#just want domestic malina :(

[romantichopelessly]

Shadow and Bone Season 2 Final Thoughts

I am going to split this into a SaB section and a SoC section, since I have very different thoughts on them.

Shadow and Bone

The Malina this season was EXCELLENT. Good stuff, excellent changes made on the front of Mal’s insane jealousy and miscommunication.

Gibson’s Nikolai was. So perfect?? I loved so much about him. He was just the right amount of dutiful and roguish, and I loved him.

Genya carried this season. The acting was so well done and always moving. She got the most tears out of me this season. Her confrontation with the queen & that scene in the last episode really got me.

No “I am not ruined. I am ruination.” Which was severely disappointing. I’m genuinely surprised it wasn’t there, because they kept in characters calling her ruined.

Tamar/Nadia were in just the perfect amount. They got crumbs in the book so I’m glad they at least got something here.

GenyaDavid was CARRYING this season. Every scene with those two was so heartachy. I cannot believe they moved up David’s death. But I’m not mad at it.

No “I am become a blade”. Honestly kind of glad for this kind of disappointed. It was funny as hell but also it would have been out of place so.

No Oncat???? Unforgivable omission.

Zoya deserved a bit more this season. Part of me felt like they shouldn’t have brought her in on the Shu Han side quest because she did so little there. She just felt like another body. Which she didn’t deserve.

The ending. Was so much and so much change that I have mixed feelings about. But props on them for taking the initiative to change that much.

Alina’s ending. I’m glad she didn’t have to lose her powers. While the epilogue with her running her fingers through sunlight she cannot bend is heartbreakingly good, I always disliked that ending for her. She deserved more than just a powerless domestic life because she wanted more. Yes she wanted to be able to be with Mal and be free, and I want that for her, but it shouldn’t have been at the cost of her powers.

Mal becoming a privateer is. I’m unsure of how I feel about it right now. It feels odd, because Mal has always said he only wants a calm life with Alina. But I get why they’re giving him this open ending, so they can continue. Which, by the last scene, they obviously plan to continue the SaB side of things into a King of Scars type story.

Nikolai’s ending. I am SO glad they went ahead and showed signs of his demon side. It honestly was good that they didn’t have him turn earlier in the season, because it would have felt cramped with everything else, especially when we just met him.

I do think Alina and Nikolai continuing the engagement is weird though. Why would they do that? How will it affect any possible future next season, especially if they’re going in KoS territory, with Zoyalai?

Six of Crows

Starting with the positives here: Nina CARRIED the crows this season. She was perfect. Annoyed with Kaz from the start. EXCELLENT with Inej and with Jesper a bit.

Similarly, the Helnik was perfect and heartbreaking. Just the right pacing even with the changes. They broke me. And the last scene of them actually killed me, I think.

For episodes 1&2 all I could think about with Wylan was how well they were capturing him. Just the right amount of genuine kindness and naïveté and snark.

I liked how they upped the violence for the crows. Everyone got to get a hit in. Kaz was a great step up in ruthlessness. Inej grew, and Nina actually got to use her powers effectively. And Wylan got some good shots in.

Episode 4 really threw me off with the crows though. I cannot believe that they added a scene from the last 100 pages of Crooked Kingdom to this season. Before the Ice Court. Kaz finishing off Pekka is the end of his arc. How on earth are they going to have him do the actions that it takes to get through the Ice Court Heist if he isn’t working to gain power and tear down Rollins?

Obviously they’re setting up Rollins to come back and be a threat again but how will that work?? He knows who Nina is. The CK heist hinges on Van Eck and Rollins not knowing who Nina is.

Wesper getting together actually made me feel dread as I watched it. I view the show and books as very separate, that’s how I enjoy them, but I couldn’t wrap my head around how they thought this was a good idea beyond fan service. Having Wesper together right off the bat ruins both of their character arcs. If they’re together before their growth, none of it means anything. Even in the show, to make it work, they had to fast track two very important reveals for them.

I was fine with Jesper’s Durast powers being revealed this season. I even expected it. I thought Inej and Kaz would find out, or say they knew this season. And maybe Jesper would use his powers in secret. But no. Everyone knew by the end of the season, and he barreled through self acceptance in like 3 episodes. WITHOUT A SINGLE COLM APPEARANCE. Do you get how bad that is?? Colm is integral to Jesper’s shame, and he didn’t even show up, and though I like the scene with his mom in theory, how will Jesper and Colm have any good tension now? How will SoC and CK even work if Jesper has already solved the biggest source of his self esteem issues AND his gambling problem?

Which, by the way, insanely weird his addiction didn’t really come up this season. It was mentioned once or twice but really had no effect on his character. Which. Addiction doesn’t turn on and off.

Wylan’s illiteracy came out way too soon as well. He didn’t really get a chance to prove himself before Jesper found out, which. I can’t even articulate now why I hate that so much. I’ll have to make a separate post.

Back to Wesper speedrun. We can’t have so many critical Wesper scenes because of this. No “not just girls”. No Kuwei kiss, unless it’s a huge stretch in miscommunication when they’re already dating. No “I was paying attention” when Genya tailors Wylan because of course it’s not a surprise he knows his face if they’re dating.

Another one of my favorite scenes that won’t work now: The Kaz and Jesper Big Fight. Jesper knows who Jordie is already. It loses all tension.

Inej’s ending also really bothered me. Her having freedom and starting her hunt for slavers BEFORE the Ice Court? I genuinely don’t see how they can make the ICH work at this point. How will these characters ever come back together? Why would Inej come back? Just because Jurda Parem was an issue? Because if so, I feel they’ll be leaning too much into the Crows being pawns of the crown, which ultimately destroys their purpose. They aren’t chosen ones in ANY CAPACITY. Yes, Inej may do things for more moral reasons, but in the end she doesn’t work for the crown. Because of how they treat the Suli, especially.

[lesbian-books]

Lesbian Historical Fiction

Fingersmith by Sarah Waters

Victorian England, 1860s. A con artist hires a London pickpocket to help him obtain the fortune of a naïve heiress.

Beyond the Screen Door by Julia Diana Robertson

Washington, USA, 1945. Two best friends grow up together and start to fall in love. One of them can see ghosts, but this is not a scary book.

Cantoras by Carolina De Robertis

Uruguay, 1977. During the military dictatorship, homosexual people were persecuted, imprisoned, and tortured. Five women (three lesbians and two bisexuals) manage to find each other and cultivate a friendship that will last for decades.

Club Storyville by Riley LaShea

Virginia, USA, 1944. A girl raised to be a “proper lady” falls in love with a nurse who comes to care for her sick grandmother.

Belladonna by Anbara Salam

Italy, 1950s. An insecure teenage girl develops a toxic obsession with her beautiful and popular best friend. As the girls graduate high school and attend an art school, their relationship becomes complicated by sexual lust and secrecy.

Lies We Tell Ourselves by Robin Talley

Virginia, USA, 1959. Sarah is one of the first black students to attend her previously all-white high school. She becomes acquainted with a white student named Linda, whose father is a major opponent of desegregation.

Shaken to the Core by Jae

California, USA, 1906. Giuliana, a working class Sicilian immigrant woman, goes to work as a maid for a rich American family. The daughter of the family, Kate, is expected to marry a rich man and have children, but Kate wants to be financially independent and be with a woman. This book is set in the time period of the real life 1906 San Francisco earthquake, one of the deadliest natural disasters in U.S. history, which killed over 3000 people and destroyed most of the city.

Last Night at the Telegraph Club by Malina Lo

California, USA, 1950s. A Chinese-American girl has a lesbian awakening, makes friends with another lesbian at her school, and discovers the vibrant nightlife in lesbian bars.

Matrix by Lauren Groff

England, 1150s. A young French woman named Marie is forced to go to an English convent to become the new prioress. The nuns are living in hunger and squalor when Marie arrives, and when she takes charge she transforms the fate of the convent and the lives of the nuns into something better and more successful than they could have imagined.

Click “Keep reading” for content warnings. Minor spoilers ahead.

Content warnings for Fingersmith: abuse, including child abuse

Content warnings for Beyond the Screen Door: child abuse, domestic violence

Content warnings for Cantoras: abuse, child sexual abuse, corrective rape, marital rape, suicide

Content warnings for Lies We Tell Ourselves: racist abuse. Additional note: This book does not hold back from depicting the racism and homophobia of the time. It has also been criticised for its portrayal of an oppressed person falling in love with their oppressor, and rightfully so because that aspect could have been done better, but at the same time I don’t think that lesbian relationships in books have to always be written as flawlessly healthy and morally pure, just as hetero relationships often are not. If Linda had abandoned all her racist beliefs immediately and rededicated her goals to supporting black civil rights, then the book would have been criticised for being too unrealistic, imo.

[cocoanmelaninsims]

Aurora Falls S1E4

Felicity: We were married in 2020 in a gorgeous ceremony. He went all out and no expense was spared. I truly loved him then. But as you know people change and he wasted no time.

"After the wedding, his demeanor changed. I went from being a research scientist to being a housewife. He didn’t want me to work."

Diego: Looks good. You’re getting better. We’ll be getting a new addition to the family soon. I figured you should hear it from me.

Diego: I plan to arrange a meeting soon. She’s requested adoption but I can’t have my illegitimate child just floating around out there. You’ll have to make due.

Felicity: Diego we havent even been married a month and you’re telling me you’ve had an affair!? And the child from your affair is going to live here! WHAT?

Eliza: That’s certainly a way to start a marriage. I’d love to examine the prenuptial agreement you signed. Does it have an infidelity clause?

“I remember he matter of factly smoked a cigarette and told me she was a libra like me. I was furious. Told him to go to hell.”

Felicity: It does. But as I’ve said the money isn’t what I’m after. A week later I met the most beautiful little girl I’d ever seen and because I was bewitched by her, I stayed.

“In the meantime I cared for my husband and my new stepdaughter. While he managed his whores. Any confrontation of this fact to him and he’d hit me and threaten to kick me out, never to see Malina again. You can see how good of an incentive there was to endure quietly.”

“ I remember a time I was putting Malina to bed and he was downstairs with Dina Caliente. Needless to say I made a fucking scene.”

“This bitch was having wine out of my wine glasses. with my husband. By our pool.”

“I didn’t handle it well. We were both yelling at each other.”

“The most annoying part was Dina and Diego acting like they hadn’t done anything wrong. And he just stood there while fought.”

“In any event this situation was the one that taught me to keep my mouth shut and endure. Dina left soon after that.”

“He was clear when he grabbed me by the hair that he would have no more of my outbursts."

“Out of fear I apologized. Even still it wouldnt be the last time he got violent with me.”

Felicity: And before you ask, I have filed reports. He has friends in the Willow Creek Police Department. Nothing ever really came of them. He talked himself out of getting arrested the one time there was physical evidence.

Nancy: Domestic Violence drastically increases our chances of winning here. That’s a clear reason for danger.

Felicity: I appreciate your valiant efforts. As long as the main focus is on getting me custody of my daughter Malina.

[mystic-lilac]

King of the North

Week 2 of college and I still find time to draw! Anyways here’s a portrait of one of my Original Characters, King Nord Forbannet of Talvi

Some backstory for Nord is that him and his family were nobles under the previous royal family until the family got corrupt. After the Royals raised armies to start a sudden war against Dayitra (A neighboring kingdom) Nord withheld his troops calling the war unjust, thus starting a civil war in Talvi. This civil war, later called the War of the Councillors, saw powerful noble families in Talvi fight each other for either royal favor or to put up Nord as the new king. Initially Nord wasn’t fighting for a new royal family and just wanted more power for the nobility until his younger brothers were captured and executed by the King to “punish” Nord for his treason. After his brother’s deaths, Nord changed his stance and fought to put himself on the throne through right of conquest. After the war was won and Nord was crowned King of Talvi with his wife, Malina, being crowned as consort. Their son and heir, Aksel, was born during the War of the Councillors but he was soon joined by two younger sisters, Mia and Anne, after the war’s end. While people feared Nord initially since there was a lot of propaganda about him being a bloodthirsty war machine he actually was a very rational and warm leader. He focused on the flourishing arts and science during his reign and sponsored playwrights and schools. He spent most of his time domestically but he was still warm towards the other kingdoms and always sought out diplomatic solutions before jumping to war like his predecessor.

[ilovefredjones]

i fucking hateeeee the malina tag on ao3 i just saw a s&b/twilight au where alina was bella and the d*rkling was carlisle 😐 keep your gross shit out of the tag!!!!!!!!!

[titsthedamnseason]

i kept thinking id seen the worst row had to offer but then it kept going progressively downhill

[greensaplinggrace]

i saw your rant a few minutes ago and now i just saw a r&r ending analysis post and.. i feel you. i really did think, hey maybe i missed something and they can make me like it ! but no. the post was great and all but completely downplayed the major problems. smh

Yeah that was the post I was referencing, although in general most posts defending the ending seem to follow the same rote - and I've read a lot of posts like that because I really really want to like it. I adore Malina as a ship and the fact that they could live together in a little domestic life was honestly so appealing to me, especially with the way they run an orphanage and help kids and recover from their trauma and PTSD together. That's an ending they deserved! But the way it happened was so harmful in such a number of ways that I just have such difficulty getting behind it.

The posts in defense of the ending are always very well written and very intelligent, is the thing, and they always raise great points about the characters and the arcs and the writing, but they always, always miss the biggest and most crucial critiques of the ending. I mentioned this in the tags of my rant, but I had a reblog on one of my posts critiquing the ending that defended it brilliantly... except that it didn't actually address any of the issues I'd raised. In fact, it missed the point of the original post entirely, to make up other stuff to talk about instead.

It's like... people defending the ending always defend it against the lesser attacks that are easier to debate, and they always downplay the larger issues with the structuring of the narrative as a whole and the bigger implications of what happened.

[thistledots]

I just finished the first two books of the Shadow and Bone trilogy and this Darklina trash is shookt. I now realize why they had to build up the Darklina ship so much in the show (all the simping and domesticated fluff between alina and darkling that didn’t seem to be in the books Hello!!?) even when Malina is obviously canon. It could only be PAIN. I feel like they are going to shove it to us Darklina fans real good on the second season and I’m just not ready to see my problematic ship in ruins when it just barely sailed in season 1. I feel like that very last kiss Ben Barnes added to their war room scene with Alina was actually a final goodbye kiss to their ship because after that their characters’ dynamics are never EVER going to be the same again. Can I just forget about the original Trilogy and stay forever in the show adaptation ?! Tears. I just want them to live forever and be happy you know? 🥲🥲🥲

[ilovefredjones]

i’m making it my personal mission to write so many malina fics they cancel out all the d*rklina fics in the malina tag