Shadow and Bone discussion

I don't dislike Mal, but he isn't the best person for Alina in a romantic relationship. Mal in my opinion is okay as a friend to Alina, as a lover no. The hate this character gets I think is a bit much since he's done made dumb mistakes just like any other character. Plus the Darkling is wayyy more toxic than Mal is. (STILL THINK THE DARKLING IS COOL THOUGH BUT YEAH-).

ARE YOU KIDDING!!!! Mal is SOOO cute, sure, hes insecure and he can be a pretty big jerk, but SERIOUSLY. I LOVE him, Bardugo did a great job making his character. Alina obviously has been head-over-heels for him since the beginning of the entire series.

P.s. were not going to mention their relationship in the second book and in a chunk of the third **cough - and the end of the first - cough** but that's besides the point.

you're right about the Darkling though...

I don't really like Mal but I don't dislike him he is a good friend for Alina but nothing more really. I like him in some of it but like said above he is a jerk and I can only partially forgive him mentally. With saying that I definitely agree about the Darkling.

true.. he is a jerk, and Alina does deserve better, but he is a great friend and friends make great partners, I should know that... I personally think that Mal is adorable. and he isn't good for her at all, but she is head over heels for him since the beginning. The Darking... well hes just diffrent overall.

While I do enjoy the close relationship Mal and Alina share, I feel like he is just not a concrete character for some reason. It feels like he makes Alina his main reason for doing a lot of the things he does which makes me dislike him because he doesn't feel like a normal person that has their own desires or dreams but rather a lost puppy who can't bare to be on their own.

I wish some of his traits has been a bit more fleshed out. I understand the trilogy is from Alina's perspective so we can really only see so much of him, but if we had gotten more of his own background, how he's such a good tracker, where he learned that, etc. All these little things culminated into my feeling like he is not his own character but rather just there as an "always" option for Alina. I also really didn't appreciate the resentment he had at first harbored towards her for her summoning power. It's not like she chose that.

In terms of romance with Alina, their relationship and their bond feels more so like siblings than anything else. I just wasn't wholly convinced of their romantic love for each other but I was convinced that they feel much tenderness for the other.

He's very meh and one dimensional to me. I won't bother comparing him with the Darkling as some others have because the two of them are so completely different that it's antithetical.

Honestly, you are completely 100% correct on that, but, as I said before, I think he is so adorable. He obviously has been head over heels for her since they were kids.

Honestly, I would prefer Alina to be with Darkling.

100% agree Mal and Alina's relationship is very one dimensional. I also would have preferred her to explore a relationship with the Darkling.

I actually would have preferred the Darkling character to be explored a lot more in general. I wanted to read more about him and get to know him so much!

When the show came out I was really hoping Netflix would do that more than in the book, but no. Wasn't to be. :(

Mal is fine. He's a good character, just seems very simple and has significantly less character development than some others.

Why Mal the Malfunction is the Worst Love Interest Ever: An Essay


This will be long.
Very long.
Also: MILD SPOILERS for Siege and Storm and Shadow and Bone.



EDIT: The reason I'm writing this review and not Why the Darkling is the Worst Love Interest Ever is because
A. He's the villain. He's supposed to be the worst. That's kind of the point.
B. Mal is supposed to be the hero, but he's so toxic and awful and I don't like how he's portrayed as some ideal man.
C. The Darkling was never really a love interest.




1. He’s a possessive piece of trash


“Do you? That night at the palace when I saw you on that stage with him, you looked so happy. Like you belonged with him. I can’t get that picture out of my head.”

“I was happy,” I admitted. “At that moment, I was happy. I’m not like you, Mal. I never really fit in the way that you did. I never really belonged anywhere.”

“You belong with me,” he said quietly.



Oooo boy. *deep breaths* I’m already raging mad and I haven’t even started yet.

Let’s address the problems in this segment.

“I was happy.”


Alina was happy with the Darkling. She felt like she belonged. But no, Mal says that Alina only belongs with him, because obviously that’s healthy and not at all problematic.


“I’ve risked my life for you. I’ve walked half the length of Ravka for you, and I’d do it again and again and again just to be with you, just to starve with you and freeze with you and hear you complain about hard cheese every day. So don’t tell me we don’t belong together,” he said fiercely. He was very close now, and my heart was suddenly hammering in my chest. “I’m sorry it took me so long to see you, Alina. But I see you now.”



Can I please just cease to exist?

“So don’t tell me we don’t belong together.”


He kisses her right after this, by the way.

I’m extremely mad at this paragraph for multiple reasons. One, he doesn’t give Alina a chance to say whether or not she feels the same way. He just assumes that she likes him since he likes her, and he makes the statement that they belong together without actually asking Alina how she feels.


I’m going to skip the part where Mal says he never wants to see her wearing black again (the Darkling’s colors), because that’s just so disgusting and problematic and I honestly don’t have time to digest that right now.


This is just the first book, folks.

I'm already tired.


2. He makes decisions for her


Towards the beginning of the second book, Nikolai proposes a political marriage between himself and Alina. He acknowledges that it wouldn’t be a love match, but he knows it’s a smart move, so he waits for Alina’s response.

Mal never gives her the chance to respond. He physically attacks Nikolai and proceeds to say:

“You don’t have a right to her.”


Oh, so you do? You, Malyen Oretsev, have more of a “right” to Alina than Nikolai does? The logic here is nonexistent.

Alina tries to calm them down in a rare moment of non-stupidity, but Mal refuses, again, to let her decide for herself, and just assumes that she wouldn’t accept. She’s very hurt by this, understandably.

“I don’t need to think about it,” Mal shouted. “And neither does she. It isn’t going to happen.”


Again. Let her make her own decisions. She has a brain, even if it’s not a very large one, and she doesn’t need you to decide for her.



3. He has double standards and is emotionally manipulative


REMEMBER THAT TIME HE KISSED ZOYA?

*uncontrolled laughter* AND THEN HAD THE AUDACITY TO SAY IT WAS ALINA’S FAULT?


THE SAME GUY WHO WOULDN’T EVEN LET ALINA HAVE MALE FRIENDS?

“At least she doesn’t flinch when I touch her,” he spat. “You don’t want me, so why do you care if she does?”


AGAIN, she didn’t flinch because she didn’t want you. She flinched because she literally saw an apparition of the Darkling. And now you’re making out with her enemy just to spite her when she did nothing wrong.

And he threatens to break up with Alina every time she as much as LOOKS at another man with anything other than hatred.



4. He dislikes the fact that she is more powerful than he is


*coughs* *flips Siege and Storm to page 159* Observe.

“But when all this is over, Alina, I wonder if you’ll still want me.”


And then he walks out. He just walks out of the room.

*anger intensifies*

He does this SO. MUCH. Like every other page. Every interaction with Alina, he’s constantly moaning about how “she doesn’t want me” because “she has powers” and “I’m useless.”

Do you want her to be weak and rely on you?
Is that it?

(Actually, that is it.)

Mal is noticeably happier when Alina is weak and not in her power, because then she relies on him. And he’s unhappy when she’s strong and self-confident.

He’s not letting Alina have her own dreams and ambitions and motivations. He’s constantly making her stressed and depressed by questioning her love for him and saying that because she’s trying to help Ravka, that means she automatically has no time for him.

She’s trying to save an entire country.
Calm down.
No one cares about you.

On the contrary, Nikolai encourages Alina to try harder, to be her better self. And he’s not afraid of letting her go. He values her as a free person, unlike Mal.

Another quote:

He let out a bitter bark of laughter. “Do you know how much I want that? To be with you without rank or walls or anything between us? Just to be common again together?” He shook his head. “But you won’t do it, Alina.”


He wants to be common again.
Together.
He wants Alina to forsake her powers.
To give up Ravka and just live with him and bE A STUPID PEASANT IN THE COUNTRYSIDE WITH NO RESPONSIBILITY JUST BECAUSE HE WANTS THAT.

"I wasn’t afraid of you, Alina. I was afraid of losing you. The girl you were becoming didn’t need me anymore, but she’s who you were always meant to be.”


Nononono wait a second-
*crying*
*crying abruptly stops*

Okay, I’m good.
I find this extremely hilarious and extremely sad at the same time.

He doesn’t like Alina with powers because she’s confident, strong, and brave.
He likes weak, insecure Alina better because that version of Alina made him feel like a big, tough man.

He’s continually insecure that Alina will leave him simply because she doesn’t need him. He doesn’t want her to become a more independent, strong person.




5. He shows signs of potentially becoming physically abusive


Mal has a problem with “curling his fingers into fists” whenever Alina shows ANY sign of not wanting to make out right at that moment. And then he assumes she’s thinking about another guy.

And then, after that, he doesn’t give her any chance to explain.

I’m so done with this.

He shows every sign of becoming physically abusive. The fists, the possessiveness, the jealousy.

There’s this one line that I couldn’t find in the book that was a perfect example. He kisses her, she stiffens noticeably because she literally has a hallucination of the Darkling standing behind him. He assumes she doesn’t love him anymore and storms out with his hands curled into fists.

You have to give her some space.

The problem with Mal is that he constantly decides that HE knows better. He knows everything Alina is thinking. He can make decisions for her. And then he makes her feel like trash and leaves it all up to her to “fix” their relationship. Which he broke, by the way, by not letting her speak and just assuming he knew what she meant.



6. He doesn’t allow her to have male friends


I’m going to share a quote with you that actually made me laugh out loud:

Mal shook his head in disgust. “I let him push me away. The meetings, the council sessions, the dinners. I let him edge me out. Just waiting, hoping that you’d miss me enough to tell them all to go to hell.”


*wheezing* So he’s saying that Alina can’t have male friends? That she actually has to tell Nikolai to go to hell just because Mal is so jealous that he can’t stomach the idea of Alina having a life?

I should stop laughing and start crying.

I’m not going to paste the infamous flinching quote in here again, but the same points apply. He assumed that Alina was thinking about another guy, and instead of asking her if she was, he gets angry and guilt-trips her, making her think it’s all her fault.

I believe this is called gaslighting.




TL;DR, Mal is a needy, insecure, jealous, possessive, toxic, abusive excuse for a human being.


Me @ Mal:




______


1. Mal. Please die.
2. Alina just doomed the whole Ravka because she was too busy professing her love to Mal and wouldn't kill a stupid deer.


I believe there is one fundamental problem with Shadow and Bone. Actually, that's not true. There are many, many problems, but one irked me the most (I'm not counting Mal, my mortal enemy).


You can't count on me to root for the "good guys" just because I'm supposed to. I will come into a book with absolutely no opinions whatsoever (excluding The Cruel Prince, which I was in love with before I even started) and form my own idea as to which side I should like more. The Darkling was just so much better than Mal and Alina. And I don't even like the Darkling. He's an annoying jerk with no clear motive and I kind of hate him, but guess what? I hate Alina and Mal even more. Fun times.


Sometimes I feel like authors expect me to side with the morally good people as a principle, but I don't care if you're a good person or not. I just want you to be somewhat interesting. Mal and Alina were as interesting as this piece of white bread:





Only I would rather spend a day with a slice of bread than with Malyen Oretsev.


This book suffers from a serious case of not like other girls™. Alina Starkov(a) is the only female character in this entire novel that isn't a gossipy, appearance-obsessed, "shallow" person, but she's more shallow than all of them because she's bringing them down while putting herself up, and that makes me automatically hate her.


Take Zoya, for example, who had the potential for an awesome redemption arc but instead tried to kill Alina for having stronger powers. Because ✨logic.✨ The characters all fit into traditional roles:

Mal: The love interest who would do anything for the protagonist
Alina: The speshul protagonist with speshul powers who has a destiny she never dreamed of
Zoya: The mean girl who exists only to make life a living hell for the protagonist
The Darkling: Basically Kylo Ren, but worse


Alina is the definition of a Mary Sue. She starts off incompetent and idiotic, and ends the book suddenly a goddess and idiotic. I guess it was too much to ask for character development.



Moving on to Mal, who may be The Worst Character Of All Time for the reasons listed below.


1. He's a jealous jerk.
I'm thinking of that time when he threatened to break off his friendship with Alina because he thought she was in a relationship with the Darkling. Learn what the word "no" means, you insufferable moldy waffle. And he's supposed to be "noble." Look up feminism and only come back here when you've written a 10-page essay on why you are a terrible person.


2. He uses Alina for his own wants.
He constantly complains about how "she's different" since she got powers and he's "worried that she doesn't love me anymore." *sigh* There is so much that's wrong with... *gestures vaguely* you. First of all, stop moping because "she might not love" you. Hasn't she sacrificed everything for you? Just because she wants to fight for the good of all Ravka doesn't mean you have the right to be a jerk about that because you want more time with her. In case you didn't already know, Alina is a person too and has stuff she needs to get done. You're just making things worse, you clingy spoiled octopus.



Anyway, this was terrible. It's basically all the YA tropes shoved into a bowl and halfheartedly mixed for a few seconds.


Mal is a rat. argue with a wall.

i didnt really dislike him but i also didnt like him. he had his moments where he was annoying (which was a lot) but not often enough to dislike him. I think his character just wasnt written as well as some of the others, leading him to seem not very good. i think if he was written a bit better then he wouldnt be as hated

I think Mal is a good friend and supporting character for Alina, but childhood friend to love interest is not my favorite trope, especially when it's a competition between said friend and some new character. For me, I felt like he almost got in the way, and Alina could have found a new love interest while also staying friends with him. I think they just work best as platonic friends, soulmates even. So even though I didn't hate him, he was just almost annoying to me.

ash wrote: "i didnt really dislike him but i also didnt like him. he had his moments where he was annoying (which was a lot) but not often enough to dislike him. I think his character just wasnt written as wel..." I agree! I think if he was written better, he would have been more enjoyable and had more depth.

In honor of season 2 coming out, I have to give my opinion on this. I actually do like TV Mal. The book one tho... not so much. It's not that I actively hate him but since he is the romantic lead of this series, I really wanted to care about him a whole lot more than I did. I feel like he has the personality of a plain toast. I'm in no way a Darkling apologist and I'm glad Alina doesn't end up with him. But I don't think she fits with Mal, at least in the books. My issue with her ending is a whole other conversation tho.

So yes, I kind of do dislike Mal for the whole reason of holding Alina down and not letting her have power.

It's not that I dislike Mal, but there are few "gems" in his personality that I don't get...
For example - whenever the Darkling is playing with Alina's feelings and trying to get her and Mal mad. Like how can you not see that! moreover, he is blaming Alina for her the Darkling deeds, no wonder she can't tell him that she sees him in her visions, 'cause he will get upset and Alina will have to deal with his drama.
And dude, if you truly live your girl, you need to fight for her, because if you're a lover you must be a fighter (Keanu Reeves in my heart).

I don't dislike him but don't like him either. He didn't give her any attention as more than friends all the time they were in the army but as soon as the Darkling started showing her attention, he got twisted up and realised that she is the one for him? Like what did he expect? He can fool around with as many girls as he wants and she will be waiting around for him?
I know that the Darkling is the villain and he manipulated and played with her feelings but until that point he was the perfect love interest. I think his character has more depth than Mal.

He was ok at the start but then he started to become quite annoying. I guess it is because he felt more like a best friend than a love interest. He was also way too possessive and insecure. Honestly i would prefer Alina to just be single and happy.

I think Alina needs to be alone for a while.

At first, I thought that Mal had good potential. But when Alina went to the little palace that's where I was "Mal's outta here". At the book's beginning, when Mal practically ignored her, that was a huge red flag. But then the Darkling ended up being an abusive tyrant so...

starkov is reading now wrote: "Why Mal the Malfunction is the Worst Love Interest Ever: An Essay

I don't think this is yours: it reminds me of Sofia's review

starkov is reading now wrote: "Why Mal the Malfunction is the Worst Love Interest Ever: An Essay


This will be long.
Very long.
Also: MILD SPOILERS for Siege and Storm and Shadow and Bone.



EDIT: The reason I'm writing this r..."


THANK YOU YOU'RE THE MOST BEAUTIFUL BEING IN THE WHOOOOLE UNIVERSE!! Like, everyone told me I was crazy, like "How can you reallyreallyreally hate Mal? He just wants the best for Alina..." and I just tried to explained (and failed many times), but you said EVERYTHING. I'm gonna send your entire comment to my best friend. Now she can't tell me Mal is better than Nikolai or the Darkling...

starkov is reading now wrote: "Why Mal the Malfunction is the Worst Love Interest Ever: An Essay


This will be long.
Very long.
Also: MILD SPOILERS for Siege and Storm and Shadow and Bone.



Just from this, I want there to be a little more romantic exploration between alina and nikolai.

He is so much better than mal and he accepts her more as a person that a love object like mal does.

Your entire argument is totally fair





EDIT: The reason I'm writing this r..."

Tessa wrote: "starkov is reading now wrote: "Why Mal the Malfunction is the Worst Love Interest Ever: An Essay


This will be long.
Very long.
Also: MILD SPOILERS for Siege and Storm and Shadow and Bone.




Just..."

You just summed up every single emotion I have ever felt while reading the books dude. *Chef's kiss*

Mal is too obsessive over Alina tbh. He says he's not good enough for her, and she's got powers. Mal: Get. Over. It. You do not need to make her second guess herself.

Mal had the potential to be an amzaing and interesting charcatcer, I think I dislike him more due to the frustration of the writing of his character. I would've loved to see how the Cognitive dissonance of him suddenly receiving all this attention due to his good looks with the beliefs he grew up with, as a soft natured boy that was not suppose to amount to anything. I think Mal and Alina were always going to be uncomfortably close to each other (with more than one thing tying them both together) but I dont beileve they should have ended up together. At the end they both lose the things that tied them together at the Making at the Heart of the World, and that would have made sense why they stuck by each other when they clearly should not have. So then, I think it would have been nice to see them part ways, treasuring what they had but knowing that what they had almost was not theirs (due to Mal being an amplifier and Alina would naturally want to seek out amplifiers). It would have been beautiful to see them part ways, to heal and find out who they are by themselves, but take an oath if either of the two ever needed it. They both were bound together against their wills by the Small Science, and they did not work together as a couple. I wish they both could have had their own happy endings, as their full selves, not relying on each other when they were not healthy for each other.

*spoilers ahead I suppose, but not for the plot*

I'd really wish I could say I liked Mal and enjoyed his character, but I truly did not! From start to finish (then especially in book 2), he was an insufferable and entitled character who liked to pretend he was sacrficing so much for Alina and the war, when in reality all he did was complain feel bad for himself.

He is not very present in the first book, but the small part he is, he is very needy of Alina, which is hurtful to see. Alina had been pining over him for years, and it wasn't until she was thriving on her own, seeing that she had value without Mal, that he suddenly decided she was desirable. He appealed to her childhood dream of him liking her back, so he basically manipulated her into his arms. I finish the first book and was like "alright, I'll give him the benefit of the doubt. If he truly loves her, it'll show."

It took him less then 100 pages for me to despise him. The first scene I can recall where I began to really question him as a character was when he snapped at Nikolai for proposing a political marriage with Alina. His possessiveness is disguised as protectiveness. Alina isn't even considering accepting the offer, and yet Mal will not even listen to her.
He goes on to have a nice-guy meltdown where he basically says he will walk heaven and earth for her, but he is insecure because he doesn't know if she'll still want him when it's all over. Then he leaves her standing without another word.

what. the. hell.

Alina has never given any signs that she will at any point leave Mal behind. If anything, she is desperately trying to convince him that is not the case. He is too much wrapped up in his self pity to try and listen to her.

Against her own wishes, Alina has the entire fate of their country resting on her shoulders. Despite this massive burden, she has decided to take on that role and make the best out of it. As a result, she has grown more powerful and confident. Defying all these odds, Mal will not pass up the opportunity to use this against her to victimize himself.

He keeps on telling her she has changed since she revieved her powers... well duh she had to in order to actually survive, but I would argue these changes were all for the better. But poor Mal, who is not needed as much anymore. The girl who has given up everything for me and our country is managing to stand on her own two feet and I'm not important enough to her..... I'm sorry, am I supposed to feel bad for him?!

The next scene is probably the worst one he has throughout this series and is, in my opinion, inexcusable.

(Disclaimer, don't remember every detail in this scene)

One late night, Mal has ended up in her room where they enter a heart-to-heart conversation. After having spilled some manipulating words to Alina, Mal decides to make a move on her, physically. Which is all good, as long as she is onboard. I'm giving the impression she is more than willing. However, the Darkling decides to make an unwanted appearance for only Alina. Naturally, she flinches at the sight of her enemy. It's a clear sign of trauma that she has endured throughout the series so far. And what does our oh-so-righteous hero do?

He gets upset.

That's right. Alina won't commit to their physical relationship at that very moment because she has a trauma response, and Mal gets furious. He takes personal offence to this and begins blaming Alina again. She tries to explain why she had the reaction, but he won't listen. Instead, he uses her insecurities agains her. he says "I know you haven't had much experience. But I've kissed enough girls to know what that means. Don't worry. It won't happen again." - BFFR!!!
This is the peak of toxic behaviour. He shames her for flinching out of fear before using the one thing she had been consistantly insecure about to justify his reaction. And that's not all. After this conflict, he begins to spiral. He begins to avoid her, giving her silent treatment. He also begins to drink heavily and participate in fight clubs. I understand that the drinking is an issue, and a serious one at that, but Alina is not to blame for his problems.

(a little of topic) but I'm growing tired of the narrative where a woman is responsible for a man's issues and problems, which eventually results in the woman feeling responsible for fixing said problem, which is in no way her responsibility!

Anyways. In a later confrontation between the romantic couple, she catches him doing something he shouldn't be doing. He kisses Zoya, who's not exactly friends with Alina, to put it mildly. In this confrontation, where Alina is understandably upset, he uses her trauma response against her as a reason to justify kissing Zoya, saying "at least she doesn't flinch when I touch her."
I get that Mal isn't the smartest person around, but he should be able to understand that maybe there is a deeper meaning to her flinch. Oh, sorry, I forgot that Mal only really has the ability to think of himself. My bad.

It is such a lowblow for anyone to make, but especially the character supposed to be the love interest. I'm glad I read this series now in my life when I'm in my early 20s instead of in my mid teens, where I would probably have eaten it all up. I'd be making excuses for this sorry man. It just goes to show that men can just go around doing whatever and treating people badly without any from of repercussion.

In the third book, he is mostly just there in my opinion. Becomes a very superficial character, despite not being as terrible as in the second book. I really enjoyed the Shadow and Bone trilogy, but I also know I would have enjoyed it so much more if Mal had some form of redeeming qualities.

Then I see people talking about who was the better love interest for Alina, where Mal defenders come with arguments like "Oh but the Darkling is evil". I agree, I don't think that the Darkling would have been a fitting love interest for Alina at all, but you cannot deny the tension between him and Alina. Their chemistry is way better than Mal and Alina's despite them being enemies.
Same goes for Nikolai. The tension is there, and I had a lot more comforting feelings about their interactions than I ever did with Mal and Alina, though I didn't want her to end up with Nikolai either.

Mal suffers from the same good-guy syndrome a lot of other male heros suffer from, which really make it hard for me to like them. It's the way Mal acts as if he is such a great guy, brave, strong etc. but his actions shows us that he really isn't. It's the way we're supposed to see his reaction as reasonable because he is the good guy who saves the day.

The Darkling, who is objectively a bad guy, could be doing exactly the same things as Mal, and get shit for it (if we think about it, we kind of do. I mean, they're both possessive and controling). I'm not saying we should ignore all the things that the Darkling does that is not okay, but he doesn't pretend to be better than he is.

So to answer the question, yes. I do dislike Mal, and proudly so.

I agree Mal wasn't right romantically for Alina. And I had a love hate relationship with the Darkling (I lost a lot of the love though when he killed so many people Alina loved and then hung them in a tree though...) I would have liked to see more of what a relationship between Nikolai and Aline would have looked like. It's hard though because Alina was in love with him in all three books (no matter what she claimed are tried). I also think the Darkling wasn't right for her either though, because once she lost her power it's like he didn't even want to know her anymore. Definitely in love with her power and not her. Except he probably thought he loved her for her because he doesn't know anything else.

i don't love mal. i don't hate him. he's just a lil too... vanilla. but i would definitely ship him with alina more than the darkling. love the darkling, just not as alina's love interest. so i guess team mal?

but bad grammar is a red flag (i am become a blade???)

He’s a friend. He doesn’t give a spark. It’s not instant love. It’s not slow burn. IT’S JUST THE AUTHOR SHOVING THE RELATIONSHIP DOWN YOUR THROAT

The moment I found out Alina & Mal is the end game, is the moment the little bit of interest I had in this book died a slow death

Nora wrote: "The moment I found out Alina & Mal is the end game, is the moment the little bit of interest I had in this book died a slow death"
Same

I didn't "hate" Mal. I mean he was a bit of a jerk sometimes, but so was Alina! Obviously, there is no perfect match:
Alina and the Darkling has always been a no-no in my mind. HE FRICKING KILLED EVERYONE AT KERAZMIN!!!!
Alina and Nikolai are also a big no since I 100% prefer Nikolai And Zoya ❤️😍
If I had to choose I would have preferred for Alina to have remained single (🎶all the single ladies, all the single ladies🎶) I mean not everyone HAS to fall in love.
But, yea Mal is not too bad as people make him out to be

I don't like Mal, because I can't really tell you his personality beyond "male love interest". He does everything you'd expect a male love interest to do based of cliches, and doesn't really have interest or ideas beyond "protect Alina". The romance between Mal and Alina felt obligatory to me.

I hate Mal

Ade wrote: "I hate Mal"

thank you!!

Not really! He liked Alina, and he stood beside her even when it was hard for him. I think that's true love!

Mal sucks. Sorry but he's annoying and toxic. Yes the Darkling is toxic too but at least he's interesting. I couldn't bring myself to care about Mal once.

Mal was fine to me in the books, nothing special. I thought Nikolai was way more charming but I get why Alina didn't choose him. He was way better and more interesting in the show. Show Mal was top tier.

I don't like Mal because I feel like he and Alina have zero chemistry and that made me look for flaws to prove that she's better off with one of the other potential love interests. He is boring, ignorant, at times obnoxious, and even though he's an orphan he has terrible grammar and needs more schooling. I get that the Darkling is a horrible person but at least he has a reason for being evil (even if it isn't the best) and Alina and him ACTUALLY HAVE CHEMISTRY, whereas Mal is simply her childhood best friend who didn't notice her until she got powers and was taken away. If he only realized what he had for all those years after he lost her, he doesn't deserve her. So it's safe to say I dislike Mal as a character.

Mal is ok. I like him as a character, but not as a love interest for Alina. NOT EVERY BEST FRIEND RELATIONSHIP HAS TO END WITH THEM DATING!!!!!!!!!!!!!! A GUY AND A GIRL CAN STILL BE JUST BEST FRIENDS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Mal is also less understanding towards Alina, and jumps to conclusions too fast when he sees her with the Darkling in Shadow and Bone. I think they would have been better off as just best friends. But he's not the worst character, and I feel like he and Alina could love each other as friends.

I am neutral towards him. I mean, he's alright. Not my favorite character in the series, but not terrible.