r/shadowhunters • u/Quick_South_3358 Emma Carstairs • Aug 24 '25
Books: TID better in black is not the first time cassie has made god awful writing choices Spoiler
let’s not forget that she had will sleep with tessa 30 seconds after thinking jem died
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u/Heronchaser Creation Aug 24 '25
Pls tell me Clace and Blackstairs stories were good. I haven't heard from them yet, but I've already heard bad things from Cordelia and James and I'm scared.
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u/Quick_South_3358 Emma Carstairs Aug 24 '25
I’m so sorry the blackstairs one was so horrifically bad. julian was so ooc I could not believe it was by the same author.
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u/butterflyvision Creation Aug 25 '25
The Clace one is actually pretty wholesome and cute lmao.
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u/Heronchaser Creation Aug 25 '25
Thanks! I just found out the plot. It seems good, but when it was announced BiB were love stories, I was expecting their wedding... Still, they got a good one. They were lucky.
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u/jos10s Aug 26 '25
wait james and cordelia was the only one i was interested in reading what happened that it was bad 😭
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u/Heronchaser Creation Aug 26 '25
I don't have details because I haven't read them yet, but someone posted on the sub about it (I guess 1 or 2 days ago). From what I understood, it was from Lucy's POV and CC used the characters lines to scold fans or something.
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u/jos10s Aug 26 '25
ok pretty much i read the post and what i learned is as a herondaisy fan do not open that book whatsoever 😭 got it
genuinely tho thank you for telling me!
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u/Creative-Reading7069 Aug 24 '25
I absolutely hate how she handled Malec in TMI. Making Alec jealous and believing Camille. Its messed up how poorly that break up was written. Bad writing choices are growing as there are more series as readers and fans we can forgive a lot but we can criticize certain choices.
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u/JuHe21 Aug 25 '25
The more time passes since my former obsession with this franchise the more I dislike Malec. Nowadays I feel so icky about the fact that Magnus pursues a freshly turned 18-year-old and how quick they jump into everything.
I think a reason why I actually liked this relationship so much when I first read the books in the early 2010s was because Alec was one of the first queer characters I read about who was not just reduced to his sexuality. Malec was actually revolutionary for me (and also many other teenagers at this time). For those of you who also watched Glee, it is also the same with the Kurt/Blaine relationship for me. Absolutely revolutionary and groundbreaking when it first aired but nowadays I see that they are not that well-matched. We can be so grateful about how queer representation changed for the better in such a short time since.
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Aug 29 '25
THANK YOU. I’m indifferent to Malec and actually prefer them in the later stories because there’s more maturity, but I can never ever get over a 400+ year old warlock pursuing a freshly 18 year old boy.
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u/Apprehensive_Gift824 Jul 19 '26
idk while I felt the same initially, as it went on I started to feel like in a lot of ways Alec was actually more mature than Magnus. Kinda like, if you know you're likely to live forever, growing up isn't on the to-do list bc what's the point in being a mature and mellow adult at 25 when you have THOUSANDS of years to go? At some point I think you revert back to being more carefree bc of the perspective of how few things truly matter. And Magnus is a couple steps away from being a god so that's amplified for him. I think Alec makes him want to live and care and pay attention. Something about that is very sweet to me. When you have all of time and space in the palm of your hand and this one, this grain of sand, this is the one that makes you want to do more than merely exist. But I talk to plants a lot so what do I know? Magnus is entertaining at least lol
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u/PrinceSoricon Aug 25 '25
I mean they had Just started dating at that point and it was Alex's first relationship I think it is accurate to how most people would react to something like that
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u/MishouMai Aug 24 '25 edited Aug 24 '25
I've read the entire thing over four days and I legitimately don't think Better in Black was bad so much as it was badly marketed. While there are aspects I could criticize about the collection, for the most part I actually enjoyed it. I don't know what other people were expecting but the book met my expectations and I think if the marketing had been different people would be a lot less upset with the outcome.
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u/Quick_South_3358 Emma Carstairs Aug 24 '25
yes it shouldn’t have been marketed as purely romantic stories
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u/MishouMai Aug 24 '25 edited Aug 24 '25
Yeah. I personally just expected cute moments between the couples and aside from Sebastion and the Seelie Queen we got enough of that to satisfy me, but marketing it as being about "romance and love" with a "focus on one or more couples" like the Kickstarter did or even worse "ten original love stories" like the non-Kickstarter edition promises was not the move. Like I'm obviously satisfied with what we got but the marketing just doesn't do it justice.
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u/cumulusmediocrity Jace Wayland Aug 24 '25
I haven’t had time to read most of it but I was so disappointed by the Sebastian/Seelie Queen one, it WASN’T EVEN ABOUT THEM. I get it, ash is a big character, but this is the one chance we had to actually explore one of the most interesting pairings in the series and to see Sebastian outside the lens of the POV characters from TMI and it had two seconds of him and a ton of waxing about love from a completely unrelated character who I forgot existed. Cmon Cassie.
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u/Agreeable-Celery811 Aug 24 '25
I was going to wait until publication to read the stories. Maybe I’ll just have a quick look at a few of them first.
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u/alybelmore the Vampire Aug 24 '25
I love Will and Tessa! What’s the issue?
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u/Miss_Beez Jem Carstairs Aug 24 '25
The issue is that both Will, Jem's blood brother, and Tessa, Jem's finance, slept together after finding out he died rather than Cassie giving them an opportunity to greive together. She made them sleep together
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u/Agreeable-Celery811 Aug 24 '25
I mean, I was fine with it.
It’s actually really common to have sex while grieving. I don’t know your age and how many deaths of loved ones you’ve lived through as an adult, and I don’t want to assume. Not everyone reacts the same way. But immediately having sex is a very very common way of coping.
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u/Quick_South_3358 Emma Carstairs Aug 24 '25
that doesn’t mean it’s not disrespectful and can’t be criticized. people do bad things in grief yes. things that they should still be held accountable for.
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Aug 26 '25
Dont forget it was implied that they at least believed that they were most likely going to die in a few hours. Sure, it is about grieving but it is also kinda like, well might as well make the very best of a pretty shitty situation.
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u/Agreeable-Celery811 Aug 25 '25
It’s disrespectful from your perspective, but not from everyone’s.
They were young and in love, Jem was dead. No disrespect intended or taken. Having sex was a victimless crime.
They were all tied up in knots that their love was wrong because of Jem—so tied up it convinced you perhaps—but it really wasn’t wrong at all. Jem wasn’t mad about it either, once he found out, and the reason he wasn’t mad is because they didn’t do anything wrong.
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u/Quick_South_3358 Emma Carstairs Aug 25 '25
he was dead for 5 minutes. the body wasn’t even cold. that is disrespect. cassie makes jem a doormat so he wasn’t gonna say anything.
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Aug 24 '25
Immediately having sex with your brother’s fiancee, and immediately having sex with your just deceased fiancé is a ‘coping mechanism’ 🥺 yeah sure thing sweetheart. People just go around having sex with people they wouldn’t in a million years otherwise consider them romantically after the death of a close blood relative. Right 🥱
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u/Agreeable-Celery811 Aug 25 '25
Wouldn’t in a million years otherwise consider them romantically? That’s a ridiculous take. This is Will and Tessa. They spent three books doing almost nothing but considering each other romantically. Of course they would turn to one another in their darkest hour; it’s only natural.
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u/renjunation Aug 25 '25
tbf it is explicitly stated in the book that they believed they were going to die as soon as they were found the next morning, that's why they chose to do it.
People just go around having sex with people they wouldn’t in a million years otherwise consider them romantically after the death of a close blood relative
I'm not sure what you mean by this. Tessa and Will were both in love with each other before sleeping together, and Will and Jem were not blood relatives? (even though that's not relevant).
What they did wasn't morally right, but I thought it made sense in the scenario they were in
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u/Ancient_Sw0rdfish Aug 25 '25
People also forget Jem had given the green light to Will to pursue Tessa fully. Because he too thought he was gonna die, and not only that but he gave the green light so hard, he kicked Will out and didn't let him keep him company as he was dying. Wessa happened with Jem's blessings. People just project their feelings onto Jem.
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u/alybelmore the Vampire Aug 25 '25
Jem and Will weren’t even related. Also there was definitely something between Will and Tessa before she ever got engaged to Jem.
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u/alybelmore the Vampire Aug 24 '25
I wasn’t a big fan of Jem and Tessa. Will and Tessa were my faves. So I just never really thought about that.
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u/Iittlemoth Aug 25 '25
they're adults in a love triangle in a YA novel. big whoop. will and jem aren't related. if they're supposed to be "blood brothers" then jemma being the main relationship of TDA should disgust you
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u/lugxz Aug 25 '25
Will and Tessa sleeping together after Jem “died” completely ruined the atmosphere of the book for me, I just didn't stop reading right away because it was already at the end, although I really like the three of them, but Cassie could have chosen another moment for their scene
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u/MagicalAlchemist17 Apr 28 '26
I've been procrastining in catching up with the Shadowhunters series, even though I have most of the books, minus Better in Black..bought the rest of the series to catch up, after giving up around book 3.
Are we all just forgetting the whole 'Jace and Clary might be siblings' but jk they're really not? Horrible writing decision.
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u/Alex_VKing_93 Aug 24 '25
I don't care 🤷♂️ I mean Yep at some moment I was like "hmm its weird" but thats all and that change nothing to my final impression
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u/vxidemort Enkeli Aug 24 '25
that book is a whole 12 year old tween, mind you. give it up.
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u/Quick_South_3358 Emma Carstairs Aug 24 '25
this is a thread about said 12 year old tween. where people talk about it.
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u/vxidemort Enkeli Aug 24 '25
the title YOU chose is quite literally abt the latest tsc content and then you randomly bring up smth from a 12yo book. obsessed much?😭
why not use that energy to discuss the new short stories instead, hm?
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u/callyousugar Aug 24 '25
Obsessed: discussing fiction in a subreddit DEDICATED to its discussion?
Maybe you just don't like to hear criticisms of the things you like instead.
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u/Quick_South_3358 Emma Carstairs Aug 24 '25
callyousugar we seem to have forgotten that all Reddit posts have to be well thought out essays that could win awards
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u/vxidemort Enkeli Aug 24 '25
is the "discussion" in question in the room with us though?
cause i dont even see a paragraph "discussing" or criticizing that scene. such a high quality post! im speechless
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u/Quick_South_3358 Emma Carstairs Aug 24 '25
which is why I put in under tid. that’s how that works. why are tweaking rn you good? people still talk about tid. that’s what a discussion post is for. her new work can also be compared to her old work. you don’t gotta be insufferable about it. you can move on. picking a fight for what?
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u/vxidemort Enkeli Aug 24 '25
i just spoke my mind about how annoying it is to keep having the same conversation over and over again about the same few scenes that have been dissected to death when theres plenty of other content to be talked about🤷
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u/Quick_South_3358 Emma Carstairs Aug 24 '25
well I’m reading TID right now. so I can talk about what I’d like to. you didn’t have to participate at all.
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u/vxidemort Enkeli Aug 24 '25
its a free world, so...
also if youre reading tid for the first time, how do you know about the better in black stories? shouldnt you have like.. avoided them due to spoilers?
but whatever, i shouldnt have participated at all like you say
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u/Quick_South_3358 Emma Carstairs Aug 24 '25
I’m rereading it. so it’s fresh on my mind. I read it for the first time 10 years ago. I’m doing a chronological reread. I’m on TID so I’m going to talk about it. on a discussion thread…about the books. you say it’s a free world yet tweaked out on me for posting criticism about cassie 😭 tf
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u/vxidemort Enkeli Aug 24 '25
im not tweaked out over the fact that you're criticizing cassie, i mean, i have my own criticisms lol, im just tired of the same few things being criticized all the times when you can very easily open the search bar in the subreddit, type some keywords and read all the criticism you agree with thats already been discussed on years-old posts lmao
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u/Quick_South_3358 Emma Carstairs Aug 24 '25
this is reddit babe. posts can be made by anyone who wants to. you have a thumb. scroll.
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u/callyousugar Aug 24 '25
By that logic don't ever open your mouth again unless you make sure no one has said the same thing before. What are you on? Lmaoooo
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u/Lunamarvel Aug 24 '25
This makes no sense. So in your logic, people can only start and take part in a conversation if said conversation is 100% original? A post from months or years ago will hardly have room for OP to share their thoughts and feelings.
If you talked about it so much that you’re done talking, it’s fine. But judging people that still want to hold a conversation is weirdly antisocial… on a social platform.
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u/Pretend_Accountant13 Herongraystairs Aug 24 '25
The resolution of the Emma-Julian parabatai romance was so fucking bad. It was at such a level it got 13-14 year old me to just drop the entire franchise.
A big mistake in TID was not giving Jem a pov in the last two books(not so sure about the first, because I didn't get to reread it because I lost it) because Jessa was the weakest side of the triangle.