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i don't make the rules

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CONGRATULATIONS LG, YOU JUST WON THE PRIZE TO THE BIGGEST DENIAL OF THE CENTURY!

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"Everytime you bring him up it tears another piece out of my heart"

I'm sorry but the DRAMATISM this one quote holds??? He avoids personal conversations like the plague, but when he talks HE TALKS

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Alastair: what's up with you and james? Cordelia: i uh i er Cordelia: what's up with you and thom- Alastair: *hurls himself out of carriage* Cordelia: Cordelia: oh. ok. cool. yea no same

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Just finished reading Chain of Thorns and I gotta say, I'm so disappointed for many reasons (and not just Christopher's death).

First of all, I don't know about you, but I just can't stand that the whole reason behind the famous family tree being completely wrong is just that "oh well, there's this quirky Shadowhunter who likes to make up family trees".

Like, instead of integrating this with the plot, making it so as the Shadowhunters (or Jem, as a silent brother) has a legitimate reason to alter the historical records, we got this slap dash, lazy, cop out.

Second of all, I know Alastair was a dick to the Merry Thieves when they were at school because I've read the short stories from TFTSA and GOTSM, but we never see that in the actual trilogy (which is supposed to be self contained). All we ever see is PAGES AND PAGES of him moping about how he can't be with Thomas when he's supposedly such a bad person, but throughout the books he's nothing if not loving and caring and mildly sarcastic.

And finally, after creating the perfect love triangle in TID, what in the name of all hells, was this forced thing between Mathew, James and Cordelia? Like, I love Matthew. But the books make it so clear that Cordelia is desperately in love with James, that every moment she spent with Matthew was just plain annoying. I'd keep reading only to move on already.

There is no way people were actually invested in Matthew/Cordelia, and that forced plot only served to turn Matthew, a character which I loved before the books, into merely an obstacle to the main character's happy ending.

Sorry, Cassie. I just don't think this was your best work.

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alastair being a very well-mannered young man:

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Jun Wu In-Depth Character Analysis

*spoilers

Jun Wu never understood what he truly wanted.

【“You’re right, I don’t understand,” Guoshi said. “It’s been so many years; you’ve been a god and you’ve been a ghost king. All that should be killed are dead, all that you’ve wanted is in your hands, so why are you doing this to yourself? What exactly do you want? What do you want to prove?”

Hearing this, a flash of confusion appeared on Jun Wu’s face. 】 (Chapter 240)

On the surface, it seemed as if Jun Wu wanted Xie Lian to follow his footsteps. After all, the first time Mei NianQing asked Jun Wu what he wanted, "[…] he said that he want[ed] [Xie Lian] to become his perfect successor. If there was anyone in the world who could understand him completely, it was [Xie Lian]. Once he succeeded, then [Xie Lian] would never betray him[.]"(Chapter 219) Indeed, Bai Wuxiang always told Xie Lian to "come to [his] side" (Chapters 187, 188, 189) Because when Xie Lian said "body in abyss, heart in paradise", it was like a stab to the chest for Jun Wu (in fact, "stab to the chest" is what the characters Zhu Xin, his sword, means; Xie Lian also pierced Jun Wu through the heart with Zhu Xin during their ultimate battle) because when Jun Wu's own body was in abyss, his heart could not be in paradise. He desparately wanted to show that he wasn't alone in this. How can anyone, even the most kind-hearted Xian Le, have their heart in paradise when their body is in abyss? How can anyone, having gone trough so much pain and suffering, not make the same decisions he himself did? Jun Wu needed Xie Lian to follow his path to validate himself.

But which self?

You see, that's the problem. Jun Wu didn't have a sense of self. "The God-Pleasing Warrior wore a golden mask, playing the role of the number one martial god of a thousand years who subdued evil: The Heavenly Martial Emperor, Jun Wu.”The real Jun Wu pleased the gods just like his impressionist did. Except when Xie Lian leaped to catch the falling Hong Hong'er, the mask fell off -- it stayed on for Jun Wu. Jun Wu kept wearing the mask, hiding his true face. He smashed all the mirrors in the Wuyong Palace, afraid to meet his reflection; he hated when anyone called him by his previous title after that. He never processed his emotions, releasing them into the early kiln, projecting them onto Xie Lian. The black ghost of Jun Wu on Yinian Bridge asked three questions: What is this place? Who Am I? What is to be done? The white ghost of Jun Wu is Bai WuXiang, wherein the characters WuXiang means "no face". He did not have his own face, his own identity, but that of others -- the human face disease. If the living people of Wuyong placed their expectations on their prince, then the deceased burdened him with their resentful spirits. He had always been for the people: when they adored him, he wanted to save them; when they despised him, he wanted to destroy them. His actions depended on external values. He had no sense of self. Jun Wu never knew what he himself truly wanted.

 His names were Jun Wu and Bai Wuxiang.

The dichotomy that is his identity caused him to go crazy. God and ghost. So much love and so much hate. Half crying, half smiling. The Heavenly Martial Emperor and the White-Clothed Calamity……

The Prince of Wuyong.

Perhaps only Mei Nianqing knew this side of him.【Xie Lian felt when he was addressing the other as "His Highness", he wasn't talking about “Jun Wu” nor “White No-Face”, but that young Crown Prince of two thousand years prior.】(Chapter 217) That young Crown Prince, covered his face up with a mask, protected his body in white armour, froze his heart beneath layers of Mt. Tonglu snow. Lest we forget that "The widespread backstory of 'The Heavenly Martial Emperor' in the mortal realm, his background, his literary references, his interesting hearsays, appearance, character…[were] all fake.”(Chapter 219) "Jun Wu" was the shell of a man. And oh, how Mei NianQing missed the real him, so much so that the characters NianQing means "miss you". The Guoshi of Xianle once told his disciple, “Remember: when humans ascend, they are still human; when they fall, they are still human.”(Chapter 68). In addition to hitting one of the central themes of TGCF head on, Mei NianQing was, in a sense, speaking about Jun Wu. Between all the forms -- god to ghost -- Mei NianQing appreciated the human Jun Wu most. He was the only person who saw him as human.

And perhaps that was what Jun Wu wanted all along.

The Prince of Wuyong could not stand being "accused […] that he'd changed, that he'd forgotten his heart, that he was no longer the Highness of the past. Those words truly executed the heart." (Chapter 218) And if you were wondering, yes, the characters used for "executed the heart" are Zhu Xin, the name of his sword. In the Kiln:

【White No-Face replied quietly, “With his appearance, neither man nor ghost, no one would treat him with sincerity, so staying in this world was suffering in itself.”

Suddenly, Xie Lian said, “Your Royal Highness?”

“...”

In that instant, Xie Lian could tell; that creature probably wanted to answer to that address, but he held back.】 (Chapter 199)

When Bai Wuxiang said "with his appearance, neither man nor ghost, no one would treat him with sincerity", he wasn't just talking about Lang Ying. He was talking about himself. Xie Lian called him by his previous title, and Bai Wuxiang wanted to answer. He didn't because he thought it was too late to turn back. He had already traveled too far down the path of destruction. Yet, when Jun Wu was finally defeated, "[Xie Lian] actually noticed a trace of relief on Jun Wu’s face, as if a heavy burden was let go. He couldn’t help but wonder—perhaps, to be defeated by someone, to end these relentless days of brokenness and madness, was possibly Jun Wu’s wish deep down." (Chapter 240).

That should answer our question -- which self did Jun Wu want to validate? On the surface, it seemed as if Jun Wu wanted Xie Lian to follow his path of destruction. Beneath it all -- perhaps unconsciously -- he wished Xie Lian could be proof that the Crown Prince of Wuyong wasn't so stupid in his dream after all.

He gifted Xie Lian Hong Jing, the sword that can reveal a ghost's true identity. He never bothered to repair the crack in his armour, the area where Xie Lian told Hua Cheng to attack. And when Xie Lian told him that the trick he used to defeat him was called Shattering Boulders on the Chest, Jun Wu replied, "Beautiful."

If Xie Lian gave himself three days to search for a reason -- the man who gave him the bamboo hat -- to not unleash the human face disease onto Yong An, then Jun Wu spent two thousand years trying to convince himself. In the end, Xie Lian became the man who gave Jun Wu the bamboo hat. Xie Lian stared right into the eyes of the abyss and offered a hand.

To quote Zhihu (a Chinese platform) users:

"Xie Lian is a ray of light in the darkness, and Jun Wu is the darkness with a ray of light in his heart. You and I are both born under the Ominous Star and die against the will of heaven. My inner demon is a raging fire, and your rebirth a torrential rain. For thousands of years, no one has been worthy to slay the hatred inside me except you."

"He is glad that Xie Lian beat him, which shows that Xie Lian's path is also feasible.

It works.

I don't have a chance to take that route but you can.

You did it.

You succeeded.

You can create a better world. "

"Jun Wu gives Xie Lian the black sword, and Xie Lian gives Jun Wu the bamboo hat.

I give you the sword that accompanied me when I was the Crown Prince,

You give me the hand that pulls me out of the abyss. "

"You want to use Xie Lian to affirm yourself.

You don't want Xie Lian to follow your broken path to affirm your current self.

Instead, you hope that Xie Lian will still stick to his heart after facing so many things, so as to affirm the Prince Wuyong back then.

In the rainstorm,  we receive a bamboo hat.

Good.

You are unlike me. "

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i want to know why cassandra thought it was important to let us know that will and tessa had cried when they heard about lucie and james being in london but gave us nothing about cecily and gabriel finding out their son had died

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677 Pages and Not a single (1) scene with Alastair's POV.

Really, what have I read, what have I been expecting I don't know.

This story felt like an evening spent on Tumblr and made into a book.

have you considered the fact that mattew's past has been addressed literally One (1) time?Shouldn't we been owed to read a confrontation between him and, I don't know..., maybe his...parents?Let alone Alastair. (Ah no, now they are just friends, the development of that friendship up to imagination, ok, yes). Isn't it way too easy? Did the author choose the easy way? You can't write about something so important and delicate, and then leave it there like nothing. Consider that we know about the story because we read Gotsm, otherwise...three books (3!!!) and a total amount of 10 pages or less of mentions. I don't know... Really don't know.

Oh and the family tree! Whan an amazing waste of opportunity. So basically we knew we were gonna have the answers only to be fooled at this level? Seriously? You explain this with a person who likes to go around imagining who marries who, the the names of future childs...Really? It seems like that scene in coi with the carstairs siblings but it's CC asking "Hey you wanna know that Matthew is alive cause a certain girl likes to Imagine him as downworlder?" And we be like Alastair and his "A mistery ten years long. Explained in two lines?" A waste of opportunity and a waste of time invested in making conjectures or simply waiting for an explanation that is not elaborate. Such approximation, superficiality, carelessness, Is a lack of respect toward the reader in general.

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Not possibile, really.

Three quarters of the book and literally nothing happens. Where Is the Plot? Was this novel, or the Trilogy, even supposed to have One?

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I ratify 100%

Do you realize that at half of the book the main couple can't go any further than "sparkles" and "shivers" and "Fire in the chest", meanwhile every single however little scene with our loved duo Is simply pure gold?

I could cite anything, "I've always wanted to bear it with you" talks for all.

<3

See you when I finish.

Why do I have the feeling that CC is gifting us with all this Thomastair content because they are the best part of The Last Hours? Oh, wait, because that's true <3

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Wei Wuxian might actually be my favourite depiction of an adult interacting with unrelated kids that I’ve ever seen in fiction. He reminds me of the adults I look back on fondly from when I was growing up, and of the adult I want to be when interacting with teens through work etc.

He’s fun and silly and teases them, but knows when to step up as the adult in the situation and be responsible.

His degrees of closeness to them are appropriate; closer to the ones who are “his kids” (ie Jin Ling as his nephew and Sizhui eventually as his son), and friendly but not excessively so with the others.

He actively watches out for the kids and protects them from danger, but also gives them practical advice and opportunities to spread their own wings and exercise their own abilities.

He impresses upon them that they don’t need to achieve the things their fathers and uncles had by their age: he was there, he knows those tales of glory are rooted in blood and suffering, and he works to free the juniors from the pressure to hold themselves up to that shallow veneer of triumph as a standard.

He even occasionally drops good relationship advice even before he and Lan Wangji get their shit together: the bit in Yi City where he refuses to waste time on the whole “I won’t leave without you!” thing and instead tells the kids essentially, “No. I trust him, and I have to do what I need to do, and leave him to do what he needs to do,” really sticks with me.

Anyway…rambling, but yeah. I love him, and I love that he’s sometimes a disaster but he is so good at switching to Adulting Mode as needed. Also there’s definitely some very bittersweet thoughts to be had about the fact that, aside from his brief sweet memories of his parents, Yanli was definitely the one who taught him how to be a caretaker. And now, he gets to use what she taught him to watch over her son.

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Writers: Here is a tall, dark and handsome male character. He broods a lot, is much older than he looks, and falls into the category of villain/anti-hero. Also when you dig past his rough exterior, he’s very emotional. 

Me: 

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One thing I’ve learned in life, if you act really self-assured and confident you can pretty much get away with anything.

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Jules: So, you both fell in love with a faerie prince?

Dru and Ty looking at each other

Ty: To be fair I fell in love with him before I knew he was a faerie prince

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i am on the internet so I feel entitled (actually Is my duty pffff) to express my opinion on the theme of these days(pffff): we have been waiting for almost two years and now that we are 1 month close to CoT I can't stay here pacefully because of the possibility to see something I shouldn't?

Well, I'll get over It. I like Shadowhunters enough to endure a little bit.

Also there Is no sense of Logic in all of this i mean you can talk abt everyrhing you want but you had the priviledge to read in Advance at least don't bother others with your knowledge. Don't Need It.