So we all know that there are a few errors and inconsistencies in the VA series (e.g. several references to Rose punching Jesse in Book 1, Jill's element changing from air to water, Mikhail Tanner's name being changed for no reason in some editions of Book 5, etc). And while it can be a little frustrating and jarring to see these mistakes, I'm more than willing to put up with them for the sake of how great the story is, and I'm sure many others are in the same boat as me.
One error/inconsistency that I've just realised and that is kind of getting to me is about Tatiana, and how the hell she became queen.
So we know that the title of Prince/Princess is reserved for the oldest in each of the 12 royal families, and it is generally that person who holds the family's seat on the Royal Council (there are some rare exceptions, such as in the case of Victor Dashkov, who had his title revoked when he was convicted of kidnapping LIssa). We also know that any royal can be in the running for the crown provided that they are of age, get nominated by three other royals and that they are not from the family that previously held the crown. Most nominees seem to be the Prince or Princess, as they are already the representative of their family, but not all of them are. This is seen in the case of Roland Ozera, who is the Ozera candidate in Book 6 despite not being their council representative.
It is stated several times throughout the series that the Ivashkovs are the largest of the royal families. Though we aren't given a precise number, in Frostbite we learn that the Badica family has approximately 200 members and is the second smallest (the smallest obviously being the Dragomirs), and Rose states that it is quite small in comparrison to a "huge and widespread" family such as the Ivashkovs. To me, this sounds like there must be at least 1000 of them.
In Book 1 we learn that Tatiana is in her early sixties, and in Book 6 we learn that she was elected when the previous monarch (Ekaterina Zeklos) retired, which was approximately 20 years before. This would place Tatiana in her early forties when she became queen.
But how??
The Ivashkov family is huge. Surely a woman in her early forties wasn't the oldest person in the entire family. Statistically speaking there should have been a few hundred people older than her, many of whom would have had a lot of experience in politics and leadership, given when their society is like. And yet the 40-year-old was given the family's nomination.
I could almost forgive this if Tatiana was especially politically gifted and had been nominated in favour of older candidates because she was considered the family's best hope of getting the crown when Ekaterina Zeklos retired. That would be a stretch, but would still make sense. But in Book 5 Rose explains: "When Tatiana had taken the crown, Rufus had become prince of the Ivashkov family since he was the next oldest". This clearly implies that Tatiana was the Ivashkov princess when she was nominated, and hence the oldest member in the family.
How was a woman in her early forties the oldest member in a family of hundreds, if not thousands, of Moroi? This makes absolutely no sense. Even less so when you consider that there are very few diseases that affect Moroi and royals such as the Ivashkovs would almost always be in the company of guardians when outside of warded places such as Court, and therefore would be very well protected from most physical threats, not just Strigoi. The Ivashkovs are also the richest family, so they'd likely have very good access to medical care if needed.
So either something terrible happened prior to about 1990 that wiped out all Ivashkovs older than 40, or it's just an oversight in the writing. My money is on the latter, particularly given how many other mistakes there are (*cough* Dimitri saying in Book 1 that he has two sisters when he actually has three *cough*). No hate though, I honestly love this series so much, mistakes and all.
If anyone has found some other mistakes or continuity errors in the series then I'd love for you to share them in the replies. I actually really enjoy finding them and going on rants about them (case in point above).