By Cassandra Clare
Haunted by her past, Clary is dragged deeper into New York’s terrifying underworld of demons and Shadowhunters – but can she control her feelings for a boy who can never be hers?
Official Summary
So… book two, honestly I feel like it could have been better, maybe it was because this book series got so much hype and I’m stilling trying to decide if it’s worth it.
My biggest complaint about the book is Clary and I have a lot of things that I dislike about Clary and trust me I will get to all of them. For now, my biggest thing was every time she put herself in danger the author, Cassandra Clare made it seem like she was being brave and stubborn when in reality it was just dumb and stupid. It also annoyed me that everyone around her Luke, Jace, Izzy and Alec, they all know that she can’t fight or fend for herself but they still keep taking her with.
Sadly, Clary Fray is a victim to the ‘I’m not like other girls’ trope. This trope was super common in the early 2000s and is still found in books and TV these days. I just find it funny Clare portraits Clary as this girl who can’t get a boyfriend or who can’t have many female friends but then every guy wants her, I mean even her brother wants her!
Speaking of female friends, I commented on this in the first book but Clary’s thoughts on other women are terrible. I mean what did poor Maia ever do to her? Clary just met her and she hated her, she didn’t even know her! Clary’s jealousy and personal insecurities paint her in a bad light. Don’t get me wrong I understand that she is insecure about herself but that doesn’t give her the right to tear other people down.
Another thing that honestly made me want to slap both Jace and Clary was them pining over each other, while they both knew they were brother and sister. Not to mention they kissed, yes while they knew they were related, okay they were kind of forced to, but I felt like that kiss was way too long and the two of them enjoyed it a little too much.
On the topic of Jace, his teenage angst was a little over the top in this book. I felt like he was just angry and maybe that was because he found out Clary was his sister but still the dude was overdramatic. I didn’t understand him much in this book, he just seemed more annoying, I think it was because he just kept on digging his grave even further. For example, with the Inquisitor, all he had to do was keep his mouth shut and when he gets punished for his actions all he does is complain.
My favourite character was Magnus, as usual, I always lean towards the funny characters, the ones that make me laugh. Although I loved Magnus in this book, I felt like the only emotion we got out of him was humour, it would have been nice to have gotten a little bit deeper with his character. So maybe that is something that will come into play in the next book.
Then of course my least favourite character, Simon Lewis. Leave it to Simon to mess everything up and then get angry at everyone else about it. I don’t know why but he was extra annoying in this book. I would have just let him die honestly, he isn’t that great and I don’t see why Clary keeps him around. Perhaps it was Simon and Clary’s relationship that made me dislike him, even more, I couldn’t stand those two together, it just felt so wrong.
We met a lot of new characters in this book, the rest of the Lightwood family, I found Max to be very annoying. We also met the inquisitor, who honestly just gave me grumpy old lady vibes. Then, Maia, I like Maia in the books, she seems like a character I wouldn’t mind to get to know, she seems like she has an interesting story and I would love to have more of her in the next book.
Also, Izzy wasn’t in this book nearly enough. I loved Izzy in the first book but we had so little time with her in this book, hopefully, we get more of her in the next book, Fingers crossed.
Except for Simon and the whole incest thing, the book was good, I read it in four days.
I would recommend it.
Author: Cassandra Clare- ISBN: 9781481455978- Publisher: Walker Books Ltd- Pages: 415 – Source: Private Copy
books in the Series:
About The Author
Author Bio from the Author’s Site
Cassandra Clare was born to American parents in Teheran, Iran and spent much of her childhood travelling the world with her family, including one trek through the Himalayas as a toddler where she spent a month living in her father’s backpack. She lived in France, England and Switzerland before she was ten years old.
Since her family moved around so much she found familiarity in books and went everywhere with a book under her arm. She spent her high school years in Los Angeles where she used to write stories to amuse her classmates, including an epic novel called “The Beautiful Cassandra” based on a Jane Austen short story of the same name (and which later inspired her current pen name).
After college, Cassie lived in Los Angeles and New York where she worked at various entertainment magazines and even some rather suspect tabloids where she reported on Brad and Angelina’s world travels and Britney Spears’ wardrobe malfunctions. She started working on her YA novel, City of Bones, in 2004, inspired by the urban landscape of Manhattan, her favourite city. She turned to writing fantasy fiction full time in 2006 and hopes never to have to write about Paris Hilton again.
Cassie’s first professional writing sale was a short story called “The Girl’s Guide to Defeating the Dark Lord” in a Baen anthology of humor fantasy. Cassie hates working at home alone because she always gets distracted by reality TV shows and the antics of her two cats, so she usually sets out to write in local coffee shops and restaurants. She likes to work in the company of her friends, who see that she sticks to her deadlines.
Thanks for reading, let me know what you thought in the comments below…
Goodbye, my little book nerds…..
