#I think a big reason all my thoughts post chot are negative is bc of this honestly

[layla-carstairs]

the fact I've seen a couple people say the reason for the lack of mourning for Kit in ChoT was because cc "didn't want to write sad scenes"... if she didn't want to write sad scenes she shouldn't have killed off a main character????? like why kill off someone and then not follow through with some sort of narrative weight (which is probably going to be sad. because someone died.)

like writing 101 is to not kill off characters unless it serves some sort of purpose, whether plot wise or character wise. even if that purpose is to show how dangerous the situation is for everyone else. but for that to be effective it can't just... exist in a vacuum. there should be notable changes in other characters behaviour bc of the loss, or how the plot unfolds afterwards. death is kinda a big deal & the writing should reflect that! there should be a gaping hole in the group you can feel, a definitive change story that wouldn't exist if the death hadn't happened, especially for a main character.

and the way Kit's death is written... doesn't reflect any of this. like he hadn't died the book would have ended exactly the same. and honestly the whole thing is kinda a slap in the face for readers just because we have read three books with Kit & fallen in love with him as a character. we deserve mourn him! we deserve to have moment where we get to cry alongside the characters for more than a couple sentences! and the fact we don't makes the whole thing feel unfinished & that the ending is undeserved. like for me at least, reading the epilogue was a "that's it?" moment, it all felt too good to be true (and a bit fan-servicey). like I was just expecting this moment that never came & it left me feel unbalanced. at the very least someone could have spared an "ave atque vale" like come on now.

#I think a big reason all my thoughts post chot are negative is bc of this honestly #like I can't really appreciate any of the good bits (which was most of the book!) because I'm like stuck in limbo #waiting for some emotional pay off for his death that never actually came #big shout out to everyone writing fics about this btw <3 I appreciate you so so much #also for the record im a big fan for happy endings 😭 so this isn't me mad that the book ended happily #just that kit's death was more or less brushed off narratively speaking #christopher lightwood #chain of thorns #chain of thorns spoilers #cot spoilers #chot spoilers #the last hours #tsc #the shadowhunter chronicles #ignore any spelling mistakes its 1am 😭😭😭 and i don't feel like proofreading