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4.2 AVERAGE
4.2 AVERAGE
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
emotional
sad
The characters and plot were such a breath of fresh air from the mortal instruments. I was finally able to enjoy the world building without feeling the urge to kill the protagonist (i.e Clary 🙄)
The story mainly sets out in a Victorian era which added a sophisticated and political sense to it without having to reduce the interest among modern young readers.
Personally, I've read this twice and still I have felt the very same goosebumps. Reading it for the third time wouldn't make me think otherwise.
Personally, I've read this twice and still I have felt the very same goosebumps. Reading it for the third time wouldn't make me think otherwise.
I didn't dislike this book. I did enjoy reading it, but I also found it wildly infuriating.
Characters
The characters are boring and one-dimensional. Can someone please explain to me what Tessa's personality is? Oh wait, she doesn't have one. Will is detestable. There is not even a small part of me that likes him or even has sympathy for him because of his mysterious sad backstory.
Charlotte and Henry are boring and do nothing in this book. Charlotte is described as intelligent and a good leader for the institution - where? Literally where is the evidence for that? Henry is, quite frankly, a liability and a moron.
The villain in this book seems to be bad for the sake of being bad? They just want power - there's nothing else to their story.
The only character of any worth or value is Jem and, in all fairness, I have fallen deeply in love with him. He has a compelling backstory and I did sympathise with his struggles. He doesn't have too much of a personality to be honest, but he is likeable and I hope his character is explored more in later books.
Plot
The plot of this book is tedious. It is very slow-moving at times and I found myself skipping over paragraphs and paragraphs of description, desperately trying to find any plot. I also found the plot twists and the direction of the story to be pretty obvious. Cassandra Clare cannot foreshadow at all. All of the "clues" are so heavy-handed and I can just feel her sitting beside me as I'm reading like *wink* that was a hint!
World Building
Cassandra Clare has created an interesting urban fantasy world. I like the lore behind the Nephilim and the ties into the Bible, although I don't think religion is explored enough in her books. I was disappointed, however, that this book does not expand on the world building, and we don't learn anything new that we didn't already know from The Mortal Instruments series.
The main themes in this book are the vampires dislike of the shadowhunters, the general feeling of oppression among the Downworlders and the superiority that the shadowhunters feel over Downworlders and non-supernatural humans. As I thought about the world more, I realised that it is almost a carbon-copy of J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter. The Nephilim and the idea of shadowhunters and the runes is interesting and unique, but the way that the society is organised and the struggles between the species is very reminiscent of the wizarding world;
A species of humans who have magical/supernatural powers consider themselves to be better than other "lesser" magical beings and regular humans without magic. They have put themselves in charge of creating the laws to govern the "lesser" magical beings and in protecting the regular humans from dark magic. The supernatural humans have a certain level of distaste for both regular humans and the "lesser" magical species. The supernatural humans pretend to involve the "lesser" magical beings in law making and offer them some limited rights, but ultimately do not respect them and seize complete control for themselves. The "lesser" magical beings feel under-represented and oppressed, and resent the supernatural humans, who do not care about them.
Reading Cassandra Clare's books, the world and societal tension feels unoriginal and like I'm reading something that has been done before. So far, I haven't really seen Cassandra Clare diverge her society away from what J.K. Rowling has already done in the wizarding world, and I hope that the future books/series provide something a bit more interesting and original.
Additional note: I have since learned that Cassandra Clare originally started as a Harry Potter fanfiction writer and that aspects of her The Mortal Instruments series were taken directly from the Harry Potter fanfiction she wrote. It is no surprise, then, that her works resemble the wizarding world so closely. Cassandra Clare also has a history of being accused of plagiarism, both as a fanfiction author and a published author, on multiple occasions.
Overall
I will continue to read these books as people rave about them and I feel I must be missing something. But if Cassandra Clare thinks she is going to make me fall in love with Will Herondale, she is sadly mistaken.
Characters
The characters are boring and one-dimensional. Can someone please explain to me what Tessa's personality is? Oh wait, she doesn't have one. Will is detestable. There is not even a small part of me that likes him or even has sympathy for him because of his mysterious sad backstory.
Charlotte and Henry are boring and do nothing in this book. Charlotte is described as intelligent and a good leader for the institution - where? Literally where is the evidence for that? Henry is, quite frankly, a liability and a moron.
The villain in this book seems to be bad for the sake of being bad? They just want power - there's nothing else to their story.
The only character of any worth or value is Jem and, in all fairness, I have fallen deeply in love with him. He has a compelling backstory and I did sympathise with his struggles. He doesn't have too much of a personality to be honest, but he is likeable and I hope his character is explored more in later books.
Plot
The plot of this book is tedious. It is very slow-moving at times and I found myself skipping over paragraphs and paragraphs of description, desperately trying to find any plot. I also found the plot twists and the direction of the story to be pretty obvious. Cassandra Clare cannot foreshadow at all. All of the "clues" are so heavy-handed and I can just feel her sitting beside me as I'm reading like *wink* that was a hint!
World Building
Cassandra Clare has created an interesting urban fantasy world. I like the lore behind the Nephilim and the ties into the Bible, although I don't think religion is explored enough in her books. I was disappointed, however, that this book does not expand on the world building, and we don't learn anything new that we didn't already know from The Mortal Instruments series.
The main themes in this book are the vampires dislike of the shadowhunters, the general feeling of oppression among the Downworlders and the superiority that the shadowhunters feel over Downworlders and non-supernatural humans. As I thought about the world more, I realised that it is almost a carbon-copy of J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter. The Nephilim and the idea of shadowhunters and the runes is interesting and unique, but the way that the society is organised and the struggles between the species is very reminiscent of the wizarding world;
A species of humans who have magical/supernatural powers consider themselves to be better than other "lesser" magical beings and regular humans without magic. They have put themselves in charge of creating the laws to govern the "lesser" magical beings and in protecting the regular humans from dark magic. The supernatural humans have a certain level of distaste for both regular humans and the "lesser" magical species. The supernatural humans pretend to involve the "lesser" magical beings in law making and offer them some limited rights, but ultimately do not respect them and seize complete control for themselves. The "lesser" magical beings feel under-represented and oppressed, and resent the supernatural humans, who do not care about them.
Reading Cassandra Clare's books, the world and societal tension feels unoriginal and like I'm reading something that has been done before. So far, I haven't really seen Cassandra Clare diverge her society away from what J.K. Rowling has already done in the wizarding world, and I hope that the future books/series provide something a bit more interesting and original.
Additional note: I have since learned that Cassandra Clare originally started as a Harry Potter fanfiction writer and that aspects of her The Mortal Instruments series were taken directly from the Harry Potter fanfiction she wrote. It is no surprise, then, that her works resemble the wizarding world so closely. Cassandra Clare also has a history of being accused of plagiarism, both as a fanfiction author and a published author, on multiple occasions.
Overall
I will continue to read these books as people rave about them and I feel I must be missing something. But if Cassandra Clare thinks she is going to make me fall in love with Will Herondale, she is sadly mistaken.
“Whatever you are physically,” he said, “male or female, strong or weak, ill or healthy—all those things matter less than what your heart contains. If you have the soul of a warrior, you are a warrior. Whatever the color, the shape, the design of the shade that conceals it, the flame inside the lamp remains the same. You are that flame.”
You know when Taylor Swift said "my one and only my lifeline"? Well that is how I would describe Jem Carstairs.
End of rewiev.
You know when Taylor Swift said "my one and only my lifeline"? Well that is how I would describe Jem Carstairs.
End of rewiev.
adventurous
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
slow-paced
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Loveable characters:
Complicated
This book definitely reminded me how much I love Cassandra Clare's Shadowhunter world. I find her writing style very accessible and fun. I think I'm really going to love this trilogy!! :D
I loved this book and it's whole series- I have a full review on my blog
www.bookbloggar.com
www.bookbloggar.com