ACOTAR DREAM CAST (Will be Updated as I find more)

 So i'm doing this more for therapy than anything. I have my picks for the A Court of Thorns and Roses TV show, so here we go. *NOTE YOU WILL NOT SEE MODELS IN MY FAN CASTINGS EVER. YES MODELS LOOK THE PART, BUT IMO MOST MODELS FALL SHORT ACTING WISE IN FRONT A VIDEO CAMERA. MOST NOT ALL. 

FEYRE ARCHERON

DANIELLE ROSE RUSSEL

So I picked Danielle one out of spite for haters. But two she looks very much like Feyre. I think she would do a lovely job with the role and really make it the best she can. I don't like that there is two parts of our fandom and the court of nightmares decided to be mean and hateful and body shame someone like her. So for you dumb, dumbs, here is my pick for feyre. She also has fantasy tv work already under her belt. 

RHYSAND

HENRY CAVIL 

Now, most of you are probably thinking, "Oh he's too old." remember Rhysand is estimated well into his 400 or 500s. Also, a lot of you will say he's too white. Remember she clearly said he was tan. And even so, he'd be mixed. So this is kind of let's see what Sarah actually does. I firmly believe all three beloved batboys are supposed to look well into their late 20s and into their 30's. They have seen a lot of stuff in their day and theirs no way in heck that they would look like a beautiful young 20 something. Henry Cavil is freaking Gorgeous and a pretty neat guy. He came to my work once while filming superman. currently, the main character for Witcher and has played sexy roles in shows like The Tudors. He has the skill set to do this role well. 

TAMLIN

BRADLEY JAMES

Bradley James, Prince Arthur himself. He's handsome and can play a man with a wicked attitude. He also has fantasy tv experience and is no stranger to the realm of magic. I don't think I can honestly say too much more about him because, well he's Bradley James and he's amazing. 

CASSIAN

JASON MAMOA

I really don't think I need to explain myself here honestly. We have also seen how awesome he and henry are together. This is a given duo. Jason also has fantasy tv work experience and has the build for a general of the Illyrian forces. We can also talk about how he is of Polynesian descent as well. 

AZRIEL

JAKE GYKKENHAAL

You can best bet I'm going prince of Persia jake on this one. He's got the build, the look, and the experience. Fantasy movie time and gosh does he look good. I also think he would compliment Jason and Henry extremely well. 

THESSAN

MENA MASSOUD

Thessan was a tough one for me. I had a hard time sorting through actors I thought could play him. Obviously, we want to stay as true to the books as possible and I found the one and only Aladdin. Mena I think would make a great Thessan. With his skill set, I think we can see he would make a great High Lord of Dawn. 

TARQUIN

ELI GOREE

Eli here has screen time in sci-fi and no fantasy. With his handsome looks and youthful face, I think he is the perfect fit for our Young High Lord of Summer.  Known for his Roles in The 100, Godzilla, and Riverdale, I think he could easily make the transition to Fantasy. 

CRESSIDA

LUPITA NYONG'O

I am really trying to pick actors and actresses who have experience in fantasy and sci-fi realms as they tend to do better jobs at these roles when adapting books to film. She was in Black Panther and as of some research, the Star Wars franchise really wants her. Though I'd love to see her alongside as family of the Lord of the Summer Court. 

AMARANTHA

KATIE MCGRATH

Another amazing fantasy actress. She is best known for her role in Merlin as Morgana. She will literally kill the role of Amarantha. She has the sex appeal and the best RBF you have ever seen. She is an amazing actress making appearances in other shows such as the Tudors along with Henry Cavil. I think under the mountain would suit her very well. 

HELION

BORIS KODJOE

Let's talk about him for a moment. He's been on tv and he was also in Resident Evil. This gives him the edge with sci-fi and fantasy screen time. This is why I picked him for our High Lord of Day. Plus he's easy on the eyes. Top-notch acting skills put him in the ranks of the greats I've picked. 

IANTHE

NATALIE DORMER

Let me just talk about how much I love this woman. If she asked me to date her I might go the other way for her. She beautiful and just like Katie Mcgrath, she has an RBF that could kill. She tends to play the more morally grey characters but is best known for her roles in Captain American, The Tudors, Game of Thrones, and the Hunger Games. She honestly looks just like Ianthe and would bring a whole other level to the character. 

BERON

JONATHAN RHYS MEYERS

Now let's talk about this handsome piece of man. I do love Tudors, don't get me wrong, but this man can play a villain. Dark characters are his thing and he just screams villain.  But overall he is an amazing actor and can play any role thrown at him. His skill set ranges from a penniless musician to Dracula. You can not go wrong here. Beron, isn't completely the villain, but he could use a hard-looking man to play him. 

ALIS

OCTAVIA SPENCER

So I wasn't sure at first who I would have cast as Alis. But I saw her in a couple fan casts already and I couldn't agree more. I know her best for her role in the shack and she was amazing. 

A Court of Silver Flames

Alright. This review for A Court of Silver Flame may be the longest I've ever written. Not only will this be a review it will be a reflection of a trauma victim reading a book about a trauma victim. So there may be triggers as I reflect back on my life as a victim and my coping mechanisms. There will be spoilers in this review. 

I am going to start off by saying this was by far the best book Maas has ever written. I felt Nesta was truly redeemed by the end of the book and we saw some serious growth in her as the book plays out. I may also add it was extremely spicy so this book is definitely not for young eyes as are any of the other books. I digress though. 

The start of the book was probably the hardest and most hard-hitting connection of the book to me. If anyone knows me well they know I am an abuse trauma survivor. This isn't the same as Nesta's. Though trauma survives can cope in similar ways. We both resorted to drinking and find pleasure in the sexual side of life. We took out our anger on those we care about and love. We push away those who want to help us or see the good in us even though we don't see it at all. 

I'm still processing the whole thing as an experience. Normally I can move on pretty quickly from a book and start the next, but I am definitely needing more time to really gather my feelings here. The adventure Nesta went through from her self-loathing, coping skills to the self-sacrificing sister was really a transformation. She willingly gave everything up for her sister, Rhys, and Nyx. She saved them with everything she had. She trained hard in order to overcome her trauma and gained some friends along the way. Two friends, who would go on with Nesta to beat the Illyrian Blood Rite. We find out more about another impending war that may be coming their way. 

I have this constant question though. We see Tamlin briefly throughout the last couple of books and he is an utter mess. I would definitely like to see a redemption arch for him. Not necessarily a romance redemption arch. Just something. I have this theory that Elaine will end up with Lucien in the end. They will go back to spring and Elain will be this beautiful friend for Tamlin. Not as a lover, but as a genuine and honest friend. Someone who will help him grow and help Elain heal too, maybe while also working on her mating bond with Lucien. Elaine just always struck me as someone who belonged in the spring court. Her gardens were her joy, so where else would fit her best. Especially after reading the Azriel chapter that was included in this book, I definitely started shipping Azriel with someone else. For those of you who have read the book and the extra chapter from Azriel's perspective will know exactly who I am talking about. It seems too obvious for Azriel to end up with Elaine. He actually says something along those lines. It's kind of a, "Why do Rhys and Cassian get a sister, but I don't" kind of thing. Though I think this new development might be better suited to Azriel than Elaine will be. 

Sorry, that was a tangent on my own theories and not really a review of the book. I did love that we got a glimpse at more lore from this series. We learned so much more about the past of the world and how dangerous somethings could be. We even saw a revival of an ancient group of female warriors, the Valkyries. I would love to this become the female equivalent of the Illyrians and maybe even something more powerful. 

I feel I really can't tough enough on the fact that Sarah presented a realistic trauma coping response. This is great. I feel a lot of the time trauma is presented and it's either not realistic or it's viewed from someone else's perspective and not the actual victim. We don't normally see this raw negative reaction where you see the character fall back from progress and then climb back up. It always seems like they never fail. It's nice to read in stories, but it's refreshing to see a realistic character on the pages of a fantasy book. We really see so many facets of Nesta and see her go through many of the stages of grief when it comes to recovery. We even see her at her final breaking point. This was in chapter 50. She had done something out of spite and eventually beat herself over it. She broke emotionally without anger. She has this moment where Cassian thought she was going to erupt into a burst of anger and instead we see this vulnerable Nesta who needs someone else. She lays herself out bare. She finally met her breaking point and this is where the true healing begins I feel. She's still hesitant about a lot of things. But she starts accepting things and letting things happen. 

I know this isn't like a chronological review. But I just felt there were aspects of this I really needed to touch on. To really show to you as readers why I felt this book deserves the amazing review and words I have for it. This book struck a real chord with me as I read. I felt I was Nesta. Sarah really did an amazing job after the bomb of Crescent City. The character depth through these pages really wowed me to the point I literally had to stop at times, process the pain and the reactions I was having as I felt for Nesta and connected on a very intimate level. 

On a lighter note, this spicy scenes were fire. I mean literal fire. lol

10 out of 5 stars for A Court of Silver Flames

Nevernight by Jay Kristoff

 

Well here we are friends. It is time for my review of Nevernight by the infamous Mister Kristoff. Right now let me be straight forward, I have heard some people clump this into the YA book community for a long time and I will tell you THIS IS NOT A YA book. I see the same with V. E Schwab's A Darker Shade of Magic as well. Also not a YA book. This is not a great practice and should note how graphic Nevernight is, that I would go as far to put it up against Brom's The Child Thief. (Which I should add was a fantastic book, and I loved it as much as I loved Nevernight.) I feel Kristoff and Brom have a similar Gothic style when it comes to their writing and I am all for it. Nevernight is gory, sexy, dangerous, suspenseful and just down cold and dark when it comes down to it all. It gets a solid 5 out of 5 stars from me. 

Let me just add this, DO NOT LISTEN TO THIS IN THE CAR AT FULL BLAST! Or you can. If you want to get odd looks that is your prerogative. I can't make you do anything you don't want to do and if you like cruising down the road in rush hour traffic listening to people being killed and murdered and descriptive sex scenes, go for it. Because I don't really mind it that much. haha. 

Noting how well thought out this story is should really be taken into consideration. Though sometimes its hard to remember that the main character is a teenager. Though a lot is considered when you know her well developed back story and what is her driving force in the book. What she has seen and what she has done can age someone beyond their years. But I loved that he still left that teenager part of her intact. She had a love interest. She still did things like a teen, but the way she handled other things showed her maturity in many instances where it ended up earning her exactly what she wanted in the end. She grew through the book and I'm really excited to see where Mia's story goes from here. 

Now the magic in this world is so interesting to me. It feels different from most stories I know, but Mia's abilities remind me of a mash up between Tea in the Bone Witch and Emry from Switch Shadows. Both Characters I really loved. Darkens are super interesting and I'm interested to see where her story goes in the next book. I know Jay is going to tear my heart out and I am so ready for it. BRING IT ON JAY KRISTOFF!!