Reviews with content warning for Death of parent - მექანიკური ანგელოზი

A pretty decent YA historical fantasy romp!
Clare's writing style is very skillful, the plot is tense and exciting, the shadowy fantasy underworld of London has a great atmosphere, and the themes of interracial tensions, prejudice, loyalty and duty are handled with more nuance and subtlety than the usual in YA.
However, for all of its strengths, the book can't help but tumble into the tropes, pitfalls and 2010-isms of its genre, including but not limited to: the naive and plain but extraordinary young heroine plunged into an unknown magic world, the uninspired love triangle of a dark bad boy and a sensitive blonde boy, the Magic Academy turned new home hidden from humans, a conspicuous amount of orphans, and a sarcastic quip per page ratio constantly approaching critical levels. The déja vu gets especially grating if you're familiar with Clare's past work (which this is a prequel of).
Despite all of this, there is still a lot of promise and professionality at display, some genuinely great character work, and the bones for a nice trilogy.
I hope you're finally satisfied Veerliene xx

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thebankofbooks's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional funny mysterious tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

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rafacolog's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging emotional funny inspiring 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? No

5.0

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happilyeveralli's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense 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? No

4.0

The narrator's performance was a highlight!

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bookthief's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

I loved this book so much. It was mysterious, full of action and it was very suspense. The world of the shadow hunters and downworlders was very well thiught through with lots of different powers and characters from both the angel and demon side.
Tessa was a brave and courageous character, who had a very unique power where she could Change. I am really curious to find out what Tessa actually is and the rest of her powers. Her brother, Nate, unexpectedly betrayed Tessa, by conspiring with Mortmain. At this point I felt bad for Tessa as she still loved Nate even though he doesn’t anymore.
Will was an interesting character, with major mood swings. The best chapter with Will was when he fought with De Quincey. This is because it was intense and done so well I felt like I was actually there watching the fight. I really want to find out what happened to his parents and what he was talking about to Magnus Bane in the epilogue.
Jen was a sweet character who I thought we didn’t see enough of. I really hope in the next book he is in it more, so I get to find out more about Jen. I also feel really bad for him and his illness considering there is no cure and he is suffering badly.
Overall, I thought this was a great book and I highly recommend for any YA Fantasy readers.

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