Welcome to a new series–Monday Musings! For a while now, I’ve wanted to write reviews for books that I read before I started posting wrap-ups, or I’ve had topics that I wanted to talk about that maybe weren’t all that current. Just because it’s pre-2019 doesn’t mean we shouldn’t be reviewing or talking about it! These will mostly be reviews for books I read pre-end of 2017, or they will be posts about characters who aren’t “relevant” anymore (like below), or perhaps just whatever the heck I want. I’ve been feeling like there isn’t enough content on this blog currently, and I’d like to change that, so let’s get started!

Oh man, that title is loaded, so let’s get this out of the way: this is a positive post BECAUSE Y’ALL MY LOVE FOR CLARY AND ALINA KNOWS NO BOUNDS.

These two badass women have been on my mind a lot lately. I read King of Scars a few days after it came out, and I’ve been doing a The Mortal Instruments reread for the last year. This post will not contain spoilers for King of Scars, but if you’ve read it, you know why I’ve been thinking about Alina. And it’s not that I’ve recently seen hate for either of these characters, it’s that there’s always hate for these characters. No one seems to like Clary or Alina, and that bums me out because they’re fricking awesome.

LOOK AT HOW FIERCE SHE IS!

Okay, but why? Let me bullet point this for you.

• when she sees a mysterious boy heading for a back room in a club with a sword, what does she do? Run after him to stop him.
• after being shoved into a world where demons and mythical creatures exists, she takes, like, one second to breathe and then says, “Okay, I want in.”
• CAN CREATE NEW RUNES, which no Shadowhunter ever has been able to do
• will plunge headlong into danger at a moment’s notice without care for her own safety as long as her loved ones will be safe
• learned she was the daughter of basically the most evil dude ever, and instead of letting it define her, decided nah she was going to define herself
• absolutely refuses to give up ever
• when she finds out Jocelyn has lied to her about literally her whole life, instead of just being wishy-washy and hugging it out, Clary stands her ground and lets herself be angry
• OH MY GOD HER EMOTIONS. Clary doesn’t care who is watching, if she’s feeling an emotion, she’s gonna damn well feel it.
• also kind of doesn’t care what she looks like? she’s short and paint-smattered and redheaded and feels awkward sometimes, but she knows she’s a badass
• SUPPORTS OTHER WOMEN

Look, I know Clary has some faults. Everyone does. She’s human. But she’s also freaking awesome, and I’m sick of people hating on her. Don’t like her? It’s probably because she’s cooler than you.

This is just so indicative of her character with that hand like pfft get away from me. Ain’t nobody got nothin’ on my girl, the Sun Summoner.

Time for more bullet points!

• literally suppressed her magic so that she could stay with Mal at the orphanage. like, what kind of strength is that???
• did NOT let people walk all over her. Bragha? nope. Zoya? okay, maybe a little, but also nope. the Darkling? after she figured out what he was doing, Alina escaped, hunted the stag in secret, and then was like fuck youuuuuuu to the Darkling when he found her
• literally started a revolution
• and then fought a centuries old monster AND WON
• was always humble (like what a juxtaposition for that asshole holy)
• felt remorse and guilt and awful when she had to kill the stag, and for that, the stag was willing to give her his life without a fight
• respected the heck out of Zoya even though Zoya was awful to her
• fought for her life! after everything, she found a way to the life she wanted. LIKE YES GIRL TAKE CONTROL OF YOUR LIFE
• speaking of ^^^, she didn’t let anyone walk all over her once she managed to break away from the Darkling
• helped reverse centuries of warfare and struggle in her country
• SUPPORTS OTHER WOMEN

I feel like that last bullet point for each of these is part of the reason I love these two characters so much. Not only are they badass women, but they support other badass women. Give me female friendships, and I will undoubtedly love your book.

Do you also love Clary and/or Alina? If you hate them, don’t leave a comment about it! I don’t want to know why you think I should also hate them. It’s not going to work. Plenty have tried to convince me that Clary is boring or that Alina is whiny, and you know what, byyyyyye. They’ve got a special place in my heart. But are there any other characters that you love that everyone else seems to hate? Let me know in the comments below! Maybe we both share an unpopular love.