Tag: Shadowhunter

Cassandra Clare – Clockwork Prince | Review

Title: Clockwork Prince

Author: Cassandra Clare

Type: Fiction

Page Count/Review Word Count: 512

Rating: 2.5/5

 

Cassandra Clare - Clockwork Prince

Cassandra Clare – Clockwork Prince

 

Yeah, I’m still not a fan of this series. The Mortal Instruments has been okay so far, but both of The Infernal Devices books that I’ve read have been so dull and lifeless. I don’t like Clare’s depiction of Victorian London, mainly because I don’t think she actually bothers to do it too much, and I feel as though these books could just as easily be set anywhere else in the world at any time period given that they spend most of their time inside Shadowhunter institutes or whatever anyway.

I was also under the impression that this was supposed to be urban fantasy, whereas the two books so far have just been romance novels with maybe ten pages of fantasy thrown in. This one has a love triangle in, a trope which I’ve always hated, and Will Herondale is such an asshole that it physically pains me to read about him. I hope he dies in the next book. This book tried to explain why he’s such a douchecanoe, but I don’t think it’s any excuse.

Not that I really care for the other characters, either. Tessa is a wet blanket, Jem is okay but again, because such a big deal is made about the fact that he’s dying, I hope that he does actually die so that it’s not all a big cop out at the end of the next one. I’m pretty sure that some cure will be found or something, though. In fact, if her other books are anything to go by then he’ll die and be brought back to life, which is another thing that I hate. Death isn’t a joke and shouldn’t be used so lightly, and Cassandra Clare isn’t the only author to devalue it by constantly killing and resurrecting her characters.

 

Cassandra Clare

Cassandra Clare

 

But I’m going off on a tangent. Part of the problem for that is that I just don’t have too much to say about this book. Nothing much happened because like I say, it was all about romance. A bunch of different people hooked up and then hooked up with other people like some giant game of pass the parcel where you don’t want to see what’s inside. Then it ended, and I already can’t remember what actually happened. And I only finished it a couple of hours ago.

Granted, I’m not necessarily the target audience for this book, but The Mortal Instruments series is at least tolerable. With this one, I’m just so over it and the thing I liked about it the most was the fact that it had massive print. When your favourite thing about a book is the size of the print, you have to start asking yourself questions about why you’re even reading it, and I’m actually not sure. I’d have given up on Clare’s books by now if it wasn’t for the fact that I’m buddy reading them with some friends. Eh. Yeah, I definitely wouldn’t re-read.

 

Cassandra Clare Quote

Cassandra Clare Quote

 

Click here to buy Clockwork Prince.


Cassandra Clare – City of Ashes | Review

 Title: City of Ashes

Author: Cassandra Clare

Type: Fiction

Page Count/Review Word Count: 416

Rating: 3.75*/5

 

Cassandra Clare - City of Ashes

Cassandra Clare – City of Ashes

 

Cassandra Clare gets a lot of shade thrown her way from people who think she’s a poor writer, but at the end of the day, how many of those people have sold as many books as she has? That’s kind of why I’m slowly but surely working my way through her stuff. Another reason is because I’m buddy reading them with a couple of YouTube friends, Kitkatscanread and Damian Terriquez. And of course, I’m also kind of invested in the series now. That’s probably my fault because I also watched the series on Netflix, although that also has the effect of spoiling me on pretty much everything.

I’m not going to go too much into the plot here because it’s the second book in the series and also because it’s pretty obvious what you’re in for. The bad guys come along and the good guys save the day, that’s what happens in these books. But I did enjoy the story for what it was and I also actually quite like Cassandra Clare’s writing style. Sure, it might not be highbrow literary fiction, but she keeps you rolling on through the pages. If her books were food, they’d be a McDonald’s. But sometimes I just want to eat a McDonald’s.

There was some cracking dialogue here that I appreciated and I think the characterisation was pretty good too, even with more minor characters. I still think that the bad guys in this series are a little disappointing, but I almost read this for the banter between the characters rather than for anything that actually happens. I started to get a little bored about two thirds of the way through though and feel like this could have been fifty pages shorter.

Overall though, this was pretty much what I was expecting and I found myself enjoying it despite the hype on one hand and the disdain on the other. I try to make up my own opinions about the books that I read and so far, Cassandra Clare’s stuff has been pretty good. And hey, if I keep on reading the rest of the series then perhaps I’ll discover some magical tip that will help me to write a bestseller. Maybe there’s a mark for it (or whatever they’re called). As you can tell, I paid plenty of attention to the finer details of the Shadowhunter world.

 

Cassandra Clare

Cassandra Clare

 

Click here to buy City of Ashes.