Summary

• Major stakes problem in ACOTAR series, lacking genuine danger for characters' fates.
• Characters in ACOTAR have unrealistic plot armor, few real consequences for actions.
• Next ACOTAR book needs to introduce meaningful stakes for characters to elevate series.

For as much fun as the Court of Thorns and Roses characters and ride-or-die friendships. Those parts, I love.

But something has been nagging at me, and the more books there are, the more it's becoming real problem: I'm just not invested in what happens to the characters. By that, I don't mean that I don't care what happens to them, but that I don't have any strong emotions making me fear for their futures, wonder what might happen to them, or worry things might not work out. I already know they will, because the ACOTAR books have no serious stakes and consequences.

A Court Of Thorns & Roses Struggles To Kill Off Major Characters

The Way Death Works Is Inconsistent At Best

I realize it's fiction, and in fiction, the writer can do whatever they want. Even so, Sarah J. Maas' series really struggles with killing off major characters. In fact, it struggles with killing off ally characters at all. She certainly has no problem killing off ruthless antagonists like Amarantha and the King of Hybern, whose deaths have been swift, merciless, and permanent. When it comes to any characters allied, however tenuously, with Team Night Court, however, it's a different story.

For its strengths, the Court of Thorns and Roses series handles death in a really uneven way. Sometimes it's used as a convenient way to get rid of a character who is the equivalent of an extra puzzle piece, such as the quick and unceremonious death of Feyre's father, Mr. Archeron, an already strange storyline with an even stranger and abrupt end. Other characters who absolutely should have been dead due to their injuries, even with Fae strength and magic, bounce back with almost no problems. Or they are technically dead, but preserved and later resurrected, like Jurian. Yet other characters who are described as reality-warping gods, like the Bone Carver, die so easily that it's almost comical. It is, shall we say, inconsistent at best.

ACOTAR's Lack Of Consequences Highlights A Major Stakes Problem

It's Hard To Feel Genuine Emotional Investment When There's No Real Danger To Any Character

Of course, deciding to kill off a major character is always a risk, for multiple reasons. For starters, entire storylines may end with their death and the whole narrative loses momentum and collapses. Or there's the risk of readers being outraged or heartbroken to a degree they put the book series down and never pick it up, or harass the author – let's be honest, we've seen way too much of that from fandoms online thanks to social media. It may also just be the wrong call and come across like a cheap trick pulled for shock value.

That said, while every writer struggles to murder their darlings, to be frank, I'm getting a little tired of the unrealistic plot armor of ACOTAR's major characters. There just really aren't many stakes. You know the couples will be together and mated in the end, so there really aren't any surprises with the romances beyond the anticipation of when they'll finally get together. That much is fine – after all, we wouldn't read romances if the characters rarely got a happily-ever-after. I love seeing the characters finally acknowledge their feelings and cement their bond.

The stakes at this point should feel huge; readers should be genuinely worried their favorite characters may not make it out alive.

The problem, though, is that there aren't any true stakes anywhere else, either. Prythian is a world that has constantly been in some state of war or occupation for centuries, and is preparing for another war. The stakes at this point should feel huge; readers should be genuinely worried their favorite characters may not make it out alive. Considering ACOTAR's history, where even characters who were "killed" have been brought back to life, however, that's just not the case. It's hard for me to imagine any of the main characters being in any real danger. They have too much plot armor protecting them. At best, a minor ing character might be killed off, which would be far less impactful and far less bold.

How The Next Court Of Thorns & Roses Book Can Fix The Series' Stakes Issue

The Next Book Has To Make The Background Of War Mean Something

This is why I'm hoping that the next ACOTAR book fixes the stakes problem – or rather, the lack of stakes problem. It's not that I am dying to see characters killed off. I'd be heartbroken to see any of the main characters die in the kind of way there's no coming back from. But, to me, it feels necessary at this point. You can't have a giant war, especially with magical, near-omnipotent powerful beings, without someone dying, not if you want the story to really matter. Otherwise, it's just playacting, a meaningless backdrop between sex scenes and unspoken feelings.

You can't have a giant war, especially with magical, near-omnipotent powerful beings, without someone dying, not if you want the story to really matter. Otherwise, it's just playacting, a meaningless backdrop between sex scenes and unspoken feelings.

That will be especially important in the next book in the A Court of Thorns and Roses series, where Maas has the chance to elevate the ACOTAR series from a fun, frothy read to something genuinely great. The narrative has built up the brewing war against the human queens to be potentially even bigger, longer, and more devastating than the war against Hybern, which was over surprisingly quickly. There's simply no way all the characters make it out alive, and they shouldn't. War can't be treated lightly; there have to be serious consequences. Otherwise, it cheapens the entire story. If Maas is a smart writer – and I hope she is – she'll have the guts to finally write meaningful, lasting stakes into the next book.