#don’t you dare make Kieran the villain

[justarandomguyiguess]

So. The Pokémon DLC huh. God. I’m not done with it yet. But I wanna hug Kieran so much. Please. Let me cry into his arms, apologize, and hug him. PLEASE.

[azuremist]

Elaborating now that it’s not 6am:

In order to get Kieran’s full story, you need to watch a 2012 Monster High G1 animated movie. Then you need to get your hands on his doll to read his diary, released in 2015 as a con exclusive. (Which, in case you are wondering: yes, they do cost hundreds of dollars!) And then, you need to read a specialty comic released a decade later, when G1 isn’t even the current generation anymore! Not even G2! Girl, we’re on G3. GENERATION 3!!

It goes without saying that the majority of people are just gonna watch the movie. They’re not gonna think to seek his diary out online, or find special, pride-themed comics. Especially considering, I cannot stress this enough, the comic was released a decade after the movie originally came out. Most kids who watched it probably hardly even remember it at this point, unless they’re hardcore Monster High fans.

Kieran being allowed to come out in his diary, as he was intended to, would have been an extra step to find out the intention of his story, yes, but a much less unreasonable one, given that it released only a little while after the movie’s release. But, despite Garrett Sanders being the only gay man on the team, he was told that the queer villain trope was “problematic”. (Peak performative ally corp behavior, to tell a gay man that him basing a character’s story off his own experiences is problematic.) And that it “just wasn’t the right time”. Why? Because you’d lose some money? Just to put out an entire pride comic and collection once it’s deemed “safe” and queer people are considered a “marketable demographic”? I see you, corporation (derogatory).

Kieran’s story about comphet and internalized homophobia as a queer person is something I could’ve really used as a kid, and I’m sure lots of other kids could’ve used too. A lot of modern media leaves this part of the queer experience out, because it’s “too messy”, which makes it difficult for me to relate to the majority of queer characters. Kieran’s full story should have been accessible a decade ago.

TLDR put Kieran and Spelldon in G3 you fucking cowards

(And don’t you DARE take away the storyline about Kieran’s comphet making him take villainous actions in favor of making it less “messy” or “problematic”, or so help me GOD)

Sometimes I think about the fact that the vast majority of people will only ever know Kieran Valentine as a one-dimensional playboy villain, and I feel the strange urge to send a pipebomb to Mattel’s headquarters in Minecraft

[faegents]

Sleeping Beauty Pt 4

The final installment of Sleeping Beauty. Thanks again to @agent-annabelle, without whom this story probably never would have happened, and thanks to @the-roanoke-society for tagging that one Aurora gif with Aly’s handle that kickstarted me attempting to transition this over to Magic & Mischief territory instead of Fairy Lights. Enjoy!

It wasn't until he was well away from her room that she took in a sharp intake of breath. Her eyes opened as she felt her heart begin pounding in her chest. What had happened to her? She remembered pricking her finger on some old spinning wheel- how did that even get into her room in the first place?- and then nothing.

Jospehine felt the magic severed as the spell was completed. With an excited gasp, she ran towards Alessia's chambers, followed closely by her sisters.

"Your Highness? Where is he? Where's the Prince?"

"Wh-what? What Prince? What happened?" She carefully sat up in her bed, a hand to her head. "There was a spinning wheel and then nothing, and-and...I'm here."

"The curse, your Highness." Titania tried to explain.

"You were cursed at birth by a fae man, but we..." Saoirse began. Josephine elbowed her in the stays, and glared.

"But I put a safeguard into his spell, that you would be awakened by true love's kiss. The prince that your parents arranged for you, he kissed you! And here you are! Awake."  She knew about Kieran's curse. But they had added a safeguard? A man she had never met was her true love? None of this made sense to her. If they knew she would wake up someday, why hide it from her?

"Forgive my confusion but, if this Prince's kiss woke me, then why isn’t he here? From what I know of magic, it only takes a few moments for a curse to break and wouldn't he want to be the first thing I see?" Her brows furrowed. "And besides, how could a man that my parents picked, a man I have never even met, be my true love? Do you really think that actually makes sense?"

The three women looked confused. But there was no time to ask questions, as one of the guards burst through the door to see the miracle for himself.

"She's awake! The Princess Alessia has been awakened!" He shouted to his fellow soldiers joyfully.

Alessia's head snapped to the door. How annoying. Were guards always this annoying?

"Yes. I am. And you are being very loud right now and I find it hard enough to think at the moment." Her eyes flashed with anger. Her senses were still overly sharp after waking.

The soldier straightened and bowed to her.

"I apologize your highness..."  She wasn't used to this at all, the titles, the reverence...

"Go away! All of you!"  The soldier quickly took off. He had news to deliver to her father.

***

Meanwhile, Kieran was thrown to the ground at Frank's feet.

"We found this one knocking about the Princess's chambers, as if he owned the bloody place..." the guard said, digging an iron-cleated boot into Kieran's back, forcing him to bow.

The king's face was colder than ice, his voice clipped and hard.

"What were you doing in my daughter's bedchamber?"

"Paying my respects." Kieran hissed, in pain from the iron on his arms and legs. He could feel the burns spreading, but he refused to struggle. All his spirit was gone, leaving him with cloudy grey eyes, a telltale sign of grief among his kind.

"Your respects?" He spat out. "Why would you-" Frank had moved down from his throne and pulled Kieran's head up to look him in the eyes. That cloudy grey... Being in his daughter's room...

"No. You can't be..." He turned to one of the guards to send him up to Alessia's room. If this was what he thought, Kieran had much to answer for. Pulling him upright, Frank stared him down. There was fire in his eyes and voice low.

"I will only ask this once, and I advise you to answer truthfully. Did you kiss my daughter?" Kieran knew that even the truth wouldn't save him at this point.

"I did. I had to say goodbye...had to...had to say goodbye..." He knew nothing of Josephine's safeguard to the spell, as far as he knew, Alessia was dead.

Frank’s eyes were filled with fury. If this, this monster had kissed his daughter and she was awake... The sound of quick footfall caught his attention. He held his hand up, silencing everyone. The look on the guards face told him everything he needed to know. Frank threw Kieran to the ground.

"You know what awaits you. I made you a promise eighteen years ago. If you ever came back here, I would make sure you regretted even showing your face..." With a wave of his hand, the guards dragged Kieran off to the dungeon.

"I just wanted to say goodbye...I'm as good as dead without her anyw-" He rolled onto his side, curled up in agony. His broken sobs echoed through the great hall as he was dragged off.

***

She felt a pull at her heart. There was only one person she wanted to have woken her up with a kiss of true love, but there was no way... Unless... Unless he had flown with them and he sneaked into her room! But what were the odds of that?

Alessia was still reeling from everything, or maybe it was just because after waking up, everything felt foreign to her. The only thing she could think to do was to confront her father about thinking that he could find true love for her. She made her way down to the great hall, not even aware of what was going on many floors below her.

Daniel was summoned to the throne room, where he and the king and queen wait for Alessia.

When he sees her, he is sure that he's never seen a woman more fair, but she was upset.

Once she entered the throne room, she stormed up to her father. He was the cause of all this. "How dare you. You presumed to find my true love when you don't even know who I am!" She caught a glimpse of Daniel. He was a very handsome man, but... There was nothing there between them.

"How could you possibly-!" She cut herself off with a shuddering intake of breath as a hand went to her chest. It was too much stress so soon after waking, and it was taking its toll on her.

Daniel looked concerned. "Your Highness, you are still recovering. Perhaps have a chair brought for her that she might rest..." He knew immediately that he stood no chance with her, but that would not stop him from helping her find the one who had awakened her.

***

Down in the dungeons, the guards grew tired of their new sport, and retired for the evening. The cool, damp dungeon air on the burns caused Kieran to tremble violently from the cold and shock. Just as he was on the edge of consciousness, a shrouded figure stepped into the cell. He unveiled himself, revealing the Ser Thomas, one of Frank's most trusted advisers. He too had grown up alongside Kieran and the king. And if Kieran remembered correctly, Thomas had risen to power almost as soon as he himself had been cast out of the inner circle.

That couldn't possibly be a coincidence.  Kieran glanced up at him, the betrayal and acceptance evident when he hung his head in exhaustion and pain.

"Look how the mighty have fallen." Thomas sneered. Kieran didn't react, he was too miserable to care. Thomas continued his triumphant little speech. "You know, I used to be so impressed by you. But then the King began to place more and more trust in me as his confidant. And look where it's gotten us...You became the villain I could never have framed you to be. Thank you for that. You signed your own death warrant by cursing the princess. And your lands are slated to become mine once I decide to end your miserable existence." He laughs. "I think I could get used to seeing you like this, all trussed up like a bird for the roasting spit."

***

Up in the great hall, Alessia was on her knees. She couldn't find the energy to stand up. Her mother had come down beside her. Slowly she lifted her head. "Where is he?" Kieran had to be here. He had to be.

Frank didn't respond.

"Father, where is he?" Another wave of pain came over her. Tears were pricking at her eyes. Frank looks away from his daughter. Her return would not stop his plan now.  Alessia turns to her mother, depserate.

"Mama please! Please tell me where he is!" Her cries echoed through the room.

“Frank, you know. Please- tell her…” the queen begs

"No.”“Frank, where is he, what are they doing to him?” Patricia asked aghast.

“Finishing what he started. The penalty for cursing and attempting to kill my beloved daughter is, well, death.”

“He woke me up! He broke the curse, you can’t do this…Father please...”

Down in the dungeons, Thomas prepared to end this. Kieran was completely unaware of the revelations occurring upstairs, and he hardly put up a fight when Thomas unhooked the shackles from their anchors, and dragged him over to the tank of red, stagnant, iron-tainted water that they had been force-feeding him earlier. Thomas sighed deeply.

"My turn to have a little fun."

And with that, he plunged Kieran into the water face-first, holding his head under the surface for a few seconds at a time. He waited until Kieran began to instinctively struggle before pulling him back up. Dripping and sputtering, Kieran begged for him to stop, crying out in alarm when he feels himself being forced into the water again. It burned, filling his mouth and nose, and getting in his eyes. If he wasn't blinded before, he was now.

*****

“You don’t understand the first thing about ruling, Alessia, you won’t be able to find your happy ending with Kieran, of all people.” He told his daughter sternly.

“You don’t know him. Father, I love him, please, help him…” Alessia begged, clinging to the hem of his robes.

“Your Majesty, I can’t marry your daughter.” Daniel said, watching the display, looking both relieved and upset. He would not force the princess to marry him. But that still left the issue of Kieran. If the king would not have him brought out, they would search the dungeons.

“You will do nothing of the sort. You have no authority here, Prince.” The sneer was unmistakable.

“Darling, please, you are breaking your daughter’s heart.” Patricia pleaded. Her begging was met with a harsh slap across the face.

“No. The traitor will die. And if Daniel will not marry you, Alessia, then my most trusted man, Ser Thomas, will be your husband.”

“No. No, that is worse than allowing her to be with Kieran…” Daniel said. “Ser Thomas is no better than a common criminal.”

At the insult to his friend, the king draws a dagger and swiped at the young Prince, catching his throat with the tip of the blade. Daniel staggered back, clutching his wound, immediately going pale.

“No!”

“Frank, what are you doing?” Patricia shrieked, horrified as her husband kicked the fallen man over without so much as a second thought. Alessia knelt beside Daniel, in tears. Kieran was missing, and the only sensible man around here lay dying at her feet.

“Daniel? Daniel, look at me…”

“You have to fight.” he said, gripping her wrist. “Rescue your fae, and get out. You have to get away from here. As long as Ser Thomas is alive, you’re in danger. My father will see this as an act of war...I’m sorry.” Alessia shook her head, in denial, but the foreign prince was dead. Her father was a murderer.

“Alessia, my dear girl. You don’t have any idea what goes into ruling a kingdom. This was necessary.”

“No, no it wasn’t, he was innocent.” Alessia insisted, discreetly stealing the prince’s dagger from his belt. “You killed him in cold blood.” Her father took her free hand, and helped her up.

“No. Enough of this, darling. Will you-”

Whatever he was about to say was interrupted as Alessia swung at him with the blade.  He caught her wrist in time, but he failed to account for the dagger his wife was holding. He fell to the ground beside Daniel’s still form, and both women took off sprinting towards the dungeons. They could deal with the aftermath later. They had to stop Ser Thomas and save Kieran.  

***

Kieran was dragged from the trough again, and set aside like a discarded toy. He could hear footsteps in the hall, but he couldn’t see.  For a moment, he thought he could hear Alessia shouting at Thomas. But slowly, the world faded around him. Unbeknownst to him, Ser Thomas met his end at the hands of a very angry queen, while her daughter worried over his bedraggled form. Her work done, Patricia called for the healers to get Kieran sent up to the recovery rooms.

***

Kieran doesn't wake for three days. By that time, he was stable, and Alessia was on her feet again, still with her mother’s help.  He can't see, but he hear someone moving beside his bed, and feels cool, gentle fingertips spread some sort of poultice over his eyelids.

"W-who's there?"

"Rest, master, you’re hurt." That voice...

"Sinead..." he choked out.

"I'm here, master. Please, rest. They are doing their best."

Alessia was kept mainly in her own chambers. Her mother was wary of her righteous wrath after the treatment of her true love. And with the diplomatic ties between the two kingdoms under strain, she had her hands full. The Prince’s body was to be sent home to be buried. His father, the king still had not released a statement regarding his next move. But Alessia refused to be kept down, and four days after waking up, she went to visit Kieran.

Kieran heard the door open, and felt Sinead leave his side.

"Who goes there?" He demanded, still on edge. His wounds were still tender, and he hadn't the strength to defend himself should his visitor prove hostile. She quietly moved closer to his bed.

"It-it's me..." Her voice started to tremble. "I've missed you so much..."

Kieran froze. "Then I am dead. You- I saw you fall, and Sinead was shot. The curse...Alessia..." he said haltingly. "Am I forgiven now?"

"Kieran," she moved the few steps closer to be at his side, " you are very much alive. And so am I. There...There was a curse you placed on me when I was a baby, yes, but one of the three fae that watched over me had put a countermeasure on it. That I wouldn't die. Only a sleep-like death and I would be awoken by true love's kiss." Tears started to fill her eyes as she gently took his hand. "You kissed me and woke me up. I suppose that can only mean one thing."

His hand is shaking, but he gripped hers tightly in spite of the pain. Her free hand gently stroked his cheek as she pressed a soft kiss to his lips.

He returned the kiss, humming softly. He opened his eyes, and there she was, alive and rosy-cheeked, just as he remembered.

"Alessia..." he whispered. "I see you, it's really you..." The princess gave him a watery smile.

"Of course it is. Oh, Kieran!" She threw her arms around him as she peppered him with kisses. "I knew you were my true love, you had to be... The can’t keep us apart anymore. I love you."

The sudden movement hurt a little, he couldn't bring himself to care. He wrapped his arms around her, pulling her down beside him where he could more easily hold and kiss her.  

"This is a miracle..."

"It really is...Here I was, thinking that I would never see you again, when you are the one I am meant to spend my life with." Alessia cradled his face in her hands, placing the lightest of kisses on his forehead.

"You were dead, I thought you were, at least. There was no point in fighting them at the time. I should've fought, I might have gotten to see you sooner..." he said. She shook her head, her fingers started to trace his features.

"My father was...not himself. And Thomas was plotting with him. They’re both dead."

“And what of your prince?”

“He...He’s gone. Father killed him after he discovered that it was you who woke me up, and not Daniel.”

“Alessia, I’m sorry.”

“You’re not at fault. But I certainly don’t know what to do now...The people want me to be their queen now, but I can’t. Not after all this.”

“Then run away with me. Be my queen. We’ll have our own little kingdom in the forest where no one will ever find us or hurt us again.”

“I think I like the sound of that…”

“Then that’s what we’ll do.”

And they did. After making arrangements with the remainder of the court, and doing her best to negotiate reparations with Daniel’s kingdom, Alessia and Kieran finished making their plans. The first full moon after she was woken up, they were married in the presence of the queen and her court. Shortly afterwards, they stole away from the castle and returned to Kieran’s mountain fortress, where they lived out their days in peace.

[comprosedreviews-blog]

Wednesday with Monica

Lord of Shadows

My Good reads review: *****

Admittedly, I am a HUGE Cassandra Clare fan, so whenever one of her books comes out I need to read it. I’m actually really surprised I took this long to get to it, but then… busy-ness.

ANYWAY, in this second installment in her new The Dark Artifices series, Clare goes really, really, far into the development of the Blackthorns and the rest of her characters. More than that, she pushes the definition of truths and lies to boundaries never seen in her Shadowhunters novels. If you liked her book Lady Midnight, I can almost guarantee you’ll like this one more. The prose felt closer to The Immortal Instrument series, the plot had a very defined purpose and the stakes rose even higher. The only real problem I’d say the book had was that there were like four SPaG issues… which was really surprising to me as someone who has read many of her novels, but not super distracting in the six-hundred-something page book. For those of you that liked the romance of Lady Midnight, you will not be disappointed by this novel, though there is more action that feels reminiscent of her City of Glass book.

I cannot tell you enough to pick up this book, but only after you read lady midnight and the other Shadowhunters stories because ERMAGERD, these books are awesome. I’m a little bit obsessed.

And… that’s unfortunately all I can say about this book in the non-spoiler section.

SPOILERS AHEAD~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

DO NOT READ ON IF YOU DON’T WANT TO BE SPOILED

YOU WILL BE SPOILED IN A BAD WAY

IS THERE EVEN A GOOD WAY TO BE SPOILED

JACKSON SHUT UP~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Wow. Just wow. In other books, Clare has made it very clear that though faeries cannot lie, they can omit the truth. She took that in this book and made it EXPLODE. We got all the details on the lies and the truths and the faeries and our characters and their own abilities to lie/ see lies/ perceive the truth. I think that oddly, in this book FILLED with lies, it was the easiest to root out who was being honest and what we could trust… but maybe that’s just me and my weird pattern finding brain. SO in honor of this motif, the review will do what the book did: separate the truths from the lies.

So let’s begin with the rarer of the two: the truths.

The first biggest truth in the novel was actually just one character. Ty Blackthorn had a sincerity in him that made me trust him to a fault. He is one of the more endearing characters to me, because every word he said or action he took felt like him exposing himself to the world. The letter he wrote to Annabel was so earnest and innocent and open that it actually moved her to do what that Julian wanted… and it was because of Ty’s openness in the beginning of the manuscript that I was able to believe that he could write a letter like that capable of moving someone like her to act.

Julian tries to protect me from everything. Livvy tries to protect me from being disappointed... Jules and Livvy, they have a hard time believing that I’ve grown up. That I might understand some things are temporary.”

He doesn’t even see the truth as a weakness unlike almost every other character in the book. He doesn’t believe in hiding how he feels of where he thinks his shortcomings are. He’s just open about them, about his feelings, about everything. He was like that in Lady Midnight too, when he threw the knives at Mark and outright told everyone he had been using Mark as a dart board.

I just really like him as a character. He brought a good balance for me. He was kind of the big dose of clarity that I needed whenever Kit couldn’t make up his mind about something.

And then there’s the next truth… Julian loves Emma. Wow. Shocker. I know, you guys are really surprised to read this one up here. Who knew? It’s not like everytime he sees her he thinks about how much he likes her, or like he compares being without her like being in mortal pain every segment he’s in. I think the only one who didn’t really get this was Emma, and I have a little bit of a problem with that considering she went back and forth between knowing that he was in love with her and tricking herself into thinking he was indifferent. Girl, almost every scene when you guys are alone you talk about you love life… and how much he doesn’t like it.

I could forgive this if Emma was supposed to be stupid, but she isn’t. She’s an intelligent character, and she should have known better. I do see that Clare was using the Faerie trick with the kiss to confuse Emma but… I mean you are in Faerie and you know that the faerie have magic and that they like to play with your mind… so WHY WOULD YOU THINK THAT WHEN ALL OTHER SIGNS POINT TO THE OPPOSITE???

Don’t get me wrong, I really did like the relationship between Emma and Jules, I just had a little bit of an issue with how Emma continued to convince herself that Julian didn’t love her anymore when it was very obvious that he did. I get that she was hoping he wouldn’t love her because of the whole super evil curse thing, but it felt like it was a little more than just good old fashion deluding self syndrome, you know? Regardless, Jules and Emma have a pretty equal relationship in the book. One of them never feels more reliant on the other, and they depend and know each other so well that it’s just incredibly cute. I thought Clare did a brilliant job in using their childhood patterns and history to build the relationship even further in this book. It made the whole thing feel justified because their feeling weren’t just developed in the last two books but rather built upon over a lifetime.

My only fear is where this relationship is going. Emma is seeing Julian make some very desperate moves, and at times is even afraid of him.

Jules, you scared me a little.

He makes decisions that damn the rest of the world to save those he cares about, which is kind of the origin story of most well developed villains. Think about Valentine, he was ready to perform mass genocide because he believed it would make a better world for the shadowhunters he loved. He would do basically anything for Emma, including sever the parabatai bonds of everyone for ever, thus destroying parabatain bonds… like. WHAT THE HECK. Emma understood what was up and straight up told him that even though they said they’d do anything to protect their family they didn’t actually mean anything… and Jules was all… uh huh… *whistles* yep, nothing to see here… I’m just gonna… uh say I’m gonna do it… but no I wouldn’t… hehe *whistles louder*. It was such a sketchy scene and yet Emma bought it because she’s a little blind to what Jules would do.

Which brings me to the last and most true truth I will mention here: Julian has a ruthless heart.

EVERY SINGLE TIME THAT LINE CAME UP I FELT MYSELF NOD. YEP. ABSOLUTELY TRUE. TRY AND QUESTION HIS RUTHLESSNESS I DARE YOU.

He attacked a little piskie, a small creature that was described as super cute by Emma before he did it and described as undeserving of Julian’s harsh treatment after. Like I’m sorry but… what? What the hell??? And I already mentioned this, but his willingness to dissolve the parabatai bond that he treasured for so long and that he knows shadowhunters have depended on for centuries, was terrifying. Emma might have bought his excuse of using it as leverage but it was so obvious that he was hearing himself through her ears and wanting to put Emma at ease. I doubt he meant a single word of it. And if you think that Julian Blackthorn wouldn’t lie to Emma you’ve got another thing coming because he did several times in the book, one of the least of which led to that scene where Anabel accidentally stabs someone with the mortal sword (you all know who). He is so full of lies, and even in his chapter, it is written that he would let Anabel burn if it meant saving his family.

Which makes me afraid. Because of Livvy who died and because of what I wonder Julian will do now that he’s lost her. Will he let Emma out of his sight now? Will Emma even want to leave it now that Robert can no longer fulfill his part of the exile? How will Julian react now that he has to go against the curse and the Clave while dealing with the death of his little sister? How blood thirsty will he become?

Julian low key scares me guys.

And then there are the lies. The first one being: that faeries don’t lie.

Okay, cheap shot I know, but one that needs to be said. I mean, so many words were used to remind us that the faeries can lie, even though they can’t lie. The note about how Kieran was using his body language to lie about how at ease he felt, the comment on how no one would go as far as to say that faeries are always honest. Even the scene where Emma sees one of the fairfolk shed her father’s face. All of the illusions of honesty that someone might want to believe with the fairfolk make me as a reader not want to believe a single thing any of them say… and maybe that’s the point. Maybe Clare is trying to over paranoi-ify me so that I don’t actually want Emma to team with team Seelie… which, if that’s the case, is genius.

Next lie: A bad law is no law.

DO I even need to explain this??? How many times has the Clave passed bad laws? The Accords? The Cold Peace? HELLO?!?!?!?!? Nice try blackthorns, but I got to say that without these bad laws, the world would be sadly devoid of shadowhunter novels.

Lie number three: Livvy is in a better place.

Okay, I get it. The clock chimed and the door to heaven was opened, but if another person tells me she’s in a better place now (YES TUMBLR FORUMS I’M LOOKING AT YOU) I’m going to have to adamantly disagree. Because there is no better place for her than with her brothers. Ty and Julian are going to be a wreck without her, and she’s never going to get to be the coolest badass shadowhunter like IZZY. So. No. I throw your logic at you. I DEFY YOU TUMBLR LIKE KIT DEFIES SHADOWHUNTERS BY EATING CARBS.

And then the last lie: Everything will be okay.

Excuse me? Excuse me? Every time hope was handed to us it was smashed into a billion pieces. Oh, we’re actually going to ask for the claves help and maybe avoid the curse the smart way? GREAT! LET’S HAVE THE ONE PERSON CAPABLE OF ASSISTING US DIE! Oh, we’re going to host a trial by the mortal sword to prove that the Seelie King is a danger to society, thus beginning the first steps in ending the cold peace? HAHA! HOW ABOUT WE REFUSE TO BELIEVE IN THE MORTAL SWORD INSTEAD? Oh, we have a love triangle fixed because Livvy loves her brother and understands Kit’s sexuality so she’s going to do the mature thing and step back? THAT MEANS WE CAN KILL HER OFF AND SEND JULIAN INTO A SPIRALING ABYSS OF DISMAY!!!

WHHEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!!

What is life anymore? I don’t know. I do know that I need the next book. I’m so excited to see where it goes.

Oh crap. The most important lie. I totally forgot.

Kit likes Ty like a parabatai? Psht. Right.

XD Have you read the book? Did I miss something? Have any questions? Feel free to message me or comment on the post. Thanks!

Until next, next, Wednesday,

Monica

[jemsboner]

post lord of shadows thoughts and predictions

okay time to round up all this shit in one post. this is still all over the place though sorry, it’s in no order just writing shit down as it comes to me. this is going to be super long and spoilery so it’s under a read more

1. I enjoyed Lord of Shadows much more than Lady Midnight. LM was good but it felt very bogged down in character and plot introduction, not its fault it had a lot to introduce lmao. Wasn’t super excited to read los after lm cause it wasn’t that memorable, but now I’m dying for Queen of Air and Darkness. 2. Since LM was (I’m pretty sure been a while) told exclusively through the older kids povs, ty and livvy felt super young despite only be 2 years younger than Julian and Emma, but they really felt like teenagers who are just tired of being treated and seen as children in this one. 3. Um I really feel for Malcolm. Like a lot. Listen I know he went a little of the deep end there, but no one could argue against that he loves Annabel more than anything. All the diary entries and the house he built for them honestly kill me. I really don’t believe he left her alone on purpose which makes me sad because Annabel died believing he betrayed her and that was one of the reasons she killed him. I’m excited to see him before he knew the truth about Annabel in TLH. 4. Speaking of Annabel holy shit. Something is definitely not right with her. I like how powerful she is and she was pretty endearing at the end, she actually kind’ve reminds me of cecily. also I’m dying cause I just remembered while writing this that everyone thought that Livvy looked alike Annabel kill me. I definitely didn’t think she meant to do what she did at the end, obvs an explanation is not an excuse 😏, but she lashes out and then gets scared. she seems to regret killing livvy the moment after it happens and I’m interested to see how this affects her. 5. So I guess with no inquisitor that exile thing is not gonna work. but I still believe that cortana will have something to do with breaking the parabatai bond…it can cut through anything after all. 6. Speaking of cutting through anything EMMA FUCKING BROKE THE MORTAL SWORD. LIKE THAT CAN NOT BE GOOD AT ALL. AND WHAT WAS THAT BLACK SHIT INSIDE OF IT??? 7. I’m scared what Livvy’s death is going to do to Julian because the guy has really been slipping down the mental health slope for a while now. not gonna lie, Julian was TERRIFYING in this book. he really doesn’t give a shit about anyone that isn’t Emma or family. also the red flag for me was when him and Emma were arguing and he smashed that glass, like that is not a good way to take out your anger, but I mean Emma immediately puts a hole in the wall so they’re both not the best examples for how to act in a healthy relationship. also, despite what he told Emma, he seems to be absolutely fine with breaking every other parabatai bond just to be with Emma. listen I love Julian but he seems to be slipping a lil into antagonist territory. 8. Not that Emma wasn’t cutthroat either. she didn’t even consider mercy when it came to Annabel, she was gonna slice right through her, u know until the unseelie king spirited her away. 9. Kit and Ty were adorable. also has it been confirmed that they’re the Wicked Power protagonists? because if not I’m p sure they are. 10. I was so happy to be back at the London Institute. I loved all the little tid and tlh hints everywhere (jem and will’s height charts 😭😭😭) um so Bridget is still super alive somehow uuuuhh?? how??? jessamine is a darling brat as usual. love her. also that line where Magnus said they weren’t the first to think to burn down the blackthorn manor?? tlh reference maybe? 11. while Mark/Emma will always hold a place in my heart I really warmed up to Emma/Julian and Mark/Cristina/Kieran. btw I really feel like that’s gonna end in polyamory, I think cc has been wanting to write and actual poly relationship ( I love herongraystairs but I don’t think it technically counts going by only canon) for a while now, and while only Mark/Cristina and Mark/Kieran were introduced in lm, Cristina and Kieran def gotta a lot closer in this book and seemed to have a lot of romantic tension. anyway new ot3. 12. if u know anything about me u know I’M A SLUT FOR JEM AND TESSA. anytime they were mentioned I started breathing heavy. still sad they didn’t actually appear in this one, but it seems set up for them to appear in the final one speaking of… 13. listen I love Magnus and I want no harm to come to him but TESSA IS SICK I CANT DEAL WITH THIS. LIKE CAN HER AND JEM JUST BE HAPPY AND HEALTHY WITHOUT SOME INCURABLE ILLNESS HANGING OVER THEM. and like what other warlocks have been affected??? IS CATARINA OKAY? 14. y'all that guy with green skin has gotta be ragnor there is not doubt in my mind. cc has always regretted killing him and I’ve been waiting for this tree colored man to return for a while now. I want to know why he’s in hiding tho and he like bolted when Magnus showed up on the scene. 15. EY YO FUCK THE COHORT AND FUCK ZARA. at first I thought they were a little too cartoony of villains, like there was no complexity to them, they just seem like straight up douche nozzles all the time, but then I remembered that they’re based off real issues right now and people really do think like this sooo. but like Zara is absolutely the worst, how dare and her awful buddies talk shit to my children. everytime anything came out of her mouth I was like-LETS GO. OUTISDE. RIGHT NOW. TRIAL BY COMBAT, YOU LYING SNAKE. 16. I really loved the seelie and unseelie courts and their differences. like I agree cc is a little long winded, but her writing has greatly improved since CoB and it really showed in this one for me. I like the unseelie king and I hope we get to see more of him in the next book, and maybe more of Kieran’s brothers, wouldn’t want to let all those cute faerie boys go to waste. 17. as much as I hate to say it, I’m p sure that the seelie court member that was stolen by the unseelie was Sebastian’s and the seelie queen’s kid. LIKE I HOPE IM SO WRONG AND THAT THAT FUCKING KID DOESNT EXIST BUT ALL SIGNS SEEM TO BE POINTING TO HELL CHILD. 18. speaking of Sebastian, the way cc was talking about him before los came out, I was really expecting something big about him to happen, like his ghost (or demon seed ugh) he was barely even mentioned except closer to the end there. 19. oh yeah I can’t believe Clary’s dead???? like I’ve never been a big fan of clary or jace but the way she talked about like she’s already accepted it killed me. like if this happens it’s going to ruin jace. 20. I’ve become very endeared to Dru throughout los, I think she’s my fav blackthorn besides Julian. she’s chubby which is fucking GREAT and tho the whole pretend I’m not 13 thing with Jaime made me a lil uncomfy, he didn’t really flirt with her or anything and their friendship was really cute. it seems to me cc is setting her up with that Ash kid that appeared for 2 seconds. YO @emmascxrstairs JUST ROCKED MY WHOLE WORLD AND SAID THAT ASH IS THE DEMON SPAWN AND IM MAD BECAUSE OF COURSE HE IS LMAO FLEW RIGHT PAST ME. 21. that’s one thing that kills me with cc books, is that other than the main romances it’s usually super easy to tell who ends with who, and that she feels the need to pair EVERYONE OFF. lmao I was actually wondering why a love interest hadn’t been introduced for Livvy yet (Kit doesn’t count cause after that first kiss, it was real obvs him and ty were gonna be the thing) and then she died and I was like…oh…that’s why. 22. like many predicted, Diana is trans and im crying she’s amazing. her and Gwyn caught me off guard but I’m not gonna lie, they’re really cute. 23. also omg I just thought with livvy dying, what if Julian blames it on himself and the parabatai curse kill me. 24.so yeah all in all 👌👌👌 very good would recommend. now time to get fucking pumped for the last hours

[jcmorgenstern]

I'm glad someone else liked Queen! I mean the parabatai curse and resolution was stupid but the book in general was a lot of fun, and I'm always a slut for AUs so Thule was just *chef's kiss*. Ash and Thule!Jace's relationship is very sweet. I can't wait to get more of the lil goblin in TWP. And that epilogue, oof.

i definitely thought Queen was universally popular until I was reading some reviews from older readers this morning, and that was surprising, to say the least? I think on tumblr it’s easy to underestimate how ballsy some of her moves were. Like people are mcPissed about Christina, Mark and Kieran getting together, about Diana *gasp* DARING to be a TRANS WOMAN and on and on….she also seems to have gotten into some hot water for Horace Dearborn being a little too similar to a particular orange world leader. So it’s easy for people to just bash her for “not doing enough” when she’s probably getting a lot of flak for “pushing an Agenda!1!” And honestly that was a bit disheartening to me–I thought Mark, Christina, and Kieran were beautifully written and to have a bunch of people dismissing it as “some weird threeway” hurt a little. And I’d kind of hoped Diana’s story had enough emotion in it that people might see it as more than just “an agenda” but I guess I hoped for too much.

Also, no one commented on Ash, Sebastian, or Thule!Jace, so they’re automatically on my block list. (Jk. mostly)

Depressing things aside, I can honestly say I enjoyed Queen. Obviously things are occasionally going to veer into cartoonishness (looking at you, Cohort)–like guys it IS a kid’s book–and I don’t think I’ve been particularly subtle about saying how little Julian and Emma do it for me. But like, in a series this big it’s impossible that every storyline can be tailored to everyone’s interests. Especially when you’re an ornery asshole like me.

Anyway the book was fun and Thule was especially fun for me, even if it was a bit bittersweet. I’m extremely excited about the short story with Jace and Ash–weirdly enough, I feel Thule!Jace’s story could end up standing in for the more nuanced storyline Sebastian could have had. I really do hope she doesn’t go forward with making him a straightforward villain, but from some recent interviews it seems that’s exactly what she’s doing. So I’m excited to see how it plays out in TLH, but I can’t help but feel I might be a little dissapointed (esp since I want Dru and Ash to be friends/parabatai/eventually date) so like….y ah.

Anyway long story short: extremely enjoyable and while I’m sure there were people who just didn’t enjoy queen rather than hating it because of an ““agenda”“ it’s kind of dissapointing that out of 800 pages people can’t see past a poly relationship.