I think this is a deeply misogynistic and discrediting take on inej. thereâs a difference between having criticisms about a romantic relationship in a book and completely misreading a well written female character for cheap talking points on why you donât like said romantic relationship. to look past inejâs character and everything important about her to say she has no personality outside of kaz, and to ignore her massive and significant character arcs to say sheâs âsupposed to be this badassâ is not the revolutionary take you think it is. itâs giving âin my reading era on booktokâ and anti intellectualism. not all the girls and women in every piece of fiction have the same arc and personality, there is not a certain way to write a female character that makes them âbadassâ
if inejâs character had been male, you wouldnât be using those phrases that are rooted in sexism, and to ignore all of inejâs achievements and accomplishments to say all she does in the book is stab people at kazâs behest is deeply disrespectful to her.
inejâs personality is raw, and unfiltered. she is so courageous, true herself and her beliefs, greatly empathetic to others despite her own situation, and deeply unafraid. sheâs short tempered and sarcastic, (which is typical of someone her age,) and skeptical of most people. she has a lot of the funniest lines because she roasts the majority of the others thought the book, especially matthias and wylan when she first meets them. sheâs unwavering, stubborn and persistent. despite the horrific things sheâs endured as a child, she is still strong enough to look past that and find good and search for good everywhere. she makes the most out of being in a bad situation. she never abandons her faith and never forgets her family and her values, even when her values are tested and she has to do things that she wouldnât have if she had other options. sheâs inspirational because she always finds the light when sheâs in the dark, sheâs still an amazing person whereas if I had been through everything she had, I would not give af. sheâs taken a trauma reaction after what happened to her (disappearing while being raped) and turned it into a deadly weapon, to be completely unseen. sheâs a talented performer and acrobat and she uses those skills that came from her family and her familyâs business (a place of community and love and passed-down talent) and adapted that and used it to survive.
to ignore inejâs complex personality, many arcs and achievements, skills and important part on the crew to narrow her down to her best friend helping her regain her freedom and begin her mission leaves a very bad taste in my mouth. kaz and inej save each other, look out for each other, and help each other up. they canât count the times theyâve saved each others lives. just inejâs voice can calm kaz and help him to fight off a panic attack. he knows her and he knows what she needs, which included freedom and leverage and power. to turn that into a one sided thing of inej being some helpless damsel is very sad and pitiable.
the book is largely about fighting back against the system that is out to get you and wants you dead. all the crows help each other at different times.
and as for personal arcs, which there are a lot for a heist book with 6 main leads; inej went from being unable to walk past the building where she was sex trafficked in case she ran into her former pimp, to ruthlessly choking her as well as stealing precious jewellery from her. she met a trained assassin she thought was better and stronger then her in every way, and outsmarted her because she doesnât need to be royalty or deemed someone special when she knows the cityâs rooftops better then anyone and was able to face her shadow. she scaled a burning incinerator to save her friends, and when she was being burnt half to death and thought she couldnât make it, she recovered and pushed on anyway. she got her money, helped to pull off the most insane heist & auction ever, and then took all her experience with slavers and sex traffickers and her skill of spying/finding information to dedicate herself to hunting down slavers. what part of this was irrelevant and not enough character development to you?
