i don't really see the books the way you see it, like alina spends the whole entire series (book 2 and 3 especially) running away from maly. she talks and talks again about how they're in the past and that she's not that girl anymore and then leigh bardugo must have a problem with character development because she erases that completely with the ending of the series. alina goes from boring to growth to boring again. and i don't even ship darklina btw, i just think would be neat if the series was about alina going dark side and doing hot evil girl shit.
well anon... you picked the wrong girl to send this to because i simply cannot and will not let you say that alina spends the trilogy running away from mal. you mentioned books 2 and 3 specifically so here u go.
s&b ends with:
“I thought that I’d given up on Mal. I thought the love I’d had for him belonged to the past, to the foolish, lonely girl I never wanted to be again. I’d tried to bury that girl and the love she’d felt, just as I’d tried to bury my power. But I wouldn’t make that mistake again. Whatever burned between us was just as bright, just as undeniable. The moment our lips met, I knew with pure and piercing certainty that I would have waited for him forever.”
“They are orphans again, with no true home but each other.”
siege & storm:
I rested my ironbound hands against his chest and closed my eyes. We Were alone on an icy sea, prisoners of a man who could literally make monsters, yet somehow I believed. I leaned into him, and for the first time in days, I let myself hope.”
[Nikolai] dropped his hand. “[Mal] doesn’t belong here.” He belongs with me, I wanted to shout.
“Mal isn’t weak.” “He’s gifted, I grant you, but no Grisha. He can never be your equal.” “He’s my equal and more,” I spat.
“You were like a stranger, Alina. Beautiful,” he said. “Terrible.” “It won’t happen again. The fetter is a part of me now, like my lungs or my heart.” “Your heart,” he said flatly.” I took his hand in mine and pressed it against my chest. “It’s still the same heart, Mal. It’s still yours.”
“‘I never felt like I fit anywhere either,’” I admitted. Except with Mal. I pushed the thought away.”
“I have loved you all my life, Mal. There is no end to our story”
may i now present to you alina & darkles in ruin & rising:
“I sought Morozova amplifiers for you Alina, so that we can rule as equals.” “You tried to take my power for your own.” “After you ran from me. After you chose—” He stopped, shrugged. “We would have ruled as equals in time.”
and then more from r&r:
“Whatever fragile, lovely thing had existed between us belonged to two other people—people who weren't bound by duty and responsibility—and I wasn't sure what remained. And still I wanted him to put his arms around me, I wanted to hear him whisper my name in the dark, I wanted to ask him to stay.”
“I caught myself before I could rub my thumb over my scar. ‘I dont know.’” Despite everything that had happened, I wanted to keep Mal near. That wouldn’t be fair to either of us.”
“‘He’ll do it anyway,” said Mal. ‘You said so yourself. He’ll find a reason.’ ‘I might buy us some time—’ ‘At what cost? You were willing to give up your life,’ he said quietly. ‘Why won’t you let me do the same?’ ‘Because I can’t bear it.’”
“I wasn’t interested in a fair fight, not if there was a chance I could save Mal’s life.”
“I felt as I always had in his arms—complete, like I was home.”
the problem with only wanting “hot evil girl shit” is that you leave no room for nuance. alina’s story isn’t about her becoming evil, with or without the darkling—it wouldnt happen without him. her story is about overcoming the greed for power that consumes men. her story is about surviving the man who enslaved her for her powers and choosing to build a life with the one person who has known her as alina and as the Sun Saint—the one person who has loved her as both. darkles sparkles tries and very nearly succeeds in taking everything from alina. her story is NOT about her becoming another version of him. alina’s story is not about her becoming evil and feeling superior because she isn’t the darkling. she stands for everything he isn’t.
having two amplifiers on her body and mal holding her other hand makes her feel power so intensely that it’s painful for her. it’s fucking overwhelming. alina would not have kept her sanity had she killed mal and worn three amplifiers. she would not have been able to survive the extent of her own power. you’re looking for negative character development and there are stories that can give you that, but s&b isn’t one of them and for very good reasons. alina doesn’t go from “boring to growth to boring again.” she goes from being an orphan to being a saint she never asked to be to living a well deserved peaceful life with the love of her life. that isn’t boring; that’s the soft epilogue leigh set out to write from book one when she started her story with “the girl and the boy.”
i couldnt have said it better 😭
