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A review by pippa_w
The Bane Chronicles by Sarah Rees Brennan, Cassandra Clare, Maureen Johnson
3.0
It was also a very bad idea.
It was a terrible idea.
It was the worst idea he had ever heard.
It was irresistible.
Average story rating: 3.59
I think I was ultimately disappointed by this collection.
That's not to say that I disliked it, or that there wasn't a lot that was done that I really liked and respected. I loved - love, Love, LOVED - the very stark and honest way Cassandra Clare and her co-authors (particularly Maureen Johnson) addressed addiction, prejudice, mental health and other issues that don't always get the best handling in young adult books. The team is conscious that they have inserted a queer character in New York City straight through the latter half of the 20th century to the early 21st century, and it shows.
When you lost someone to addiction—and he had lost many—you lost something very precious. You watched them fall. You waited for them to hit the bottom. It was a terrible wait.
But I guess the problem that I had with this book was that most if not all of the stories were clearly written with the approach of "ooooh, the fans will love this." So we get a lot of time inside Magnus's extravagant, frivolous, matter-of-fact way of thinking (blurgh), we get a lot of Malec and a lot of foretelling winks (cute until it's exhausting), we get a lot of vampires (so many vampires - I wish I cared about vampires and Magnus's dynamic with Camille), we get very ham-fisted reminders of Magnus's bisexuality (it's wonderful, but WE KNOW), we get the Peru story (kind of), and, in most cringeworthy fashion, we get the entire cast leaving Magnus phone messages trying to convince him to take Alec back (except Jace for some reason).
Magnus had often thought of getting a pet, but he had never considered acquiring a sullen teenage vampire. Once Raphael was gone, he thought, he was getting a cat.
So I did rate almost every story in this collection highly - most of them stand pretty well on their own. But I don't really think I was supposed to come out of this read thinking, Oh my god, I am so sick of Magnus Bane.
'He would say he knew a warlock who was a better friend, and more worth trusting, than many a Nephilim warrior.'
It was a terrible idea.
It was the worst idea he had ever heard.
It was irresistible.
Average story rating: 3.59
I think I was ultimately disappointed by this collection.
That's not to say that I disliked it, or that there wasn't a lot that was done that I really liked and respected. I loved - love, Love, LOVED - the very stark and honest way Cassandra Clare and her co-authors (particularly Maureen Johnson) addressed addiction, prejudice, mental health and other issues that don't always get the best handling in young adult books. The team is conscious that they have inserted a queer character in New York City straight through the latter half of the 20th century to the early 21st century, and it shows.
When you lost someone to addiction—and he had lost many—you lost something very precious. You watched them fall. You waited for them to hit the bottom. It was a terrible wait.
But I guess the problem that I had with this book was that most if not all of the stories were clearly written with the approach of "ooooh, the fans will love this." So we get a lot of time inside Magnus's extravagant, frivolous, matter-of-fact way of thinking (blurgh), we get a lot of Malec and a lot of foretelling winks (cute until it's exhausting), we get a lot of vampires (so many vampires - I wish I cared about vampires and Magnus's dynamic with Camille), we get very ham-fisted reminders of Magnus's bisexuality (it's wonderful, but WE KNOW), we get the Peru story (kind of), and, in most cringeworthy fashion, we get the entire cast leaving Magnus phone messages trying to convince him to take Alec back (except Jace for some reason).
Magnus had often thought of getting a pet, but he had never considered acquiring a sullen teenage vampire. Once Raphael was gone, he thought, he was getting a cat.
So I did rate almost every story in this collection highly - most of them stand pretty well on their own. But I don't really think I was supposed to come out of this read thinking, Oh my god, I am so sick of Magnus Bane.
'He would say he knew a warlock who was a better friend, and more worth trusting, than many a Nephilim warrior.'