#like i just never realized that we never really had truly happy and together herongraystairs

[aleclightofmylifewoodbane]

Do you know what the absolute worst thing about Jem Will and Tessa is? They really only had a few months of all three of them being together in the grand scheme of things. They all lived long lives, Jem and Tessa especially, but they only really had all three of them as themselves together for a few scant months, and those months were fraught with danger and miscommunication. They were never able to love each other fully and openly as three full people together and that is the worst thing that has ever been taken from us I think.

[rebrandingplsstandby]

Ok here we go, I finished the book and I need a moment to react to that ending!!! (COI Spoilers abound)

SOOOOOO I definitely knew Cordelia and Matthew were going to “get together” in SOME sense before the end of the book and of course it would be whenever James FINALLY realized he loved Cordelia and that what he had with Grace was fake but I was still kadjoaifjowefowkefoid when they just ran off to PARIS. I candjwofwfjke.

Not gonna lie I kind of love it. Here’s the thing. I actually love Cordelia and James as a couple, and I’m sort of surprised. The only time I loved a main pairing in the entire gd Shadowhunter series (when I say main pairing I mean MAIN--I didn’t like clace or jemma. Don’t get it twisted, I loved plenty of side pairings) before COI was the Will-Tessa-Jem triangle of love. And I mean, who didn’t love that? And in TLH I gotta be honest, I DON’T love the triangle--like, in the sense that it’s not the same vibes as herongraystairs all and I don’t think it’s supposed to be. I don’t hate Matthew, but I’m not rooting for him and Cordelia as of right now. But I’m okay with that, and that’s what gets me!

I just...it’s so juicy lmao. And that whole scene in Matthew’s apartment. How Matthew admits he loves her, and how she never says she loves him back and she knows it and he knows it but they also still agree to run off together??? And they both seem very happy --while simultaneously being so, so miserable--about it??? And James chasing them all the way to the train, I!!! Like, I cannot wait for C and M to find out about the bracelet. It’s going to be intense. And awful. But in the best way. It’s just so truly tragic. I do genuinely feel so so deeply for James. Grace really fucked up this boy’s life. 

I keep thinking about how much I enjoyed COI, and I can definitely see being put off by the endless miscommunications in this book, and all of the dramatic interruptions and emotional cliff hangers but. But. Oh boy. For me that’s what these books are all about. The drama I just experienced is so classic, but somehow unique enough to not feel overdone (to me). And of course I have some deeper thoughts about how Paris is going to go, and the ‘no drinking’ rule and how that’s going to work out...but I can’t collect those right now, I’m still absorbing it all.

And all this is not to mention my thoughts on...literally EVERYTHING else that happened in this book :)