MAJOR SPOILERS
Have you asked yourself why Aelin is so forgiving of Elena when she discovers her betrayal? Why she doesn’t rip her ancestor limb from limb for her atrocities, which would be very characteristic of the FMC? It’s because Aelin would’ve done the same. She would’ve bartered the lives of innocent people to amend her missteps. Aelin would’ve refused to heed the wisdom of others, presuming to know best, which subsequently cost lives that could’ve been spared. Yes, Aelin endured a gruesome lashing, successfully withheld the keys from Maeve, and was forced into her aunt’s torture chamber. But any shred of sympathy I felt evaporated within moments. The second Lysandra reveals her sex slave status was reinstated to bury the ego-wrenching demise of Aelin Galathynius. Even though Lysandra consents to Aelin’s heinous plan, there’s the power imbalance to contend with, which compromises her agency in this instance. Either way, it makes them both conspirators in rape and treason. But reducing Lysandra to a sexual weapon, exploiting her body, knowing her history, is unconscionable. Ordering her to seduce and assault Aelin’s own cousin, her husband, for the sake of securing a bloodline is obscene. It’s never more apparent than in this book that Aelin isn’t actually suicidal, but a manipulative martyr. She comes to view mortality as an unacceptable contradiction that can be negated with Lysandra’s gifts. Aelin longs to be immortalized, and she’s proven how far she’s willing to go to protect the power she has gained.
This penchant for castrating and weaponizing her male acolytes is fuel for Aelin’s rapacious ego. They’re reduced to acquiescent soldiers and breeding machines because misandry is at play here. What was once merely teenage cynicism, a strong distrust of men, has evolved into a fervent opposition that is hateful and sadistic. Aelin doesn’t just share Elena’s self-serving ruthlessness. She also matches Maeve’s lust for dominating men, a violent impulse commonly associated with toxic masculinity. The sex role reversal is not subtle and is done with the purpose of subjecting the male characters to the same trauma women mostly endure (i.e, the lack of autonomy, physical exploitation). Aedion and Rowan’s sole job is to accentuate Aelin’s potency by going along with her every whim, even when they disagree with her methods. Rowan might be her mate, but he is not her equal. He is a blood-sworn (with very little agency). As such, he is expected to bend to the will of his matriarch and cast aside his moral reservations. Note the way Aedion tends to stand up to Aelin, but always feels guilty afterwards. As for Rowan, he challenges her position at times, but as soon as the self-righteous rage comes out, he coddles his mate and rationalizes her behavior. Degrading and gaslighting men is Aelin’s primary means of self-preservation.
The future queen of Terrasen is a misandrist with toxic masculine tendencies like the ones previously mentioned. She’s self-entitled, manipulative, and seemingly believes God is a woman who doesn’t have to abide by any man or moral outline (I don’t disagree with the first part). But this hateful disregard for the agency of others and resorting to emasculation in the name of patriarchal defiance is not righteous; it’s obscene. But Aelin and characters like Ansel are champions for giving what they get and make quite the man-hating team. The former summons a Valg army to undermine the Lords of Terrasen and their ruling on her ascension. Fact is, one does not heal the world by emulating behaviors that promote violence. Aelin’s self-righteous indignation motivates her to unleash mayhem, effectively coercing both Rolfe and Darrow into joining a cause they rejected. She publicly rapes their allegiance and makes a great spectacle of their emasculation. This violent flair for the dramatic is an expression of Aelin’s narcissistic rage and underscores her humiliation fetish. Gambling with innocent lives at Skulls Bay, “to save them all” from the chaos she provoked, is unhinged and calculating, because she’s not the hero she pretends to be; she’s the perpetrator. More than that, the plan defied reason and logic. One marveled glance at Lysandra in her sea dragon form, and it would’ve hit the mark, but exploiting another woman’s body wasn’t big enough for her royal highness. No, she needed fireworks, and Lysandra almost died trying to assert Aelin’s superiority over the male race.
Maas ultimately poses a serious question: Is anyone truly worthy of power that wasn’t received on merit but forcibly taken?
Rating 2.5 out of 5 – Aelin is exhausting. I’m hoping Tower of Dawn will offer a nice reprieve.
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