Y’all, CC is really doing something with her commentary on women’s power (or their lack thereof) in the 1900s.
Tatiana tells Grace: “My child, as a woman, you will be at a disadvantage in this cruel world. If you marry, your husband will own everything and you nothing. Your very name will go away, in favor of his … We must take all the power that is available to us, for we are so far below others. We must take it just to have a chance to survive at all.”
Lilith tells Belial: “But as a woman I am well accustomed to using methods other than brute force. With a paladin and Cortana at my disposal, the oath cannot stop me.”
And Belial says to Lucie: “You, girl, do not matter … When I heard you were born, I wept tears of fire, for you were female, and you could not see the shadow realm.”
And yet. And yet Tatiana gave Grace the power to influence men to gain control over their futures and get what they want most: Jesse back. And yet Lilith played everyone in COI like a fiddle and came out with an advantage over Belial to get her realm back. And yet Lucie’s power is the one thing that derailed Belial’s plan.
Feminism is a theme in all of the TSC books, but it’s most prominent here. Here there are women recognizing their institutional lack of power, and there are women being berated just for being women. Here there are women being clever and doing what they can to survive. Here there are women winning.
Okay, but if my man doesn’t love me so much that he BREAKS the bracelet enchanted by a Prince of Hell meant to keep him in love with someone else then WHAT IS THE POINT
Shout out to Christooher Lightwood for being 100% drama-free and not knowing what miscommunication is. Everyone’s relationships are falling apart all around him and he’s just vibing
