Series Review - The Infernal Devices

The Infernal Devices

Cassandra Clare

7 Stars
1520 Pages
YA / Supernatural / Paranormal / Romance /

The companion series to the Mortal Instruments.
We are once more introduced to Shadow Hunters. This time in London, England, 1878. We meet William Harendale, James Carstairs, Tessa Grey, Gabriel Lightwood and Charlotte Fairchild. 
It has a Sherlock Holmes vibe as we learn of the infernal devices and race against the clock to thwart the evil Magisters plot to end the Nephelim. Along the way our characters must lift a curse, discover their family origins, find a cure for a terminal illness, and reclaim a family's honour... I wont give away anything else because it would spoil the novels. 

These books were wonderful!!! I got into them in a way I just couldn't get into the Mortal Instruments (which I have yet to finish 1.5 books to go). The setting fit so much better with the characters and their world; a steam punk, classic felling that just meshed with who the Shadow Hunters are and how their culture functions. These characters were (at least to me) a sign of how Clare's writing has grown and improved, they were a lot more dynamic and rounded, they still fell back on a lot of YA tropes but the flow was smoother. I think with it being only a trilogy instead of a full series helped out in so many ways because the books were condensed. Clare has a habit of repeating the same issues over and over again, having a character hung up on a single point that is semi solved only to reappear. This is one of my biggest issues with the Mortal Instruments and it was present but to such a small degree it didn't affect my rating much.

I would recommend these over the Mortal Instruments every day of the week, this series was just so much better in every aspect and I hope that this trend carries over into the next companion trilogy; Lady Midnight, which I hope to be starting soon.

Book Review - The City of Fallen Angels

The City of Fallen Angels
(Mortal Instruments 4)
Cassandra Clare

Fiction / Fantasy / Urban / Supernatural / YA
424 Pages
7 Stars

This is over the halfway point in the series. I struggle with longer series, particularly the ones where the story is actually ongoing; the same settings, the same cast of characters ect. but this series is holding out pretty good considering how picky I can be.

This novel felt like a companion book for the first few chapters, but it came back around and fit in better by the end.
A few positive and negative notes. On one hand I really didn't like how this novel ended on such a big cliff hanger,  on the other hand I do really like the character interaction between the side and supporting characters. I was torn between the main character interactions mainly Clarey, Jace, Jocelyn and Simon, while there was action and dynamics much of it felt recycled or rehashed and I am not sure about the direction it is taking. It is a risky set up with lots of potential it will either be amazing or disappointing by the end. I am thinking I will take a bit of a break from the series and read something else for a bit, but I would like to get the mortal instruments done by the end of the month.

Book Reviews - The City of Glass

The City of Glass
(Mortal Instruments III)
Cassandra Clare

Fiction / Fantasy / YA / Supernatural / Paranormal / Mystery
541 Pages
7 Stars

I have been marathoning the audiobooks for this series because they are such easy listening I haven't had to take a break at all, but I think some of the finer details have been jumbled around in the quantity I am trying to take in.
From the first chapter of the first novel I was drawn into the Shadow Hunter world, but it has really been the lives of the characters that held my interest.

This is an amazing book and the series is fantastic but I have found a few flaws in this book that I think I overlooked in the first two novels. The books do follow a lot of YA tropes (which is a neutral fact from my perspective), while the whole world is captivating the concept is not totally original either and this was the first book that I really found predictable. While lots was added into the dynamics and there was still a lot of character growth, a few previous "resolved" issues returned to be mulled over yet again.

Overall this was not my favourite book in the series but it was a good read all the same.
Similar novels are

Book Review - City of Bones

The City of Bones

(The Mortal Instruments #1)

Cassandra Clare

7 Stars
485 Pages
Easy Reads
YA/ Paranormal / Supernatural / Fantasy

We are introduced to the Shadow-Hunter world; witches, warlocks, vampires, angels and demons live among us, hidden behind a veil of magic. We meet Clarey and her best friend Simon, two normal humans, or so it seems. Until Clarey's mother goes missing and she meets Jace. Finds out that she too is a ShadowHunter. Drawn into this unbelievable new world, fighting to hold onto her old life, looking for her mother, fighting the forces of darkness, all while trying to survive being a teenager is a tall order but with a little help Clarey just might get though it.

This was a reread for me, I am planning to binge read through most of Cassandra Clares books in the next couple of months. I liked the book when I first read it (when it first came out) and was planning on reading the rest of the novels but they hadn't been released yet and my interest shifted away while I was waiting. Being older and closer in age to the target audience than I was on my first read I picked up on way more references and "clued in" in a way that I missed the first time. I really liked the world, the characters, the writing style, pretty much everything I don't really have any major complaints. There are lots of typical cliches fallowed (without spoiling too much) the choices or characters and there dynamic, some insta-love, characters oblivious to obvious infatuation, a few small plot holes or information used to fill a plot hole that doesn't really fit.
All in all I will be continuing these books and I think if you read them at the right time and didn't have as much of the YA genera read as I do the books would totally live up to there hype. Worth recommending
*and on a side note my boyfriend loved the books (9 Stars) and has read the whole series so bonus points for the rating

Book Review - The City of Ashes

The City of Ashes 

(Mortal Instruments #2)

Cassandra Clare

6 Stars
453 Pages
Ya / Fantasy / Paranormal / Supernatural


This was a typical second installment of a longish series. We got quite a few little answers to questions from the first novel and the information we already had was expanded on. There was action, but a lot of things were left unresolved, my biggest issue was the character dynamics, which were either at a stand still or ran in circles. However I got the impression it is building up to a few major climax's between several sets of characters and that there is going to be almost a first and second "half" of the series marked by the end of the third book.

The Summary is below this page break
There are Spoilers so BEWARE! I did try to leave out as many as possible so it is a bit of a point blank style