#i have so many OPINIONS and THOUGHTS on Dru love her

[redead-red]

Thoughts on drusilla? :^]

LOVE Drusilla! love love love love love

omg. Dru is so fantastic in so many different ways. I mean first of all, I adore the idea of her being gifted with sight, but because of the psychological torture that Angelus put her through, she has a hard time expressing to those around her what she's seeing. It really showed how long it took Spike to understand Dru, as there were so many times when Angelus would take something Dru said literally and Spike would be like "you can't see stars. there's a ceiling in the way."

idk that would make me laugh all the time

I also really like that they made how she hunts different than the other guys, giving her a distinct style. Using her thrall to hypnotize people with that cool finger pointing, especially with her long nails, always looked really cool to me. And I mean, she was able to bag a slayer so that's pretty hype.

and GOD her entire relationship with Spike and Angelus. So interesting and messy. I mean, the entire introduction of her and Spike was so GOOD. Like vampires that are devoted to each other? Who are so in love? Absolutely incredible. But then as it goes on, you can tell that she does not love Spike in the same way or capacity that he loves her and that's so interesting to watch!

Ugh. It's too early and I haven't had coffee so this is rambly but. Love Dru. The tier list is like Spike ultimate Blorbo, then Angelus in a distant second and Dru right behind Angelus.

[witchlingcirce]

I miss Luke I need him to be more present in TWP as headmaster!!! Him and Clary’s relationship was so cute I wish we got to see that more :( ALSO do you think Mr Max Trueblood (Maryse’s brother that left shadowhunting bc he married a mundane) will make a comeback?? That’s a NEED. Especially because Alec is consul now and his rules are different and I’m sure they need more people to ascend sooooo ugh I don’t know I want the Lightwoods to have a little cousin

Jace has Kit

Clary has Ash

Izzy and Alec need a little Trueblood cousin

Anyway I would loveee to hear your thoughts and predictions on TWP!! I miss the TMI gang I want to know how they’ll be involved 😔 Literally scrambling for crumbs at this point

So glad someone is talking about Luke and Clary. I love there relationship so much. Overall I think so many of the characters in tmi become disregarded as the series goes on!!! While I don’t think Luke will be any kind of major character in TWP, i definitely think he will have some kind of role. We know Dru gets in a lot of trouble, I can also see him being present in Ash’s life one way or another. Not only is he Ash’s step grandfather (LOL) but I think Luke is someone who constantly has a positive impact on peoples lives, and I think that’s something that will be seen in TWP.

As for Maryse’s family, I’d love for them to make some kind of come back. I feel like it could be something fun. I also think it depends on the age of the kids hahah! Either way, if he does make a comeback I hope the cousin is a girl. Enough with the male cousins! I need to see another Maryse and Isabelle lightwood. However, I don’t think they will make a comeback. As Cassie said in the first book where not spending alot of time in any school or institute setting, so as for the first book I don’t think we will see them. 😭😭😭

Hmmm some thoughts an opinions on TWP??? I don’t really have any theories I’ve made up myself but I do really enjoy some other theories I’ve seen online, but I also do have some other hopes.

- TWP is loosely based on the athurian legends so I can see Dru and or Kit having an Excalibur sword.

- someone mentioned to me once of a parallel between Matthew and James as Ash to Kit and I’ve always really liked that.

- Thule!Simon making an appearance. This one is SO MEANINGFUL TO ME!!!! Imagine if our Simon lost his Clary :(. Also the fact he told Janus “I’ll kill you jace herondale” before his disappearance??? Yeah somethings cooking.

- Julian mentioned having the blackthorn sword remade, and I’d love for it to be remade into a sabre!!! And on that note, I’d love if Dru got it. I can see Dru fighting with a Sabre to honour her sister, especially since in LM it’s mentioned how they fence together.

- This ones lwokey not a prediction but I deadass need Livvy to come back like full, that’s my icon 😭😭. If not I need the final goodbye between her and Ty to be gut wrenching.

ALSOOO YESS I MISS THE TMI GANG!! When I saw that Sizzy literally got a short story in the better in black book I jumped with joy. I HOPE twp ends with Claces wedding!! A cute parallel between Jocelyn and Luke in COHF!

TYSM for the ask!!! 😭😭😭 I’m glad there’s other hardcore TMI truthers out there.

[thedragonagelesbian]

11, 13 and 21

canon worldstate questions!

11. what are their religious beliefs, if any?

vidreu aeducan: the stone rejected them when they were struck from the memories but it's fine (lying) and they dont swaddle themself in darkspawn blood and gore thinking about the flesh growing in between the fissures and rough-hewn gaps (not literally but metaphorically... and also a little bit literally...............)

cyrus hawke: even from the earliest days, cyrus was among the least andrastian of his family. malcolm had it drilled into him in the circle, and leandra grew up in the servants quarters of the amell estate removed from the alienage's modified worship of the creators. they passed their faith on to their children, and bethany took to it in particular, but cyrus was never interested in big philosophical questions or transcendental contemplation. what mattered to him was acting in the here and now.

as kirkwall weighed on his soul, though, he found himself reaching for dalish faith (as merill teaches it to him) more and more often. it's a way for him to connect with a people, history, and culture beyond the walls of the city of chains, and he desperately needs that kind of spiritual relief.

yiseeril trevelyan: it's ~~~~~~complicated~~~~~~~~~~~; born to a devoutly religious family before being sent to a circle in the heartland of chantry power, yiseeril was the picture of piety growing up. to the extent that that faith was shaken by a rogue templar preaching divine mandate as he made her tranquil, she swallowed that doubt the instant she came back to herself in the clutches of a seeker of truth and the primordial soup of a divine inquisition. when the people of haven proclaimed her to be the herald of andraste, she was all too eager to embrace it and the certainty that came with it, knowing that everything she had suffered up to that point meant something because she was Chosen.

fast forward to here lies the abyss and cassandra's personal quest. realizing that it was an accident that bestowed the mark upon her and that all the years of being lost to herself could've been undone at any time, yiseeril's faith shatters. she is nothing and no one; this house of cards she's built around herself to be a mythic, divine figure comes tumbling down

yiseeril struggles with her faith for the rest of the game--for the rest of her life, really--though always in private; being the herald of andraste remains politically advantageous, after all. but her trajectory is one of moving away from grand religious sublime and toward living in the everyday, the moment to moment, the trivial, and she's at peace with faith being something she now does from time to time rather than being everything that she is

13. their thoughts on the Grey Warden order?

vidreu aeducan: it is a job to dru, but it's a job she loves that lets you get away with a lot of not-so-ethical magic shenanigans in the name of a cause that means a lot to her personally. and also clarel did nothing wrong.

cyrus hawke: before here lies the abyss, cyrus' (negative) feelings toward the wardens were always about specific members (i.e., the hero of ferelden sparing loghain or larius threatening his mother to force his father to do blood magic) but not the order as a whole. once upon a time, watching a bunch of soldiers unquestioningly follow orders because they thought they had to to save the world would have struck him as tragic, but he has very little sympathy left to spare the wardens at adamant

yiseeril trevelyan: no strong feelings; yiseeril has an innate sympathy to those who do irrational things from a place of fear for their lives, so she lets the wardens stay in orlais, but she doesn't care about them beyond that

21. what is their biggest regret?

vidreu aeducan: defiling the urn of sacred ashes and having to kill leliana & wynne; dru doesn't share many personality traits with their younger brother but 'i always know what's best and thus i should not take into consideration the opinion or feelings of others except as a means to my own unassailable ends' is. one of them, at least at the beginning of the game. she's not cruel, just curious to see what defiling the ashes will do and careless wrt how that would affect her companions, whom she assumed would continue following her without question because what else were they going to do? stab her???

(thought seconds before being stabbed)

the regret is immediate, and though it does little good, they carry the dishonor of their actions that day for a long time, warming their cold pragmatism

cyrus hawke: every time he hasn't done enough to save someone. many such instances, but the one that gave him the most active and reckless grief was bethany being taken to the circle.

(everything that happened with anders is not the biggest regret, because it is so long and slow, this dull but constant ache and dead weight he drags with him for the rest of his life)

yiseeril trevelyan: she's never done anything wrong in her life, ever. i thought i might finally get her to regret something with the well of sorrows, but her only regret from that was that it upset sera, and they made up so ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

(we'll see if veilguard changes that...)

[jvstheworld]

The Buffy Re-watch: S2E16 (part 2)

Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered

And here is where the episode gets so much worse.

Buffy, under the effects of a love spell is offering to comfort Xander, and Xander's first thought is 'lap dance?' Just when you think he can't sink any lower, he somehow manages to.

Was he really going to kiss Buffy if Amy didn't walk in and interrupt them?

Don't mess with people's emotions, it will not turn out well for anyone.

Well, there's your problem Cordelia, you've been trying to make other people happy instead of yourself, because you value other people's opinions above your own.

Xander admitting his dumbassery to Giles and being rightfully being scolded by him. Love spells are horrible and on par with date r**e drugs.

Is there any redeeming part to this episode? Or am I just realising how disturbing it is? Buffy, under the spell, walks into the library wearing only a rain coat and tries to get Xander to undress her. Xander does consider it, if only for a moment, but it's his foolishness that caused this to happen in the first place. If Buffy was in her right mind then she would never have done something like this.

Buffy turned into a rat.

Oh look, there's the redeeming part, Oz punching Xander. Much deserved too. Willow got over Xander and is all for her new relationship. But because of the spell, Xander could have potentially screwed it up and her up.

Giles is rightfully pissed off at Xander, especially if buffy gets hurt while in rat form.

Giles going for a verbal smackdown with Amy. Go Giles.

Willow with an axe is not to be messed with.

Is Oz tracking tracking the Buffy rat using his heightened werewolf sense of smell?

Yeah Xander, go to Buffy's house, where her mum is, who will likely be under the spell too. A great plan.

Then Angelus appears, but is only concerned about Buffy. Dru arrives to save him, then an angry mob of very pissed off women turn up to either kiss him (reads more like SA at this point) or kill him.

Cordelia's reaction to finding out that the spell was meant for her is one of shock but she is okay with it. What the actual hell? No. It is not okay to hear that your ex decided to manipulate you into loving him. And he did it to get revenge for you breaking up with him because Xander is a vindictive shit. If I haven't made it clear enough, what he did is wrong on so many levels and should be seen as such. But no, let's continue with romanticising manipulation tactics as a sign of love. For fucks sake.

Yay, Buffy is human again.

Joyce is probably repressing so many things because of all the weird shit that goes on.

Willow is rightfully and seriously pissed off at Xander. She loved him before she was with Oz and now she is moving on and beginning a new relationship. He could have royally fucked that up for her, not to mention screwing with her emotions which could leave her feeling worse off. he is going to have to do a lot of grovelling to make it up to her, and he better fucking mean it. But he doesn't face any serious consequences, it just gets covered up and then nothing.

He couldn't take advantage of Buffy like that? Well, there is a plus, I guess.

Cordy standing up to her 'friends', good on her. they are sheep and only around Cordy for her popularity. In my opinion, Xander is not worth it, I care more about Cordy and her happiness than Xander.

I'm going to put this episode down as one of my least favourites. There are some bad episodes of Buffy, 'Beer Bad' for one, but that was an attempt at humour gone wrong, this was just straight up wrong.

[dontmindmyshadowhunting]

To never being parted - Part 2 Chap 4 - The Birthday Party

This is the Chapter 4 of the mini sequel to my flower cards inspired Kitty Fan Fic “Am I Forgotten?”

AO3 Link here.

****

As it turned out, Jace absolutely loved his surprise. He jumped in the pop-out cake to hug Kit, who pushed him away, and they ended up rolling and wrestling amidst the vanilla buttercream, with a crowd of onlookers cheering. The most enthusiastic was Mina, who shrieked with delight during the entire fight.

They both had to change after that, which was a relief. Tessa had to hastily recover Kit’s dress from Mina, who had undertaken to lick the fabric drenched in vanilla frosting.

The party was as decadent as any party organized by Magnus Bane could be. Dark blue velvet banners hung from the ceiling, stitched with the design of stars which seemed to shine, as if the guests were standing under the night sky. Candles glowed from every surface. Magnus had magicked up a small playground for the kids in one corner of the room, far from the chocolate fountains.

Kit carried Mina around on his shoulders for two solid hours before she finally asked him to put him down. When he did, she whispered in his ear. “When I am older, I am going to marry that tall and handsome Centurion bodyguard who has been following us everywhere… He takes such good care of my big brother.” Kit felt all the blood drain from his face.

****

The dinner table was covered with food from all around the world but Kit settled for a burger. He noticed that Julian had made the same choice although he saw him slip his lettuce to King Kieran, who had decided to make an appearance for Jace’s birthday party. He was seated between Mark and Cristina, and both were trying to get him to taste Mexican food. He shot Julian a grateful look.  

“So, has Ty been sleeping in front of your bedroom, as he used to in Los Angeles? That was so cute!” Cristina asked Kit, in a cheerful voice.

“Of course not”, Kit replied. “He is absolutely welcome to my bed now.”

Everyone around the table froze before turning to look at him. Shit. Did he say that out loud?  

Kit moved his gaze towards the only person whose opinion mattered in the case.

Ty, who was seated next to Dru and Jaime Rosales, was staring at him open-mouthed, his cheeks flushed. Oh well, thought Kit. I am not taking it back anyway. If I said I was joking, Ty would take it literally. And we wouldn’t want that now, would we?

Kit shrugged and went back to eating his burger.

****

After dinner, there was a cluster of girls around Lily Chen, who was seated on a chair flaunting the Hot Shadowhunters calendar, as if it was the best book of the year.

She had decided to publish a first edition, as an experiment, in an attempt to boost the Clave’s revenues. Alec had been reluctant at first, but even he couldn’t deny the incredible success of the calendar after only a few weeks of sales. It had been sold to both Shadowhunters and Downworlders, entire stalls being dedicated to it in several Shadow Markets around the world.

King Kieran himself had bought several to add to his collection which included kitten and mundane firefighters calendars.

“So, of course we have Jace for the month of January. That one - and Mark Blackthorn’s - were the easiest pictures to obtain,” Lily explained as she enthralled her audience by flipping through the pages of the calendar.

On the front page, Jace was almost entirely naked, a well positioned sword covering his most intimate parts. Mark was just as barely dressed, poetically covered in roses and thorns.

“I had to negotiate with Magnus for Alec’s picture but as it turns out, I am quite happy with what he provided.” Magnus winked. In the picture, Alec was half naked, his muscles flexed as he was pulling an arrow to his bow. His skin was covered with black marks which stood in stark contrast with his white skin.

“Here we have Jem. Although he is officially retired from the Clave, we couldn’t do this without him. He is much too popular with the Shadow Markets’ crowd. He is only half naked of course, but compared to what people used to see of him when he was a Silent Brother, this looks like porn.” Most of the girls giggled.

“This is Simon, it was easy enough to obtain a picture of him. I just had to offer him a limited edition of a light-saver…”

“A lightsaber,” Isabelle corrected.

“Whatever. The most difficult one to obtain was Julian Blackthorn’s, of course,” Lily continued. “I had to hire a professional photographer…”

“You mean a paparazzi,” Emma interrupted.

“Emma almost broke his arm…”

“He was lurking behind a rock, taking pictures of Julian while he was surfing…”

“But apparently you both found an arrangement.”

Emma stared off into space. “He does have talent. He took amazing pictures of Julian on his surfboard… I made an album of them. He’s going to be our wedding’s photographer. Free of charge.”

“That’s my girl,” Julian said, raising his hand for a high five, though not moving his gaze from Tavvy.

Lily turned to Kit and Ty, then, pointing two fingers at her eyes and at them. “Now that you have come of age, I have got my eyes on you boys.”

Ty looked terrified but Kit only shrugged.

****

Kit danced with a lot of people. Mina, mostly, but also Clary, Isabelle, Emma, Dru, Aline and even Lily, who kept giving him a variety of nicknames. Mostly food-related. When he waltzed with Tessa, everyone stopped to observe their graceful twirls, and they were given a round of applause. Kit had to admit he was quite smug about it. Not a single dance with Ty though, who had mostly been hiding in a corner with his headphones on, his arms crossed, though a friend of Dru’s kept talking animatedly to him. He didn’t seem to notice.

After a dozen dances, Kit was exhausted and parched. As he moved towards the buffet to get something to drink, Emma and Cristina appeared out of nowhere to stand in his path, their faces alight with excitement. Kit had noticed that when Emma was not glued to Julian’s side, she was always running around with Cristina and Mark, like an iconic trio of besties.

“Welcome to the club,” they said in unison. Had they rehearsed that?

“What club?”

“The club of fearless warriors who decided to take the hazardous path of dating Blackthorn men,” Emma replied with an ominous voice.

“One word of advice,” Cristina said. “Get as much sleep as you can, while you can.”

“What?” Kit was puzzled.

“Hmmm, how to explain…” Emma put one finger on her mouth, her expression thoughtful. “Have you ever wondered why there are so many of them?”

“The Blackthorns you mean? Er- because they like kids?” Kit answered.

“True enough,” Emma replied, winking at him.

“What else is there?” Kit asked, as he had the feeling he was missing something.

Emma and Cristina burst into fits of laughter, clutching each other for support.

Kit shrugged and considered it as his cue to leave. Ty had already left the party an hour ago and Kit was wondering whether he should stop by his room to watch him sleep. Just a little peek. Ok, no, that was creepy.

As he was heading towards the door to leave the party inconspicuously, Kit was stopped mid-flight by a hand grasping his shoulder.

“Not so fast, Kit Herondale.”

Kit turned to meet Julian’s blue-green eyes. He was a different version of the Julian he had known.

The shape of his face was sharper, his features more chiseled and his luscious Blackthorn waves longer. There were no longer circles under his eyes and Kit had noticed that he had stopped biting his fingernails. He seemed happier, more rested. Almost… glowing.

Kit had to admit he was stunning. But I am already head over heels in love with his brother, Kit was reminded.

According to Jace, Julian had been a close and trusted advisor of Alec for the past few years, the Consul relying on him for war strategy and delicate political matters.

During the time he had spent in Los Angeles, Kit had witnessed how dangerous Julian’s sharp mind could be when he decided to use it. How deadly. And that was tired, restless Julian. Glowing Julian… their enemies would never know what had hit them.

Julian’s gaze moved to Kit’s chest, where the Blackthorn locket was resting.

“I see that Ty has given you his and Livvy’s pendant. I trust that you know what this means.”

His blue-green eyes were now boring into Kit’s, and Kit could not help but feel exposed, as if Julian was not looking into his eyes but straight into his head, accessing his mind.

“I do. This is it, for Ty. I am it . First and last. There won’t ever be anyone else for him.”

“What about you?” Julian’s gaze was still burning holes through Kit’s eyes.

Kit sighed. “You know what they say. Herondales love but once.”

“And you just realized that, where you are concerned, this is true?”

“No, Julian. I had already realized that three years ago.”

Kit turned to move, but Julian caught him by the arm.

“You already know what I am going to say next, don’t you?”

“Julian, I have witnessed what you were capable of in order to protect your family. I’d rather be facing the nine Princes of Hell.”

“Good,” was all Julian said, letting him go.

****

Tagging @darkkitai

[grxceblqckthxrn]

hi @chocolatecarstairs came up with these post-CHOG questions and i really want to answer them because im sad that im finished reading it :((

MAJOR SPOILERS BELOW

what was your favorite part, 1 or 2?

Honestly I loved both parts, but I’d say I loved part two just a little bit more for the time that James wasn’t under the curse anymore and LOVED Cordelia

which scene in the book was your favorite?

EVERY scene that had Matthew and James being wholesome parabatai in it!!! my favourite chapter in this book was Blue Ruin, the one after Grace takes the bracelet back from James  (aside from the whispering room ofc).

what scene (or scenes) made you cry the most?

ok ngl i didnt spend much of this book crying, but the only scene that actually made me tear up was when james was dying and matthew could feel it and jesse (WHO I FUCKING LOVED MORE THAN I THOUGHT I WOULD) gave him his last breath :(((((

what scenes were unsatisfactory?

there were not enough Christopher scenes (but to be fair, even if the entire book was just Christopher it still wouldnt be enough for me)

but fr, i cant think of any off the top of my head but i’ll edit this if i do later

what made you laugh the most?

matthew!! james!! thomas!! christopher!! also some of the things Jesse said

what bored you?

this wasn’t boring, but the whole charles/alastair plot line didn’t have me very invested. I did love the alastair/ cordelia scenes tho, so it was just charles that was the problem

also no offense to james bc he was my first actual fictional crush after reading TMH/NBS but like whenever he talked about being in grace i would literally zone out lol the bracelet curse makes him so boring but whenever he isnt in the curse/ is with someone who is NOT grace i just!! love him!!

what disappointed you?

cassie honestly had me kinda shipping matthew/cordelia for a solid FIVE SECONDS there when he stepped in to dance with her after james left her standing there, but that was one of the only scenes that made me feel like they had natural chemistry (along with the scene where he drops her off at her house). I felt like the during the rest of their interactions in the book, cordelia was kind of uncomfortable, which made me really sad because even tho she has every right to feel that way, i felt bad for matthew. I kind of want him to fall for someone else completely and for it to be reciprocated. also, i just really want for matthew and cordelia to become good friends because i feel like they could have such great natural chemistry if matthew didnt love her.

what is the top thing you wish had been done differently?

see above.

what things did you predict that came true?

JAMES BURNING DOWN BLACKTHORN MANOR I FUCKING SAID HE WOULD DO IT TWO FUCKING YEARS AGO IF YALL WANT ME TO LINK THE THEORY LMK

what are some things that were really unexpected?

ok there’s quite a few things here so bear w me babes:

- James genuinely loving cordelia from the start. I wasn’t expecting him to naturally feel nothing for grace at all, so i was expecting a slow burn jordelia, but finding out that he actually loves her makes me so happy but the end where cordelia thinks he was just pretending breaks my heart :(((

-matthew liking cordelia lol definitely was not expecting another parabatai love triangle but i hope it doesnt last. i do think it adds to the plot and i love it, it just hurts to see matthew so emo :(((

-I was expecting to like cordelia as a character, but i ended up LOVING her so fucking much???? she’s so three dimensional to me, and it’s interesting to see how her personality adapts around different characters as people adapt around different social circles irl

-liking jesse as much as i did

-ok so james’ entire character was a surprise to me. it’s so fascinating to see how the bracelet actually affected his personality.If you recall him in The Midnight Heir from TBC. he’s like an entirely different person. i still loved him in TMH but i went into CHOG thinking that if he was gonna be like that the entire time i’d probably get over him really quickly. i was pleasantly surprised by how much i ended up loving him even more tho

-i didn’t expect oliver hayward to die and im going to stay emo about it

- Christopher is so much more clear headed than he was made out to be prior?? like there were so many scenes where he was fully there and when he defended anna to alastair i just kfdsnfkld i love him

are there characters that you didn’t like before that you like now?

yikes umm... Alastair, maybe? he’s somewhat okay to me now, I dont dislike him as much as I used to. ooh and Hypatia Vex. the only scene i remember liking her in QOAAD was when she helped out kit, ty and dru (me, going a whole TSC post without somehow mentioning kit? not possible)

are there characters that you liked before that you don’t like now?

I started CHOG ready to give Grace the benefit of the doubt, and I was surprised by how timid and shy she seemed at the start, but it was interesting to see how it was all an act and how she doesn’t have an actual personality yet. one could argue that she actually does love james, but i doubt it at this point. i dont hate her yet, even tho she IS fucking up james’ life, but she’s on thin fucking ice.

who was your favorite new character?

does new character mean completely new or just never been in a novella new? because for the first, it would be Cordelia (i LOVE her sm!!) and other wise it would be james, matthew and co. also!!! jesse!!

what places in the book would you like to visit?

that hell dimension sounds pretty lit ngl

did you like the ending?

ok so. we KNOW that jordelia is gonna be endgame. cassandra clare always takes the hardest path to get there, but when has she not delivered? it’s just a matter of waiting. so, yes, i did like the ending in sense of the plot because it was a great twist, but i also feel really bad for all of them even tho ik they’re eventually gonna be together :(((

what did you think of the epilogue?

i wasnt surprised, since we alr know that Tatiana is shady asf, but i just really wanna know how she partnered up with a GREATER demon like lol wtf. again, im really happy in terms of plot with this

what are your thoughts on the engagement?

i feel so. fucking bad. for cordelia. and james too, even tho he’s under the bracelet’s curse so he doesnt even KNOW he’s being manipulated. but i love how even through the curse, james still loves cordelia in his own way.

what did you want to see that didn’t happen?

matthew getting therapy periodt

umm honestly i just want more “merry thieves” content like i just love. all of them.

what do you wish had been resolved that wasn’t?

i really want matthew to tell james or cordelia what happened because i just need him to be loved and supported lol i want to give him a hug. 

what is your favorite pairing as of now?

jordelia!!! and lucie and jesse are kind cute rn, and i like them if theyre gonna be pining after eachother but i feel like if they actually get together i wont like the relationship as much.

which characters would you like to see more of in the next book?

CHRISTOPHER CHRISTOPHER CHRISTOPHER 

ANNA!!! i lovED reading about her she’s so badass

matthew!! jesse!! also i wanna see more of those bitchy girls lol just so we can see anna or cordelia tell them to stfu

what is one character whose death you would undo if you could?

ok i know that jesse is still very much a conscious character despite being dead but like,,, i want him to be the way he was before and also i want him to come back to life

and barbara!! she seemed so sweet 

which characters got bad/unsatisfactory endings?

ummm barbara? i cant really say much on this yet bc its still only the first book and when has the first book ever ended up with anyone being happy.

oh but also can we sign a petition to make cassie let matthew actually survive the series because my heart aches just at the THOUGHT of eventually having to read a scene where he dies

which characters got what they deserved?

literally. none of them yet. :(

who should have died but didn’t?

Tatiana lol also lowkey charles but i also feel pity him to an extent 

what plotline are you most excited to see in the next book?

okay the entire jesse plot has me hooked because i LOVE his character. also i love the bracelet plot but its making me MAD because i just want james to be happy but

what is one scene that you wish hadn’t happened, but you know was unavoidable?

THE ONE WHERE GRACE PUTS THE BRACELET BACK ON JAMES. i mean obv there was no way he was completely done with grace, but i literally got so sad at that part like why HIM of all people smfh let him be happy

which pairing do you like the least?

alastair x charles, grace x james, lucie x matthew bc neither of them actually like either imo lol

what are some theories you have for chain of iron?

- not necessarily for COI but i think matthew is gonna get exiled and turned into made into a mundane

- the bracelet will break (?)

- jesse will come back to life (like actual life) at the end of the book

-grace is gonna do something to help the main characters, making it hard for us to hate her.

what characters do you think should have gotten more plot time?

lol are yall gonna hate me if i say christopher again (also anna)

anyways this was really fun!!!!! PLEASE ASK ME STUFF ABOUT MY OPINIONS AND STUFF OR JUST SAY ANYTHING ABT THE BOOK BC IM DESPERATE TO TALK TO PPL ABOUT IT

[blurrypetals]

Queen of Air and Darkness by Cassandra Clare - blurrypetals review

originally posted dec. 9, 2018 - ★★★★★

A-T. L-A-S-T.

I am so absolutely overwhelmed by everything that I've experienced in the last few days while listening to this. As Cassandra Clare's longest book to date, a whole dang fuckin' lot happens in this book. To sort my way through this review, the following paragraphs are gonna be chock full of a whole dang fuckin' lot of untagged spoilers, so continue at your own risk. I do think you're doing yourself a huge disservice if you do read this review before you've read the book, though. It's also incredibly likely I'll drop a spoiler or two on every Shadowhunters book so, if you're here and you have not, for some reason, read The Mortal Instruments, The Infernal Devices, the other two books in The Dark Artifices trilogy, and all of the short stories in The Bane Chronicles, Tales from the Shadowhunter Academy, and Ghosts of the Shadow Market, I implore you to amend that, to go and read those fourteen books and this fifteenth book before reading this review, just in case I ruin anything for you by accident. Okay, now that's out of the way, let's talk about sequels and how to finish a grand, epic fantasy story. It was difficult for me to not compare this book to three other books. The first two are, of course, Cassandra Clare's other finales, City of Heavenly Fire and Clockwork Princess. This handily bowls City of Heavenly Fire straight under the table because, even though City of Heavenly Fire is still a 5-star book, it's the weakest of The Mortal Instruments hexalogy and, other than perhaps The Bane Chronicles, it's also maybe the weakest in The Shadowhunter Chronicles in its current entirety. Clockwork Princess, by contrast, however, is, in my opinion, the best of the entire series. As a finale, Queen of Air and Darkness here sits comfortably as the second best Shadowhunters finale yet. So much happens in this book. It's split into three different parts which could have easily been split into three shorter books with near-perfect three act structures in place for each of them, making this book a nine act book with two "false" climaxes that would have made for quite the cliffhangers if they had been split up for any reason. The first act deals with the aftermath of Livia's death and, because it has a lot of rising action, it's actually a little frustrating in some ways, even if it was frustrating in an incredibly enjoyable way. One of my absolute favorite scenes in the whole book is Julian running to Magnus for help in the middle of the night because it so perfectly mirrors the scene in Clockwork Prince when another blue eyed boy named Will Herondale was at the end of his rope, desperate not to love a girl he was cursed not to be with. I loved the contrast between a Herondale's plea for salvation and a Blackthorn's last hope to avoid damnation, separated by a hundred years yet tied by the same plight and the same warlock's magic. Emotionless-Julian was a really compelling read, even if I was almost as angry and frustrated with him and Magnus as Emma was. I loved to hate how cold and calculating he became without his love and compassion around to guide his moral compass. I hated his betrayal of Emma so fucking much it hurt but I've always loved Julian's ruses, schemes, and plans, and his dealings with the Seelie Queen, the Black Volume, and a skilled calligrapher and wizard called OfficeMax. Damn. So fucking good. Also, speaking of Julian's plans and schemes, his war council and Livia's Watch is one of the most satisfying scenes in The Shadowhunter Chronicles as it currently exists; I'm so proud of my son. He is so great. Hot diggity. Speaking of reminders from past stories, we get the entire cast of The Mortal Instruments during a lot of this book. I was really excited anytime we ran into anyone from The Mortal Instruments, especially the part when Julian and Emma ended up being thrown in the same Unseelie prison as Jace and Clary were and that was Jace and Clary's first appearance in the whole novel. It could have easily gotten overwhelming; I was, in fact, rather worried that Jace and Clary would steal the spotlight for a good spell in the final act of the book, but they didn't, since Emma and Julian were, eh...too big to ignore, and the book even ends with the long-awaited Bane-Lightwood wedding of the centuries, but the story proper closes on Julian and Emma on the beach together. Even though The Wicked Powers is still yet to come, this book felt like a huge culmination of all fourteen of the prior books in a huge way. We had Jem and Tessa from The Infernal Devices, we had Jace, Clary, Simon, Isabelle, Alec, and Magnus from The Mortal Instruments, and we had Emma, the Blackthorns, and all their friends and allies from this series and it felt huge. I also felt the weight of what's to come in a super hardcore manner when it came to Kit and Ty, Dru and Jaime, and, of course, Ash. I genuinely feel as though I can't wait any longer to see how Kit and Ty's stories turn out. I'm especially pleased by the fact that Jem and Tessa decided to adopt Kit and that Kit will have the family he's longed for his whole life and, not only will he have two capable people parenting him through the rest of his adolescence, but he'll also have that younger sibling he's been longing for, someone he can teach and take care of in the way he wasn't when he was small. I really hope at least one of the two forthcoming Ghosts of the Shadow Market stories focuses on Kit and his new life and new home with Jem, Tessa, and hopefully their new precious tiny one. Thoughts of the future of The Shadowhunter Chronicles in Drusilla, Kit, Ty, and, specifically, Ash, bring me back around to the second section of the book, which is the most absolutely bananas thing Cassandra Clare has ever written but is also actually incredibly compelling. I fucking loved the alternate universe stuff, everything to do with the exciting return of not-Jace, the introduction of alterna-Livia, other-Cameron, and living-Raphael (especially the part where he begged Emma and Julian to tell Magnus and Alec to rename Rafael; I was in tears laughing about all of that biz), and the temporary absence of emotionless-Julian and how he and Emma ended up healing so much of their relationship there. I also am so totally down with not-Jace being the main villain of The Wicked Powers, or at least a main villain. I am really impressed with Cassie—which, when am I not, honestly?—in the way that second section of the book was written. It felt like a huge love letter to me as a longtime and dedicated fan of The Shadowhunter Chronicles in general because we got to see these, for lack of a better term, a fanfiction AU turned canon that doesn't read like a fanfiction in the least bit because it remains relevant, interesting, tense, and important the whole way through, even though it's literally a gigantic non-sequitur that some could argue is "pointless." I am not one who would argue that, though, because I loved it so damn much. It gave me what is probably my favorite Emma and Julian scene in all of The Dark Artifices, just after they return to the resistance stronghold. You know the scene. Okay, rapid fire because I could honestly go on forever about this book; I pinned 108 different clips throughout this book, which is the most pins or post-its I've ever put in one single book before. I adored the fact that Simon gave Julian his iron Lord Montgomery figurine before he and Emma left Idris. Michael Wayland's ghost showing up for Robert Lightwood's funeral fucked me up in a super hardcore way and the fact that Kit was the only one who could see him or even sense his presence really got to me and I really teared up because Bitter of Tongue from Tales from the Shadowhunter Academy absolutely wrecked me and this poked at that wound. Everything in regards to Mark, Cristina, and Kieran was incredibly sweet, sex positive, loving, trusting, and healthy and I just...gah they are perfect. A most excellent thruple, one for the ages. A great many of my pins have something to do with Kit growing into his inborn Herondale talent of being a master in snark (think candy gram and "Alas, poor Yorick,"). Everyone in the alternate realm being grossed out by endarkened-Emma's and endarkened-Julian's PDA was hilarious. Julian realizing art requires pain and morality about snapped my sad tiny bird heart clean in half. Feline death on a massive scale. Anytime Jace's more playful, youthful side showed because he's a happy boi now was delightful, especially the parts where he wanted to get to hold the mortal sword and when he declared, "We're the bait!" Magnus hallucinating was great, but my favorite hallucination was when he was flirting with a vase like it was Alec and then very seriously offering to buy it from the Institute. I also loved it when Magnus called Clary "biscuit". It made my heart all soft and nostalgic. Julian's smile at Emma when he got his emotions back tot me emotional, dammit! Caterina meeting Kit for the first time made my heart feel like it was too large for my body. Jace using finger guns, because finger guns are always hilarious. Dru realizing she was looking at the face of a parent when she looked at Julian. Kit responding to being called "Herondale," when Magnus said, "Stay away from my children, Herondale." Emma telling Diana that she showed her the kind of woman she wanted to be. Emma's terrible pun about Manuel being tied up. "Ragnor Lives." An old lady accidentally complimenting Julian on being tall. Emma and Julian deciding to go to the other at the exact same time. Alec would look better on the money. Mark trying (and failing) to make balloon animals and accidentally making them all snakes. That's not even a third of them all. Near the beginning of the review, I said I was having a difficult time avoiding comparing this book to three other books, two of which were past Shadowhunters books. The third book, however, is Kingdom of Ash by Sarah J. Maas, which is another very long final book in a series, one that somehow managed to get voted as the best YA fantasy of 2018 and, because of that slap in the face, I couldn't help but wonder how this book, technically the fifteenth in a series, managed to feel fresh, new, fun, and lovable from minute one to hour thirty of the audiobook even though this is the fifteenth time I've experienced a book in The Shadowhunter Chronicles for the first time and I've never come close to feeling the same sort of apathy or anger as I do for Sarah J. Maas and Throne of Glass. This is how you end a series. This is how you end one part of your series. This is how it's done. Take notes, everyone else. Get on Cassie's level.

[rose-tico]

I want to hear your opinion on m/m vs f/f relationships in Cog! And male vs female characters in general. What I noticed about relationships is that nominally, we do have wlw prominent characters - as in, they exist and all - but the focus is never on them. And female characters' plot is often a function of male pain/angst. I did love Cordelia, though, and I thought James was more bearable than other Herondale men.

my opinion is essentially what you described: there are definitely wlw characters in the shadowhunter books, they exist, (helen blackthorn, aline penhallow, and anna lightwood), but they are never allotted the same kind of focus that the mlm characters have. the wlw characters’ internal thoughts, dialogue, and arcs take up less pages than the mlm characters’. they’re usually operating as supporting characters to the main characters’ storylines. not even like second-level supporting characters like how ty, dru, livvy, and kit were supporting characters to emma, julian, mark, and christina’s stories, where they had their own arcs that directly tied with the main cast, but didn’t nearly take up as much page time or were the emotional center of the books. but like third or fourth-level supporting characters where they showed up to fulfill one or two narrative purposes and then were never to be seen again. they might have a few pov sections within chapters here and there that allows the reader to get a small glimpse into their minds and their feelings, but they don’t have any real significant arc or as big of an impact on the story compared to both the mlm characters and presumably straight characters. yes, i’m talking about aline and helen and yes, i’ll always be bitter they didn’t show up until the end of the second book in the tda trilogy. and yes, i’ll always be bitter that when they did have any page time in qooad, they were very short. and no, i don’t think aline and helen being older authority figures aka “adults” thereby necessitating that they be sidelined so they don’t take over the stories and fix the problems of the young adults/teens is a reasonable excuse to erase them to the extent that they were.

another thing: there are simply more mlm characters than wlw characters in the shadowhunter books. this isn’t necessarily a bad thing, because we always need more mlm representation. but if you compare the amount of mlm characters compared to the amount of wlw characters, there’s a clear inequality and dare i say, preference for mlm characters. and this fact makes me uncomfortable being that cassie is a woman and this clear preference is riddled with heterosexism. the first mlm relationship in the shadowhunter books was magnus and alec, right? and the first wlw relationship was aline and helen, right? okay, we have one of each, but arguably magnus and alec were more important characters in the tmi series. skipping over tid because there really were no new queer characters in that trilogy. magnus was there, but he’s not a new character. moving on to tda: we have mark, kieran, kit, and ty. four new queer characters in the shadowhunter books: all of them are mlm. again, we can’t discredit the presence of aline and helen in the tda trilogy, but let’s be real, mark, kieran, kit and ty were part of the main story and aline and helen were not. and this is where the argument of leaving aline and helen at wrangel island for most of the trilogy makes me uncomfortable. mark and helen are twins, aka they are the same age! you can’t argue that sidelining aline and helen was necessary for the narrative because of the whole ‘authority figure meddling with the kids’ stories’ issue, when mark and helen are the goddamn same age! the idea to bring back mark early on and not helen just reeks of heterosexism. you . could argue that cassie simply was more interested in mark as a character and that as a writer, she should have the creative freedom to write about what she wants. but when you deliberately create a wlw character who is the same age as her mlm brother, kindling that hope in readers’ hearts that they’re finally gonna get wlw rep, but then suddenly prop up the mlm character at the expense of the wlw character, then there’s a problem. it would have hurt less if these characters were not related and the same age, but they are. 

and now lastly, the tlh trilogy. we have matthew who’s bi, alastair who’s gay, charles who’s gay, thomas who’s presumably gay, anna who’s a lesbian, and ariadne who’s presumably a lesbian as well. (cordelia gives me bi vibes, but that might just be cassie’s writing through her perspective and describing every person regardless of gender with very beautiful descriptors, who knows). we have a whole slew of new queer characters which is amazing. i’m thrilled and happy that cassie made this decision and is willing to be inclusive, more than she has before. but the ratio of mlm characters compared to wlw characters is still skewed. cassie had the chance to create more wlw characters, fix the mistake of not having as many wlw characters in her previous books, and even out the numbers a little, but instead she choose to create even more mlm characters. idk...as much as i love the mlm characters in chain of gold, like i adore alastair, thomas, and matthew, i can’t help but feel frustrated at the lack of page time for anna and ariadne. when i heard anna was gonna be part of the main supporting cast and saw that she was on the drawing of all the characters in the first edition of chain of gold, i was so excited! finally, a wlw main supporting character. i was crushed to later find out she’s actually a few years older than them, and her only big narrative impact is when she’s helping them at the hell ruelle. anna has a few pages and moments where it’s all about her and her relationship with ariadne, but it’s not enough. speaking of ariadne, of course the only other wlw character was poisoned and bedridden for most of the book! because we simply cannot have more than one wlw character in the main narrative at the same time! 

this is already super long, so i’ll end my thoughts here with this: all of this erasure and sidelining of wlw characters reveals that there’s a clear preference for, and honestly...fetishization of mlm characters in cassie’s books and heteromisogyny towards wlw characters. i don’t know if it’s actually okay that cassie prefers and is more comfortable writing mlm characters, especially considering she’s presumably a straight woman. i lowkey feel like there’s an assumption that most of her fans prefer mlm characters and thus, there are more of them in her books. why do you think male characters in cassie’s books are lauded as heroes and leaders more than the female characters are? there’s an assumption that the target audience of the shadowhunter books consists of mostly straight young women, therefore the characters that get the main focus and emotional weight and struggle in her books are male characters, with the male herondales being a prime example. it’s all really frustrating. 

[nightcourtcass]

QOAAD - reading experience

After I finished reading QOAAD, it is now time to discuss it because I cannot contain all the feels.

I have to be honest, in my opinion QOAAD is the worst of Cassandra Clare’s books yet – BUT (BIG BUT) I would still rate it as a 4/5. Meaning that I still think that the book is amazing, I was just missing some magical parts and some scenes and things put me off while normally I inhale all of her books like air. Seriously, I cannot tell you how often I already read all of her books and enjoyed every single sentence of it.

But why did I not enjoy QOAAD as much as all the other books? Let me tell you my reasons (and I will just focus on the stuff that put me off, not all the amazing bits – Emma and Julian are still my sweet cinnamon rolls):

1. I thought that the ending was too forced because (nearly ) everyone ended up totally happy and all the main parings where so in love. I expected more diversity and some pain (never thought that I would ever say that). Although I absolutely LOVE Malec and Clace, all this proposal/marriage stuff seemed to be a little too much because it was all happening at the same time. I get the intention and I get that everyone wanted to be happy, but the timing was just a bit too forced for me. Also, Emma and Julian are so in love (to be fair, they deserve it so much after all the suffering) but there is just too much love in the final chapters for me, considering that Kieran/Christina/Mark also get their happy ending with nearly no flaws.

2. The Parabatai curse is just gone???? Seriously, I was the first rooting for Emma and Julian to be able to be together. But the way the curse just disappears did not work for me. It was too simple, too easy, I expected much more and a different way of solving it. Maybe even the destruction of the Parabatai bond. Jem just talks about Emma’s and Julian’s parabatai runes being gone and that’s it – reactions of the council? The other shadowhunters? No, not really. Also, the explanation of the bond just disappearing does not really work for me. Why does Jace still has the bond after he touched Heavenly Fire? It should have disappeared as well then, shouldn’t it? Don’t get me wrong, I FREAKING LOVE that Em and Jules can be together now, I just wished to get a better solution.

3. Shadowhunter giants? Sorry, but I did not really buy it. I did wish for a different way of winning the battle. If they had to turn into giants, I at least would have hoped that getting them back would be a harder process and something that would have taken a bigger space in the books. Also, no one of the Cohort or the Shadowhunters is asking questions how they could have turned into giants? Really? If I see someone turning into giants, I would be at least curious why it happens.

4. No one of the Blackthorns or their friends reacts to Julian’s and Emma’s relationship? I mean, I guess that at least some of them figured out that maybe they were already in love BEFORE the bond? I just expected some (friendly/curious) talking about it or just talking in general (e.g. Dru or someone telling them that she’s happy for the couple). Ty loves mysteries, so I damn well expect him to figure out that the relationship could have evolved while it still was forbidden.

5. I do not even know how to put it, but I personally feel as if the book wasn’t really a finish at all. The series should be finished, most questions solved. But instead I have even more questions than before I started reading. The epilogue rises up so many questions and unfinished business and sounds like the perfect cliffhanger. Dark Jace coming over, Ash being introduced – all new plot. But I thought QOAAD is the last book in the series? Same goes for Kit living with Jem and Tessa and his unfinished business with Ty – It did not feel like an ending or closure, but rather like rising action. All other of Cassandra Clare’s book series’ got a finish after they were over, they were able to be read without knowing all of them, but QOAAD rises questions in the end.

By all means, please DO NOT see this as a rant! I still love QOAAD and really enjoyed it! I just had to write the things down that bother me a bit. Please feel free to discuss my points or the book in general!

[snowbrekker]

Review: Queen of Air and Dakrness (The Dark Artifices #3) by Cassandra Clare Released: December 4th 2018 Publisher: Simon & Schuster Rating: ★★★★☆ CONTAINS SPOILERS

“Should I stop ?” he said. “No.” Emma had begun to smile. Her eyes were all fire now. “Let us burn.” (and then they turned into giants lmao WTF) It’s ironic that I’m using this quote considering I don’t like what happens right  after. But we can talk about this later. I used this quote because this is one of the many moments when the book felt absolutely epic . CC is incredibly good at this. Every single fight scene or reveal scene felt grand and epic, to the point where its epicness was practically cinematic. I could feel the camera making the close-up shot. When Julian calls the Downworlders back into the institute and tells them they have to talk about the actual plan, all the times Clary and Jace are revealed to be alive, when Magnus finally performs great magic on the field and the vampires run out of the forest behind him, these are all grandiose moments which is all thanks to CC. So if you hear applause at the moment, that’s me. It’s not all sunshines and roses though. There is one thing I found incredibly frustrating in this one and that’s the point of views . This has always been this way in TDA (it didn’t use to bother me as much) but I feel it was more so in this one. In my opinion, we got too many characters with their own PoVs. It was hard to get myself interested at the beginning of each PoV and every time I was starting to get really invested and excited, the PoV would change and there were . so . many . of . them !!! There were too many to handle in my opinion. In some ways, I can appreciate it as a fan, us readers wanna get as much as we can, right ? But I don’t know that it was the right decision for the structure of the book. All the PoVs made QoAaD a bit messy, jumping from one place to the next without necessarily having a link, which in turn made many scenes unnecessary because the point they made could have been made clear to us in a much simpler way. Another thing I genuinely did not like is the resolution to the paratai bond. It was too easy ? I know they’ve been suffering for a while but they turn into giants and aren’t parabatai anymore ? I could not take this giant thing seriously and the following scene neither. In my opinion, all of them taking turns trying to wake Emma and Julien up was too cringy. The whole family standing behind Dru and Tavvy as Dru gives her first speech and then Tavvy reaches out his arms and asks Julien to carry him as he always does would have been perfectly enough and just as emotional. But overall, CC really spoiled us in this book. Between Thule - which was so satisfying it felt like a fanfic - and all the new relationships we got to see develop such as Kit and Dru or Diego and Kieran or Helen and Aline, it was great. I thought the plot, despite how messy it got, was still really enjoyable. The way she made each setting interact, seelie and unseelie court, idris, the shadow market, the institute, thule, yes it was messy but it still worked . When I think about how the Shadowhunter world has grown since City of Bones, it blows my mind ! However, I have to say that Clare’s strength definitely comes from the relationships she has created and the hardships that the characters have to face. I felt it was all genuine and heartbreaking, despite how corny it was at some point. Yes, it was incredibly corny. I was disappointed by how much romance there was, which I felt reduced some characters to love interests at times, but it still felt very satisfying to see all the ships develop. We also see all the main characters reach their highest potential. They are all looking to the future and finding their purpose in life and that is what made QoAaD feel, at last, like a last book in a trilogy. Because while reading, the focus was put on Kit, Ty and Dru so much that it almost made QoAaD a simple stepping stone towards TWP (I'm not complaining here lol). Much like CoHF was for TDA. So yes, it makes sense that the characters and ships which are left unresolved are the mains for TWP but I can’t get over the fact that we will have to wait until 2022 for the first book. I just… Whyyyyyy !??!!! I said a while ago that I would stop reading TSC books after TDA but knowing TWP will be the very last trilogy I’m not fooling myself anymore. I’ll read them all until the very last one.        

[shadowsingingsassenach]

Queen of Air and Darkness -book review

Queen of Air and Darkness is the 3rd and final installment of The Dark Artifices, written by Cassandra Clare. 

I have been a fan of Cassandra Clare’s book for a very long time. The Mortal Instruments is what really kick-started my love of reading. I had picked up City of Bones randomly at walmart one day, just to give me something to read on the plane ride to Colorado, and then next thing I know, I’m chomping at the bit for the next book. 

Of her 3 current series in the Shadowhunter world, however, I find the Dark Artifices my least favorite. It took me a long time to get the motivation to actually finish Lord of Shadows. Queen of Air and Darkness only took me about 3 weeks, thanks to college finals and the joys of being a 3rd year college student with professors thinking my life revolves around their classes. 

Anyway, the pros about Queen of Air and Darkness:

One of the best things about all of Cassandra’s books are the witty characters, the diversity, and the important lessons mentioned throughout the book. 

At the end of Lord of Shadows, Livvy dies. Queen of Air and Darkness spends a lot of time exploring how different people deal with grief, and how losing someone can affect a person’s behavior. The 4 it really focused on was Ty, Kit, Dru, and Julian. All 4 had a very different way of dealing with the grief, from the unhealthy ways (Julian and Ty) to the ways that can be seen as more healthy (Kit and Dru). Having lost someone very close to me and experiencing people’s different reactions myself, I could really appreciate seeing that not everyone just pushes through it like nothing happened and that not everyone grieves openly, and, one of the many lessons shown in the book, grief is an important emotion to feel and a vital part of life, because life without grief is a life without joy.

Cassandra also hits all the points with diversity. We have the Friendly Neighborhood Lesbians (Helen and Aline), the Local Transgender (Diana), the Fabulous Gays (Magnus and Alec, Kit and Ty?), the Precious Polygamous (Mark, Christina, Kieran), characters from all over the world and various races and species, in mixed relationships and there’s too many to list them all. But no one is left out. She explores how characters may struggle to reveal these parts of themselves to other, the insecurity and unsureness of knowing whether or not they’ll still be accepted. Being straight myself, I can’t say I understand exactly how it feels for someone to come out to their parents/friends/loved ones. But this book, I feel, gives a pretty good idea of how difficult it is for people to come out, and how much better they feel afterwards. 

One thing that is consistent with all Cassandra’s books important lessons that are mentioned throughout, whether it’s directly said or hinted at and shown in various ways. A lot of said lessons are about acceptance, loving each other, learning to trust each other, and giving mercy to those who have done wrong. In today's world, this is pretty important. It’s not like it once was, where someone does something wrong, you duel them, and then move on with your life (ah, the good ole days). 

The ending of the book was probably my favorite. Not because it was ending, but because a lot of things were wrapped up nicely. The short story involving Jace and Clary was beautiful, Alec and Magnus literally just need to be mentioned anywhere and it’s beautiful, and (SPOILER) we finally get to stop listening to Julian and Emma complain about not being able to be romantically involved. While a lot of issues were tied up, some new ones also came up, which will lead into the next set of books. 

Plot wise, the book was kind of 5/10. Some things seemed really rushed and unimportant to me, while others were amazingly written out and thought out. It seemed to jump around a little in my opinion. 

The cons of the book are mostly my opinions, and you can agree or agree to disagree. There were 2 huge cons about it that I really didn’t like: romance and politics. 

We’ll start with the romance. While I like my fairshare of fluff and romance in books, it was really getting tiring with this one. There was too much time spent on the characters worrying about their love lives, as if there was nothing more important to worry about. All the main characters, besides Kit, Ty, and Dru (so the children, basically) were maybe focused 45% on the actually issues, and 55% on their love lives. And it was just the type of romance where they would give their lives for each other, or just enjoy sitting together in silence. It was constantly as if they wanted to have sex. There was no simply kissing, unless it was rushed, it was all heavy make-out sessions. I actually skipped a lot of the scenes because it was just too boring. I’ve read my fair share of books involving heavy romance and risky scenes (Outlander, Game of Thrones, Dark Hunters series...) and the big difference being that those are adult series, and not as romance-based as it seemed this one was. Sex happens in those three, often, but it isn’t as fleshed out every time like it seemed it was in QoAaD. The book would have been significantly shorter, were it not for all the drama about the characters love lives. 

Politics. I am a firm believer in that everyone has the right to their own political opinion, but also a very firm believer than politics needs to be kept out of entertainment. You can very, very clearly tell where Cassandra Clare’s political views lie, and while she is obviously entitled to have whatever views she wants, it’s just so obnoxiously obvious in her book that it’s almost hard to take it seriously. If you’re going to show your view on modern politics in your writing, it should be done fairly, showing the good and bad of both sides. This book only shows the bad of the opposing political party. She uses the media’s favorite word several times, which, as it has in the media, just makes the word less meaningful. 

Please, do not be a sheep. Do not be the person who reads their favorite author or celebrity’s political opinion and take it as you own. Do your own research on BOTH sides, look at websites that AREN’T biased and have RELIABLE sources. Politics is a very important part of our lives, but we need step back from trusting the media, facebook, and crazy people for all our info, and look for it ourselves. THAT is how this country will become united again. -There’s you life lesson from me. You’re welcome. 

So in the end, I give this book a 5/10. Those two major cons just really hurt the plot, the integrity, and the entertainment factors of the story for me. I am a little disappointed by it, because Mortal Instruments and Infernal Devices were perfect and I love them so much.

I will be reading her future books, of course, and I have a lot of hope for them. With some luck, they will be a little less political and more structured plot wise. 3 disappointing books out of 14, I can still say she’s one of my favorite authors and I hope to read more great books of hers in the future. 

[metalandmagi]

December End of the Year Media Madness!

It’s a new month and a new year! And what a crazy month it was what with Tumblr imploding and all. But I’ll still throw this on here just because I’ll be on this site until it literally boots me out. But I do have a twitter now…@metalandmagi where I’m also barely active at all.

Anyway, why make top 10 lists for the entire year when I can just ramble about all the media I consumed this month? There’s only a marginal amount of holiday things on here by my standards!

November media

Movies!

Give me some credit there’s only four Christmas movies on here.

Won’t You Be My Neighbor?: A documentary about Mr. Rogers starting with the birth of the television show to his death. This is the fluffiest most heartwarming thing I could have possibly picked to watch on Christmas, and I encourage everyone, even people who hate documentaries and/or never grew up with Mr. Rogers’ Neighborhood, to watch it. There’s a lot of important messages about acceptance, dealing with tragedy, and mental health that people can learn from and feel good about. Not to mention how he completely revolutionized children’s television. So yeah, he was awesome.10/10

Spider-man Into the Spider-verse: When a rip between dimensions is opened, a bunch of different spider themed superheroes from every comic fan’s wet dreams all get together to close it. Guys I’m not that big of a Spider-man fan, but dang this movie was a ton of fun. I came for the amazing visual effects and stayed for the amazing...everything else. The music, the performances, and the story were all top notch. Also I now have a new favorite Nick Cage role. If you thought the trailer made the animation look interesting, it was just the tip of the iceberg because it is the most visually interesting movie I’ve seen in the last three years. I strongly suggest any fan of animation...or even any fan of great stories and movies in general go see it even if you’re not that big on Spider-Man. Now I’m demanding a Spider-verse Aunt May movie because I have so many questions! And the post credits scene was the best out of any Marvel movie. Period. 10,000/10

The Wiz (2015 musical): I should start making a section for musicals or plays instead of just lumping it in with the movies. It’s the Wizard of Oz...but cool. I’ve never seen any iteration of The Wiz and it seems like I’m constantly hearing about it. So I watched the 2015 version of the 1975 Broadway musical that NBC aired. And yeah it’s good. There were some great performances. But I wasn’t very impressed with the songs themselves, and it’s not really the same without a dog along for the ride, but whatever. 7.5/10

Jumanji Welcome to the Jungle: The surprisingly fun reboot/sequel thing of Jumanji where four teenagers get stuck in a video game that follows every “stuck in a video game” trope you can imagine but actually does it well. It’s a sweet, funny romp through the jungle with some great comedic performances. I really don’t have much to say about it except that this movie is better than it has any right to be. 8/10

The Christmas Chronicles: Two children stow away on Kurt Russell’s, I mean Santa’s sleigh and go on a dangerous, balls to the wall adventure throughout Chicago trying to save Christmas or something. After everyone started talking about how crazy this Netflix movie is I had to watch it to verify if it is indeed as wild as they said. And yes...yes it is. It is so laughably ridiculous and questionable that it’s impossible to actually hate. The elves are some unholy mixture of minions and gremlins, one of the children is a literal felon that no one is concerned about, and Kurt Russell is super into the role but has some sort of thing about fat-shaming Santa. I just...have so many questions! But it was certainly a trip, so I’d have to recommend it just so you too can witness the insanity. -10 “savvy, straight-talking St. Nicks”/10

Arthur Christmas: No, it’s not a Christmas special related to the aardvark cartoon! This is the 2011 animated movie that no one remembers exists. Santa’s clumsy but enthusiastic son Arthur must deliver a forgotten present in less than two hours while the rest of his family deals with some Arrested Development style family drama. This is by far the most underrated Christmas movie of all time; even I didn’t realize it was actually good until I watched it for the first time in 2016! The fun road-trip style plot and the entertaining characters were victims of bad marketing. Arthur is hilariously endearing, and there was so much heart and effort put into it that I can find new things to notice every time I watch it. Not to mention the amazingly animated opening spy sequence! And also Mrs. Claus is secretly a total badass and Bryony the elf is the coolest female character in a Christmas movie ever. The movie’s message of old vs new is nothing we haven’t seen before, but I really don’t care because at the heart of it all, it’s about making people happy on Christmas. If you’re like me and just assumed this movie would suck...or didn’t know it exists, please give it a chance. It’s not perfect, but it’s worth seeing. 9/10

Neo Yokio Pink Christmas: Yes, it’s the Christmas special for Neo Yokio. No I cannot accurately describe it with mere words. There’s a rich bachelor gift exchange, demon possession, and pompous French aunts slinging insults at each other. It is unironically my favorite holiday episode of a show ever, and to me it’s the best Christmas special ever made. I thought I was prepared for the absolute bat-shit ride I would go on, but no...I wasn’t even close. At this point I don’t know if it’s written like this on purpose or if some divine twist of fate made the executives believe this is truly brilliant television. Either way, it is a masterpiece in its own right. There’s even a somewhat intriguing plot and a message about gift giving and capitalism under all the crazy! If you haven’t jumped down the rabbit hole yet, I implore you to watch the insanity that is Neo Yokio and follow it up with Pink Christmas because it will truly make your holiday season. 100,000 demon DNA drugs out of 100,000!

Die Hard: Nothing says Christmas like terrorists taking over a skyscraper and Bruce Willis having to take them all down by himself. Yeah...so I’ve never seen Die Hard before, but this is one of those movies that is so famous that I felt like I’d already absorbed everything important through cultural osmosis. And even though it’s pretty good, I would have liked it better if I didn’t know what was going to happen. My only real complaint is that I think it goes on way too long. More than anything it just made me sad to remember that Alan Rickman is gone. And it bothers me so much that John McClane goes through this building that’s under construction WITHOUT SHOES! 8/10

Books!

The Silver Chair by C.S. Lewis: The 4th/6th book in the Chronicles of Narnia, in which Eustace Scrubb and his classmate Jill Pole go to the underworld to find King Caspian’s long lost son. Even though my children- the Pevensies aren’t in it, I actually think this book is my favorite of the series so far. Jill and Eustace are both sassy enough to play off each other, Puddleglum absolutely hilarious, and the book actually has a clear cut plot! It reads much more like a Greek myth than a children’s fairy tale since there aren’t nearly as many of Lewis’s trademark author interjections, and you know...it’s a literal journey to the underworld. And can I just say that it’s super refreshing to have an author write two main characters WITH ZERO ROMANTIC INTENTIONS! Especially since they’re freaking children! Now I just wish Disney had continued the movies even more! 9/10

Queen of Air and Darkness by Cassandra Clare: I’m going to do this with only minor spoilers. It’s the final book in The Dark Artifices trilogy. Will Emma and Julian break the parabatai bond? Will the reflection of the modern day American government- I mean the Cohort/ the Clave fuck up the relationships between Shadowhunters and Downworlders forever? You’ll have to suffer like the rest of us to find out! In my opinion, 99% of this book is amazing, but in the last 50 pages there are some...bullshit ways of solving problems. Like everything that went down with the Cohort in Idris. Not to mention we’ve been so invested in the parabatai curse and how Julian and Emma’s bond would go down and...let’s just say the resolution was way too easy. And if you thought Clare’s other finales were jam packed, you ain't seen nothin’ yet. My copy is 880 pages and there was still more stuff that I wanted to happen...like any sort of scene between Dru and Ash...or an ending between Kit and Ty that doesn’t make me want to cry (the Wicked Powers is going to be brutal). But the rest of that 99% is mind-blowing! There’s so much good I can say that it mostly outranks anything I didn’t like...I mean we finally got a Malec wedding and a proper polyamorous relationship for the Angel’s sake! It may be my least favorite of her finales by default but it was still a fun ride! 9/10

TV shows!

She-Ra and the Princesses of Power (2018): An elite soldier finds a sword that can transform her into a super buff magical girl who helps princesses take down the forces of evil. It’s a reboot of the 1980s cartoon, and holy crap it’s AMAZING! I have a whole new group of children to adopt, each episode is entertaining in its own way, and there’s so...many...good...ships! And it gives Steven Universe a run for its money with the care that went into making every character a different kind of warrior, which I love because the cast is 99% female. My only real complaint is that I never warmed up to Catra because she wasn’t particularly sympathetic to me from the beginning. But I understand why some people love her. If you love well crafted adventurous character driven cartoons and haven’t watched it yet WHAT ARE YOU DOING!?  10/10

Nailed It Holiday: Yes, my favorite baking show (and by that I mean the only baking show I watch) has a holiday season out on Netflix, in which newbie bakers are tasked with making incredibly professional desserts with a very short time limit. And whoever makes the best treat gets 10,000 dollars. I’ve talked about this show before in my June media madness, and I don’t know what it is but I’m so addicted to it. 10/10

Brooklyn nine-nine (season 5): Come on we all know the cop sitcom. It’s the best sitcom. Just in general it’s the best. Great characters that subvert expectations, great humor, and a lot of heart. I’ve known that this show is supposed to be amazing for years, but I only started watching it a few months ago. And since I couldn’t find season 5 anywhere...I got a Hulu subscription just to watch it before season 6 comes out. That’s how good this show is. 10/10

The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel (season 2): Our favorite underdog comedian is back, and she’s slowly gaining popularity and doing...stuff. Like going on tour. And hanging out with Zachary Levi. Yes, this season is great, but my problem with this series is that every character aside from Midge and Susie are the fucking worst, especially the parents. Midge’s parents suck, Joel’s parents suck, Midge and Joel are appropriately neglectful parents for the time period...I could go on. And it’s not even in a funny way; like it’s just disgusting to watch these power dynamics. Not to mention how old the comedic bits for the parents get (how many times can we hear about Joel needing to date or Midge needing to get married?!) Yes, I realize that we’re supposed to be annoyed AND YES I realize that this is a product of culture and how society was, but none of the parents have any redeeming qualities. In episode one, we’re led to believe that Midge’s parents will grow and change through the season and they never do! At least there are moments where Joel can kind of be redeeming and expand on his actual character before he reverts back to being an asshole. Anyway, my thoughts are pretty much the same as the first season. It’s funny and interesting to watch, but it can be ridiculously frustrating when you hate almost all the characters!  8/10

Fuller House (season 4): Yes I do watch the ridiculous Netflix reboot of Full House. And yes, it is absolutely terrible! I really really hate it! But will I stop watching it? Let’s just say you can pry this pile of garbage from my cold dead hands. I don’t know if I’d call this a guilty pleasure or a hate watch type of show... it’s certainly not so bad it’s good territory like Neo Yokio...but Full House was pretty much my entire childhood. And yes, the original show is also not great. I loved it as a kid, and it was my first real exposure to a non-traditional family in live action, but yeah it doesn’t age well. What I’m trying to say is...I have no good reason for watching this.

I don’t mean to say that there’s nothing good about it, especially this season. They really back off on the more cringe-worthy catch phrases, Stephanie being aware of how stupid the writing is and constantly pointing it out is actually funny, their Christmas episode was surprisingly genuine, and they impressed me by actually make two female characters try and work through their difficulties instead of pitting them against each other for laughs. It has its moments, just like the original but definitely not enough to make up for the worst of it. Maybe this generation of children will like it the way lots of my generation used to like Full House...but yeah it’s awful, I hate it so much. -1 missing Tanner child out of 3

Voltron Legendary Defender (season 8) SPOILERS: It’s the final season of Netflix’s Voltron, and boy it was...something. I didn’t want to make this a big rant/defense of the show...but I feel like I have to highlight some things because this fandom is a shithole that refuses to see the good in anything.

There is so much good and so much...not good I can say about it, so here’s a couple things. I know this show didn’t go the direction anyone wanted, but that doesn’t make it bad. In addition to the stunning fight scenes and music, the performances this season were just amazing! I literally wanted to cry every other episode even though sometimes I didn’t know why the fuck something was happening. I don’t know how I feel about Honerva’s plan. I understand her motivation, but I was constantly questioning how we got from point A to point B... so yeah the plot and writing could be...weird at times. Also everyone seemed to have super pointy chins this season...

Spoiler alert: Not many of us wanted Lance and Allura to happen, but I truly believe it wasn’t done in a half assed way. At the very least, I appreciate that they had a genuine bond that developed over so many seasons. BECAUSE YES IT DID! Anyone who says they had no development or that it felt forced never paid attention. I wanted it to stay platonic; I wanted Klance to happen, but...I can’t be too mad at the writers because they at least tried. I still believe that Klance was endgame and the creators were forced to change the outcome of the show later on. AND YES LANCE DID GET A CHARACTER ARC! It may not have been the one we wanted to see, but I’m baffled that people think Lance living with his family, surrounded by people he loves-which is what he wanted all along- is not a happy ending. I just wish his relationship with Keith wasn’t pretty much ignored all season. But I believe Allura is his past that taught him to genuinely love and Keith is his future who will make Lance his “first choice”. And I’m not even gonna try to explain how I feel about Shiro and Allura’s endings because everything I feel is so complicated and layered. There is good and there is bad.

TLDR: This show teaches us that we’re stronger together, and I think the “fandom” completely missed the point because they do nothing but tear others down and refuse to look at things from other perspectives. YOU HAVE THE RIGHT TO NOT LIKE IT, BUT YOU DON’T HAVE THE RIGHT TO TAKE AWAY OTHER PEOPLE’S ENJOYMENT AND BE A DICK ABOUT IT. It may not have been everything I wanted, but I’m glad I went on this ride. Besides, there are canonically infinite realities so there’s got to be a reality where all your dreams for the show come true. As a season, I’d say it’s a 7.5/10.

Honorable Mentions

I watched Avengers: Infinity War again. And yes it’s still great.

I’m watching Superstore because when another sitcom comes on before The Good Place, why not? Also since I finished season 5 of Brooklyn 99 I had to use my Hulu subscription for something.

Camp Camp has a holiday episode...so naturally I watched it...several times. Please watch Camp Camp.

Hellsing Ultimate Abridged finally ended, and I feel obligated to shout this out because, hey when you put out one episode a year it’s a big accomplishment to finish it!

Super Smash Bros Ultimate is finally here!!!!!!!!!!!

ALL THE WINTER ANIME IS ENDING!!! They were all so amazing! So shout out to Iroduku-The world in colors, Bloom into You, Hinomaru Sumo, Dakaichi, Banana Fish, Jingai no Yomen, Golden Kamuy, Skull-faced Bookseller Honda-san, Tsurune, AND RUN WITH THE WIND even though they’re not finished yet.

[cathygeha]

REVIEW

 Notorious by Minerva Spencer

Rebels of the Ton #1

 At first, I must admit I was not immediately taken with Drusilla and Gabriel’s story but gradually I was drawn in. Both the main characters tended to make matters worse rather than better every time they interacted with one another. I felt they were both young, at 21 and 24, to be in the position they were but also acting younger than their years…at lest in some ways. But, as I mentioned, I did begin to understand them both, warm to them and hope they would start communicating, sort through their feelings, and find a way to move forward together.

 I also thought about the culture, times, my own marriage to an Arab over forty years ago, the movies The Wind and the Lion and Ben Hur, and the book The Sea Hawk. I went on to think about what it would have been like if I had been the slave who mothered Gabriel and that also put a different spin on the story. I spent some time before writing this review and found that Oran is a place in Algeria, that there were Barbary Wars and one of those wars took place a bit like was mentioned in this book, and that whites from Europe were frequently captured and sold as slaves by the Barbary pirates…over centuries. So, the story is based in fact and that makes it another positive mark in my book.

 Drusilla and Gabriel would never have made a match together if circumstances had not been such that it was necessitated. They probably would have limped along together living separate lives and begetting children as many in the Ton did if their relationship had not grown and matured. The fact that these two finally were able to come together as a united couple took a great deal of compromise on both of their parts and I admire them for it although I wish they had not had to be unkind and hurtful to one another before that took place. And yet, it seemed real and part of the story even when I wanted to shake one or the other of them, sit them down and give them a talking to. I think the main thing I would have told them would be to open up, speak the truth, share, care and not hide what they were thinking and feeling due to fear of…whatever they were afraid of.

 I am curious to find out what will happen in the next book and though Eva doesn’t seem to end up with the man who loves her it should be an interesting read. Characters I want to hear more about are Eva, Godric, Godric’s missing sister, and Byer

 Did I like this book? Yes…I came to like it well

Would I read more in this series?  Yes

 Thank you to NetGalley and Kensington Books for the ARC – This is my honest review.

 4-5 Stars

    BLURB

 Critically acclaimed author Minerva Spencer brings a rebellious spirit to the Regency with a vibrant new series focused on how the youth of that era subvert the social expectations and mores of the day in order to carve their own paths in life. Full of witty humor, Minerva Spencer weaves a tale of an forthright and unapologetically opinionated lady and the effortlessly charming rogue who find themselves thrown together by a fluke of circumstance and into a marriage of necessity. Can the wallflower and the rake find common ground in their distaste for convention and forge a lasting union? The cure for a willful wife... Drusilla Clare is full of opinions about why a woman shouldn't marry. But that doesn't stop the rush of desire she feels each time her best friend's brother, notorious rake Gabriel Marlington, crosses her path. So imagine her dismay when she finds herself in the clutches of a scoundrel, only to be rescued by Gabriel himself. And when Gabriel's heartless—and heart-pounding—proposal comes, it's enough to make Dru's formidable resolve crumble... ...is a smitten husband. She's sharp-tongued, exasperating—and due to one careless moment—about to become his wife. Still, something about Drusilla has Gabriel intrigued. First there's the delicious flush of her skin every time she delivers a barb—and then the surprisingly sensual feel of her in his arms. Gabriel even finds himself challenged by her unusual philosophies. And when he discovers a clandestine rival for Dru's affection, his temperature flares even hotter. But the real threat to their happiness is one neither of the newlyweds sees coming. If they're to save their future—and their very lives—they'll need to trust in each other and their growing love.

[italianpersonwithashippersheart]

This is a rant post. I am on mobile and can't put a read more so feel free to ignore this and sorry if it's long. So I have the bad habit to check blogs I unfollowed after big events in the skam fandom to see a different opinion on the one that I have. THIS IS A BAD IDEA, ESPECIALLY IN THIS FANDOM. I am going to try my best to censor the names of the remakes I am going to criticize because I do not want this to end up in their tag or search results. I think this fandom is full of hypocrites. Maybe not full but there are a lot of them. Things are forgiven or explained away simply depending on which remake u like best. I will make examples mostly with dru** and esp*** because that's where I saw it most but I am not excluding the possibility it's also in other remakes. This is not a callout of any specific blog nor it's an invitation to spread hate around. It's a personal rant post. I will to start talking about skam france s5 announcement. - arthur is not mahdi, he is not a whitewash version of that character they are different chs. The only thing they have in common is the weed thing and the fight with lucas. And actually basille is pretty much an original ch too, sure he gets with daphne and has a bipolar mom. But again that's it. They even have different ways to say dumb stuff. -Also all this talk about if arthur is bi they should have given that to alexia because skam is for girls is pretty insulting to the guys that are in this fandom. I thought skam was for teens. - if we want to get technical druck did the same. abdi and carlos are not mahdi and magnus, carlos gets with kiki and that's about the only similarity. - Going back to the it's for girls and that was the point and that's why skam esp**** making just the girl season is a good thing. I don't care that Julie said that was the orginal plan she changed her mind, if that was the plan still when she finish season 1 should have not have ended with the isak is gay twist and she should have not have given an entire subplot plus another twist to him at the end of s2. - a related point to the above. U can't convince me she wanted to make a cris season. Og cris is not even full character. She loves to party, likes sex with guys and is friend with vilde. That's it. Even the clip of her in the final ep was about vilde and her friendship with vilde. - people loved to point out that the italia pool kiss from s2 didn't feel as relevant because in the og the even wanted to recreate the romeo and juliet kiss. Which I agree with. But No one has pointed out that the same could be said for esp*** - speaking off. Cris from esp*** is not isak. They gave the same love story and turn her love interest into a girl. But that's it. Some scenes are similar but also totally different. And I am the only one that feels cheated because they claimed to have made an orginal season and then didn't. Or the fact that they handle the bisexuality of cris really badly. - Dr**k is even more queerbaiting then the og with the girls. And god forbid u point out how horrible they handled mia being bi. The height of hypocrisy was seeing people that did criticize mia bi story suddenly change their mind after s3 because they can't be critical of their superior remake. - dru** also completely erased the mental health storyline. And no I am not counting matteo because the narrative wants u to believe that all of that was because he was in the closet and/or away from david, but now they are happy and it's all gone. And no I do not think a libe about maybe him going to a shrink would be enough. - the fact that so many people keep supporting esp*** even after the panphoic cast and crew just because of the first wlw season is also hypocrisy. And if the cast had said that about any other ltbq identity it probably would not have been tolerated. - if you don't like a remake u should not make posts about it. If you don't think a cis gay teen season can vring u anything new because u saw a lot already don't watch them. The remakes weren't made for the international fans, but for the TEENS is each country. - criticism of a media u like is ok and good. But when that turns into just bashing it and call it every bad thing u can think off it's a sign u might need to stop making post about it. - I don't think it's fair to demand certain writers/crew apologize for fucking up bit not say the same about other remakes. U either want all of them including Julie to apologize or no one should. - like in that post with neil talking about s4 I do not think he was bashing Julie a lot, if not all, of what he said as criticism are pretty much word for word what the fandom has been saying about og s4. Do I think they fucked up and didn't handle the season with as much care as the previous one, yep. Do I think that it would be great if they acknowledged that the fans were not that happy about s4, yeah. Do I think we should demand for them do so or cancel then forever NO. I also wanted for Julie to apologize for queerabaiting the fans with 3 of the girls. I wanted her to apologize for the noorwhilem (not sure that's how that is spelled, whatever) story in s4 or just in general given how toxic it is. But hse hasn't and pretty much no one ask her. All she said is that s4 was messy because it was the last one, which is an excuse pure and simple. Now that I think about it, no one has demanded the writes for skam nl to apologize for majorly screwing up their s2 either. - in general this fandom can be exhausting and full of hypocrisy and it's super hard on my mental health and it has made me want to stop being a part of this fandom at times. Ok rant over. Sorry for the long wall of text. I needed to say this. Feel free to reblog just don't tag the remakes I censored. Comments are encouraged but only if they aren't hate or rude.

[annajour]

Shadowhunters Rant

So, listen.

 I want to be nice and civil about this but I think that I need to address a few things about the Shadowhunter fam (books and tv show). So the Shadowhunter fandom was one of the first fandoms that I really got interested in. 

I read the books a few months before City of Heavenly Fire came out, so it was a while ago, in 2014. Fun fact, that probably no one cares about, I actually first started reading these books because my sister had them way back in 2007. So yeah, those books have been around for a while.

 After I read the books, I was totally obsessed so I went and I watched the movie. I didn’t like it that much, but I was still excited that it was a movie so I looked up when the next movie was coming out.

 I found out that the movie was probably not going to happen. Which, for me, was okay, because I had these amazing books that I absolutely loved, with amazing characters. And even if there wasn’t a screen adaptation, I had the books. 

Well then, a year or so later (I can’t remember) information came out and said that there was going to be a Shadowhunters tv show. Great! I was actually super excited and I stayed up to date with all of the casting announcements. I think that I speak for the fandom when I say that we were all really happy that it was going to be made into a tv show. We also had really high hopes, since the movie was okay, but not a success. 

Then the first episode aired. I don’t really think I can express the disappointment I had when I watched it. I mean, I was sort of expecting something to be exactly like the books and I felt like there were so many things that were wrong with it. I watch the whole season but constantly saw myself criticizing it. 

I watch the first few episode of season 2, I was like, that’s it I’m done. I didn’t watch it for a few months. But then I realized something. 

I was looking at this as an adaptation. I wanted everything to be the same. I wanted all the characters to look like I imagined. 

But the tv show was a tv show. It was not the books, and it was created by different people. I had to stop comparing the books and tv show. Because if I had not read the books, then I probably would have thought that the tv show was really interesting and okay. 

So I went and I watched the rest of Season 2. And I actually sort of enjoyed some parts of it. 

It was a big surprise. 

So I think that as a fandom, we need to let go of our criticism. Listen, the tv show is not the books. Not everything is going to be the same. Let us just look at them separately.

Though I do have some problems with the show (dialogue, acting, lens flares) I think that it is an okay show. It’s not great, but I hope that as the plot progresses, so will the quality. 

Now, let’s move onto the books. I used to love those books. Absolutely glorify them. I think that as I become older and that as I read more from Cassie, my opinions change. 

There was a time (about a year ago) when I absolutely hated her books. I debated selling all of my books that I have from her as well as some of her other merchandise. I was blaming her writing for something that didn't have anything to do with her. It was very personal, so I won’t say what it was, but I was using her as a scapegoat. 

Anyway, ever since then, my image of her has sort of been tarnished, and that’s not the only reason why. On May 23, her newest book, Lord of Shadows, came out. If you have not read that book yet, then do not read past this point. SPOILERS.

So in that book, a few things happened that really made me angry. Recently I saw a post that talked about it and I realized how true it was. We, as readers put our trust in her to make us happy. That is an authors job. To entertain the audience. And I sort of think that in LoS, she didn’t do a great job with that. 

While I did enjoy lots of parts of LoS, I wasn’t that interested in the main characters, even though when Lady Midnight came out (the previous book) I was obsessed with Emma and Julian. 

I think that in LM, Cassie did a perfect job of suspense and provided the perfect plot line of discovering Emma and Julians real relationship. It was a sort of when will they just get together type of situation. 

But in LoS, the plot just felt so... lacking. I mean yeah, it was interesting, but the Jemma plot? Not so much. You knew what was going to happen and honestly I’m starting to really not like Julian. He’s so dark... he’s like: oh yeah I’m a good person but I’d totally kill an innocent child if it meant something about protecting my family. 

For me, I’m just not interested in dark Julian. 

And then we get to the end. And she’s killed of Livvy. 

Now as I read LoS, I realized that Livvy was one of my favorite characters, along with Dru. I mean Livvy was so strong and she would do anything for her brother. A sibling relationship like that is something that we need to see more in YA literature. 

And then Livvy dies. 

Now I don’t know if this is a permanent death, because we’ve all thought someone was dead in Cassie’s books but then it turns out they’re not. So maybe Livvy’s not like that. 

And you know, I’m all for character deaths. Because people die in real life. And as an author myself, I see how a character death adds to the plot. It’s something so interesting and it really adds more conflict, which makes the plot more interesting. 

But Livvy’s death? Not necessary. Not only that but I think that generally, we see so much bad and unhappy things in the world. Sometimes we just need to realize that there are happy things. 

Anyway, Livvy’s death really upset me and I think it’s completely unnecessary. 

Now there were tons of things that I liked about LoS, so don’t think that I absolutely am hating on Cassie, because I’m not, I love her, I’m just pointing out a few things that I think need to be addressed. Constructive criticism is always a good idea. 

I really excited for the last hours; I love a good historical fiction book. And I can’t wait for the sizzy plot line in the tv show. Sorry that this is so long, and thanks to any soul who reads this whole thing. 

[valntinemorgenstern]

Review: Lord of Shadows

★★★★★

As always, my thoughts on Cassandra Clare’s books are prolific, multiplicitous, entangled, sometimes joyous and delighted, sometimes troubled and difficult; I could happily write numerous lectures and essays on this woman’s books, and Lord of Shadows comes as no exception. So, in the interest of keeping this as readable as possible, the first section of this review will contain my general thoughts, and the section after it, a more detailed (and, probably, sweary and incoherent) fangirl mess list of my very spoilery thoughts/opinions/feelings.

General 

In my opinion, Lord of Shadows is a huge improvement on Lady Midnight (I wrote an exceedingly long review on it last year that more resembled a disorganised splurge, but in sum:). For me, LM was an enjoyable, enthralling read as Cassandra’s books always are, but I was baffled by the claims that it was her best-ever book. For me, it consistently failed to hit the right chord, the characters didn’t spark on the page; the pacing lagged, and then rushed; I had a multitude of issues with plot, structure and character decisions. Most of all, the characters failed to draw me to them in the way that I was accustomed to with most of Cassie’s vast cast of characters. I’m pleased to say that I feel mostly over all of that now. I’m certain that this was also present in LM, but I think I appreciated this a lot more, given how much easier I was with the story as a whole — I was consistently impressed in this instalment with the quality of writing. LoS is strewn with some fantastically lyrical, poetic flashes of prose that, as I was reading, I just had to kind of sit back in astonishment, turning over that scintillating metaphor, or that line of dialogue, or that paragraph of description in my mind. At the risk of repeating myself, it’s obvious that Cassandra is, stylistically, far more mature, daring and sophisticated than the Cassandra writing TMI 6 years ago (I also think that this is related to a greater tendency to indulge in some flowery and exploratory prose, hence the ever-growing length of her books, but I’m not complaining).

I think by nature of the fact that this was the second in the series, there was no time that had to be spent lingering over long expositions and the tediousness of setting up unfamiliar characters; it didn’t take 300 pages for the motor to start turning. One of the developments that surprised me was how much the narrative eye in this instalment really starts to wander from Emma / Julian as its primary focus, as it mostly is in LM. I absolutely loved how much it started to scoop up the rest of the Blackthorn family, and even other characters like Arthur and Kit (though I can imagine there are some Jemma fans who might be a bit disappointed with this decision). For me, having this distance from Emma’s POV was wonderful / I really welcomed the opportunity to attach myself more deeply to other characters (to be honest, I wasn’t hugely enamoured with Emma in LM) and this made the story so much easier to invest in. In the end, it has actually warmed me to Emma a lot more, so I’m happy.

Very Spoilery 

FREAKED OUT by how many things I ended up predicting (without knowing I ws predicting them?) Consistently dogged by the feeling of déjà-vu and that I’d secretly thought that thing might happen. By no means had an exhaustive list of theories, only a couple of solid ones, and the rest ephemeral, half-baked, flippant daydreams of ‘oh, what if x got with x? wouldn’t THAT be a twist!’ and then….it happened. It happened with: Dru and Jaime becoming a thing (what sort of thing has yet to be seen, but HMM); Kit x Livvy (like, Livvy what even was that? hey you’re a male; you’re in my line of sight!); Arthur’s death (this is a whole topic in itself and Don’t Get Started™); the hinting that Ty and Kit may become parabatai in lieu of an immediately romantic relationship (their dynamic reminds me so much of Will and Jem) and thus HA HA history repeats itself in both ways…

OVERJOYED about the fact that Mark x Emma never properly materialised. Last year, this was not only an alarmingly popular ship, I thought, but also one that Cassandra seemed to be teasing would be become canonical in LoS. At this point I legitimately and seriously considered whether or not I’d bother reading Lord of Shadows, as this was probably the biggest NOTP I’d ever had. It was a deal breaker for me. So, very pleased.

I went into this determined not to ship Mark / Cristina / Kieran as a three way, and wow oh WOW, did Cassie utterly, remorselessly obliterate this! Major, major FUCKING KUDOS to Cassie’s skill and craft here for managing to completely overturn the way I feel about this polyamorous ship. I completely take back everything I said about feeling uncomfortable with this, because DUDE I am struggling to see how they’re gonna avoid a threesome at some point. This ship is electric and has so much chemistry, I’m not gonna lie, there were moments where I was thinking I was shipping it even more than Jemma…

LOVED everything in Faerie. Just! Ugh! Loved how dark and dreamy it was and the high-fantasy overtones and how reminiscent it was of mythology and Goblin Market and Arthurian romance.

All the classical + 18/19th literature allusions! The lit student in me was elated. ‘The nightmare life in death was she’ MY SOUL WAS IN COMMUNION WITH YOU CASSIE.

So lovely to return to London again! (and, woah, wasn’t expecting them to be there most of the book?) Tempered, though, by its portrayal as run-down, neglected Institute that has (somehow? I WANNA KNOW CASSIE) fallen out of The Herondale’s hands and into the management of The Highsmiths? Made me very sad indeed to see this.

i could write a whole meta of the depiction of Herondales in this book. (Lmao for a series allegedly supposed to focus on the Blackthorns and, for once, not-about-the-herondales, they still end up being a pretty damn important)

There is like, not a single POV from Kit (shocked by how huge his role is in this book?) where his Herondaleness is being mentioned, questioned or alluded to. HA I EAT THIS SHIT UP

How delightfully frustrating that, with regards to Kit, far more questions posed than answered. (The woman in his dreams? So he remembers his mother? How come only now? How the hell do the seven riders of Mannan have anything to do with him / how do they recognise him? Evidently the mysteries surrounding his heritage are tangled up in Faerie as well…) Loved how protective he was of Ty, and how brilliantly they work together. In LM, Kit was depicted as very sheltered and innocent, but he really comes into his own in LoS — loved how he was starting to mould what he’d learnt from his father with what he was learning as a Shadowhunter.

TMI DREAM TEAM REAPPEARANCES FUCK YESSSSSSSSSS MAGNUS YOU’RE A BABE AND HAVE THEY MADE STATUES OF JACE YET??

THE ENDING

T H E  E N D I N G

T   H   E     E  N  D  I  N  G

WHAT IN GOD’S NAME

It was like: trundling along nicely, some angst, but danger is mostly over, cue some boring meetings (Idris tho!! I have missed you!) and then — BANG BANG BANG BANG! Magnus (and Tessa?!) is/have been illWHAT?! Robert is dead, and Livvy is dead. CHRIST ALIVE. One thing after the other.

Did not see any of that coming. At all. Gut-wrenchingly, heart-stoppingly shocking stuff. I had to put the book down, and gaping, looked up laughingly and whispered a series of profanities to myself. That said, I expected Robert to die at the end of TMI (and was sincerely surprised he managed to survive it — had a whole theory about it) and wondered, at the time, why Cassie kept him going. Now I see why she waited till now: a strategic decision, so that there would have formed a dark force i.e. the Cohort to replace the vacuum his death as Inquisitor would leave with.

Livvy!!! I am so, terribly sad.

I am also so so scared for Queen of Air and Darkness.