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jruonabanister 's review for:
Lady Midnight
by Cassandra Clare
adventurous
emotional
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Loveable characters:
Yes
something about cassandra clare’s writing bothers me, but especially in this book. it’s like she’s trying too hard. like how everyone has 1 or 2 nicknames as if to prove to us that they’re a family & they’re close. or the way that cristina “prides herself on only speaking english when she’s in the us” but then constantly slips into spanish just…so we remember she’s mexican, i guess? or how it’s not enough to write ty with the intent of his being autistic, he has to be the most stereotypical autistic person in the entire world. (because otherwise we couldn’t figure it out…?) like it almost feels like she doesn’t trust her readers to use the information she gives them to figure things out. (she also does a lot of one of my least favorite things which is over-explaining things we ALREADY KNOW because this book is in a SERIES and people are reading it because they’ve READ THE OTHER BOOKS. i haaaaaate it.) i should probably give her some grace because i know the target audience is like…13 year olds. but still, it bothers me. also i don’t think she’s ever met a 7 year old because tavvy alternately acts like he’s 4 or like he’s 14.
nowwww as much as i am willing to criticize her i can also say DAMN she knows how to write characters i’m attached to. she’s soooo good at writing a character that’s just some guy but he’s also like (somewhat secretly) super tortured and tragic. and unfortunately i eat it up EVERY. TIME. like does she follow the exact same tropes in every spinoff series?? absolutely. every single time there is a forbidden romance and every single time one person deliberately pushes the other away to protect them and every single time there’s at least one love triangle and every single time i enjoy it as if i’ve never read anything like it ever before.
all this to say as many gripes as i may have with her writing i was of course immediately hooked. and oh my god, i love julian so much i would possibly die for him. if there’s one thing i can say for cassandra clare it’s that she knows how to inspire my deepest devotions and julian has them. the thought of a 13 year old boy calling his toddler brother “my baby” because he’s literally this 3 year old’s only guardian had me shedding several tears. wtf cassandra. after the will herondale situation i had hoped you were done breaking my heart. alas, she’s done it again. (and you better believe i will ALWAYS have tears springing to my eyes at a mere allusion to will herondale, of which there were several in this book.) i’m such a sucker for a sibling relationship and also for a best friendship and also for a tragic hero and this book delivered so hard on all fronts. i must applaud miss cassandra for knowing exactly what to write to make me instantly invested.