by Cassandra Clare
Spoilers
Synopsis:
The Mortal War is over, and sixteen-year-old Clary Fray is back home in New York, excited about all the possibilities before her. She’s training to become a Shadowhunter and to use her unique power. Her mother is getting married to the love of her life. Downworlders and Shadowhunters are at peace at last. And—most importantly of all—she can finally call Jace her boyfriend.
But nothing comes without a price.
Someone is murdering Shadowhunters, provoking tensions between Downworlders and Shadowhunters that could lead to a second, bloody war. Clary’s best friend, Simon, can’t help her—his mother just found out that he’s a vampire, and now he’s homeless. When Jace begins to pull away from her without explaining why, Clary is forced to delve into the heart of a mystery whose solution reveals her worst nightmare: she herself has set in motion a terrible chain of events that could lead to her losing everything she loves. Even Jace.
My Thoughts:
I gave this book 4.5 stars. More of a filler book until the better things come in the next two books, but nonetheless, it was still a Cassandra Clare book which means I really loved it. It was a lot more calm than the last book, but it's still something that is worth reading.
Jace likes to pretend that he's all strong and brave, which he is, but that doesn't change the fact that every time something goes wrong, it's because he was manipulated. I swear, no one else in this series gets manipulated as much as Jace does, which is especially evident in this book when Max came to him in a dream and Jace just completely bought everything Max said to him. It never even occurred to him that it was some sort of demonic presence masquerading as his little brother.
The Alec and Magnus drama drove me crazy. I can see where both sides are coming from. This is Alec's first relationship ever, he's completely insecure and has only just come to terms with being gay and being open about that. At the same time he was just being an overall douchebag to Magnus about what Magnus couldn't really control: the past. On the other end of the spectrum I honestly think Magnus could have been a little more understanding of the fact that Alec was new at this. What bothers me the most was when Magnus was talking to Camille, whom he was obviously not happy with or even seemed to like, and when it was over Alec revealed he had heard the whole thing, but instead of latching on to the part where Magnus said Alec was his future, he instead latched on to the part where Camille said Alec looked like Will. I honestly don't think it was relevant enough for Alec to be mad about it.
What I love about this series that the other two series's in the Shadowhunter World don't have, is that it's a two part series. There are two different story arcs. We get more of these characters we love, but the plot doesn't get old because Cassie has just done an amazing job of keeping things fresh. I think it was a very good idea to have two different stories in one series.
Another thing that drove me crazy was the "love triangle" between Simon, Maia, and Isabelle. I hate that Simon was dating both of them without them knowing about each other. It feels like cheating, but I know it isn't because neither couple were exclusive. I just feel like Simon should have better common sense than that. On the flip side, Isabelle pissed me off because of the fact that she was mad at Simon dating other girls because she saw herself as "out of his league" and should have been grateful for it. Isabelle, you need to be knocked down a peg or two. There is a fine line between confidence and being an asshole. I found Maia completely blameless in this whole thing. Maia is a very chill character who I've never found a reason to hate and so I will keep liking her.
While both Alec and Magnus, along with Izzy and Simon had some relationship problems. I was glad to see that some of it was resolves by the end of the book. Not all, a storm is still to come, but I'm glad that it ended on a semi happy note instead of a heartbreaking one. The same cannot be said for Jace and Clary. Can't wait to get onto City of Lost Souls.
Luke and Jocelyn are the perfect couple. They are couple goals, the relationship that future me wishes to have. Seeing them happy together and being together no matter what society told them was beautiful. I hope they are very happy together and maybe have some little Shadowhunter/werewolf babies if that is genetically possible. I think Clary could use some siblings. Luke and Jocelyn aren't that old, they could still have babies if they really wanted to.
The whole Lilith aspect of the book makes me very uncomfortable. She completely hijacked Jace's mind and killed Maureen and basically tried to kidnap Simon, all so that she could bring back Sebastian. I still don't understand what he motivation for that is. I know she claims that she's basically his mother, but I doubt she has any maternal feelings towards him. It's probably more of her wanting to complete her science experiment or wanting to just create chaos. Actually what creeped me out most about her was the going around and killing babies just because she feels like it. It makes me think of that scene from Game of Thrones, the one where Daenerys is like "Eight thousand dead babies" in a dry manner. I tried to find the Gif, but it eludes me.
Quotes:
“You're just worried they'll hire a male instructor and he'll be hotter than you." Jace's eyebrows went up. "Hotter than me?" "It could happen," Clary said, "You know, theoretically.""Theoretically the planet could suddenly crack in half, leaving me on one side and you on the other, forever and tragically parted, but I'm not worried about that either. Some things," Jace said, with his customary crooked smile, "are just too unlikely to dwell upon.”
“You're the first Shadowhunter I've ever met." “That’s too bad,” said Jace, “since all the others you meet from now on will be a terrible letdown.”
“So what was that all about?""I think," Jace said, "that she asked if she could touch my mango.""She said that?"Jace shrugged. "Yeah, then she gave me her number.”
“But I watch my brothers give their hearts away and I think, Don’t you know better? Hearts are breakable. And I think even when you heal, you’re never what you were before.”
“Still I pictured having you for fifty, sixty more years. I thought I might be ready then to let you go. But it's you, and I realize now that I won't be anymore ready to lose you then than I am right now. Which is not at all.”
No comments:
Post a Comment