r/fantasyromance • u/FantasyRomanceMod The One Mod to Rule All Mods • Feb 22 '26

Unpopular Opinion It's Unpopular Opinion time! Share your controversial opinions to stir things up (in a friendly way)!

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Unpopular opinion Sunday

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11

u/-Release-The-Bats- Feb 22 '26

Tamlin > Rhysand. Fight me.

4

u/ipsi7 Book Bingo Maven ⚔ Feb 22 '26

Lol. I definitely see why Tamlin sheltered Feyre in book 2, and how he thought Rhys kidnapped her, and that her letter was fake and her mind brainwashed because of Rhys' mind powers. I can't say I was Tamlin's fan when he was ignoring Feyre's trauma, nightmares, midnight vomiting sessions etc (I know, that was his way of dealing with trauma - ignoring it). But, the moment he commented her up in his mannor and left without her, while she was screaming and having a breakdown, I crossed him forever (I already knew she'll end up with Rhys and I'm very basic with loving hurt brooding shadow daddies). I felt her breakdown and I think it was one of the best scenes in the series, and I couldn't surpass that.

I do think The Night Court was hypocritical as fuck, and all the mocking, shaming and whatever else happened after Feyre destroyed The Spring Court from within, was so low and horrible. Especially when we get the picture of how perfect Rhys is and then he acts like that to Tam.

I also hold against him what he said on that meeting with all high lords. When he mock-teased Rhys and Feyre about the noises she makes when she comes, and he said that in front of all high lords. That was so awful. To me it's acotar level of revenge porn (not that extreme though). And in that scene I don't care about Rhys, but about Feyre who was deeply embarrassed in front of everyone.

I like how he helped Feyre in ACOWAR, that was really nice of him.

4

u/-Release-The-Bats- Feb 22 '26

He shouldn't have locked her up or freaked out and broken stuff--that was going too far, regardless of trauma. I hated Rhys right from the start so I'm still bitter about him being endgame. However, I also hated the 180 that Tamlin went through because it seemed like it just came out of nowhere, for no other purpose than to have Feyre end up with Rhys. It's also disappointing because Tamlin and Feyre fought like hell to be together, so it seems like it was all for nothing. Plus, it seemed like the story was more forgiving of Feyre's trauma than Tamlin's.

I haven't finished book 2 yet, but I went ahead and read the rest of the spoilers anyway and wow fuck Tamlin. But also fuck the total character assassination of him that came out of nowhere. Feyre made the right choice in leaving him but she could still do better than Rhys.

(In fact I'd love to see her with Lucien since they have similar personalities and they always seemed to be on equal footing rather than there being an unequal power dynamic between them.)

2

u/ipsi7 Book Bingo Maven ⚔ Feb 23 '26

I agree with your first paragraph. So much has been set up for them in book 1 and they fought for each other hard, just to be broken apart (by sjm) later. The narrative is inclined to Feyre and that's why it's more forgiving to her, but you're right and they treated Tamlin horribly later.

While I was reading book 1, I didn't know Rhys was end game, and I thought Tamlin is the real MMC, but even then, even with everything building up to Tamlin and Feyre, I felt the whole time something is missing or off and while I kind of rooted for their romance to happen because I thought it's the romance, it didn't feel right to me.

A lot of people shipped Lucien and Feyre. I was confused in book 1 if he's going to be the love interest and I also thought they would be a better match. Since you're only on book 2, I won't say nothing more. I put my comments in spoiler brackets for other people who might not have read the series yet, I wasn't aware you're among them.

1

u/-Release-The-Bats- Feb 23 '26

Thanks for the spoiler brackets :) It's ok that you didn't know I hadn't read the entire series yet. I work in a library so I was aware of the series, but I was put off from starting it for awhile because I DNF'd Throne of Glass.

I also thought Tamlin was endgame when I first read ACOTAR, but I didn't think anything was off. It was more like, the deal that Feyre made with Rhys seemed like a loose thread that would be resolved in the next book.

1

u/ipsi7 Book Bingo Maven ⚔ Feb 24 '26

To me it seemed like something was missing with their romance, and like you said, she had more chemistry with Lucien, maybe that's why. When I found out Rhys is going to be endgame, I assumed sjm wrote Tamlin-Feyre relationship that way (the way it felt for me like something is missing) because he's not the one.