#i love everyone who stopped to read this and felt something in their soul 🥰

[ladyhindsight]

Hi! So I'm re-reading TMI these days and can't help but feel for you anytime I stumble upon something frustating or laugh when a limb is having a life of its own lol. I don't know much about editing or the quality of the writing in general because I'm not a native english speaker so reading in english kinda makes it better, if that makes sense (even tho I now notice things thanks to your blog, and let me tell you, I had the displeasure to read a small part of the translation in french and it is so much worse that I'm fine with not getting how shitty CC's writing truly is) but omg I want to facepalm so often… Particularly now that I'm almost done with CoFA and I can see so clearly the influence of TID in it. Like in one of the first three books, when Valentine killed the Silent Brothers to get the Soul Sword, everyone insist they were ALL dead (which was stupid) but now some Brothers were away at the time so no worry, Jem is well and alive! Or Luke and Magnus could always get into the NY institute, but Simon had to stay outside because he's a vampire but now there is a sanctuary they never thought about using before because it was "out of fashion" (sure Jane) and they suddenly remember it exists! Poor Simon, knowing they could have hang out with him there all along but wouldn't bother to just think about that big room standing in front of their eyes. I was also very frustrated with the fact that no one seems to care what Valentine was doing for the last seven years after giving Jace to the Lightwoods and before coming back in CoB (yes, we do kind of find out at some point that he was probably hiding in Hodge's cabin or farm or whatever but why no one ever WONDER at least to themselves where he was?). There is also, of course, all the BS with Malec in general plus the fact that it makes no sense anyway with The Red Scrolls of Magic, but this is too painful for me to even think about. Nothing makes sense, really, as if we all knew those books better than the person who wrote them, can you imagine? I could go on for hours but I won't, I just needed to rant for a second and I felt so sorry for you who go so much deeper into that hell hole for your wonderful blog that I love. So kudos, stay strong and I can't wait to read your next post! (and sorry if this makes no sense, as I said I'm french and we all know french people can't speak english).

Hi! Thank you for the love, it means a lot. 🥰😊 I am slowly working towards the next post.

When I go through Clare’s writing, more often than before I have to just stop and think whether some things in the text are worth pointing out, because at this point stuff just begins to repeat itself a lot. Like noted in the previous message, Clare’s writing has barely improved in the course of 15+ books. I’ve made a PDF file of City of Bones with bunch of footnotes that never really made it to the blog, but the content of those notes apply to the following installments as well because of that repetition of writing mistakes, weird or weak sentence structures, choice of words, story structure, plot etc. And sometimes my opinions are just made of weird noises and frustration that I can’t put into words. 😂

Clare adding these new elements to the Shadowhunter world really show how little thought went into it in the beginning of the series. I was originally so confused when I read CoFA for the first time ever because I truly thought Valentine had killed every Silent Brother there was previous to that, and why wouldn’t we think that? It is exactly how the writing presented the case. The first three books of The Mortal Instruments feel so disjointed from everything else that came afterwards, because the world started getting bigger after them but none of those new elements were present in them (obviously they couldn’t have been, but you know). Jem as a character did not exist before Tessa appeared at the end of City of Glass to herald a prequel series. Similarly how Jace probably wasn’t Herondale when City of Bones was written. His scar appeared first in CoA, and then it was relevant for Imogen to notice it. Not that it had been an essential part of his character before the plot demanded it.

Similarly this case with Simon and the Institute Sanctuaries. In the original TMI trilogy the vampires appeared through Projections. There wasn’t such facilities mentioned before that. Clare just added things as she went along. Similarly to this, the Shadow Markets and the Scholomance. Imagine how bigger the world had been if there was even a mention of these places in the first three books? Especially since everyone has been visiting the Shadow Markets, like, always if GotSM is anything to go by. But there is that absence because, again, none of these concept existed, and retroactively writing stories about how, for instance, Jace as a kid went to a Shadow Market does not bring that same magic to the original trilogy where such concept is unheard of.

In Born to Endless Night the Sanctuaries are rendered effectively useless when Magnus’ magic can give Lily an access to wander the halls of the Institute. Aside from other grievances with that story, Clary effectively broke the rules of her own world to make it easier for Lily to be present in the party instead of writing them having a party elsewhere where Lily as a vampire could safely attend, and without this rule-bending as a surplus.

Valentine’s whereabouts, like you said, well he just kept training Sebastian and that’s about it. Every character never really thought about it more or questioned why he waited seven more years to finally resurface. Most things were just taken by face value. The first three books especially were really half-cooked, if even that, when they were published.

#Anti CC #Anti Cassandra Clare #Series discussion #Reply