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belle-keys · 1 year

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Incoherent Thoughts: Chain of Thorns by Cassandra Clare

Wow, haven't done one of these in about a year, I think. Here it is. The review of the book I've been waiting for since The Bane Chronicles. I gave my initial impressions of Chain of Thorns to my friends a couple of hours after I finished (operating on two brain cells only), and that was short and messy. This one is not short. It’s messy though, I’ll give you that.

TLDR: I loved this book so very much (despite my numerous issues with aspects of it). Here are the Incoherent Thoughts (a mix of critical and purely emotional reactions to the story. I've been waiting for this since 2014; of course, I frickin loved it despite everything).

Things that will tear me apart: The legacy of Clockwork Princess

There is nothing that could have gotten me to really hate this book. I've been waiting for it since 2014 and it was just so beautiful. It gave me the perfect mixture of comfort, nostalgia, excitement, and curiosity. These characters are my babies - probably more of my babies than Herongraystairs were, since I was 17 myself when GOTSM dropped and when the leadup to ChoG started. I was so happy to immerse myself in the same world that started when Tessa Gray popped into London in 1878 and I loved it here. Moreover, I think compared to TDA, TLH as a trilogy felt more polished and immersive. I really felt like this was a story that started in 2010 and which has grown like a vine with the generations of readers from back then (moving childhood to adulthood, like me), but also with the generation of characters in the story (who we also got to see grow up).

Moreover, Matthew's arc was perfect, and so I'm happy. Matthew was always going to be a core determining factor for me.

The core of the story: Love and Family

The Epilogue broke me, but in the good way. It really did. It was not as bittersweet or as sad or as mysterious or as all-encompassing as Cassie's other epilogues. But it was beautiful, and when I read:

Cordelia's heart was too full for speech. Without a word, she caught hold of her husband's hand. Side by side with James, Cordelia ran.

I felt so warm. The Epilogue felt like warmth, and it reminded me of the original Hyde Park picnic in Chain of Gold where Cordelia had just come to London and thought there was no future for her and when she hadn't yet come into herself. In a sense, I felt like we were reverting to that innocence and sense of peace at the start of Chain of Gold by ending off the trilogy in Hyde Park, with a dispersion of the characters to different parts of the world instead of a gathering to London. And likewise, March 2020, when ChoG dropped, is the same month when the pandemic started and all the universal awfulness on the planet turned up to 100. Now as the pandemic has retreated and I'm in a better place myself, the ending felt so fitting (as it pertains to James and Cordelia).

I mean, the book was about how the power of love and family, and unity can destroy and overcome even the most powerful forces in Hell, which is pretty powerful (meta on this coming soon). James healing Matthew for an entire night straight? Jordelia's pure love (and horniness) breaking the gracelet that was forged by a Prince of Hell? That's just so beautiful and perfect to me, the way Cassie shows how love prospers. I also think the book is about how secrecy and lies and falseness are actually more detrimental to love than massive acts of evil. Secrets and lies and the rigidity of society are the main conflicts of this series (I will update my current meta on this). Thematically, this story was an okay homage to Great Expectations but, just thematically, I thought it was perfect.

James, Cordelia, and Jordelia

Jordelia are the crux of the story. They truly love each other. Their love is so damn powerful. Like there's no doubting it. They really got back to each other through Hell and back. This is the kinda thing I read TSC for. This aspect of the story was beautiful and perfect, and at the core of James and Cordelia's relationship is something real and pure and good and strong - it's very storybookish. It succeeds in being very Layla and Majnun, in being very dramatic and earth-shattering and epic (in the Greek way). The endgame happened, and it was lovely. It reiterates the notion that goodness and love (God) will always defeat evil (Lucifer).

I now want to unequivocally state that Jordelia pissed me off for most of Chain of Thorns. Not even in the “I’m mildly frustrated” way. They're awful communicators, they lack cunning, and they both have way too much pride for their own good. They both also spent most of the series having no agency whatsoever, which is very annoying because they can only be victims who later become generic hero figures instead of anything more complex. Cordelia was tricked into becoming a paladin of Lilith and tricked into thinking her husband was being unfaithful to her. James was tricked into becoming infatuated with someone he didn't love and was literally fighting against the demonic inheritance he was born with - nothing has ever been James’ fault ever. Cordelia and James were victims for most of the trilogy, and I don't think they had to make difficult choices or ever had the need to possess any moral complexity. That pissed me off more and more throughout the story: the unwavering goodness and nobility and braveness that they inherently possessed. And I'm assuming this is by virtue of their last names being... Herondale... and... Carstairs. Cough. There is no plot armor stronger than being the children/descendants of the two most beloved characters in TSC. And boy, it fricking showed.

I'm not like, mad anymore. It's more of a me thing where I'm tired of morally perfect characters. And adding to the fact that James and Cordelia are so sheltered, rich asf, and also grew up among love and joy? James and Cordelia can... only do good, and can only be hurt by evil. They have never had enough agency in context of the narrative to choose to do something actually wrong. It's annoying. But I forgive them, it's fine. The biggest thing TLH suffers from is that James is Wessa's child (which is ironic, because that's why a lot of people even started reading TLH). James is like, great!, as a gentleman - he's attractive and well read and a great dancer and loves poetry and is rich and has manners and is handsome and is kind and is loving and is passionate and is the ideal bachelor, we get it. James Herondale is also clearly incapable of doing any wrong in his life and never had to make a single difficult choice besides to maybe self-sacrifice himself and then immediately get healed. So. Nothing bad was ever actually going to happen to James or Cordelia, or get in the way of their love. The narrative's duty was clearly to protect James in CHoT.

EXCEPT FOR THAT ONE THING! THERE WAS ONE THING THAT COULD HAVE GOTTEN IN THE WAY OF JORDELIA AND IT WOULD HAVE BEEN INTERESTING AND COMPLEX AND IT DID LOWKEY KINDA PLAY OUT KIND OF THE WAY I WAS EXPECTING AND IT'S STILL KINDA UNRESOLVED BUT I WANTED MORE AND UGH CASSIE WAS SUCH A COWARD IN CHOT.

As for Cordelia, it's still a very mixed bag for me. I mean, she's one of the few brown women in YA fantasy who aren’t defined by fricking racial trauma or colonialism or genocide as part of her character arc. She's just a woman who happens to be brown. And she's so feminine and genteel and elegant and passionate and strong and loving, all qualities I live about her. She wants to come into her true self, and I see that struggle to find her place in the world and to find stability as her main internal conflict. I love her for that. But I also got tired of the fact that she lacks a single devious bone in her body. She is generally very oblivious and rather egotistical. She's simultaneously way too naive and proud for me to root for her all the time, and those qualities were never actually something she had to pay for in a significant way - Cassie has made her, like James, untouchable by the narrative. I love her, I really do, but I wanted to violently shake her.

Grace and Christopher

So, I have not properly processed that Kit is dead, and I may never. Moving on.

Anyways, I couldn't actually believe that the one person that did not hate Grace died. The one person that does not scorn Grace died. Grace's ending was... disappointing to me (I'll talk about this more in my Problems section). Grace is the most morally complex female character Cassie has written in TSC (I said what I said). All I wanted was for the gang to simply understand her. Not to forgive, or to forget, but just to see what she did and see why she did it. I wanted James to see and understand why she would do something so despicable. But James and Cordelia and the gang have simply decided to move on from Grace, not to understand her. They're brushing it off. That wasn't nearly good enough for me because I love Grace so much and I maintain she will be the most relatable character in the TLH for people in the real world.

I can't think of a good reason why Grace wasn't told about how Tatiana literally bought her, or why everyone else wasn't told that information or why that info didn't become public in the Enclave either. I can't think of a good reason why she isn't going to live with other Cartwrights or in the literal London Institute instead of among a bunch of people who will always kinda hate her. I think she has redeemed herself: she confessed what she did to Jesse, Cordelia, and Kit. Willingly. She helped them save London with science. She abandoned her mother and her mother's evil. She’s recognized what she’s done. But not enough was done in the story to close off her arc in a satisfying way, at least not for me. I also think making that one (1) Great Expectations quote about her siblingship with Jesse was a cop-out, because she should have said it platonically to James instead. But whatever.

Lucie and Jesse

Spent most of ChoG and ChoI not really caring about either of them only to start to like them both so much in ChoT? Jesse Blackthorn? What a man. And I warmed up to Lucie a lot. I feel like she didn't do all that much in this book, to be honest, but that's okay. I liked them both and I love how Jesse's meshed with the squad. On a side note, Lucie and Cordelia have the least compelling female friendship in the whole of TSC. I cannot properly grasp how or why they want to be parabatai. Like even their messiness isn't good or compelling messiness, so.

Matthew

He's getting a review post as long as this one on Friday or Saturday. It’ll be absurd for me to try to tackle his character here.

He is about to take over my life (again). His character arc was amazing. But moreover, I think he's the most... interesting character in the trilogy. Interesting in the purest sense of the word. He's the character I feel I understand best in TSC, and yet, I can't truly figure him out. He is either my No.2 or No.3 character in the whole of TSC right now. Matthew Fairchild is perfect. He is too good for everything ever. He, in his own way, carried the emotional aspect of the story for me. Which again speaks to how interesting Matthew is, as he doesn't get POVs. (I am genuinely trying to figure out how to express what I want to express right now.) Matthew could have like... changed everything, in a way, like he’s so powerful. Matthew's emotional state at the end of ChoT actually has changed everything, for me. I also think Matthew has managed to be the most subversive character in TLH, based on that ending alone. Matthew is an inherently jarring character, thematically, but also execution-wise. I hope Cassie knows how excellently he has maneuvered his character.

Everyone else

Alastair, Thomas, Anna, Ariadne, and the parents were all great. Tatiana was also a compelling villain (not as much as Malcolm or Sebastian, but I love her more than Valentine and Mortmain). That part when Jesse told her that Will, Tessa and the Enclave don’t hate her because they don’t even think of her was just *chef’s kiss*. I have to zone in on Alastair over the rest: Alastair was brilliant. He had the most perfect character arc besides Matthew, and also the ideal redemption arc. He didn’t just change his actions and compensate for them, but he became so loving and tender and protective throughout the story. I loved it. I’m so thrilled at how his story ended. I could have done with more adult Wessa. But the pieces and bits I actually got were both extremely in-character and hilarious and had me in fits of giggles. I love Will Herondale so damn much, it’s crazy.

Framework (Wessa, Charles Dickens, The Bible and Classic Literature)

The foundation of this book was responsible for its highs and lows. Starting with the great things: I think this book managed to be Cassie’s most “religious” work yet, and I adore that. That end sequence taking place in the literally Abbey was exquisite. The setup for a final battle between the Shadowhunters and Lucifer for TWP is there. The whole idea of love and goodness and self-sacrifice (manifested through Jordelia) defeating the powers of Hell is the most Judeo-Christian thing ever. The intersection between literature and religion was absolutely there too - from the Milton and Dante references to themes of Hell and reminders of the Fall. Another great thing that I enjoyed throughout the trilogy was the importance classic literature and poetry. Cordelia and James falling in love as children while she read Layla and Majnun to him is something that kinda makes me kinda tear up the more I think about it. The way the literature of the time period is integrated into the setting as well is awesome.

I think ChoT does not deliver as Dickens-inspired piece. Where was “to the last hours of my life, Daisy”? Why was the last third of the book so damn awful for Grace (the woman on the cover???)? The book also did not need any Epic Battle Sequence to begin with - TLH, like GE, is a book about the relationship between the individual and social codes. I have no idea why Hell and Heaven were raining fires over London for a third of th book. The tone and structure did not mesh well with a battle sequence, and so I felt like the romance and subtlety of TLH being a GE-inspired series was lost there. Likewise, another flaw that the story unintentionally suffers from is that this series… enumerates the events that took place in a generation that followed that of Wessa. And so neither James or Cordelia (*cough* a Carstairs and a Herondale *cough*) were never in real danger. For a moment I was hoping we’d get something dark and twisted or bittersweet, but then I realized… she’s never putting Herongraystairs’ direct lineage through something that screwy. The narrative existed to protect Jordelia. This book suffers from the fact that the narrative continuing to shelter and coddle James and Cordelia, similar to how they literally grew up sheltered and oblivious by virtue of having their specific last names and the associated plot armor.

Problems (many)

Kit’s death was a cop-out. She needed to kill someone, and it had to be someone important, but not too important. And not an obviously marginalized character. His death changed nothing in the story. I’m not saying he shouldn’t have died; I just thought it was poorly executed. It also didn’t help me that the one person who saw the good and the bad in Grace… is dead.

Grace’s character arc ended awfully. It would have made sense for her to kill Tatiana, and not Cordelia. But it also doesn’t help that she’s living on the fringes of society, given that said society literally hates her. The fact that she couldn’t even… stay at the Institute? The most negative things I have to say about the book are related to Grace’s arc. She’s like, been the most complex and compelling female character in TSC in a hot minute. I’m having trouble accepting the scorn she’s faced.

Edom - that sequence was ridiculous and unnecessary. The only good part of it was Heronchild, but they didn’t need to be specifically in Edom for that to go down the way it did. Lucie and Cordelia literally went to Edom to get in a portal which took them right back to London, because drama. There was no reason for the Edom trip.

No accountability or consequences - Grace and the gracelet? Forgiven and forgotten; no consequences. Jesse being raised from the dead and also them lying about his identity to the Enclave for most of the book? Forgiven and forgotten; no consequences. Matthew breaking Shadowhunter law with the whole potion debacle that cost a lot of people a lot of things? Forgiven and forgotten; no consequences. Cortana literally being able to do any and every thing the plot needs it to do, and Cordelia being the only one ever who can do it, is also quite convenient. Sure that isn’t coincidental. Like let’s have James stab himself and then we’ll Cortana Ex Machina as we see fit, don’t worry. James and Cordelia not having put on their second weddings runes until ages after they were expected to do so? Solved in one sentence in the Epilogue.

Not bittersweet (except for Matthew - only his ending was bittersweet). Grace’s ending was bitter, and everyone else’s, except Matthew, was sweet. None of the serious magical issues and the sinister secrets had any lasting effect or consequences. It was very much a happy ever after type of story; and everyone seems to have forgotten that Christopher’s very much unalive.

Sona just… had the baby. Everything was fine. Even after years of teasing that that would be more significant. Not even a Thomastair adoption, and none of the “mystery baby” theories she was teasing came though. What else was I supposed to say except… okay. Likewise, the whole explanation for why the Family Tree we’ve been teased about for a decade being screwy was weak. I just kind of zoned out. Like that whole Esme Hardcastle thing was stupid, since Cassie was giving a lot of hints about how that was supposed to go down, about why the Carstairs records are missing, and all of them involved Jem. But nothing actually “wow” happened. I suspect a lot of retconning happened. I’m sad.

Random Thoughts and Conclusion

It’s quite good that Will had refused Cortana in CP2 and that Cordelia will pass it on to baby Zachary instead of, uh, Owen Herondale, so it could have reached Emma. I’ve been, in my daze, entertaining ideas of “lmfao, imagine if Jace had ended up with Cortana and literally accidentally killed God with it, because that’s absolutely something Jace would do”. Jace, Angel Boy Extraordinary, would have beeen able to destroy Thanos with that sword.

Casual reminders of Matthew being rich and pretty and dainty are just… I love it here.

Jesse didn’t do much in this book, but he was quite funny. Like he’s unintentionally hilarious.

Anna asking Cordelia if she was pregnant felt like a personal attack against ME. I was like, one of the first idiots post-ChoI that started all the whatifs about Matthew and Cordelia and… Clary. Those theory posts still have like hundreds of notes. I was very wrong about all of my theories. It’s fine. I’ll be haunted by what so easily could have happened or not happened. But it’s fine. Ha.

Where was the Layla? The chess boards? Why was the fricking globe necklace A HOLDER FOR FOUR LINES OF GEORGE GORDON BYRON. JAMES PUT FOUR LINES FROM THE MOST GENERIC OF THE ROMANTIC ENGLISH ANGST LORDS INTO THE LOCKET??? No no no no no…

Oscar Wilde (doggo) was amazing. He’s a good boy. I think @lifeofbrybooks said that Oscar had a better character arc than some characterss. So accurate.

Hidden away, on Cassie’s hard drive, I really believe there’s a Secret Truer Original Chain of Thorns that exists. So many things felt like they were changed or omitted last minute…

Anyway, thanks to @eclecticdonutzippercroissant @amchara @benjamingross and @timesconvert for listening to me read this book. And for the fun calls and theorizing with me. Special thanks to Jenn for literally putting up with me when I put my clothes on and physically went for a long walk outside “to feel the Caribbean air on my face” before starting Chapter 23. Special thanks to Gill for validating me with her existence. I’m gonna have a lot of meta and memes coming up, in addition to moodboards and playlists. Stay tuned. And if you’re new here, check out my old stuff and accept my apologies (*generally speaking*).

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lazinesswrites · 4 months

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✨Fic Writing Review 2023✨

I saw the lovely @whimsicalmeerkat do this recently, and they did the 'if you wanna do this you're tagged' thing, so! Here we go! On Jan 1st, because I haven't exactly had the time to sit down and do something like this in the last few days 😅

Words

56,557 words posted on AO3

27 works posted or updated on AO3

Fandoms & Ships Represented:

Shadowhunters (2x Malec)

Star Wars: The Bad Batch (19x Platonic Batch, 1x pre-relationship Crosshair x Captain Rex, 1x Crosshair & Commander Mayday)

Star Wars: The Clone Wars (4x Obi-Wan Kenobi x Commander Cody, 1x gen)

The Shadowhunter Chronicles (1x gen)

Top Fics by Kudos

"I wouldn't do that if I were you" + Loth-Cat (SW:TCW, CodyWan, accidental Loth-Cat acquisition, Loth-Cat shenaningans)

Home In Your Arms (SW:TBB, Cross finds and rejoins the Batch, gets some much-needed sleep and hugs)

Won't you take me home ('cause lately I've been losing on my own) (SW:TBB, The Outpost canon divergence, Mayday lives, Crosshair - and Mayday - come home)

Labor of love is ours to endure (SW:TBB, Kamino Lost canon divergence, formerly known as 'The Power of Hugs', Cross rejoins the Batch)

Datawork and Drinks (SW:TCW, pre-CodyWan, Obi-Wan makes caf for Cody, lots of pining, based on this amazing comic by starwarjotta)

My Fandom Fic Events in 2023

I participated in a bunch of different -tober events in 2023, though there's still 'only' 15 works in the series I made on Ao3 for them. Links for the events here on tumblr, and their Ao3 collections when applicable:

Fictober (Ao3 collection Fictober23)

Angstober (A03 collection Angstober2023)

OC-tober

StarWarsTober

Malectober (Ao3 collection Malectober2023)

I technically also participated in Comfortember, though I haven't put the one fic I've posted for it in the Ao3 collection, so. I do have another fic mostly-written for one of these prompts, though it's not quite ready for posting yet.

Upcoming 2024 Events & Projects

I... haven't exactly planned anything yet. There's a few things I'm considering though, like this Cody-day bingo, or this Waxer*Boil Month. Various month-events, like fictober, comfortember etc. And of course I still plan on doing Kedreeva's WIP Wednesday Ask Game as many Wednesdays as I can, and maybe other weekly things like that.

Rules & Tags

Not sure there really are any rules to this, you can be as thorough or brief as you want. I'm also not gonna tag anyone specifically, but if you see this and want to do it too - you're tagged!

#year in review #fic writing review 2023 #fanfic #ao3 #star wars: The Bad Batch #Star Wars: The Clone Wars #Shadowhunters

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terrible-romance-reviews · 2 months

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who cares what i was reading im gonna return to my roots and become a die hard cassandra clare fan, i just checked out the ebook of chain of iron from the library (i own a physical copy and i was definitely halfway through it at one point, i remember absolutely nothing at this current moment though) and i am going to read it with such speed, just you guys wait

#terrible romance reviews #cassandra clare #shadowhunters #books #books and libraries #books and reading #support your local library #they honest to god have some of the best resources #chain of iron #im so normal about this book universe

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livingfictionsystem · 3 months

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Queen of Air and Darkness Review (SPOILERS)

It was good timing that I read this when I did because I was beginning to get self-conscious over the fact that a novel I was about to publish was nearly 600 pages. I am, by no means, a slow reader but this 900-page monster took A While.

So, the bad first. Cassandra Clare, please, I beg of you, stop with the 'We're so in love but we have something stopping us being together for three novels in a row.' With Cordelia and James, that was fraught and interesting---loads of twists and turns with the false marriage and Grace and all. It was also time-period relevant. With Tessa and Will and Jem, you came up with one of the more brilliant conclusions to a love triangle I've ever seen. The circumstances to Will's curse was darkly laughable and tongue-in-cheek creative. Clary and Jace---hated it. Categorically hated the incest bait and I knew they weren't actually related a long while before you probably wanted your audience to. Emma and Julian's star-crossed thing was almost as bad as Jace and Clary's deal.

The 'parabatai curse' felt forced and contrived. I don't recall any mention of this all-important plot device in previous novels and the explanation seemed vague and weak. The way it was resolved was an afterthought.

Also wasn't that big of a fan of Julian. He was neurotic and moody to the point where he made Jace Herondale look stable. Emma was wonderful, though.

There really is more to build a relationship other than to make it impossibly star-crossed, I promise. You seemed to realise that with Alec and Magnus and many of the other 'non-main' couples.

Speaking of which, I love, love, love that you Cristina, Kieran, and Mark to be your polyamory triad. It was a brilliant representation, but it took a frustratingly long time to get there. Even in the end, you teased us with, 'Oh but they were torn apart, never to be together aga-- JUST KIDDING.' CASSANDRA, PLEASE, I HAVE ANXIETY. But I loved their dynamics and Cristina is a *great* character. Perhaps it was my fault, being as I had such a big time gap in between reading Lord of Shadows and Queen of Air and Darkness, but I'd completely forgotten her plot with her family heirloom/Diego/Jaime. It wouldn't have hurt restating it to remind the audience, but that's also probably on me.

I wasn't quite sure how I felt about the journey to Thule at first. It was risky. On top of 'Make Idris Great Again', Star-Crossed Part 4, and Necromancy Gone Awry, I was sceptical as to whether you'd pull off a multiverse plot in the middle of the last book, but it actually worked surprisingly well.

One of the better aspects about this book is that it takes place a few years after Mortal Instruments and the Cold Peace. It shows how everyone, particularly the Blackthorns, were affected by post-war bigotry. The fact that this was written in 2018 was no surprise, as Horace Dearborn, Zara Dearborn, and Manuel Villalobos were absolute MAGA stand-ins, but I love how it translated into the magical world. And of course, seeing where Clary/Jace/Alec/Simon/Isabelle/everyone ended up was satisfying for any fan of the original series.

Wonderful with the queer representation. I believe this is the first series where you've done a transgender individual and I liked how Shadowhunter culture played into it. There were at least three queer couples on centre-stage in the entire book without it feeling exploitative, so bravo there.

I will say, the autistic representation with Ty seemed sort of heavy-handed. Just about every mention of him mentioned stimming or aversions to change and such. But as an autistic individual, I have no actual *problem* with it, as there are people like that and I've known many.

The introduction of Ash was mind-blowing and welcomed, I'd say. I can't wait to see how that character plays out. It feels sacrilegious but I almost sort of missed Sebastian.

I will say, throughout the series, Annabel Blackthorn starts out as an extremely intriguing story but it ends up nearly... written out? Like geez, have one bad breakdown and murder a couple people and suddenly, your character depth goes away. It started out strong with Malcolm's grief twisting his ambition and Annabel having understandable PTSD, but something was lost, there.

So, quite long and not without its issues, but absolutely worth the read. Especially if you're wanting some warm fuzzies about your favourite Shadowhunterverse couples.

-Xanthe

#xanthe #book reviews #queen of air and darkness #shadowhunters #queer representation #polyamory representation #polyamory positivity #spoilers #shadowhunterverse #shadowhunterverse spoilers #book review #star-crossed #autistic representation #transgender representation #cassandra clare #dark artifices #fiction

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justmybookthots · 5 months

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Clockwork Angel & Clockwork Prince

I am low-key crying.

I should not have ranked my top 30 books of this year so early. But how was I supposed to know that I would love new books in the last week of December? I am literally 3 days away from 2024.

I mean, I knew all along that the Infernal Devices was Cassandra Clare's magnum opus, and I had high expectations of it. Even so, I was convinced I was currently in a reading slump and I wasn't keen on picking this up while in this state. But finally one night I pushed past the prologue to the first chapter and that was it. I got fucking hooked. Colour me shocked because I thought that nothing could take me out of my slump but something about the writing/plot in this book was SO interesting. The beginning where Tessa gets taken by the Dark Sisters and everything it led to had me in a vice.

I finished the first book in one sitting. Lmao. That night, I finished all 900 pages on my e-reader and I was like: Jesus. Was I ever really in a slump, or were the books I was reading before just not doing it for me? Because I've been reading Two Twisted Crowns (am about 30-40% in?) and I didn't find any fault in the plot, but I couldn't understand why I couldn't focus.

I need to make one thing straight, though, about this series: I loved it not for the reasons people loved it. I know people laud this series for Will Herondale. I… do not care about Will Herondale. The boy I care about is Jem Carstairs.

It's crazy because I'd read the Infernal Devices before as a teen and while I'd liked Jem more than Will even then, I never really gravitated much to either hero. But this time, I'm obsessed. Absolutely obsessed. He had me kicking my feet and squealing. He was so sweet compared to Will. Some of my favourite parts about him:

Will, Tessa thought, would have been angry if she’d said that to him, but Jem just looked at her intently (We stan a kind, patient and emotionally mature man)

“And you’ve never asked him (William) why?” “If he wanted me to know, he’d tell me,” Jem said. “You asked why I think he tolerates me better than other people. I’d imagine it’s precisely because I’ve never asked him why.” He smiled at her, wryly.

And sooooooo many more scenes of him that I loved in the sequel:

(JEM YOU CAN FOOL TESSA BUT YOU CAN'T FOOL MY CHINESE ASS)

And then later:

He is such a gentleman, I AM CRYING.

Also, I told myself I would take my time to read the 2nd book because I didn't want to finish it so fast, but idiot that I am, I finished it again (almost) over one night. IT IS INSANE TO THINK I WAS IN A BOOK RUT AND NOW I HAVE TO ACTUALLY STOP MYSELF FROM READING TOO FAST.

Man, I feel so jealous of people who are able to easily enjoy most of their books the way I did this. I rarely enjoy books so much because I am so, so, so picky. And the WEIRDEST part? Ever since I finished Crooked Kingdom and the Stolen Heir (which are my favourites this year), the only books for the rest of 2023 that have made me feel a fraction of this engagement are by Cassandra Clare. I don't understand it. I never liked Cassie as a teen. Why am I enjoying her stuff so much now?

THAT SAID, I don't want to touch the last book in the Infernal Devices right now. T_T This is the angstiest book in the whole series, especially when it comes to Jem. I know his illness took a turn for the worse and he was presumed to have died at the end (though he didn't) but I can't. I can't bear to watch him suffer. I can't bear to watch his engagement with Tessa nose-dive.

I know this is nothing like my normal reviews because I'm just gushing about Jem and not about the rest of the book (which was GREAT. Do not get me wrong. I loved Charlotte, Henry and Sophie). But my brain is not screwed on straight right now and I… have no words. Nonetheless, I will try to get my thoughts in order. Just some mild complaints:

I think that Jessamine could have had a better arc than what she got. Given her backstory and the trauma she endured as a child, I had hopes for her besides playing the "unlikeable antagonist". Right now, as of the end of Book 2, that is still her primary role in the story.

I may love Jem and Tessa, but I need to say that the romance for EVERYONE was not very well-done. I found that both Will and Jem developed feelings for Tessa really early, and VERY STRONG ones, and I'm still confused how that even transpired. This was the same problem I had with the Mortal Instruments, but I had assumed it would have been better for this trilogy since it's Cassie's best work. Alas, the same issue occurred.

The twist about who the Magister was was a liiiiiiitle underwhelming. I was hoping for more.

I don't like or dislike Will. I do not care.

Am a little surprised that the ending of the 2nd book was pretty anticlimactic action-wise. The climax was really just about the romance, which… is interesting.

This is as much cogency as I'm giving this review. I need to recover from this series, thank you. 😣 While I'm too lazy to try to figure out how it fits in the top 30 (which will need adjusting), the books belong there for SURE.

- 29 Dec 2023

#book review #book blog #the infernal devices #the shadowhunter chronicles #cassandra clare #jem carstairs #will herondale #the mortal instruments

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