I've debated a lot about how I wanted to rate this book, and I think the best solution is for me to just not give it a starred rating. 
 I love this series. It is easily one of my favorites of all time. A lot of it is deeply personal to me, so I won't go into it, but the characters in these books mean so so very much to me--probably more than any other series I have ever read. 
 I realized while reading ACOWAR that what I really think sets these books apart from other fantasy series is that it is almost a slice of life fantasy. Yes the world is going to shit and they're preparing for war and stakes are high, but that's not the whole book. You get to see the characters interacting in their day to day lives, with each other and the world. The plot of these books is honestly nothing special, but the characters--their complexity, their personalities, their backgrounds, their healing, their relationships with each other--are what makes this series so fantastic. I will return to them often and I will always be so so grateful to them for everything they've given me. I will always belong to the Court of Dreams. 
 That isn't to say I don't have a few qualms. The fact that Feyre and Rhys are literally never not in the mood to jump each others bones is both unrealistic and tiring, thought it does take up less page space at least. Their telepathic, snarky flirting gives me life, but literally nobody is this horny all the time. Also the fact that characters--main characters at that--are repeatedly referred to as male/female is so tiresome. I've never loved that aspect of SJM's fae culture, and I really don't understand what her fixation is with it. (view spoiler)[ I also think its really unrealistic that every main character walked away mostly intact. Like...don't get me wrong Im grateful my babies are okay, but it seems unlikely it could go that smoothly. Then again, I was fully prepared to burn every SJM book I own if Rhys died because he is so fucking important to me, so maybe I should just be grateful and move on. But yeah, it seemed to neatly wrapped up in some ways. (hide spoiler)] 
 All that said, my personal experience with the series does not negate the problematic aspects. This book has an aphobic line in it (which is made even more infuriating by the fact that better editing could have avoided it easily) as well as questionable bisexual rep. I will link to ownvoices reviews when I have more time, but just be aware of that and take care of yourself if you're planning to read it. 
 I would like to point out that earlier reviews called ACOWAR lesphobic, but the character in question is not a lesbian. She makes it very clear she is bisexual. The idea that her description of her sexuality and experiences is lesphobic is actually a very biphobic assertion and erases her sexual identity and experience. Her bisexual rep is flawed, but she is bisexual. The book leaves no room for interpretation there, and I've spoken to a few bisexual readers who were really hurt by those early reviews once they'd read the book themselves. You can read my twitter thread on this here: https://twitter.com/katsyxo/status/87... 
 I would recommend this series to people who've experienced abusive/manipulative relationships, or really any physical/emotional trauma they're healing from. The caveat to that of course being that it depends on how far along in your healing process you are, as some scenes may be triggering to victims of domestic violence. If you, like me, read ACOMAF and found something you really needed, I heavily encourage you to read ACOWAR, assuming the problematic rep isn't something that will harm you further. Yes, it gets a lot wrong. But that does not invalidate the importance of what it gets right.