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mommakay42's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
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? Yes
5.0
faithtrustpixiedust's review against another edition
1.0
Well that sucked
I honestly and legitimately would rather be strapped to a chair with my eyes peeled open and a steady stream of caffeine pumped into my veins, forced to watch the Shadowhunters Freeform TV show from start to finish over and over again until I die, than read this series even one more time. I'll have a significantly better time because at least the Freeform show was somewhat enjoyable in its sheer mediocrity. Maybe I'll get thrown The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones movie as a boon every once in a while because at least that has Jamie Campbell Bower.
I absolutely loved Lady Midnight and I will consider it a standalone in my heart. Lord of Shadows was a little bit disappointing, but honestly, the thing that should have warned me the most was the fact that it barely had a plot. Clare basically had to cobble together 2 thirds of an arc into one book, and it didn't work because she kept forgetting to write it. This was basically 800 pages of every single one of the ~10 perspective characters giving their unbidden opinions on every minute development, and then 100 pages of copy-paste battle sequences.
Those developments, by the way, were about 90% romance subplot. This was basically one of those Galatea webnovels that occasionally remembered to be an urban fantasy. I didn't care whatsoever about any of these romances, and any feeling I might have had was beaten out of me with every longing glance, which happened every other paragraph or so. Emma and Julien (who becomes a magical sociopath in this btw but not an entertaining one) can get a freaking room, and the Markiertina thing was, honestly, gross and stupid. You don't add another person to make your relationship feel complete, you move on and get therapy. Feel free to judge me about that, I don't care. The only characters I liked by the end were Dru and Ty because they were the only ones with any semblance of self-control. They're also like 13 and 15, so that isn't saying much. Tavvy technically fits in there too but he didn't have a personality other than "child".
For what the plot was, it was pretty convoluted. It felt like Clare was patting herself on the back after writing that elaborate "The" from Spongebob.
Also, Sebastian/Jonathan wasn't threatening whatsoever. When Emma and Julien become Attack on Titan monsters, I literally rolled my eyes when the power of friendship brought them back. There was a general lack of tension throughout. I knew no one actually important was going to get hurt or die. Issues arose and then were quickly fixed. McGuffins that took the entire Mortal Instruments 6-book series to attain were acquired without much effort. It's like Chekhov's gun but when they shoot the gun, it doesn't shoot, and then a seraph blade cuts it in two and it's actually a cake. When all I wanted was the book to put me out of my misery, this had the audacity to have more endings than the Lord of the Rings!
I was also under the impression that these books were about Shadowhunters, who, by definition, fight demons. Well, there were only about 3 demon-related fights. Everything else was about the faeries or Donald Trump--oh, sorry, I meant the Cohort.
The only things this book taught me are as follows:
1) YA is for adults now, so sucks to suck to the actual teenagers who are supposed to be target audience. Read middle grade I guess if you don't want to be traumatized. For those who say that ~teens are already exposed to this stuff~ then maybe consider that they shouldn't have to read about it too. Give them a freaking break from traumatic media, would you? If TV shows with swearing, sex, murder, and blood are generally targeted at adults, then books should do the same. Give content warnings and put media in the correct age category or don't publish. If the kids are actually mature enough, they'll choose to read adult books. The fact that these rich middle-aged influencers are forcing it down their throats disgusts me. They seem to forget that the youngest people in the YA age category are barely going through puberty.
2) I'm so done with YA and honestly, I'm done with modern releases altogether. I'm only going to read books published after 1950 if I already own them or if they are in a series I already started. Everything else will be a classic that hopefully has some literary value.
3) This is the last book by Cassandra Clare that I will ever read.
I honestly and legitimately would rather be strapped to a chair with my eyes peeled open and a steady stream of caffeine pumped into my veins, forced to watch the Shadowhunters Freeform TV show from start to finish over and over again until I die, than read this series even one more time. I'll have a significantly better time because at least the Freeform show was somewhat enjoyable in its sheer mediocrity. Maybe I'll get thrown The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones movie as a boon every once in a while because at least that has Jamie Campbell Bower.
I absolutely loved Lady Midnight and I will consider it a standalone in my heart. Lord of Shadows was a little bit disappointing, but honestly, the thing that should have warned me the most was the fact that it barely had a plot. Clare basically had to cobble together 2 thirds of an arc into one book, and it didn't work because she kept forgetting to write it. This was basically 800 pages of every single one of the ~10 perspective characters giving their unbidden opinions on every minute development, and then 100 pages of copy-paste battle sequences.
Those developments, by the way, were about 90% romance subplot. This was basically one of those Galatea webnovels that occasionally remembered to be an urban fantasy. I didn't care whatsoever about any of these romances, and any feeling I might have had was beaten out of me with every longing glance, which happened every other paragraph or so. Emma and Julien (who becomes a magical sociopath in this btw but not an entertaining one) can get a freaking room, and the Markiertina thing was, honestly, gross and stupid. You don't add another person to make your relationship feel complete, you move on and get therapy. Feel free to judge me about that, I don't care. The only characters I liked by the end were Dru and Ty because they were the only ones with any semblance of self-control. They're also like 13 and 15, so that isn't saying much. Tavvy technically fits in there too but he didn't have a personality other than "child".
For what the plot was, it was pretty convoluted. It felt like Clare was patting herself on the back after writing that elaborate "The" from Spongebob.
Spoiler
The whole Thule, other dimension thing felt like that one really stupid sequence in the Freeform show. It lacked presence despite the interesting premise. It felt extremely rushed. The fact that Tessa still had magic there made absolutely no sense because the theory was that she wasn't impacted by the warlock sickness because of her angelic blood, but all angelic blood was apparently null and void in Thule, and yet she was still immune?? Explain this to me?????Also, Sebastian/Jonathan wasn't threatening whatsoever. When Emma and Julien become Attack on Titan monsters, I literally rolled my eyes when the power of friendship brought them back.
I was also under the impression that these books were about Shadowhunters, who, by definition, fight demons. Well, there were only about 3 demon-related fights. Everything else was about the faeries or Donald Trump--oh, sorry, I meant the Cohort.
The only things this book taught me are as follows:
1) YA is for adults now, so sucks to suck to the actual teenagers who are supposed to be target audience. Read middle grade I guess if you don't want to be traumatized. For those who say that ~teens are already exposed to this stuff~ then maybe consider that they shouldn't have to read about it too. Give them a freaking break from traumatic media, would you? If TV shows with swearing, sex, murder, and blood are generally targeted at adults, then books should do the same. Give content warnings and put media in the correct age category or don't publish. If the kids are actually mature enough, they'll choose to read adult books. The fact that these rich middle-aged influencers are forcing it down their throats disgusts me. They seem to forget that the youngest people in the YA age category are barely going through puberty.
2) I'm so done with YA and honestly, I'm done with modern releases altogether. I'm only going to read books published after 1950 if I already own them or if they are in a series I already started. Everything else will be a classic that hopefully has some literary value.
3) This is the last book by Cassandra Clare that I will ever read.
shaila_m's review against another edition
4.0
There were parts where I thought wooowww and then there were parts where I thought hmmm really...
stormcatt's review against another edition
5.0
This was so good. The story is fantastic, the writing is solid and the world building is on point. Several times I found myself so carried away that I felt like I was there. I wept with the Blackthorns and I cheered the rose of Mexico. I desperately wanted the lovers to love. I also love the way she wrote healthy and lovingLGBT relationships without making them a plot point. I normally read more grimdark or epic fantasy so this was a bit different for me and I’m so glad I took a chance because I can’t rave enough about how much I loved this trilogy.
b1ue_reads's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
funny
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? Yes
5.0
lilibucs's review against another edition
dark
emotional
mysterious
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? Yes
4.0
sc_67890's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
daragulj's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
slow-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
4.5
meteliqq's review against another edition
5.0
„Then Zara raised her dagger and put it to her own throat.”
goddamn im so happy this bitch died
update: she didn't i'm mad
update: did we all (including cassandra) forget that jocelyn was preggars
goddamn im so happy this bitch died
update: she didn't i'm mad
update: did we all (including cassandra) forget that jocelyn was preggars
vishaka's review against another edition
5.0
malec wedding as always was *chefs kiss* i loved tda as a whole a lot more than i did when i first read it cause im a lot more emotionally attached to the characters now and this book was the best one and also the longest lmao