#Archie in the show is amazing he is BAE and I adore the malina ship in the show

[stephanythedramaqueen]

One of the things that makes me angry about the Grisha Trilogy books (I can ignore a lot of things I don't like about them, but if there is one thing that makes my blood boil) is how they make it seem like Alina becoming physically healthier after arriving at the Little Palace is a bad thing. Don't know if you have seen this piece of the discourse, but in the books it is described how she was a sickly child due to repressing her powers since she was so young, and she's also described as pale "as a glass of milk that's turned", with sallow skin and eye bags. Then it is described how she becomes "prettier" after arriving at the Little Palace (better skin, hair, etc.), but... her narration of the changes is as if there's something wrong in her physical health and personal appearance improving like that. She refers to that image of herself as "a stranger", as if she should want to get back to the state in how she was before, and that's just... such a HORRIBLE message to sent. I really can't with it! I can bear with plenty flaws the Grishaverse has, but not with that!

Here’s the 411 from what I gather, the moment Alina is separated from Mal at Kribirsk, everything she does and everything that happens to her has a sense of foreboding in her perspective and therefore, supposed to be foreboding to us.

It isn’t just Alina getting healthier and less exhaustive and prettier that just doesn’t seem to sit well with Alina, it’s the entire premise of the Little Palace. The way she judges everything and everyone, keeps herself isolated, rejects to initially make friends, rejects her powers, rejects those who’re trying to help her.

And by the time she begrudgingly accepts her life, her powers, her friends, the Darkling and herself, Mal comes in to show her that hey, all this nonsense isn’t the real you. Look at what this place has made you into; this vain, black-wearing Grisha who’s been slutting herself and might have caught feelings for a man that ain’t me.

It feels, though I cannot say for certain, like Bardugo went through a weird C.S Lewis phase at this point where she’s pretty anti-makeup, anti-boy-crazy agenda here, because once Alina is on the run with Mal and suppresses her powers again and becomes sickly once more, Mal seemingly doesn’t see that there’s anything wrong. And the story doesn’t frame Mal’s lack of concern about this as bad either.

It’s like it’s saying that you can’t be pretty for yourself, unless the guy you’re crushing on approves of it. Like saying Alina shouldn’t have gotten healthier and stronger if the guy she’s crushing on wasn’t the reason/isn’t for him. It’s a bad take and a reason why he was changed in the show.

And while the show retconned Mal’s toxic personality here that he prefers sickly Alina over healthy Grisha Alina, I still find the self-mutilation she did in order to stay with Mal super iffy. And I daresay the show’s going to guilt trip Alina bc she removed it, the one thing that ‘connected’ her to Mal.

But Bardugo was hellbent in making them endgame in the books, in expense of Alina herself. And thus, this mess happened in the books with the wackiest message(s).