Title: City of Glass Author: Cassandra Clare # of Pages: 541 (paperback) Genre: YA, Fantasy, Romance Rating:★★★☆☆ Synopsis: To save her mother's life, Clary must travel to the City of Glass, the ancestral home of the Shadowhunters - never mind that entering the city without permission is against the Law, and breaking the Law could mean death. To make things worse, she learns that Jace does not want her there, and Simon has been thrown in prison by the Shadowhunters, who are deeply suspicious of a vampire who can withstand sunlight.
As Clary uncovers more about her family's past, she finds an ally in mysterious Shadowhunter Sebastian. With Valentine mustering the full force of his power to destroy all Shadowhunters forever, their only chance to defeat him is to fight alongside their eternal enemies. But can Downworlders and Shadowhunters put aside their hatred to work together? While Jace realizes exactly how much he's willing to risk for Clary, can she harness her newfound powers to help save the Glass City - whatever the cost?
Review: Well, I'm a little confused about everything. This is only the third book, right? It seems like Clare could have ended the series with this one. Most of the loose ends were all tied up...and people FINALLY started admitting their feelings for each other! ...Sorry, spoiler alert.
I think I hate the characters MORE in this book than the first and second books. I saw a lot more of their stupidity in this one. Magnus is my favorite character, though, and, surprisingly, I agreed with quiet a few of Jonathan's (the real one) views.
And OH MY GOSH I SO CALLED IT THAT JACE AND CLARY WERE GOING TO FIGURE OUT THAT THEY WEREN'T RELATED THAT IS SO AWESOME!!! I am really, really glad that Jace and Clary, Alec and Magnus, Jocelyn and Luke, and all the other couples got together. It was about time! This is exactly why I think that this should have been the last book. Everyone's happy together and Valentine's dead. Where else can Clare go from here?
So, I'm starting to dislike TMI again. I don't dislike it to the point where I'm going to knock off a star because there was some stuff that I still enjoyed, but if the next books don't improve, I might have to.
If you LOVE TMI and haven't read this book, READ IT!!! If you already hate it to the point where you want to rip it into a million pieces...for your sanity, stay away from this book.
Title: Iron King Author: Julie Kagawa # of Pages: 363 (paperback) Genre: YA, Fantasy, Romance Rating: ★★☆☆☆ Synopsis: Meghan Chase has a secret destiny; one she could never have imagined.
Something has always felt slightly off in Meghan's life, ever since her father disappeared before her eyes when she was six. She has never quite fit in at school or at home.
When a dark stranger begins watching her from afar, and her prankster best friend becomes strangely protective of her, Meghan senses that everything she's known is about to change.
But she could never have guessed the truth - that she is the daughter of a mythical faery king and is a pawn in a deadly war. Now Meghan will learn just how far she'll go to save someone she cares about, to stop a mysterious evil, no faery creature dare face; and to find love with a young prince who might rather see her dead than let her touch his icy heart.
Review: Very, very disappointing. I was incredibly frustrated with just about everything throughout the whole book.
There was some really bad character development in the beginning.
"My name is Meghan Chase" (Kagawa 10).
This quote made a really bad first impression on me. I absolutely despise it when characters introduce themselves because, as far as I'm concerned, the characters don't know the readers there, even if the book is in first person.
To top it off, she tries to play the "poor person" card.
"'What should I wear?' my drawers basically hold three things: clothes from Goodwill, hand-me-downs, and overalls. I wish we weren't so poor. I know pig farming isn't the most glamorous of jobs, but you'd think Mom could afford to buy me at least one pair of nice jeans" (11).
That little witch. Meg has NO RIGHT to complain about little things like that. Maybe instead of using money to buy an iPod, she could buy a nice pair of jeans HERSELF. Her mom is trying the best she can, and that's how she acts? She has no respect! And then she complains about the clothes that she already has. Sure, they might not be the best quality fabric that her peers have, but let me tell you; Goodwill has some pretty awesome looking clothes. I have a friend that gets a lot of her clothes from Goodwill, and she's rocking it everyday. Meg just needs to be a little more creative.
Now, besides Meghan, the whole plot is full of clichés, and I saw a lot of similarities to other stories ranging from Alice in Wonderland to the children's book My Lucky Day. I can kind of understand if the close similarities to another story happen once; it's almost impossible to come up with a completely original idea anymore. But I kept having this moments where I think that I've read a certain part of the book before, and these moments got really annoying.
My recommendation? If you have nothing to read, give it a try. For some reason, I liked the ending, which is why I didn't give Iron King one star. Hopefully there will be improvements in the second book.
In my last OTS, I talked about City of Bones, and it's movie and sequel. I said, "I won't be able to read [City of Ashes] anytime soon". And while this was true at the time, I was able to obtain a copy the second time I stopped by the book store. I already posted the review for it! City of Glass is in my possession too, so that review should be coming sometime soon.
While reading the book and posting update (and such) on my progress with The Mortal Instrument series, I noticed that there is quite a large TMI fandom. Not as big as the Harry Potter fandom (I really want to reread the Harry Potter series; it's been so long since I've read it that I can't remember most of the plot), of course, but still big enough to be noticeable. I don't think I'll ever be apart of the TMI fandom because I don't like the books enough.
There are also other fandoms I noticed when I was on Instagram. Dr. Who is one I see a lot (I've never seen a single show) and all of the anime fandoms too (I'm part of a few of those). But intermixed in these fandoms, I saw another fandom; the My Little Pony fandom.
Isn't that show for five year old girls? I couldn't understand why older girls AND guys were so interested in this TV show. So I decided to watch an episode myself.
I did a little search on Youtube and came up with My Little Pony's Friendship is Magic Season 2 Episode 23 (watch the video yourself above!). I braced myself for the awesome magically power of the ponies. Unfortunately, I was disappointed. The message of this particular episode was clear; don't spread gossip about other people. This was completely fine by me; it's a good message. However, the ending really, really bugged me.
You see, there are three ponies who work for the newspaper. Their editor-in-chief was pushing them to keep writing about gossip, and after the advisor for the newspaper found this out, the editor-in-chief was demoted to printing newspapers. She is seen wearing a visor (part of the uniform for her job), and the staff photographer takes a picture of her. The flash blinds her and makes her stubble backwards onto the printer, splashing black ink all over. This makes the three ponies (who I mentioned earlier) laugh at her expense.
Does anyone see anything wrong with this picture? They shouldn't have laughed at the ex-editor-in-chief; it spoils the message. And the show still seemed like a little kids show; I don't see the appeal. If someone can tell me exactly what the appeal of this show is, please, please tell me!
Title: Scorpia Author: Anthony Horowitz # of Pages: 388 (paperback) Genre: YA, Adventure, Action Rating: ★★★★☆ Synopsis: Still reeling from the terrible discovery he has made about his father, teenage MI6 superspy, Alex Rider, is determined to find out more. Travelling to Italy, he manages to infiltrate the glamorous world of Claudia Rothman, beautiful society hostess and member of the international criminal organization, Scorpia. She reveals that Alex’s father was murdered by MI6, in an operation masterminded by Head of Special Operations, Mrs. Jones. Shocked and angry, Alex faces a choice: to continue to work with the British security services, or to become an agent for Scorpia, and get revenge.
Review: Yes! This is what I've been waiting for! Horowitz is finally breaking away from the Alex Rider mold that he created and is making the plot less predictable. Of course, I still predicted most of what was going to happen, but not until after I read over half the book. And the ending was COMPLETELY unexpected. I couldn't quite comprehend what actually happened.
Although this is one of my favorite Alex Rider books, it still isn't five star quality. There were times where there was a little too much detail, making some scenes a little dry. If there was just a tad bit less detail, then I may have given the book five stars.
Title: Ender's Game Author: Orson Scott Card # of Pages: 324 (paperback) Genres: YA, Science Fiction, Fantasy Rating: ★★★☆☆ Synopsis:Once Again, Earth is under attack. An alien species is poised for a front assault. The survival of humanity depends on a military genius who can defeat the aliens. But who?
Ender Wiggin. Brilliant. Ruthless. Cunning. A tactical and strategic master. And a child.
Recruited for military training by the world government, Ender's childhood ends the moment he enters his new home: Battle School. Among the elite recruits Ender proves himself to be a genius among geniuses. In simulated war games he excels. But is the pressure and loneliness taking its toll on Ender? Simulations are one thing. How will Ender perform in real combat conditions? After all, Battle School is just a game. Right?
Review: Well, this book really threw me for a loop. I can't really say that I love, yet I can't say that I hate it because, honestly, both feelings towards this book were equal.
At first, I wasn't sure what to expect from this book. The movie is going to be coming out in November, and I thought that I ought to read the book before then. I was thinking that it was going to be of those books that require surface level thinking, which is probably why I hated the book. At first. The thought of a child being manipulated by almost everyone around him was absolutely horrifying while Ender's achievements were altogether unbelievable and unrealistic.
However, I began to realize that this wasn't your average young adult book. I had to stop taking everything that was said this book so literally and look at all of those crazy hidden messages. Once I was able to figure out what those were, I could appreciate Ender's Game a lot more, thus why I gave the book a decent rating.
So, as far as deeper meaning, a lot of it was explained at the end of the book for me. But when everything pieced together, I was amazed. For example, there was that fantasy game that Ender liked to play. He experienced those wolf children and had to kill them. The whole game seemed really bizarre to me at first, until after Ender came to the realization that the situation in the game was like what he had experienced when he was tricked into killing all of the buggers. He killed children in the game and in real life to reach "The End of the World".
If you are interested in watching the movie (or your reading the review after the movie already came out and you liked what you saw), then you should read it. But if you aren't into what I described above, then don't. Unless your someone like me, you're more than likely are going to either love it or hate it.
Title: City of Ashes Author: Cassandra Clare # of Pages: 453 (paperback) Genre: YA, Paranormal, Fantasy Rating: ★★★☆☆ Synopsis: Clary Fray just wishes that her life would go back to normal. But what's normal when you're a demon-slaying Shadowhunter, your mother is in a magically induced coma, and you can suddenly see Downworlders like werewolves, vampires, and faeries? Clary would love to spend more time with her best friend, Simon. But the Shadowhunters won't let her go--especially her handsome, infuriating newfound brother, Jace. And Clary's only chance to help her mother is to track down rogue Shadowhunter Valentine, who is probably insane, certainly evil--and also her father. When the second of the Mortal Instruments is stolen, the terrifying Inquisitor suspects Jace. Could Jace really be willing to betray everything he believes in to help their father?
Review: WARNING! This review will contained uncensored spoilers for Cassandra Clare's City of Bones.
Why must you make this so hard for me to write a review????????? This is crazy. I'm not sure how to convey to y'all my feelings for this book. But, somehow, I'll manage. For your sake.
After watching the City of Bones movie, I have come to like Clary A LOT more. She's not that annoying anymore. BUT she's still not the best protagonist in the world. In contrast, Jace...he seems extra stupid in this book. His stupidity kind of showed through at the end of City of Bones when he was hanging out with Valentine, but this book brought it to a whole new level. My opinion of Alec, Isabelle, and Simon stays the same. But Magnus...I found him to be a lot more interesting in this book. I can see why everyone likes Magnus so much; he's personality is hilarious.
Speaking of hilarious, this book is funny. I'm not sure if it's suppose to be a comedy, but the humor is what makes me like this book. So if anyone out there has a hard time enjoying the series, try laughing at some of the dumb parts. Trust me; it'll improve the quality of the book A LOT.
But, despite all of this, I cannot seem to bring myself to rate the book anything other than three stars, just like City of Bones. It's neither terrible nor over-the-top fantastic. And I'll tell you why:
Here's an excerpt from Chapter 2, Hunter's Moon, in which the story of how Maia becomes a werewolf:
"The emergency room doctor had said the bite looked like a large dog's, but Maia knew better. Before the wolf had turned to race away, she'd heard a hot, familiar whispered voice in her ear, 'You're mine now. You'll always be mine'" (29).
Am I the only one how finds this incredibly cheesy? Lines like these that are too dumb to be even mildly amusing is what drags the quality of the book down. That, and the lack of romance. I get how Jace and Clary are siblings and can't really do anything, and Simon and Clary have Jace wedged in between them. But SOMEONE needs to get in a relationship, like Alec and Magnus. And Isabelle really needs to find someone who's NOT a minor character who's only mentioned in the book once.
I think the book could have been a hundred pages short. The last one hundred seem to drag on forever, and at that point I just wanted it to hurry up and be over. And the epilogue was a little disappointing because there was that whole "I know your mother made herself go into a coma and why" thing going on, yet I already knew that her mother made herself go into a coma from the movie! I'm telling, whoever recreated the storyline for the movie really messed up. Big time.
Jace, Jace, Jace. What the heck is up with him? Sure, your dad's Valentine, but that doesn't change the fact that he's a bad guy! Don't freakin' go over to his ship to talk to him, especially since people are already suspicious of you! But here's one thing I don't get; if everyone knew where Valentine's ship is, why isn't anyone doing anything? From that point of view, I have to applaud Jace's efforts; at least he's doing something, even if it's the wrong kind of something.
So, if you liked the first book, then read the second book. But if you DIDN'T like the first book, then you probably won't like this book very much. And if you haven't even read the first book, then you really, really shouldn't read this book yet. It'll be too confusing.
