Review on 'The Infernal Devices #1 Clockwork Angel'

In the year 1878, 16 year old Tessa Gray moves to London to live with her brother after the death of her aunt. However, things are not as they seem, as instead of her brother, Tessa is greeted by two strange women known only as The Dark Sisters. Tessa soon finds out the truth about these two women, and realizes that her brother has gone missing. With the help of the London Shadowhunters, including best friends Will and Jem, Tessa must uncover the truth about the disappearance of her brother, and what she really is.

As most Young Adult novels that I have read recently have been either contemporary or dystopian, I felt that this novel being set in the past was an interesting and welcoming change. I decided to read this book after enjoying The Mortal Instruments series and loving the Shadowhunter world, and thought this addition was interesting and exciting. I loved the characters, particularly Will and Jem. Although at first I thought that I would prefer Will, as he is seems similar to Jace in The Mortal Instruments, I ended up loving Jem too as he is just the most sweet and adorable thing and I ended up wishing that he wasn’t fictional! There are some heart wrenching moments, particularly the reason why Jem is sick. There is a love triangle in this book between Tessa, Will and Jem, but for this book at least, it did not seem to be the main focus point, and the action outweighed the romance. If you are a fan of The Mortal Instruments, or even if you are just interested in a Young Adult book set in the past then you should give this one a go.

After Sebastian’s body inexplicably vanishes from the rooftop, it is clear that Lilith's plan to bring him back has worked.  Clary is left with the major problem that Valentine’s son is once again on the loose, and is intent on creating an army of dark Shadowhunters. However, this is only one of their problems, as Sebastian has seemingly kidnapped Jace, who is now bound to Sebastian’s life force. Cut Sebastian and Jace bleeds. Clary and her friends must find a way to break this bond before it is too late. Will they be able to get back the Jace they all know and love, or will he be lost to Sebastian forever?


The fifth installment of this series does not disappoint, as we follow the characters we have come to know and love, such as Clary, Simon and the Lightwoods as they try to figure out how to destroy Sebastian without hurting Jace. The book is heart wrenching, so if you do not want to be sobbing your eyes out by the end of it then I don’t recommend reading it. We see the relationships of the characters develop, some for the better and some for the worse. However we also get the full on action scenes we have come to expect in this series, and there is never a dull moment.

As I have probably mentioned before, I adore Magnus Bane and he definitely does not disappoint in the book, as he is just as fabulous as ever. I adore how his relationship with Alec develops, although we see a darker side to both the characters, and discover that their relationship is just as flawed as any of the other couples. The relationship between Clary and Jace is also heartbreaking, as even though Clary is still in love with Jace, she has to accept the fact that this is not her Jace, as he is being manipulated by Sebastian.

Overall this is a great addition to the series. My only problem is that the last book in this series does not come out until 2014, and I don’t know how I am going to cope having to wait that long to find out what happens next. I have fallen in love with these characters [particularly Jace, Magnus and Alec] and am looking forward to finding out how their adventure concludes.

Review on The Mortal Instruments #4 City of Fallen Angels

Although the war against Valentine is over, Clary and her friends problems are not over yet. After Simon is approached by Camille, one of the oldest vampires in the world, Simon’s life changes for the worst. Shadowhunters are getting murdered all over New York, and strange men in grey tracksuits are following him round. What they don’t know is that Simon now has the mark of Cain, meaning that anyone who tries to harm him would have the damage come back at them seven-fold  Simon, Clary, Jace and the Lightwoods must figure out who is killing the Shadowhunters and why Simon is receiving continuous threats to his life. But what they find out is not pleasant, and they must stop the person behind it before it is too late.

As the author originally intended to stop this series at book three, I was interested to find out what was going to happen next, as the previous story line had already been concluded, meaning that Clare needed to come up with a completely new problem for the characters to face. Although I loved this book, I felt as if the story line in the previous books was stronger. I also thought there should have been more issues needing to be resolved to go into the next book with, as at the end there is only one problem left. I also felt that some of the characters needed development. For example, near the start of the book, Camille is seen to be one of the most powerful and oldest Downworlders in existence, but as the novel progresses she seems to become weaker and less important. As there are only two bad characters who has survived at the end, I felt as if her character should have been developed further, as I am sure it will be continued into the next book.

Overall I enjoyed this book and will continue to read this series. I have enjoyed seeing how the characters have grown and changed through the course of the series, and how relationships have progressed.  It is nice to see how there are both gay and straight relationships, as in the majority of novels, all the relationships are between a heterosexual couple, and gay relationships are seen in a negative light, whereas the relationship between Alec and Magnus is seen to be no different to the one between Jace and Clary. The book is continuously exciting with lots of action scenes, and there is never a dull moment, as even the slower parts are interesting, as you get to learn more about the characters and the plot. I am looking forward to reading the next book in this series.

Review on The Mortal Instruments #3 City of Glass

Clary is determined to save her mothers life, but to do so she must travel to the glass city of Alicante in Idris, the Shadowhunters country. But things are not going to get any easier for Clary, as her father Valentine is determined to destroy all Shadowhunters who do not follow him. The Shadowhunters must make a huge decision, whether they are going to succumb to Valentine, or join leagues with the Downworlders, whom the Shadowhunters have been enemies with for years. Clary must help them to make the right decision, and declare war against Valentine and his army of demons. Meanwhile Jace must discover the truth behind his identity, and confront Valentine alone.

As I loved the previous two books, I have decided to continue with this series, as each book seems to be better than the last. As the author intended this book to be the last one in the series, it is action packed, with battles against demons and the deaths of some of the characters. The story that has been continued from the first two books comes to a climax at the end of the book. Some new characters are introduced such as Sebastian, who turns out not to be who he says he is, and the Clave become a part of the story instead of just being mentioned by the characters. All the old characters from the previous two books also return, such as Clary, Jace, Alec and Isabelle. I always enjoy returning to books that are in a series, as it is like continuing the journey with old friends. Most of the characters relationships also come together in the book, such as Clary and Jace, and also Alec and Magnus. I felt as if this needed to happen in this book, especially Alec and Magnus, as although before Clary finds out the truth, her relationship with Jace seems to be forbidden, the relationship between Alec and Magnus seems more so, as they are a gay couple. Although I am not sure if this would be frowned upon in Shadowhunter society, it usually is in the normal world. Also, Magnus is a Downworlder, whereas Alec is a Shadowhunter, and in the series before the Shadowhunters decide to join forces with the Downworlders in an attempt to destroy Valentine, they have always hated each other, as Downworlders have demon blood, whereas Shadowhunters have angel blood. This means that Shadowhunters see Downworlders to be no better than demons, although Downworlders have a soul whereas Shadowhunters do not.

As this was meant to be the last book in the series, I am interested to find out why Clare decided to continue with it. City of Glass brought the current story to a climax, so I am eager to find out what the characters will have to face next. This book also seemed to be the most unique out of the series so far, as I was not continuously comparing it to other book series such as Harry Potter and Lord of the Rings as I had been doing with the previous books. This was my main disappointment in this series, but the book had a good plot, and I read it late into the night on many occasions. If you like fantasy stories then I definitely recommend this book series.

Review on The Mortal Instruments #2 City of Ashes

Clary’s battle against Valentine continues, as he gets hold of the second of the instruments, the Soul Sword. Valentine is planning to use this sword to create an army of demons, but first he must change the swords alliance from angelic to demonic. To do this he needs the blood from four different types of downworldly children, a child of Lilith, a child of the moon, a child of the night, and a child of the faerie. Can Clary, with the help of the other Shadowhunters stop him before it’s too late, or will Clary and her friends be faced with a battle that they can not win?

After reading City of Bones, I knew I had to continue with this series as I was hooked on the shadow world. The second book did not disappoint and lived up to the expectations I had from reading the first one. The book is action packed with never a dull page, as Clary and Jace’s battle against Valentine to save the world as they know it. The author has done a good job with the portrayal of characters, as I ended up hating characters such as the Inquisitor and Valentine, but falling in love with characters such as Jace and Magnus Bane. I also found myself caring about the feelings and relationships of the characters, which to me always shows that they have been well thought out and all have their own personalities. The plot itself was also amazing and the book was very difficult to put down once I started reading. Whereas the first book took a while to get into the action, as it had to explain all the different terminologies, City of Ashes got more or less straight into the action, combining imagery with action to create a beautiful and exciting world. Overall a very good read and I can’t wait to get the next book to find out what happens next.

Review on The Mortal Instruments #1 City of Bones

Clary is just an ordinary teenage girl living in Manhattan. That is until she meets Jace Wayland, a demon slayer, known as a Shadowhunter. After her mum goes missing, Clary slowly starts to learn the truth, that her mum was a Shadowhunter too, and that she must learn to see the Shadow world. Clary is in a race against time with Valentine, a Shadowhunter who had been believed to be dead, but is now back with a vengeance. Clary must reach the mortal cup, a special cup which allows the user to turn mundane children into Shadowhunters, before Valentine uses it to create his own army.

Even though a friend who I trust to give me good book recommendations told me to read this, I was a bit sceptical at first as the first thing I seen on my edition upon looking at the cover was a review by Stephenie Meyer. As I’m not a fan if the Twilight series, I was worried that this book would be full of sparkling vampires and werewolf boys who ripped their shirt off every five minutes. I was not disappointed however. The vampires did what vampires are meant to do and the werewolf clan were not portrayed as being sexy men. The plot itself was brilliant, with lots of twists and turns. Although some of the plot themes were obvious to me from the start, there was also a few that shocked me. The only bad thing I can say about it is it’s not completely original, as I was constantly comparing various plot themes to Star Wars and Harry Potter. With that said however it’s very rare to come across a completely original book nowadays, so overall it was a very good read, and I will definitely continue reading the rest of this series.