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A review by readingwordsmith
The Land I Lost by Sarah Rees Brennan, Cassandra Clare
5.0
This has to be one of my favorite short stories from the Ghosts of the Shadow Market novella bindup. Actually, I think this is one of my favorite of Cassie Clare’s short stories of all time. I think that this novella had a very well developed plot especially in comparison with some of the other novellas in this bind up. It was thrilling and exciting and I was on the edge of my seat the whole time I think anyone who is a shadowhunter and especially a TMI fan should read this.
It just warmed my heart to meet little Rafael and see some of the old TMI characters again. It’s been such a long time. I was also excited to see the dynamic between Jem and Tessa working with other shadowhunters. One of the most heartbreaking moments to me was when they first see Alec and Jem’s immediate thought is of the physical similarities Alec has to Will. What I will say though is that this novella has given me a new appreciation for Lily who I’ve never really liked before. It touched me to see how much she missed Rafael and I was happy to see the Downworlder-Shadowhunter alliance that has been alluded to in the first couple of books of the Dark Artifices.
The plot was so captivating and discovering more of the corruption in the Clave at the Buenos Aires Institute, I feel really compliments the Dark Artifices series very well. It really foreshadows events for Queen of Air and Darkness which I thought was lovely. This story gave me hope that maybe relations between shadowhunters and downworlders could be better and stronger. The sequence where Alec, Jem, Tessa, Lily, and company save the werewolves had an emotional intensity that really matched some of the full length shadowhunter novels. It was really impressive. One final note, I loved being able to reflect on Alec’s growth and see how much he has changed since TMI. I was glad to see that he had let some of his old prejudices go and really matured into a very strong, and capable person worthy of being called a shadowhunter.
It just warmed my heart to meet little Rafael and see some of the old TMI characters again. It’s been such a long time. I was also excited to see the dynamic between Jem and Tessa working with other shadowhunters. One of the most heartbreaking moments to me was when they first see Alec and Jem’s immediate thought is of the physical similarities Alec has to Will. What I will say though is that this novella has given me a new appreciation for Lily who I’ve never really liked before. It touched me to see how much she missed Rafael and I was happy to see the Downworlder-Shadowhunter alliance that has been alluded to in the first couple of books of the Dark Artifices.
The plot was so captivating and discovering more of the corruption in the Clave at the Buenos Aires Institute, I feel really compliments the Dark Artifices series very well. It really foreshadows events for Queen of Air and Darkness which I thought was lovely. This story gave me hope that maybe relations between shadowhunters and downworlders could be better and stronger. The sequence where Alec, Jem, Tessa, Lily, and company save the werewolves had an emotional intensity that really matched some of the full length shadowhunter novels. It was really impressive. One final note, I loved being able to reflect on Alec’s growth and see how much he has changed since TMI. I was glad to see that he had let some of his old prejudices go and really matured into a very strong, and capable person worthy of being called a shadowhunter.