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adrianag7's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.5
emolbe's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
funny
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
ionacraig98's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
mysterious
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
apm1998's review against another edition
2.0
So disappointing! Clare did a great job of setting up the plot and relationships between the characters and then just flopped it. The book kept jumping between different perspectives which made it feel like there was no true story line. The miscommunication between Cordelia and James was so frustrating and pointless. The deaths in this novel were so badly planned, i couldnt tell if it was real. They were not needed and felt so rush. I hate to say it but this had been the worst book so far in the Shadowhunter series. 800 pages that easily could have been 400.
feysrand's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
dariadanley's review against another edition
3.0
I am so disappointed in this finale. Is this the same Cassandra Clare that made me stay up until morning agonizing over Clockwork Princess, Queen of Air and Darkness, or City of Heavenly Fire? Like I could have gone without this series even being published, I'm that disappointed.
We all know this series was a money grab and is glorified fanfiction, but this book outwardly proves it.
Let's get my complaints out of the way:
Relationships - what the heck. It's no surprise that romantic relationships are the forefront, but usually Clare has an emphasis on friendships. These friendships were awful. Lucie and Cordelia are said to be best friends, but how? They talk to each other like that and it's supposed to be a friendship? Grace and Lucie had a stronger friendship and respect for each other than Cordelia and Lucie. How could they even be best friends when they spent so long apart and Cordelia just moved to London full time in the first book? It makes no sense. The Merry Thieves were so sweet in the previous books, but here they lost their connections to each other, without a set reason why.
The sibling relationships, though, were top notch (except for James and Lucie). Grace and Jesse? Alastair and Cordelia? Great.
Family - although the sibling relationships were great, what about the parents? So many times the parents are absent, and I understand why. These books are designed for teenagers who are just coming into their own. BUT WE'RE TALKING ABOUT TESSA AND WILL HERE! I CAN'T SEE HOW THEY WOULD BE SO ABSENT FROM THEIR CHILDREN'S LIVES! Also, why did so many of these families have very young children as siblings to the main cast, when there were no other children between? You can't really expect me to believe in the past and in the Shadowhunter culture that there were means to not have children. And I CERTAINLY don't believe Cecily & Gabriel or Sona & Elias stayed completely "out of the sheets" for 10+ years to make these outrageous age gaps. (Personally, I think these siblings were used as tools to advance a plot or to keep parents absent).
Unrealistic - it's a fantasy book, I understand that, but these people are still people. They act like people. There were so many points in this book that drew me out of the narrative to question the reality of the situation. For example: Matthew's alcoholism. These kids are 16-19 (Anna being older), and something about this situation and the way they handled it was unrealistically mature. I understand that these situations do happen, but the cast went about it as fully mature adults when they've been IMMATURE up until that point. And it doesn't make sense how Matthew could develop this addiction. How did he have the means to develop it for so long? It sounded as if it was years in the making. How could he go to a tavern and purchase alcohol? How could he get away with stashing it from parties, etc. So much of it didn't make sense. Another: why are Ari and Anna discussing children? They're not that old! And have only been together for a month? A year?
[brief intermission: the fact that this book took so long to come out has messed with my perception of how much time has passed in the book and basic facts about these characters.]
Name dropping - if they are not a part of the main cast and I've been given no reason to care, it all turns into alphabet soup. Who is Wentworth? Who is Piers? Why do I care?
Death - you cannot tell me that the same Cassandra Clare who made me cry at 2am over character deaths did this. The death happened, it was talked about for so little time, and then it went on to the next thing. There was a section titled "grief" BUT IT WAS ABOUT CORDELIA LOSING JAMES NOT THE GUY WHO ACTUALLY DIED OR HIS SISTER'S GRIEF! The dead guy in question deserved so much better. There was truly no point to his death. It brought out Grace from her shell, but that's it! No revelations, no turning over a new leaf, nothing! What was the reason? A character can't just die to die, there needs to be a point.
How many names can we have for the same freaking character?! One nickname is enough!
Inconsistences - my biggest complaint. So much of this made no sense based on previous ideas we have of these characters. Where was the "my father was cursed but I am damned," James Herondale we met in Ghosts of the Shadow Market? Cordelia was canonically French back in the day. There were official sketches of her being French. It's totally fine to change your mind, it's not my book series, but why establish she's French and then change it? Why not make a new character maybe set in an Institute in Persia? That was honestly what I felt like happened here. Cassie wanted to make new characters but was stuck with the established "next generation," she promised. I'm fine with scrapping that and making new characters and focusing on new families. Give me something new and not a money grab. And finally, we were told for YEARS that Jem intentionally wrote the family tree wrong. WHERE DID THAT GO?! Some random side character wrote it wrong because she didn't know who was alive, who was dead, and was secretly shipping whoever she wanted? Give me a break that was so stupid.
Okay now on to the good things:
Sibling relationships - some were immaculate. Grace and Jesse, Cordelia and Alastair were great! They developed so much and you could see how close they were. For a series said to focus on Lucie and James, they didn't really seem all that sibling-like.
Belial - I thought that a story focusing on Tessa's father as the villain was very smart.
Tatiana - there is always a character in A Cassie Clare series that you root for to die. This remained consistent (though why Cordelia had the right to strike the killing blow is beyond me. That belonged to Grace and no one else).
Overall I'm incredibly disappointed. This didn't need to be a published series, it would be perfect as being up to interpretation. You could tell in the writing that even Cassie's heart wasn't in it. That's why it took me over a month to finish. Take the break, leave this be, and write what you want to write.
We all know this series was a money grab and is glorified fanfiction, but this book outwardly proves it.
Let's get my complaints out of the way:
Relationships - what the heck. It's no surprise that romantic relationships are the forefront, but usually Clare has an emphasis on friendships. These friendships were awful. Lucie and Cordelia are said to be best friends, but how? They talk to each other like that and it's supposed to be a friendship? Grace and Lucie had a stronger friendship and respect for each other than Cordelia and Lucie. How could they even be best friends when they spent so long apart and Cordelia just moved to London full time in the first book? It makes no sense. The Merry Thieves were so sweet in the previous books, but here they lost their connections to each other, without a set reason why.
The sibling relationships, though, were top notch (except for James and Lucie). Grace and Jesse? Alastair and Cordelia? Great.
Family - although the sibling relationships were great, what about the parents? So many times the parents are absent, and I understand why. These books are designed for teenagers who are just coming into their own. BUT WE'RE TALKING ABOUT TESSA AND WILL HERE! I CAN'T SEE HOW THEY WOULD BE SO ABSENT FROM THEIR CHILDREN'S LIVES! Also, why did so many of these families have very young children as siblings to the main cast, when there were no other children between? You can't really expect me to believe in the past and in the Shadowhunter culture that there were means to not have children. And I CERTAINLY don't believe Cecily & Gabriel or Sona & Elias stayed completely "out of the sheets" for 10+ years to make these outrageous age gaps. (Personally, I think these siblings were used as tools to advance a plot or to keep parents absent).
Unrealistic - it's a fantasy book, I understand that, but these people are still people. They act like people. There were so many points in this book that drew me out of the narrative to question the reality of the situation. For example: Matthew's alcoholism. These kids are 16-19 (Anna being older), and something about this situation and the way they handled it was unrealistically mature. I understand that these situations do happen, but the cast went about it as fully mature adults when they've been IMMATURE up until that point. And it doesn't make sense how Matthew could develop this addiction. How did he have the means to develop it for so long? It sounded as if it was years in the making. How could he go to a tavern and purchase alcohol? How could he get away with stashing it from parties, etc. So much of it didn't make sense. Another: why are Ari and Anna discussing children? They're not that old! And have only been together for a month? A year?
[brief intermission: the fact that this book took so long to come out has messed with my perception of how much time has passed in the book and basic facts about these characters.]
Name dropping - if they are not a part of the main cast and I've been given no reason to care, it all turns into alphabet soup. Who is Wentworth? Who is Piers? Why do I care?
Death - you cannot tell me that the same Cassandra Clare who made me cry at 2am over character deaths did this. The death happened, it was talked about for so little time, and then it went on to the next thing. There was a section titled "grief" BUT IT WAS ABOUT CORDELIA LOSING JAMES NOT THE GUY WHO ACTUALLY DIED OR HIS SISTER'S GRIEF! The dead guy in question deserved so much better. There was truly no point to his death. It brought out Grace from her shell, but that's it! No revelations, no turning over a new leaf, nothing! What was the reason? A character can't just die to die, there needs to be a point.
How many names can we have for the same freaking character?! One nickname is enough!
Inconsistences - my biggest complaint. So much of this made no sense based on previous ideas we have of these characters. Where was the "my father was cursed but I am damned," James Herondale we met in Ghosts of the Shadow Market? Cordelia was canonically French back in the day. There were official sketches of her being French. It's totally fine to change your mind, it's not my book series, but why establish she's French and then change it? Why not make a new character maybe set in an Institute in Persia? That was honestly what I felt like happened here. Cassie wanted to make new characters but was stuck with the established "next generation," she promised. I'm fine with scrapping that and making new characters and focusing on new families. Give me something new and not a money grab. And finally, we were told for YEARS that Jem intentionally wrote the family tree wrong. WHERE DID THAT GO?! Some random side character wrote it wrong because she didn't know who was alive, who was dead, and was secretly shipping whoever she wanted? Give me a break that was so stupid.
Okay now on to the good things:
Sibling relationships - some were immaculate. Grace and Jesse, Cordelia and Alastair were great! They developed so much and you could see how close they were. For a series said to focus on Lucie and James, they didn't really seem all that sibling-like.
Belial - I thought that a story focusing on Tessa's father as the villain was very smart.
Tatiana - there is always a character in A Cassie Clare series that you root for to die. This remained consistent (though why Cordelia had the right to strike the killing blow is beyond me. That belonged to Grace and no one else).
Overall I'm incredibly disappointed. This didn't need to be a published series, it would be perfect as being up to interpretation. You could tell in the writing that even Cassie's heart wasn't in it. That's why it took me over a month to finish. Take the break, leave this be, and write what you want to write.
simplyeevee's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
racecarnoise's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
lighthearted
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
I’m doneeee! This was very similar to the last one in terms of having no plot and basically just being vibes. It was 700 pages though. Towards the end, when the battle was happening, I only cared about Cordelia, but it kept skipping back and forth between them all and I was getting so annoyed. Anywayyyy, happy endings all round…apart from Christopher - was that fucking necessary?! I loved how James was the one waiting for Cordelia to save him in the end, I really feel like it flipped the gender norms of the men having to come to the women’s rescue. Instead of being afraid for her, he was relieved to see that she had come after him, and he knew she was going to doing everything she could to save him.
melodyflutterby's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
I loved the first two books, but this book tried to do too much.