#ashthorn

Whitepatch — named after Whitestorm. He was born super weak, but pushed through. He loves hearing stories about his grandpa Whitestorm!

Brindlestorm — named after Brindleface and Whitestorm. She was also born weak, and still faces issues as an adult, but is mostly healthy. She absolutely HATES Tigerclawstar for killing Brindleface, and loves hearing about Scourge killing him.

Lionclaw — named after Lionheart. He was the only kit born fully healthy, but developed asthma as an apprentice. He admires his grandpa Lionheart, and loves hanging out with his aunts and uncle.

*SPOILERY REVIEW/THOUGHTS* 

I finished QOAAD a couple days ago and I’ll say I have some mixed thoughts on it. I am somewhat disappointed tbh but it also DID have its moments.

I have to say I felt this book had too many POVs. I didn’t like that. I didn’t feel like they were all necessary. All the POVs only ended up with me feeling very disconnected from the story as a whole, and the characters, even my faves at times. I think the POVs where one part of the problem, the other I am not sure. Maybe Cassie has too many projects on her plate or idk but something impacted her writing. Not just for QOAAD but I felt it in Ghosts of the Shadow Market stories too. It had a few exceptions but compared to The Shadowhunter Academy short stories overall, they just weren’t as good. :/ As much as it pains me we gotta wait like 4 yrs for TWP maybe its a good thing? The onslaught of books may have passed and TWP will get more focus. Im just gonna tell myself this to get through the waiting time OTL. 

I will start with thoughts on Emma and Julian as they are the main characters. 

I like both Julian and Emma’s characters, but I think they lost me somewhere at some point in this series as a couple. I can’t say exactly when but reading QOAAD I realized I didn’t care for them as a couple. I’ve seen this is the case for many others too. Was I very intrigued where the parabatai curse would lead? Yes, but that’s it. Now the parabatai curse, I wasn’t too satisfied with how that played out. I kinda was and I kinda wasn’t. I guess I was expecting something bad to happen some consequences but the rune just burned away and that was that. I loved when Julian got his emotions back and went all into head of the institute since I was a child mode. Like I know my shit I know what I’m doing. Then Dru being like “good to have you back, I missed your lunatic schemes” xD I love Julian scheming ok, lol but like with emotions.

I gotta say one of my favorite things about TDA and what I felt like was one of its strong points is that togetherness the Blackthorns had as a family. My favorite thing about Julian was his love for his kids cause they are his kids!! BUT I just didn’t feel it in this book. When looking forward to QOAAD I was looking forward to how they were all going to deal with Livvy’s death. The kids where gonna need Julian so much but he just wasn’t there for them ALL throughout the book which was my BIGGEST disappointment. At first he wasn’t there because he took away his emotions and separated from them, then he got back and because he was emotionless he couldn’t be there for Ty when Ty reached out to him clearly troubled and broken. Now, I don’t blame him. He was emotionless after all, but after he did get them back I feel like he didn’t make the effort to be there for them. It was like he didn’t remember the way Ty reached out to him before and the things he said to him about his plan. After he got his emotions he was all busy with the Horace-Cohort situation and his situation with Emma but what about the KIDS JULES?! ;_;  It was Ty who again sought him but he didn’t really try to pay attention to what was going on with him, during and after their little convo. It felt like 

Jules: oh btw you good? 

Ty: yeah sure 

Jules: ok im here btw 

Ty: K

Jules: K 

And that was it. He never found out about the necromancy or biting and just *sigh*. At least the biting is something he should’ve and would’ve noticed as Dru pointed out. Everyone was on their own basically and then in the end he and Emma are going on a travel vacay. Like what?! There was Helen but Helen is not Julian. She is trying to get to know them but Julian is the one who is basically their parent. There are 2 things I loved about Julian best, one was his willingness to do what needed to be done, and second was his care for his family and like I said, I did not feel it here. :[  I’ll say I do love Julian’s character, and more than Emma’s actually. Emma is just fine, but there is a lot more going on with Julian. Though neither are my faves in this series. But I love Julian xD 

THULE: ok so I was sobbing during this part. I couldn’t control my tears. All this broke my heart when we found out about how everyone’s fates turned out. I felt so sad for Livvy all alone there. Everything was just so tragic ;_;. I do found myself wanting for the POV to switch to see their friends and family freaking out about what happened to Emma and Julian. I’ll say it didn’t make sense to me how Ash went into Thule only like 5 minutes before Jemma and he aged up yrs yet Jules and Emma where there for a pretty long time too and nothing?? It was another reason I wanted the POVs to switch I was wondering if yrs where passing by in their world or what. I’ll say I did enjoy the pain and hurt Thule gave me lol. It was one of those moments where like I didn’t felt disconnected with the characters at all. I was very much feeling all the feels but it also felt like I left QOAAD and was thrust back into CoHF. It felt too much like TMI it was kind of a whiplash, like from TDA i went back to TMI then TDA again. 0.0  

Now to my faves

Ash!: He was one of my favorite things of this book! His character was so interesting. I have high hopes for his character. He is probably not all good or all bad but what I’ve seen of him from boy to teen he is more good and human than meets the eye. Cassie Cassie Cassie! Do we really need a 3rd evil Morgenstern? No, No Nope! He deserves the chance Sebastian never had! </3. ;_;

The way he shook when he was holding that sword with the Unseelie King when he was trying to make him kill Kieran. He clearly didn’t want to and not only that, he questioned WHY, like he thought you can’t just kill someone just because. Then in Thule we had Thule Dru talk about how she noticed he didn’t want to be there for Thule Sebastian’s executions, among the rest of things that happened there.

Now Ash and Dru, omg PLS I ship already! I cant wait for them!  

Ty and Kit!: My other faves, my babies. I am the most invested in them! I just knew they were going to be separated at the end of this. I had a feeling. Then they made that “To never being parted” declaration in the campfire and I knew for sure oh no, they are gonna part. ;_; Their fight in Lake Lyn broke my heart a little bit, tears were shed. It particular broke my heart how while they were both physically fighting, they were crying about it and the whole situation. Though I’ll say I also did like that Kit went to live with Jem and Tessa <3. I feel like he is in the process of finding himself as a shadowhunter and just as a person too. I love that Jessa will be like his family. I cant wait for Jessa being parents! Also the arc of them separating only to meet again yrs later with so much unsaid ugh I cant wait for them either OTL. I could drown myself in feels thinking about all the different scenarios in which they might meet again. ;_; Oh! When they were in the campsite and Kit was wondering why Ty didn’t went inside the tent with him right away was everything. His mind was just reeling with TY scenarios it was the cutest. 

I have to say I hope TY, KIT, and DRU, as they are our main characters are given priority in TWP no 10+ POVs PLS. (Ash gotta be in the POVs though ofc.) We only have 3 books with them. They deserve the focus so we can connect with them the most. Heck if there is no more than 4/5 POVs even better. We can get to know other and new characters without being in their heads as we got to love Ty without his POV in TDA. 

Mark, Kieran, Christina: Other characters I love too. What can I say? I love that this threesome happened. I think the initial delivery coulda been better, but I loved their ending. When I say their initial delivery I mean their coming together as 3. I LOVED that spark they had in LOS when we first could see that there could be something between the 3 of them like ‘OMG what?!’. But in QOAAD I feel like I didn’t get like a full understanding of how and why Kristina and Kieran came to love each other. We could all see the love, feelings, and intense connection between Mark and Kieran since LOS. Also the connection between Mark and Christina, but with Kieran and Christina I feel like it needed more development. They were suddenly very into each other when they hadn’t spent much time together after LOS events and Kieran left with Diego. I’ll say what did help that a bit was that it was actually pointed out by Christina herself, saying how what they might have (Kier+Tina) is probably not close to the connection Mark and Kieran do. Despite this I love how it eventually concluded with the three of them. It was bittersweet, like Kieran my boy <3 ;__; but I liked it very much. Have I said how much I specifically love Kieran and Mark because I do!!

He's only like that when he has to be. He has learnt to be that way from years of secretly running an Institute and dealing with the Clave's crap.

And here's the thing: We learn, from QoAaD, that he's only like that when he has a reason- He has Anselm arrested for what seems like a minor reason to serve his purposes, but it's actually because he was doing much shadier, worse stuff; he absolutely FLIPS when someone is a threat to his family (Dane Larkspear); but he's chill when they're not, and I cannot stress enough how much I loved Cameron's appearances in QoAaD for this: this guy has dated the love of his life, his baby sister, and his family are Cohort sympathizers, if not members, not to mention his sister hurt Ty. Julian has every reason to be prejudiced and hate him, but he never does. He seems to support their relationship in Thule, because he recognizes he kept Livvy safe and makes her happy; they're (unknownst to Cam, I might add) allies when Julian was running the Institute; and he's happy to see him in the war council meeting. (Not to mention defending him about Emma breaking his heart in that kinda bitchy scene in LoS).

Thornclaw/Ashfur: "Oh look, I am dating the exact opposite of Squirrelflight to show how over it I am, and unlike her, he won't leave, I am so over it." Type way

Berryheart/Curlfeather: "I am not gay, or a code breaker.... But why are her eyes so pretty."

Idk, brain fart right now

Her wings were the most magnificent I had ever seen, yet she could not see them.

I prayed to Heaven to open her eyes to the Beauty that lay inside her, so she may believe.

I have found no beauty quite as beautiful as hers and yet she doubts her own being.

I say with the knowledge of the stars and the wisdom of the ages that she is by far the most beautiful.

That I may lay my head upon her breast and seize to know the world exists for just a moment of her time. Just her and I.

And as Angels whisper into my ear “She is quite the one…” I gasp at her beauty each time.

I see no other but her in my mind. Have I fallen grave to my own possessions that she has become my obsession? Do I even know where to end where I began, to count the days that in my heart she has stayed?

The spell has been cast upon my soul and I try to run but find there is no place for me to go, and I try to hide and I try to lie to myself that I am on my own. Fidgets and faeries have stolen my thoughts and trapped me in some mystical place where I get so lost. Where I can only see the beauty of her and the love of me. Such a place is such bliss yet such misery. For I yearn for her touch and I yearn for her lips upon my lips. That I may feel this bliss.

Whatever love there was or is or has been or never was. I am not too sure.

For the heart wants a connection and wilts to egos vanity; yet the mind wants to disconnect.

Pain will cause the most loving to fall to their feet in reaction to their defeat.

I have been defeated by this thing called love.  Love…

  But wisdom reigns where hearts once loved in vain and dreams remain of the Angels that came.

I have never given up on the one true love, my heart where ever it’s desire has remained.

In some other world in some other dream. I have never given up on love.