anyway i still have huge issues with sh*dow and bone's ending and the way the author talks about how a canon romance with the darkling would've been abuse. by her own rules, mal is abusive too, he just happens to be a shitty person in a normal way instead of a supervillain

like, this doesn't mean that a romance with mal shouldn't have happened or that endgame with mal shouldn't have happened. but if mal was going to be alina's endgame love interest, the story should've bothered addressing his flaws and the ways he mistreated her

because like, in a villain romance yeah there's a lot more highkey hate or violence, but the story actually bothers addressing that, which imo is part of the reason a lot of people are into villain romances. the story knows the villains are being shitty when they're being shitty.