? LOL MAYBE MOR WILL FUCK YOU”), or if this is just queerbaiting. It’s… well, either way, it’s something.
— Ethics Gradient (@Goodwithcolour) May 6, 2018
(Update: There’s now some spoilery discussion in the comments about whether I intuited this accurately, for anyone interested/unconcerned about spoilers)
Nesta becomes one of the gang by adopting their most sacred custom: making retorts that don’t make a whole lot of sense but everyone else seems very shocked by.
“Fortunately for you,” Nesta said flatly, “I don’t return the sentiment.”
Azriel coughed into his wine.
…what’s the fortunate part supposed to be? Hooray, I got rejected? Hooray, I don’t get to steal a cute dress off a cute girl because she’s not interested and that’s the only reason holding me back from otherwise doing that? Wtf does this mean? Is it fortunate for Mor because if Nesta were into her… then she’d have to kick her ass? IS THIS GAY PANIC OR JUST NONSENSE PLEASE SEND HELP
Mor blinked, but confided to me with a wince, “I think we’re going to need a lot more wine.”
Girl, you have no idea.
The awkward dinner continues. Feyre tries to assure Nesta that her friends mean well. Nesta says she doesn’t care (same). Amren and Nesta become BFFs.
Amren said to my sister, “You’re a real piece of work.”
Nesta’s eyes flicked up. Amren idly swirled a goblet of blood, watching her like a cat with a new, interesting toy.
Nesta only said, “Why do your eyes glow?” […]
Amren sighed, her dark bob swaying. “They glow because it was the one part of me the containment spell could not quite get right. The one glimpse into what lurks beneath.”
“And what is beneath?”
None of the others spoke. Or even moved. Lucien, still by the window, had turned the color of fresh paper.
Oh my god, Nesta, you can’t just ask people why their eyes glow.
Amren tells Nesta that they’re the same and that she “sees the kernel” and talks about trying to walk on paths and not fitting into molds. Everyone else absolutely pisses their pants.
Amren’s red lips parted in a wide, serpentine smile. “When you erupt, girl, make sure it is felt across worlds.”
Rhysand continues to be a very cool dude who is just this chill guy who just really cares and is not at all an entitled dweeb.
Lucien frowned at the remaining place setting at the head of the table, then at the blank, barren spot across from Nesta.
“I—shouldn’t you sit at the head?” Rhys raised an eyebrow. “I don’t care where you sit. I only care about eating something right”—he snapped his fingers—“now.”
Rhysand, the expectation: “Oh, I suffer such a terrible burden. It is my burden, and mine alone, this burden… of caring too much. I do so much for my people so that they may prosper, and maybe… they may know a peace… that I will never know…”
Rhysand, the reality: “MOM WHERE ARE MY POP TARTS I’M STARVING”
Feyre asks Cassian about resuming their training. Even the characters in this fantasy book are getting fed up with how nothing in this fantasy world makes sense.
“I’d say dawn, but since I’m feeling rather grateful that you’re back in one piece, I’ll let you sleep in. Let’s meet at seven.”
“I’d hardly call that sleeping in,” I said. […]
Cassian’s wings rustled. “Daylight is a precious resource.”
“We live in the Night Court,” Mor countered.
Rhysand mentions the invitations going out to all the High Lords, which piques Lucien’s attention. He asks Rhysand if he can offer some advice.
“My father would likely join with Hybern if he thought he stood a chance of getting his power back that way—by killing [Feyre].”
A snarl from Rhys.
“Your brothers saw me, though,” I said, […]
Lucien jerked his chin to Azriel. “That’s the information you need to gather. What my father knows—if my brothers realized what she was doing.”
I have no idea if this is good advice or not. This story stopped making sense to me a whole-ass book ago. Anyway, next chapter this conversation is still going I’m so sorry they just won’t stop talking
What, Matthew, you don’t think a tertiary mention of Rhys’ ability to “mist” people counts as enough of a plot point to include in the title of book 2? I, for one, really enjoy being told about things in exposition rather than seeing it in action.
God, honestly, I’m having a hard time even being this bitchy about it because writing is hard and I want to support everyone else who does it too but these books….
When did that happen? I must have mist it.
I snorted.
Okay so I thought the dress stealing thing was just like ‘you’d steal it right off her’ meaning Mor just takes what she wants when she wants it. And Nesta’s reply was stupid, but I think it meant so does she and she’d have no qualms just taking it except she thought the dress was ugly. I mean I WISH it was nuanced enough to be bicurious allusions, but I don’t think it’s that deep.
So uh spoilers maybe, but before I published this, I googled Mor to make sure I wasn’t wildly reading into this and hey guess what we learn about Mor later
ALSO the first thing I read about it also weighed in that the consensus was that it handled awfully, and I was like, yeah, that makes sense for this book
Just the fact that she doesn’t tell her best friends of centuries who would seriously not be dumb about it but tells Feyre “I’m Perfect” Cursebreaker (like, in the middle of battle IIRC??)…I remember being like “oh come ON.”
ha yeah so I just kept reading the actual details after this point (I don’t give a fuck about spoilers) and, yeah, I guess if she kept it secret from her friends, then her friends probably aren’t alluding to it at this point. MAYBE I more so read into mor’s smirk (which could be like a “oh, you don’t even know” reaction) but thought I was reading into Cassian’s joke? I’m going to go with that, because I’m very confused how I got this wrong while still somehow drawing the right conclusion about Mor anyway. and I can’t blame EVERYTHING on maas constantly retconning things.
I just assume nothing is intentional because that sort of planning doesn’t seem to be the thing
something something intentional fallacy
Put this book in AP Lit right now
“I think we’re going to need a lot more wine.” everybody who read these books agree
I think the dress thing is Nesta saying she doesn’t like Mor’s dress enough to steal it right of her, which is fortunate for Mor? idk, I had to read that a few times.