#bc the darkling is just SO ridiculous

[goblins-riddles-or-frocks]

No Hellsing because I sadly don't know her but Nikolina + 9 for the 50 tropes thing? ✨

9. There’s only one bed and we sleep as far away as possible from each other but wake up cuddling

AFDHFFHJD so… answering this nearly a full year later. I had this like 90% done in my drafts for ages and forgot to actually post it. I only remembered because I was scrolling through my inbox for any fun prompts I might do and saw the ask.

Anyway, ambiguously set at some point during R&R after the gang escape the white cathedral and meet up with Nikolai again. Let’s pretend Nikolina got separated from the rest somehow lmao

Featuring a Darkling tether cameo bc I am who I am as a person, I guess!

***

Alina didn’t mind sharing a room— it was more cost efficient, and likely safer if they had to leave in a hurry. Sharing a bed was a little more uncomfortable though.

“I think the innkeeper may have misunderstood,” Nikolai said slowly.

“It’s fine,” she grumbled, too exhausted to care very much. She sank heavily onto the one bed, unraveling the shawl around her neck that hid the collar. “It’s only one night.”

“I could try to get another room?”

She shook her head. That would just draw more attention to them, the last thing they needed was to be memorable.

They had been mostly camping out in the woods at night, trying to steer clear of populated areas as best they could. They wouldn’t have been staying at the inn at all if Sturmhond didn’t have contacts they were intending to meet in the morning. Contacts that might even help lead them to the rest of the group. Alina hoped they were safe.

Nikolai sat down beside her. “I’ll have you know, I snore horribly.”

“Wonderful.”

He gave the bed an exaggerated pat. “It doesn’t seem like a very good bed, to be honest. I don’t think it even has fleas. I could just take the floor.”

She snorted. “Don’t be ridiculous. It’s no use if you’re stiff as a board in the morning. What if you have to run away because you bad mouthed someone?”

“That would be unfortunate.”

“You just stay on your side, and I’ll stay on mine.” And truthfully she was too exhausted to care much about propriety at the moment. And sleeping on an actual bed was a very enticing prospect. She suspected Nikolai was probably feeling the same way.

“I can’t wait to tell Oretsev you insisted on sharing a bed.”

She turned to glare at him. “I could still change my mind. No gloating.”

He held up his hands placatingly, but his grin didn’t slip. “Fine, fine. I’ll leave that part out of the tales of our daring exploits.”

“I just hope we’ll get a chance to recount tales at all,” she replied.

And that was that for the moment. They busied themselves the rest of the evening taking the opportunity to replenish their supplies, and prepare for the travel yet ahead of them. It was a careful thing, they both had recognizable faces. And the last thing they wanted was to be caught before the rendezvous in the morning.

Alina took her turn washing while Nikolai ventured out again to get food.

She’d quickly dressed again and was brushing out her wet hair when she heard it, smooth as silk, almost a whisper. “Where are you, Alina?”

Somehow, she didn’t jump. Though she felt the Darkling’s cool gaze on her. Though her stomach twisted with sudden dread. “I think telling you defeats the point of being in hiding.”

“Why run, Alina? You know I’ll find you eventually. The longer you take the less inclined I am to show you mercy.”

“I’ve seen what you call mercy. I don’t want it,” she bit out, just as the door opened.

“Suit yourself,” he replied, calmly, and with that the apparition dispersed.

Nikolai walked in some time later, carrying a tray of food from the kitchen downstairs. Slim pickings, but that had been the case for awhile now, with the drawn out civil war. And frankly she didn’t have much of an appetite after the Darkling’s brief visit. But she forced herself to choke down what she could.

To his credit, Nikolai seemed to sense that her mood had turned since earlier, if not the reason why, and so he didn’t make many attempts at conversation. She was grateful for it.

Then there was the business of sleeping. It was less awkward than she was expecting. She told herself she was too exhausted and in her own head to care very much.

So she extinguished the lamp, and lay down on her own side of the bed, carefully turned away while Nikolai changed. It was likely testament to his own weariness that he hadn’t made any quips or half hearted attempts to flirt with her.

She listened to the rustle of clothes and then the soft footfalls as he approached. The listing of the mattress. Despite everything she was very aware of how close he was, even when carefully keeping to his own side. The already cramped room just seemed smaller in the dark.

“This is preferable to sleeping on the floor,” he admitted, finally.

“Much easier on your delicate, princely sensibilities, right?” she replied without turning around. She was almost a little afraid to.

He only laughed.

Still, it didn’t take very long for Alina to fall asleep.

She woke some time before dawn, disoriented. Not quite sure where she was or how, except that it was more comfortable than she was used to.

Her memory caught up to her about a minute later. And the realization that she was very much not on her own side of the bed. Just who she was clinging to, and whose shoulder she’d buried her face in. From the steady rise and fall of his breath, Nikolai appeared to still be asleep. Fortunate, he’d never let her live this down.

Gingerly, she tried to disentangle herself without disturbing him. With any luck, they simply wouldn’t talk about this in the morning.

Send me a ship and a prompt for a mini fic!

#grishaverse #shadow and bone #nikolina #alina starkov #nikolai lantsov #long post #sorrry I still don’t know how to do a read more on mobile #a string of words #i ramble sometimes #all the bendy punctuations #ship ask game #ask games

[sunfortune]

i honestly wouldnt mind leigh bardugo continuing to write grishaverse books if they were all unrelated stories with new characters just taking place in the same world ya know? sort of like what soc was to shadow&bone initially. it seems like she can't let go of s&b (and the darkling -_-) which is infuriating because those are literally her worst goddamn books, im still mad at king of scars cause that shit was ridiculous ToT

i said this too! she’s a good writer when she’s confined to a plot/setting the way she was with six of crows. king of scars had such a good setup in the beginning but then she had too much freedom and lost the plot bc she just started putting all types of high fantasy into it that didn’t fit. AND bought in the darkling (??) which just felt ridiculous and regressive. litchrally so sad bc i LOVE zoya as a character so much. it’s so rare to see a female character characterized like her and portrayed sympathetically. she deserved better than that duology </3

#ask #books #king of scars

[desidarling123]

🍋 What’s your favorite spicier trope to write? 

🫐 What’s your favorite underrated thing in your fandom? (A ship that only you seem to write for, a character there’s almost no fics about, a trope that criminally hasn’t been written yet, etc.)

🍋

I really had to sit and think about this one LMAO and settled on... absolutely nothing bahaha I don't really know if I really think of spice in terms of tropes? I like the circumstances that might lead to said spice, in which case, jealousy is a favorite theme (and voyeurism ties into that, so ok, maybe we've accidentally landed on a trope lol)

I have not written that trope for SAB/SOC tho and frankly everyone should do a prayer circle to hope i never do bc that will be the day i finally get excommunicated from fandom entirely lmaoo

(I don't know what the second emoji was lol desktop killed it) but I love writing/daydreaming for rarepairs (as we all know!) :P

I just love love (and desire, and selfishness, and friendship, and attraction, and duty, and all the other things that get caught up in it) and I really enjoy being able to create those connections even amongst unlikely pairs ( Kaz x Nina! Inej x Matthias! Kaz x Poppy! Kaz x Zoya! Darkling x Inej! I think that's all my published crimes so far!)

I think the challenge of finding the common ground (and the circumstances required to get there is half the fun. There's really no better feeling to me than being like hey, this pairing is RIDICULOUS... and here's the 'ah-ha' moment where I can make it work for myself and for an audience too. Truly no better compliment than someone saying 'I didn't see this pairing until I read this piece, but now I get it' hehe

I loved these questions so much, so thanks again Anton! :) <3

#asks #answered #writing

[titsthedamnseason]

the darkling isn’t even a scary name....like at all

#they call wylan merchLING #bc he’s like tiny and cute that’s what it implies #like bro if i was a ravkan i could never be fearful of someone called the darkling #like the other citizens peeing their pants oh no he’s here is be like fight me you pussy #awe the darkling 🥺 that’s what it sounds like #i don’t like that they call him general kirigan but tbh it was a good call #bc the darkling is just SO ridiculous #mine #was firstprince #tgt #it’s also not sexy AT ALL #like as a lesbian i can respect when a man is attractive and understand while fans would go crazy for that person #like if you want to make out with percy jackson? so true queen. #but if you want to make out with the darkling? literally before we even get into all his disgusting actions #the name on his own makes you qualify for free therapy #like to say the words ‘the darkling is so hot’ DONT TOU FEEL STUPID

[bardofavon]

bestie... what if I told you I was considering writing a Kazling fic. Would you have any tips on writing those characters? And everyone can answer this tbh I think I can get Kaz down but I feel like I’m about to STRUGGLE with The Darkling.

BESTIE!!!!! you have no idea how ridiculously honored i am that you reached out to ME of all people about characterization??? honestly, between you and me....the one thing potentially holding me back from writing this fic is bc i hadn't written for the fandom before and wasn't super comfortable with the characters and wasn't sure if i could pull off the characterization. so i ended up pulling my books down from the shelves and just rereading a ton of scenes from Kaz's perspective to try and get his voice down.

then i did the same thing for shadow and bone and the darkling, and honestly he really doesn't appear in all that many scenes so it wasn't even that time consuming.

and then when i was writing it and all i could think was "oh my god is this even slightly in character" i remembered what i will now remind you: content is SO SLIM for this pairing that most people are in 'eh, i'll take what i can get' territory and eveyone will be so glad you wrote it no matter what because rarepair hell baby.

i'm a theatre teacher so i actually use a lot of things i teach my actors in my writing because really, what is creative writing (especially for fanfiction) but a play in which you act as every character?

so i try and figure out what it is that really drives each character. what their want is, if you will. then i keep in mind that in every scene they have an objective, something they are trying to accomplish that will get them that want. and there's usually obstacles, something standing between them and that want.

It's important to keep in mind the Darkling's core desires when writing the rest of him, because although it can be easy to go 'evil bastard villain man go brrrrr" he has desires that go deeper than power. Yes, he wants to be the most powerful. Yes, he wants to take over the world. But he wants to do all of that because at one point he wanted to create a world that was safe for him and for people like him after centuries of being oppressed by people who were afraid of him. He wants to create a better world for Grisha and he's willing to do whatever it takes to get there.

And it's the "whatever it takes" where the 'evil man go brrr' comes in, because even though there's some level of goodness or understandability in his core desires he's been alive for so long and seen so much that the average life means a LOT less to him than it does to most people. But he's also desperately desperately lonely, but lonely for someone who he feels might be able to understand him. BUT he's so broken he doesn't actually know how to love anyone without fully controlling them, so he can't really find love without some element of manipulation.

re: acting terms again, i bring the idea of 'tactics' into it HUGELY when it comes to scenes where the Darkling is attempting to manipulate Kaz, since Kaz is not easily manipulated. he's not just trying something one way, he's trying it a billion ways until he finds what sticks. maybe scaring doesn't work, so he switches to threatening, maybe threatening doesn't work so he switches to convincing, maybe convincing doesn't work so he switches to seducing, maybe seducing doesn't work so he switches to blackmail. What are the different tactics he's using in each portion of the conversation in order to get what he wants?

Anyway!! I hope that helps some??? that's kind of where I come from in approaching writing him. honestly, it helps that i'm writing from Kaz's perspective because we're seeing the Darkling through his eyes as well, so if you're feeling more comfortable with Kaz it might be beneficial to start from his point of view and we can watch him watch the Darkling.

Good luck!!! and feel free to shoot me a link when you finish it wink wink

#shadow and bone #the darkling #fic #a good myth is hard to kill #kazling

[malyen0retsev]

this malina/anti-darklina agenda is so rare on this website at times ugh i love to see it, THANK YOU but the one thing i don't get about darklina shippers is the fact that they really seem to romanticize the fact that alina would be the one to keep the darkling from becoming too powerful or humanizing him (like the quote "you might be the only one to keep my powers in check" or something along those lines, which i feel is used a lot to show their 'love/chemistry' whatever) but will then read soc and praise inej for deciding against trying to heal kaz? like baby, didn't alina make the same decision yet you go get mad at the decision to have a malina endgame aka her being with a man who asked for almost nothing from her, followed her through everything, DIED FOR HER. why should alina be the one to try fix the darkling, why should she be the one to keep him from becoming too powerful, why shouldn't he be the one to save himself? she shouldn't have to make him a "better man", she's already been manipulated by him once why should she now forgive and try heal him, as if he's not 100s of years old and grown enough to do it for himself

honestly, i don't engage in ship-wars or care what people ship that much but honestly...sometimes it's just brainrot, they genuinely confuse me at times lmaoo

sorry i just had to rant👁👄👁

Nah anon, I completely agree with you. And that’s another reason why Kaz and Inej are the most popular Grishaverse ship (AS THEY SHOULD BE). Inej refuses to ‘heal’ him, she isn’t a cure for Kaz. And in response, Kaz is determined to pull HIMSELF together FOR HER. It’s healthy as fuck, Kaz’s love for Inej makes him a better person, but that’s on him to do so, it isn’t her responsibility to ‘heal’ him. It’s his responsibility - and he does it. i love kanej so fucking much

This is the thing, I’m not actually obsessed about ship wars, ship and let ship, idgaf, but like you said, it’s the hypocrisy and (in this particular ‘ship war’ case) the ridiculous level of just... saying verifiably false shite from the darklinas that makes me get my knives out. If you don’t ship Alina with Mal, you do you, idgaf! But don’t tear it down using literal false information and out of context quotes, bc you look like an idiot, and I’m well within my rights to call it out lol. And like you said anon, it’s further confusing when people applause Inej for saying it isn’t her job to heal Kaz (which it isn’t!) yet get upset when Alina won’t do the same thing for the crusty shadow man? She chose the man she actually loves, like Inej did, who actually loves her back - once again, like Inej did. But for Alina it’s inexcusable somehow? Make it make sense lol

#asks #anon #spot on anon spot on #kaz x inej #anti darklina #grishaverse

[nonbinarychaoticstupid]

📖

OKAY....... CATRADORA GRISHAVERSE TRILOGY AU.......... HEAR ME OUT

so it works perfectly well with adora as alina and catra as mal, but it could be RLY interesting the other way round as well. in this case, adora is the certified sun summoner and/or glowstick tm, and after she starts Glowing to save a skiff crossing the shadow fold, she's taken to os alta as a grisha under shadow weaver (the darkling, she's like adora's weird horrible old manipulative mentor in this bc darklina is a ridiculously awful ship and this is my au and also they do not have a romance shadow weaver just convinces her she sees adora like a daughter and then manipulates her into doing what she wants). meanwhile, catra, Master Tracker and Certified Lesbian, adora's friend since like before they can remember, has been left behind w the rest of her regiment. it sort of follows the plot of the grishaverse trilogy but plus endless catradora angst and lesbianism and also has been co-brainrotted by @zoyyanazyalensky 😌

#sep texxt #ask #anon #I HAVE SUCH A DETAILED PLOT IDEA AND NO SPOONS TO WRITE IT DOWN </33333 #i am gonna. make a tag for this #so i dont forget it #tgt au

[alphinias]

1/2 I told my friends that I've been thirsting over ben barnes like mad since the sab trailer because I wanted people to rant to. The response I got was puzzled looks and mild to abject horror. Apparently IVE GOT BAD TASTE? EXCUSE ME. THE SLANDER. Just because he's significantly older than me. I had to pretend to understand the hype when most of them were obsessing over timothée chalamet (no offence to anyone who finds him attractive hes just not my taste) and I never dragged their taste. Now

2/2 I'm getting embarassed for ever admitting to thirsting over ben bc of getting ridiculed? 😤 I realise I'm being so over dramatic I'll probably calm down iab. Going off to watch darkling and billy russo edits to cleanse my soul.

I’m sorry people think Timothee Chalamet is hotter than Ben Barnes???

#are they okay #ben barnes #ask #thirst hour

[constellationclarke]

OK I haven't finished the second book or read the third yet but I thought it was gonna be like some big reveal in the books what the Darkling's real name is (just based on some mild spoilers I saw in the tags for the series before the show came out) but now they just had him straight up tell Alina to call him Aleksander in the show ?? I was already confused as to why they changed his name to be General Kirigan in the show but thought tbf that makes sense bc having actual people going around calling him The Darkling would be a little bit ridiculous but then again that would have added to the whole 'ooo wonder what his real name is' intrigue but by calling him General Kirigan it kind of takes it away from that esp now that he told Alina to call him by his first name. I'm conflicted bc I like that change for the show for him to be called by an actual name and not a ridiculous descriptor but at the same time idk how they're then gonna work around that later for the big reveal about who he actually is. Just my thoughts. Then again I'm only on episode 4 and haven't read the last book so tbf what do I know I could be completely wrong

#shadow and bone #shadow and bone spoilers #general kirigan #the darkling

[malyenfromkeramzin]

@ that anon who sent me an ask but i deleted it by accident

Yeah the hate towards Mal’s character is mostly bc he gets in the way of Alarkling and Nikolina which imo is just really petty and ridiculous. People constantly say that Mal is “boring” compared to Aleksander and Nikolai, who are both in positions of power. Mal constantly says that he can never give Alina any riches or an army like the Darkling or Nikolai because, unlike them, he is underprivileged (remember, Mal and Alina constantly refer to themselves as peasants and refugees) According to Mal, the best thing he can do for Alina is to find the amplifiers. Alina, no matter what fans say, is NOT a character who wants to rule. Both the Darkling AND Nikolai wanted to be in a relationship with her for her POWERS. (I have a lot to say about Nikolai and Alina’s relationship but that’s for another post) Zoya herself says that. Mal loves Alina because she is ALINA. In S&S HE was the one who wanted people to see her as HUMAN, not just by her title of being the Sun Summoner and being Nikolai’s potential queen. Both Aleksander and Nikolai wanted to have Alina by their sides for THEIR OWN REASONS. The Darkling wanted Alina as his “equal” so they can both rule Ravka (a.k.a. be fascists) together. In the long run, Nikolai wanted to marry Alina in order to secure his hold on the throne and become king. With both men, Alina is being forced into a situation she doesn’t want to be in; she can either be the Darkling’s slave or be trapped in a position of power and an unhappy marriage. She HATES the idea of being Aleksander’s slave AND as Sol Koroleva. The ADULT MEN in the series (the Darkling, Nikolai, and the Apparat) all force their ideals and wants on Alina, a teenaged girl. Mal, despite being a teenaged boy, does the same thing in S&S. But by the end of S&S and the beginning of R&R, he ends up realizing that he should not have had that kind of attitude and instead sacrifices his owns wants (being with Alina) in order to help Alina (make her queen and help her defeat the Darkling). He KILLS himself to help her. Him putting his life on the line shows how dedicated he really is towards her. Yes, there were definitely times when Mal AND Alina acted horribly, but given their age and the situation that they were in, it’s not really surprising, and the narrative emphasizes that their actions are in the wrong. In the end, Malyen‘s the only one who truly knows Alina, something that the Darkling and Nikolai can never really do. Mal and Alina wanted to live a normal, “boring” life together, and that’s what they got in the end.

#replies #grishaverse #tgt #the grisha trilogy #malyen oretsev #mal oretsev #shadow and bone #siege and storm #ruin and rising #meta #mfk.txt

[highqueenofelfhame]

The tea was good on the grisha fandom being toxic. I mean certain people are already whining on the casting of shadow and bone, claiming that there is colourism when nothing isn't even confirmed yet o o f. And what they did to your best friend was awful, everyone has the prerogative to like what they like and speak out their opinion. I can't even believe that opinions nowadays are getting cancelled as 'wrong opinions' wtf

People are so fucking cruel to @darklesmylove it is fucking insane. And she’s my best friend. People have told her to kill herself over liking the darkling. And it’s ridiculous. People say some mean ass shit. Like ITS OKAY TO LIKE THE VILLAIN. Fuck off.

Also from what I understand kaz brekker is as morally grey as it gets. He beat the shit out of his friends. Someone said “they deserved it.” But that’s still so fucked up? You don’t beat the shit out of people for making a mistake or upsetting you or whatever. Like he isn’t some great person and you’re not superior bc you like him lmfao.

Idk that fandom is just.....I will never read anything she writes because of those fandoms and I’m not tryna be part of that shit lol

[sunfortune]

I remember you were really into king of scars when you read it (well not the book but zoya) and you I need to know what your opinion on rule of wolves is!!! Also actual book aside i was so annoyed by the open ending basically setting up for a dozen more future books after leigh bardugo said this would be the last grishaverse book 😐 white women let the series that made you popular d1e challenge!! i also 100% blame the show for this

that book reminded me of this one review of avengers endgame i read that was like “what was the point of this movie other than to remind us of the other movies they made before it?”. THATS what rule of wolves felt like too. like why is kaz and jesper and inej and alina and mal AND the darkling in this book? and not even as quick cameos for a little wink wink to fans but as integral to the progression of the plot?? like i love inej but come on. they wouldn’t have to start grisha cinematic universing this book if they had just given their ACTUAL main characters Zoya and Nikolai something compelling to work with. but they dont. so they have to bring in previous fan favorites to pick up the slack. the plot of both of these books is just ridiculous and it sucks bc zoya and nikolai had such a FUNNNN and unique dynamic 💔

#also this is just a personal complaint but she didn’t let zoya and nikolai have any flavor when they got together #that was so sick #like at least let me have that #ask #books #king of scars

[vicisse]

what makes u think the darkling is unredeemable?? bc it seems to me like shadow and bone + siege and storm were leading up to some sort of redemption arc for him

to each their own! for me personally, it’s mostly because i see a redemption arc as too out of character. the darkling is many things, and selfish is definitely one of them. he doesn’t do anything out of consideration or care for another person—i mean, he can certainly make them think he cares, but otherwise? if people die, they die, and he’s well past the point of bothering to feel grief. 

(until baghra dies, but like. obviously, it’s baghra. his mother. he’s still human.)

((i mean. he’s only human when it’s convenient, but grief is still grief.))

i just can’t see the darkling compromising any part of himself, let alone yield his ambition. he’s entirely singular in the sense that he will always seek power, and i think he would find the idea of redemption ridiculous. like, redemption from what? he’s convinced that his campaign to take ravka, and most likely the world, through any means is right— it’s the way the world should be, with him at the helm, trampling his enemies underfoot. 

to me, a redemption arc for the darkling would mean he is willing to admit that what he did is and how he did it is wrong—that he is wrong—and that’s just… not realistic. at least not for his character. 

(answer got pretty long, so i’m tucking in a bit more elaboration under the cut!)

in shadow&bone, i… don’t?? really see?? inklings of a redemption arc?? to me it’s just like, “so it turns out the guy everyone thinks is evil really is evil after all.” the first book sets up a basis of understanding the darkling—that he’s a liar, an expert manipulator, who will do anything (and anyone, apparently) to get what he wants. siege&storm is better suited to hint at a redemption arc, if anything. 

even though the darkling is absent for a significant chunk of the book, we see him visiting alina. we get that little snippet of conversation between them—

“Why won’t you leave me alone?” I whispered one night as he hovered behind me while I tried to work at my desk. 

Long minutes passed. I didn’t think he would answer. I even had time to hope he might have gone, until I felt his hand on my shoulder. 

“Then I’d be alone, too,” he said, and he stayed the whole night through, till the lamps burned down to nothing.

—among other scattered moments. buuut i think the biggest indication of the possibility of a redemption arc was The Name Scene™ from ruin&rising, which only quadruples in importance when coupled with the ending and the demon in the wood. 

(i mean, i sobbed! i actually sobbed gigantic, ghibli tears for that!)

((MAJOR KOS SPOILER BUT I HAVE TO SAY IT! the darkling should have stayed dead. but maybe that’s just me.))

in my opinion, the best way he could have been redeemed was… a better death scene, lmao. to be honest, i’d want a better ending altogether, but that’s a whole other can of worms to open… maybe another time.

#angel.ask #anonymous #the grishaverse #the darkling #kos spoilers #just a little bit but anyway #it really is very unrealistic... i cannot for the life of me ever see it #something pretty extreme would have to happen #there's a fic where the darkling is the one revived instead of mal (bc mal ~magically transfers the healing~ onto him or w/e) #and the darkling is pretty much stripped of all his powers and left to face the music #it's interesting! very introspective! and not shippy which is nice

[godlessandwrecked]

bestie omg i didn’t know if i should read king of scars or just leave it at the soc duology, what do you think so far?

i kinda want to read it bc i want to see zoya + nikolai, but i also heard that leigh is really pushing the anti-darkling agenda and i don’t vibe with that

ok bestie so I finished it and here’s the thing — while I enjoyed some stuff, for the most part it just feels empty, the pace is terrible, it’s so boring, there was nothing memorable about it, and leigh clearly wants anyone who enjoys the darkling’s character to feel dumb about liking him. seriously.

honestly, unless you really really really care about zoya’s character development (and maaaaaybe nikolai), you shouldn’t read it, because there’s not that much to it. nina’s chapters were so boring they were painful to get through. isaak’s pov was the most interesting and I loved his character, so just for him, everything else was worth it to me.

the story itself is just….. so many of the choices she made are just ridiculous and I actually laughed out loud. like, there’s some stuff that happens that’s just so….. funny. this is her worst work for sure, and I don’t even think shadow and bone was that good, but this is worse.

apparently rule of wolves is better (my friend has read it and he said it’s far more interesting) but again, if you like the darkling you kind of just have to ignore leigh trying to make you feel stupid and bad about it throughout the whole thing. for someone who so clearly hates her own character, she spends way too much time talking about him.

#can you tell I’m mad? #I love leigh and her characters but this is just (?) #tina <3 #mail 💌

[howtotrainyouragents]

Agent H’s TV Reactions

Shadow and Bone

Alina Starkov discovers that she can manipulate light and becomes the key to saving her country. Meanwhile, conman Kaz Brekker and his crows are sent on a dangerous mission to kidnap Alina. 

-I AM SO IN LOVE. I think this is the first good adaptation of a book series I really loved, so I’m just so so happy

-The cinematography and the quality HOLY SHIT. I was NOT expecting such good quality!

-I did end up really enjoying the crows, but I think I still like my pre-SoC hcs for them  more

-But Kaz dressing up in ridiculous get-ups for heists is absolutely a major hc of mine and I’m so glad it’s confirmed :D

-I LOVE JESPER SO MUCH. As he is my emotional support fictional character, I didn’t think it was possible for me to love him more. But I was wrong. I love him. Kitt Young played him perfectly. He was the comic relief and the one who saves the day and has his own troubles to overcome and is good and reliable AND I JUST LOVE HIM SO MUCH OKAY??

-Rumor has it that non-reader viewers are shipping different ships like InejxJesper, so let me just say I AM SO FUCKING HERE FOR IT. SoC fandom is one of those fandoms that’s real hardcore for their canon ships, which is admittedly great bc no shipwars, but also. It’s no fun. GIVE ME INEJxJESPER SHIP. I’VE WAITED YEARS FOR PEOPLE TO SEE THE LIGHT

-Inej is like a head and half shorter than Jesper and that is the way God intended it to be

-I am so soft for the way they portray Inej’s faith. Thank you, just thank you

-I love Alina SO MUCH. Jessie Mei Li was so great capturing Alina’s humor, snarkiness, rebelliousness, command, and nervousness

-How dare this show try to make me like Mal. That should be illegal (I mean, it worked. but that should be illegal).

-I do adore baby Mal and his curly hair

-How dare this show try to make me like the Darkling by casting the glorious Ben Barnes. That should be illegal (I mean, it worked. but that should be illegal)

-They altered my favorite scene (Alina accessing her powers for real) and my other favorite scene (Baghra telling her to the truth and to run), and I get why they did it, but still :(

-They could've done more to show how smart and ruthless Kaz really is. But they do show how he is an “asshole but not 100% a dick” and that makes me content :)

-Watching it on TV reminded me how weird NinaxMatthias’s relationship is... I think I’m gonna stick with my original viewpoint from when I first read SoC, which is, while I do love them together, it is weird af that it starts as a he’s-trying-to-kill-her-kind relationship... 

-The little references!!! This show was a masterclass in dropping references. Mal’s skills as a tracker. The sound he hears seeing the stag/Alina. Zoya’s “She’s Suli” (thank you for not making her white-passing!). Jesper’s pleas for a demolitions expert.

-Maybe I just don’t remember the books, but isn’t the reveal of the Darkling’s real name like a really major plot point that only comes later????

-MILO. I never knew how much I needed Jesper hugging and befriending a baby goat in my life before

-I love the setting of Ketterdam, but I feel like they could have done more to explain/show how corrupt and dark Ketterdam is and how it’s run by gangs and crime bosses, because I feel like it’s confusing if you don’t know the story already

-Kaz confessing he’s done something reckless bc he cares for Inej and then immediately walking away from the conversation is the most Kaz thing this show could have possibly have done

-I CANT BELIEVE THEY REALLY PULLED THE CROW QUOTE OH MY GOODNESSS

-*Screeching like a banshee*. THEY SAID THE THING. THEY SAID THE FUCKING THING. NO MOURNERS NO FUNERAL SHIT FOR LIFE

#This got lost in my drafts of my other blog #TWICE #TT #sorry to be late #also bc the soc fandom makes me a little wary forgive me for saying this #but if you disagree with anything i said please dont interact #thank you #soc #agent h #agent report #agent tv reactions

[copperclawed]

I'm almost done w the grisha trilogy and it's interesting bc I'm not rly liking it but at the same i feel like i see very well what the author is trying to do and i can get behind the concepts of her characters and character dynamics and arcs but it's the execution that falls through.

It's a v common opinion that this series kind of sucks but then the crows duology is rly good and i can definitely believe that once bardugo got some experience under her belt and maybe processed some constructive feedback, she was able to then write much better books and actually execute the narratives she envisions

Like w alina i rly dig the idea of a character who nobody ever noticed, who was always powerless and passive and followed someone else, bht then suddenly gets the spotlight and immense power and status, and what that can do to a person. But that transformation and journey and inner conflict is just not written well and so alina comes off as whining and passive. (I am enjoying the small bits of her learning to turn the bond w the darkling to her advantage but those have been so few and far between. Btw i got spoiled abt the ending and im hating it preemptively but we'll see.)

I've got similar thoughts on mal/malina but i wanna get to the end to see what I'll think. I def think mal/Alina is the most developed relationship and at times they actually managed to make me feel something (which is why i have hopes for the show). The idea of the conflict between them in siege & storm made sense but it was done so badly, it's honestly no wonder mal is such a hated character. It was just constantly them refusing to communicate to each other and then sulking. The 180 of mal showing up at the end of the 1st book being all, "im not afraid to die but i want to give us a fighting chance let's go hunt that stag" (which was awesome, who doesn't love a plot-driving character!) to the inexplicable and incessant distrust and resentment of alina's powers/amplifiers was just SO frustrating. I also rly despised his love confession. "I never noticed you but now I see you"? Idk to me that's opposite of romantic. I thought they were both secretly in love w each other but dumb and insecure but then it turns out he truly only saw her in that light once she got noticed by other people? :/

Same w the darkling/alina relationship. In theory it's got everything i would want out of a hero/villain relationshiphip in a story. I.e. him seeing the parts of her she hides from the rest of the world, the parts that both scare and entice her as well as that arc of alina going from being manipulated and played with, to turning the tables on the darkling and outplaying and outmanoeuvring him. Like as an idea i definitely dig it but on the page darkling is such a cardboard cutout villain there is just no depth there. Everytime he appears i just roll my eyes. "I've seen what you really are and I've never turned away; i never will" -- cool line; doesn't actually represent any real development in the story itself besides all the vague repetitive dialogue abt them being the two most powerful--sigh--grishas in the whole world and how there no one like them~~~

PLUS to add to that, alina never actually does anything to warrant all of her hand wringing that she'll turn into another darkling. Like at most she's rude to some people and then it sends her into a moral crisis it's ridiculous. The things that haunt her such as the people who die in the fold after she and mal flee--those were impossible circumstances where she was trying to survive and save her closest person. Her first and so far only kill was during a battle, protecting mal's life. I frankly don't see how that is on ANY level equal to any of the atrocities committed by the darkling. And sure part of this is alina buying into the darkling's manipulation of her--which idk yet to which degree this gets resolved--

--but i also think part of it falls back to 1) lack of skill 2) this prevalent trope of Ambition is evil. Like just because alina enjoys for once in her life being powerful and strong and independent and HEALTHY doesnt mean shes gonna turn evil??? Just bc she is seeking every advantage in the coming fight against an evil tyrant doesn't mean she's JUST like him??? I almost feel like it's also part cowardice on behalf of the author bc if you want to explore your protagonist's dark side then actually let her go down that path! (Maybe it happens in the last 100 pages idk.) Considering though what i know of the ending it does feel like bardugo buys into ambition is evil.

Also Not related but everytime there is mention of kvas in the books i want to fight leigh bardugo. There was some line abt mal drowning his sorrows in kvas and i just.... That's like writing somebody is drowning their sorrows in fanta. I almost got over the grisha thing but kvas i cannot let go it's just SO dumb

#gregverse #put this under cut cause it got a little long but just some rambly thoughts #I would've probably abandoned reading this had it not been for the netflix show coming out