#Dark Artifices

[decaffinated-dreams]

yes its been five years but i am not over emma hallucinating that she severed all parabatai bonds while coming back from thule, just to turn and see jem bleeding as he asks "emma, emma how could you?" i mean WHAT a perfect scene to show how powerful the parabatai bond is. throughout tda the bond becomes an antagonist as julian and emma struggle against it, and its hard to remember that its actually a beautiful way to connect two souls. one of my favorite parts of the shadowhunters books is how cassie shows how powerful and overwhelming platonic love can be, and will and jem are the embodiment of that. the bond isnt just a symbol of their love but the physical manifestation of its endurance, and thats why the seelie queens proposal to break all bonds is so tragic. to take away that kind of connection is sacrilege, even at the cost of romantic love. one is not greater than the other, and thats one of the subtle but beautifully written themes threading through tda.

[bobabisch]

someone might've said this before but I didn't see it so I'm just gonna go ahead and say it "again". Cassandra Clare is a pussy for refusing to write gay nsfw scenes given that she was perfectly fine writing straight nsfw scenes. Isabelle and Simon make out for pages at a time, Clary and Jace had sex, Julian and Emma had sex like three times, Tess and Will had sex, but she refuses to write Magnus and Alec or Kieran and Mark kissing for longer than .5 seconds. like its so odd to me. the dark artifices in particular had so much nsfw shit its nearly gratuitous, but only with the straight couples? I guess the only argument against this would be that one short story where Malec got pretty close to having sex but Magnus stopped it before they got there (forgive me for not remembering the name of the short story or what book it was from its been a really long time since I last read through all the main series). Am I crazy? I seriously can't be the only one who noticed

[sumrandomname]

Will would be terrified

[angellywtti]

I just read kit's letter to ty SOMEONE PLEASE TAKE ME OUT OF THIS MISERY AND END THIS GUT WRENCHING SOUL WRECKING PAIN

GOD HOW I HATE HOMOSEXU4LS

[val-writesstuff]

Some thoughts before I jump into Qoaad

I'm worried Emma is going to be blamed for the mortal sword, the same way Clary was blamed for it.

I'm really hoping Jules doesn't push Emma away in his grief. I hope he doesn't blame himself

Also hoping he doesn't do the stupid spell the seelie Queen mentioned to eliminate all parabatie

I'm interested to see how Helen is going to be reintegrated into the story. Not only does she have to relearn everything about the family she hasn't seen in years, she has to do it doing such a tumultuous time

Also interested in seeing more of the mark, Cristina, keiran thruple happening

Ty! I'm excited to see how Clare portrays the grief and mourning of somebody with Autism. Because it's actually pretty different from how a neurotypical person does

[desssertsoul]

Soooooo

Opinion on The Shadowhunter Series:

I love every trilogy in the series but Infernal devices is my favourite favourite one ever!! Except, after Infernal devices, my favourite is The Dark Artifices. Like, after Will and Jem, it's the son of thorns, Julian, who ripped my heart apart and the best thing about him was that he isn't as morally perfect as Jem (no James Carstairs slander will ever be tolerated) and as far as Will is concerned then imma say that Will wasn't perfect but he wasn't as morally questionable as Julian was (Apologies in advance but William Herondale is mine).

Back to the topic tho. Julian is a perfect character. I love him with all my heart. I don't know whether I would ever love any Male character in this category as much as I love him. I might be morally questionable because family above all is my rule. The line where Jules went that the world can burn[...] I died because I thought that was??!!!! okay.... I am a grey person. I think the same. No one comes above family. The desperation of an elder sibling that is always present with Julian is heart shattering and too relatable because hello! I am the elder sibling, except I am a girl.

Julian will always be my favourite character and there is nothing as relatable as him in the Shadowhunter series. As a character, his flaws are his definition. His love for his family makes me relate to him a lot. As an elder sibling, the sheer fear of thinking that your younger sisters or brothers might get hurt and they might not tell you or they will outgrow the age of tenderness and innocence and you have to let them go and not think of them as little babies anymore is appalling and trust @cassandraclare to put it all in while making Julian.

As far as his love for Emma is considered then.... I love the angst. The Infernal devices angst was top tier but I saw the real angst from Clockwork Prince (only my opinion. Everybody is free to think in their own way) but with Julian, I saw the angst from the very first chapter of him being introduced. I am a simp for Blackstairs angst and that cottage scene😭😭Don't get me started!!! Likeee "break my heart into pieces. I give you permission".

If I ever write any novel—correction: if I ever COMPLETE writing any novel then I'll be damned if I don't use this line in my angsty scenes. More than Julian and Emma's scene and their heartbreak over whether it was Emma breaking up with him or Julian having the most sad and angry outburst of admitting that he was still in love with Ems or having Emma realise that Julian had gone to Magnus and turned his emotions off, I cried like a non-human person at Julian's jealousy of Ty being comfortable with Mark or Livvy and Ty giving gifts in their own way to Julian before he was leaving for Cornwall Cottage or Livvy dying (that's the cursed chapter) or Julian running after Ty even if his emotions were flipped like damn light switch to darkness or him saying to Dru that she was the heart of the family.

It's crazy to say that Julian was this relatable and..... Well...... Guess time to re-read the Dark Artifices again

[straightbaittournament]

only the option with the LEAST votes will be eliminated. propaganda under the cut (and more always welcome!):

jean-luc picard and beverly crusher:

They have a number of romantic moments throughout the TNG series from arguably the first but DEFINITELY the second episode. but they only get together (briefly before divorcing) in an alternate timeline episode which is also the season finale. Also they have a kid together in Picard but are still not allowed to be together She was married to his best friend and he was in love with her but wouldn’t say anything because he wouldn’t want to damage his bestie’s marriage and then his friend died and they met again years later and shared a lot of romantic and sexual tension for years. He openly admitted (under mind reading) that he had loved her since his bestie was alive but felt he couldn’t act on it. In an alternate future they got married. In the canon future they got together and broke up repeatedly because trauma makes relationships hard sometimes and they have a kid together who is named after the aforementioned bestie. An episode forcing them to share thoughts makes him openly admit that he loves her and has loved her for years even when she was married to his best friend.

kit herondale and livvy blackthorn:

They were literally straight bait. So Kit, Livvy and Livvy’s twin brother Ty were a trio with their own side plots in TDA. And well. We literally meet Kit when Ty breaks into his house and puts a knife to his throat and Kit gets distracted by Ty’s eyes. Then later Kit and Livvy have a few moments and kiss once. Then Livvy dies. There are some necromancy shenanigans. Kit confesses his love to Ty then immediately flees the country. Like Kit/Ty was clearly endgame from the start but Livvy and Kit just made out once.

galo and aina (submitted as lio and galo):

Iirc, the whole time the audience was set up to believe that Galo will get together with a teammate named Aina (i might be completely wrong but i think she showed romantic interest in him). That's what usually happens, anyways. However, studio trigger turned that premise on its head with Galo's budding relationship with Lio. In order to save Lio, Galo kissed him. They kissed.

jeff winger and britta perry:

the show starts off with jeff creating the study group so that he can get with britta, they serve essentially as narrative foils, with jeff not caring about people and britta caring too much about people, they nearly get married on THREE (3) separate occasions, they're secret friends with benefits for an entire season but break up when the group finds out, they're the only two people from the core group left in greendale when the show ends; but in the end they make jeff's "true love interest" the girl who was half his age when the show started (36/18)...

angel and cordelia chase:

They met as characters on Buffy the Vampire Slayer, but their dynamic doesn't take off until the Angel spinoff Because the showrunners of Angel didn't go in with the idea of putting these two together, the characters' friendship was allowed to develop organically without the assumption of romance, which then made the realization of their feelings for each other more satisfying. Unfortunately the shadow of Bangel (Buffy x Angel) still held over Angel's character, so I think it was a hard sell at the time and didn't gain a lot of popularity in the years since. Both these two characters grew alongside each other, supported each other, and despite knowing that they loved each other, let each other go to pursue their destinies. A really underrated het pairing!

matthew and mary crawley:

They spend multiple seasons full of tension to get their happy ever after. There are so many tropes used between these two. They finally get their shit together and get married, and then have a beautiful child together. Matthew is so happy about his child being born that he doesn't pay attention to the road and fucking DIES IN A CAR CRASH. And that's how their story ends. It makes me so livid every time I think about it lol they really killed him off like that right after and I mean RIGHT AFTER his child is born. It's so foul and every man that they set Mary up with after that doesn't feel nearly the same

keiichi maebara and rena ryugu:

Fluffy harem romcom twists into yandere horror, but then twists again into a story of friendship triumphing over everything. Really holds for any pairing with Keiichi, but the rooftop battle in part 6 is just too good. A recent manga spinoff has them married to total randos, so their respective sons can have the same kind of relationship.

raleigh beckett and mako mori:

Literally everything about the writing of Pacific Rim make it seem like they're setting up for a romance between these two and then they just. Don't. Despite this, "drift compatable" was one of the most popular AUs for couples after the film came out for a hot minute because of how romantic they made the concept seem. *gestures to the entire movie* seriously (note: "drift compatible" essentially describes an in-universe quality of the relationship between raleigh and mako, meaning this quality was so romantic that it would be implemented for other ships in au fanfics)

kagome higurashi and inuyasha from inuyasha:

Long time until they get together, with teasing moments

bow and glimmer:

They didn’t get together until the VERY END of the whole show and even then it was a little ambiguous (was it a BFF “I love you?” 🤷🏼‍♀️)

good luck everybody! now go vote!

[livingfictionsystem]

Queen of Air and Darkness Review (SPOILERS)

It was good timing that I read this when I did because I was beginning to get self-conscious over the fact that a novel I was about to publish was nearly 600 pages. I am, by no means, a slow reader but this 900-page monster took A While.

So, the bad first. Cassandra Clare, please, I beg of you, stop with the 'We're so in love but we have something stopping us being together for three novels in a row.' With Cordelia and James, that was fraught and interesting---loads of twists and turns with the false marriage and Grace and all. It was also time-period relevant. With Tessa and Will and Jem, you came up with one of the more brilliant conclusions to a love triangle I've ever seen. The circumstances to Will's curse was darkly laughable and tongue-in-cheek creative. Clary and Jace---hated it. Categorically hated the incest bait and I knew they weren't actually related a long while before you probably wanted your audience to. Emma and Julian's star-crossed thing was almost as bad as Jace and Clary's deal.

The 'parabatai curse' felt forced and contrived. I don't recall any mention of this all-important plot device in previous novels and the explanation seemed vague and weak. The way it was resolved was an afterthought.

Also wasn't that big of a fan of Julian. He was neurotic and moody to the point where he made Jace Herondale look stable. Emma was wonderful, though.

There really is more to build a relationship other than to make it impossibly star-crossed, I promise. You seemed to realise that with Alec and Magnus and many of the other 'non-main' couples.

Speaking of which, I love, love, love that you Cristina, Kieran, and Mark to be your polyamory triad. It was a brilliant representation, but it took a frustratingly long time to get there. Even in the end, you teased us with, 'Oh but they were torn apart, never to be together aga-- JUST KIDDING.' CASSANDRA, PLEASE, I HAVE ANXIETY. But I loved their dynamics and Cristina is a *great* character. Perhaps it was my fault, being as I had such a big time gap in between reading Lord of Shadows and Queen of Air and Darkness, but I'd completely forgotten her plot with her family heirloom/Diego/Jaime. It wouldn't have hurt restating it to remind the audience, but that's also probably on me.

I wasn't quite sure how I felt about the journey to Thule at first. It was risky. On top of 'Make Idris Great Again', Star-Crossed Part 4, and Necromancy Gone Awry, I was sceptical as to whether you'd pull off a multiverse plot in the middle of the last book, but it actually worked surprisingly well.

One of the better aspects about this book is that it takes place a few years after Mortal Instruments and the Cold Peace. It shows how everyone, particularly the Blackthorns, were affected by post-war bigotry. The fact that this was written in 2018 was no surprise, as Horace Dearborn, Zara Dearborn, and Manuel Villalobos were absolute MAGA stand-ins, but I love how it translated into the magical world. And of course, seeing where Clary/Jace/Alec/Simon/Isabelle/everyone ended up was satisfying for any fan of the original series.

Wonderful with the queer representation. I believe this is the first series where you've done a transgender individual and I liked how Shadowhunter culture played into it. There were at least three queer couples on centre-stage in the entire book without it feeling exploitative, so bravo there.

I will say, the autistic representation with Ty seemed sort of heavy-handed. Just about every mention of him mentioned stimming or aversions to change and such. But as an autistic individual, I have no actual *problem* with it, as there are people like that and I've known many.

The introduction of Ash was mind-blowing and welcomed, I'd say. I can't wait to see how that character plays out. It feels sacrilegious but I almost sort of missed Sebastian.

I will say, throughout the series, Annabel Blackthorn starts out as an extremely intriguing story but it ends up nearly... written out? Like geez, have one bad breakdown and murder a couple people and suddenly, your character depth goes away. It started out strong with Malcolm's grief twisting his ambition and Annabel having understandable PTSD, but something was lost, there.

So, quite long and not without its issues, but absolutely worth the read. Especially if you're wanting some warm fuzzies about your favourite Shadowhunterverse couples.

-Xanthe

[autistic-a-day]

April 10th's Autistic of the Day is Tiberius Blackthorn (canon) from the Dark Artifices book series!  

Special interests: 

- the Sherlock Holmes books 

- Computers 

 - Insects 

 Strengths: 

- Drawing ability 

- Runic magic 

- Marksmanship 

 - Critical thinking 

- Animal handling

[kingofblackknull]

Who wins this fight?

1)Percy cannot use his Hydrokinesis/bloodbending. And has to finish the fight in less than 3 minutes.

2) Magnus and Tessa may join if the fight's still unfair

[sharsbooks]

🫶🏼

[assassinsnarkster]

Cassandra Clare's Obssession with "Jonathan" and "Christopher"

Mortal Instruments

Jonathan Shadowhunter

Jace - Jonathan Christopher Lightwood Herondale

Sebastian - Jonathan Christopher Morganstern

Jonathan Wayland ( Micheal Wayland's son )

Jonathan Clark - Jocelyn who claimed he was clary's father

Shadowhunter Academy

Jon - Jonathan Cartwright

Last Hours

Christopher - Christopher Lightwood

Dark Artifices

Kit - Christopher Jonathan Herondale

Johnny Rook - Also Jonathan ( unknown full name )

I get that jonathan and christopher are popular common names and somewhat a parody throughout the lore but the names are getting too repetitive esp. for kit herondale. Its wishful thinking to put a stop to this madness but I have a feeling that the names will probably pop up again for some random character in the wicked powers.

[sumrandomname]

yes, Tessa forgot the precise blue of Will's eyes and the depth of his laugh. BUT do you remember when Tessa would reach for the other side of the bed, only to find it empty??? When she would turn around to tell a joke, only to find Will is not there??? or when she went to Jessamine to ask if she knows where Will is????

[polyshipweek]

Chapters: 1/1 Fandom: The Dark Artifices Series - Cassandra Clare, The Shadowhunter Chronicles - Cassandra Clare, The Shadowhunter Chronicles - All Media Types Rating: Teen And Up Audiences Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Relationships: Mark Blackthorn/Kieran/Cristina Rosales, Mark Blackthorn/Kieran, Mark Blackthorn/Cristina Rosales, Kieran/Cristina Rosales Characters: Mark Blackthorn, Kieran (Shadowhunter Chronicles), Cristina Rosales Additional Tags: Polyamory, Threesome - F/M/M, Angst, polyshipweek's Polyship Week 2023, How Do I Tag, Cross-Posted on FanFiction.Net Series: Part 8 of Nico's Polyship Week 2023 Summary:

Mark loved the cottage, but he wished they could have more.

[cyrankaa]

[leidensygdom]

There isn't such a thing as too many outfits for a character, and Siegmund (my earth genasi/tiefling wizard/artificer) is really fun to dress up. So here's a techwear outfit ft. my enemy, green. I can do green, I swear--