Jonathanspenguinboxers

I'm not sure I can come with 5 from the top of my head; it's been very long since I've read any of CC's books. Some of these I've definitely talked about before because they bother me.

At the absolute top of the list of hated writing decisions is Sebastian fucking Morgenstern and how he's handled...in general. CC (or the narrative) tells us that the demon blood makes him just straight up evil and strips away his humanity. Lilith even warns Valentine about it happening. This makes absolutely no bloody sense. Why does demon blood make Sebastian irreparably, inherently evil? Why doesn't it make any of the warlocks inherently evil (ignoring shadowhunter racism)? Werewolves and vampires infected by demonic illnesses also aren't black-and-white evil. The way demon blood works makes no goddamn sense in these books. If it makes Sebastian evil shouldn't everyone with demon blood be evil?? And by the same metric, since these books pose demonic and angelic as two absolute opposites, shouldn't angelic blood then make people inherently good? We see, demonstrably, in multiple books, that this is not the case. I wouldn't even go so far as to say that Jace and Clary, who have extra angel blood, are inherently good. Besides, saying that he's evil because he has demon blood in him waves any sort of agency the character has. He has no motivation for what he does besides being evil, because that's all the narrative ever really lets him be. Sure he has his weird obsession with Clary and/or Jace but that also gets explained away with him having demon blood. The very emotional scene at the end where his eyes turn green and all also plays into it: Jonathan Morgenstern never would've done any of this if it weren't for the demon blood. The narrative device that drives the last three books (the entire second half) of TMI is not the villain himself but the concept of demonic blood that is internally inconsistent in the world.

Valentine getting killed by Raziel. Valentine's main flaw in the books is pride - he believes he knows better than the Clave, he believes he knows the will of the angels and of heaven. Letting him be killed by Raziel, the patron of Shadowhunters may be dramatic irony but it is not narratively reflecting his character. What I think should've happened is that Valentine makes his wish at Lake Lynn and he is denied by Raziel. It should've been at least somewhat public and the fighting should've stopped while Raziel was present. Valentine should've been denied by the angel. Raziel probably would've fucked off right after because he doesn't really give a fuck. Valentine is crushed, confused, outraged and, worst of all, humiliated. The fighting probably breaks up after this, Valentine gets away. And then he goes full Lucifer Morning Star in his defiance of heaven and spends the next three books finding a different way kill the downworlders and also the shadowhunters who oppose him. By now he has no real regard for heaven left, he can make an alliance with Lilith or the princes of hell. He was not above torturing Ithuriel before this so you can take it in the direction of him turning against heaven entirely.

Simon regaining his memories after drinking from the mortal cup and ascending was unnecessary and I'd go so far as to say it takes away from his sacrifice. Simon gave up everything knowingly. He should not have received it back upon completing his Shadowhunter training. Let him regain fragments, sure. Feelings, impressions, flashes of memories. But not everything. It undermines the emotional weight of his sacrifice.

The Clave electing Robert Lightwood, a known criminal exiled to New York for taking part in the Uprising of all things, as the Inquisitor, is unhinged. Do I think Robert would make a decent Inquisitor? Sure, why not. Do I think it is feasible that the Clave, who just fought Sebastian Morgenstern and who just fought Valentine for the second time, would then elect one of the founding members of the Circle of Raziel? No. Of course, we didn't actually introduce enough non-circle member adult Shadowhunter characters who could be elected so we're sort of stuck with Robert by default. In fact, why didn't we introduce any adult Clave members who weren't at some point in the Circle? Surely there has to be someone in Idris who didn't follow Valentine when they were 17.

City of bones -> The sleeping beauty by John Collier

This is another painting of the classic story/tale of 'sleeping beauty' I thought it was pretty fitting for city of bones as Jocelyn's coma / her being missing is not only a major driving force of the first book, but also a major aspect in the tensions of coa and cog. I also read the painting as having a certain stillness or uncertainty to it, which I again thought was fitting for the circumstance.

City of ashes -> Romeo and Juliet (The balcony scene) by Frank Dicksee

This was the hardest one for me to pick and I still don't really know if I like... if anyone has any better ideas please share. But anyways, the artwork depicts the last kiss of Romeo and Juliet before the tragedy between them struck. I again struggled with this book but I thought this painting was fitting with the 'forbidden' romance aspect of city of ashes, and the shared kiss between Jace and Clary in the seelie court!

City of glass -> Aeneas fleeing the burning City of Troy by Louis de Caullery and David Teniers

I was struggling with this one at first but then I found an artwork of troy burning and I thought, well this is fitting. I found that it was really fitting for city of glass as both cities get surprised attacked (the trojan horse vs sebastian & valentine) which results in the city getting sacked, and all hell breaking loose.

City of Fallen Angels -> paradise lost Gustave Doré

ahhh now I was debating putting the other very famous fallen angel painting but ofc, paradise lost won since it's yk.. it inspired some of tmi. I thought this painting was very fitting as it is Lucifers descent into Satan, similar to Sebastian's resurrection and his demon blood!

City of lost souls -> orpheus and eurydice by Edward Poynter

I was kind of debating putting this one as the cohf cover since they literally do go to hell, but I thought the idea fit a bit better for cols. Clary goes on a dangerous mission in the hopes of saving Jace, similar to how Orpheus goes to the underworld to retrieve his wife. I thought the similarities where too good to pass up.

City of heavenly fire -> the fall of the rebel angels by Pieter Bruegel the Elder

Last but not least, city of heavenly fire. This painting symbolises the final triumph of good over evil which is an essential aspect of the novel. Clary is the good that triumphs over Sebastians rebel army of ‘fallen’ angels. Kind of more literal than the others but I just thought it was soooo fitting.

Because what do you mean you couldn’t stand Michael looking at you like that because you would start to wonder too