City of Ashes by Cassandra Clare (The Mortal Instruments #2)

Original title: City of Ashes

Year published: 2008

Published by: Walker Books

Number of pages: 411

First sentence: “The formidable glass-and-steel structure rose from its position on Front Street like a glittering needle threading the sky.”

Plot: 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? If Clary left the world of the Shadowhunters behind, it would mean more time with her best friend, Simon, who's becoming more than a friend. But the Shadowhunting world isn't ready to 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.

To complicate matters, someone in New York City is murdering Downworlder children. Is Valentine behind the killings — and if he is, what is he trying to do? When the second of the Mortal Instruments, the Soul-Sword, is stolen, the terrifying Inquisitor arrives to investigate and zooms right in on Jace. How can Clary stop Valentine if Jace is willing to betray everything he believes in to help their father?

(Plot taken from Goodreads)

My thoughts: First off, let me just say that I liked this book a lot better than the first one, probably because there were no movie connections to be made here. This was a really good thing and it meant that I could actually enjoy the book, which I did, very much.

A lot of things happen in this book, a lot of life changing things, for some people at least. Can we just take a minute to appreciate Simon? I mean what he goes through in this book and still he’s there for Clary. Simon, I love you.  Then there’s Jace, whom I of course also love but that’s beside the point. He is so hateable in this book, but still I have a lot of sympathy for him. He makes me so mad with his “no I can’t hate my father” crap, ugh. Seriously it is perfectly alright to hate Valentine, I sure as hell do. Say it with me: “I HATE VALENTINE”. There, that wasn’t so hard was it. The whole Valentine situation is so infuriating. Tricking Clary and Jace into believing they’re siblings is just horrible. They are so obviously in love with each other and it just makes reading most of the book weird, it makes me uncomfortable. Especially when they’re with the faerie Queen and she makes them kiss. I was screaming, really. Like why in the bloody hell would they react to each other that way physically if they truly believe that they are brother and sister? It makes no sense. And poor Simon. I feel so bad for him, although he seems okay with everything by the end of the book.

Also there’s Luke, who really steps up in this book. I love Luke. He’s such a nice guy and the way Clary’s like: “you’re not my father, Luke is” aaaaaaah, I loved that.

One thought that stuck with me while reading the book was:  “When the hell is it time for Jocelyn to wake up?” and by the end of this book we get an answer, maybe. So I can’t wait to get started on ‘City of Glass’.

And why didn't Imogen Herondale get to finish telling Jace the truth? Gaaaah! How long am I going to have to wait for Jace to finally know the truth. This is driving me crazy!

I love the Shadowhunter world. If I could I’d probably be one, that or a warlock, with a nice mark like Magnus’ eyes and not horns or green skin.

Do I recommend it? Yep.

Goodreads rating 4/5

City of Bones by Cassandra Clare (The Mortal Instruments #1)

Original title: City of Bones

Year published: 2007

Published by: Walker Books

Number of pages: 506

First sentence: ““You’ve got to be kidding me,” the bouncer said, folding his arms across his massive chest.”

Plot: When fifteen-year-old Clary Fray heads out to the Pandemonium Club in New York City, she hardly expects to witness a murder― much less a murder committed by three teenagers covered with strange tattoos and brandishing bizarre weapons. Then the body disappears into thin air. It's hard to call the police when the murderers are invisible to everyone else and when there is nothing―not even a smear of blood―to show that a boy has died. Or was he a boy?

This is Clary's first meeting with the Shadowhunters, warriors dedicated to ridding the earth of demons. It's also her first encounter with Jace, a Shadowhunter who looks a little like an angel and acts a lot like a jerk. Within twenty-four hours Clary is pulled into Jace's world with a vengeance, when her mother disappears and Clary herself is attacked by a demon. But why would demons be interested in ordinary mundanes like Clary and her mother? And how did Clary suddenly get the Sight? The Shadowhunters would like to know...
(From Goodreads)

My thoughts: Um, yeah, no. I mean there really isn’t much wrong with the book and I did give it 4/5 on Goodreads. I love the Shadowhunter world that Clare has created. I love the Infernal Devices series but this, I don’t know. It’s probably because I keep comparing it to the movie and that’s my own fault. The book is better than the movie, I mean way better but I keep seeing the things and people from the movie and I don’t like it. Take Alec for example, he’s a douche in the book and in the movie but I think the book version of him is more attractive, mostly because he’s supposed to be taller than Jace, but I keep seeing Alec (Kevin Segers) from the movie. It’s really annoying to have seen the movie before finishing the book because I find myself going: “No, that’s not how it happened in the movie”. It bugs me because what happens in the book actually makes a lot more sense than the movie. 

This whole Valentine deal pisses me off royally. Why is Jace so quick to believe that Valentine is his father? Sure he has a story to explain everything but it still doesn’t add up. And yes I do know how things actually are with that whole situation and that just makes it so much worse. Ugh. Valentine is much more of an evil asshole in the book than the movie, I didn’t really think that it was possible to be more of an ass but apparently it was. Way to go Mr Morgenstern.  Luke is such a babe though, too bad he’s not Clary’s bio dad.

I’m 30% done with the next book, ‘City of Ashes’, and can I just say: “whaaaaaaat!?” for a moment. And when the hell does Jocelyn wake up?  Confused.com

But do I recommend it? Sure, why not? I mean it’s a good story. My problems are with myself and not the book.

Goodreads rating: 4/5

Mini reviews

Hey guys. Since the blog is obviously lacking everything at the moment I thought I’d let you know what books I’ve been reading lately and what I thought about them. I’m going to call these mini reviews because they’re not going to be as, I don’t know, analyzing (?) as my reviews usually are but they’ll still give you an idea as to what I thought of the books. For plots, see Goodreads.

Books read in January:

Captivated by you (Crossfire #4) by Sylvia Day

 I liked this book although I felt that there were some things missing. I’m always curious to learn more about the characters Eva and Gideon and even though you got to know some about them I kind of felt like this book was a filler. Eva and Gideon actually didn’t accomplish that much in their relationship and they didn’t move forward as much as I would have wanted so I was a bit disappointed by that. And the way the book ended, gaaah! *pulls hair out* I mean seriously, you can do better than that miss Day!

Goodreads rating 4/5

The Help by Kathryn Stockett
I read this book for a literature course at uni and I didn’t like it very much. Sure the story was good and all that but it was too slow for my liking. The different POV’s confused me. I liked the movie better and that doesn’t happen a lot.

Goodreads rating 2/5

Mister Pip by Lloyd Jones

Another book read for school, though I liked this one better. I liked the characters and the story. It was a bit slow in the beginning but it got better the further you got into it. An OK book.

Goodreads rating 3/5

Books read in February:

Wake (Watersong  #1) by Amanda Hocking

I was a bit disappointed by this book. What I’ve read of Hocking so far has been great, I loved the Trylle series so I was of course expecting a similar experience with this, but sadly that didn’t happen. The story is actually quite a good one and I enjoyed how Hocking incorporated the Greek mythology. The character of Gemma was interesting enough but the fact that she would die for someone she basically just started having feelings for annoyed the crap out of me. I don’t want to spoil anything so I’ll leave it at that.

Goodreads rating 3/5

Clockwork Prince (The Infernal Devices #2) by Cassandra Clare

Oh my beloved Shadowhunters how I’ve missed you. As usual Clare’s attention to detail is just, WOW. After reading this book I immediately wanted to dive into the next one but I had to stop myself. So many books, so little time. This book wasn’t as good as the first one but that was probably just because there weren’t as many new impressions in this one. You get to know a lot about the characters pasts in this book and I think that helps getting to know them better. I know I fell a bit more in love with Jem when I read this book, but also Will, oh poor Will. So until the next book I’ll just keep Jem and Will in my mind.

Goodreads rating 4/5

Looking for Alaska by John Green

Okay, so I hated this book in the beginning. I mean really, I wanted to stop reading it, set in on fire and bury it. But I’m glad I didn’t. This turned out to be one of those books you read and then when you finish you feel empty and you’re not exactly sure how to move on with your life. I can’t say that I loved it because I didn’t. There wasn’t enough action so to speak. But I loved the characters and the plot twist, oh my. I’m glad I gave Mr Green a shot and I will certainly continue reading him.

Goodreads rating 4/5

The Selection, The Elite & The One (The Selection #1-3) by Kiera Cass

A new favorite. The entire series is amazing but more on that later. My first thought was: “Is this supposed to be British English or American English?” because Cass uses words such as post instead of mail etc. But it is in fact American English. The country, called Illéa is actually America in the future after a couple more world wars and a takeover by China. So it’s a dystopian book, and I love that. In my epic reads book tag I said that if I had to choose a dystopian world to live in I’d choose the Chicago from the Divergent series, but I’ve changed my mind. I want Illéa and I would like to be a Three or a Four. What’s a three and a four you ask? Well Illéa has a caste system where One is the Royal family and Eight is the lowest, they’re the homeless people. Our main character, ironically named America Singer (yes, ironically, we’ll get to that later, maybe) is a Five, which is not great but it’s not bad either. Fives are the artist types of the community, hence the last name Singer. Anyway, so there’s this selection thingy where one girl from each province get “randomly” selected (every girl between the ages of 16 and 19 (?) can enter the draw) to move in to the royal palace and compete for the Prince’s heart. Weird? Yes. Wait, no, I wasn’t going to retell the plots in these mini reviews. We’ll use Goodreads for that.
Anyway, I loved this book, I loved America, I loved Prince Maxon, I loved May. I hated Aspen. So yes the series is amazing and I can’t wait to read the fourth book!

Goodreads rating 5/5, 4/5 & 5/5

Books read in March (so far):

Fallen by Lauren Kate (Fallen #1)

I really liked this book although the love triangle bit bummed me a bit. I think we’ve established that I’m not the biggest fan of love triangles. But how stoked was I when I realized that not only was this book about a girl being reincarnated but about fallen angels?! Amazing. I love fallen angels and I’m totally doing a re-read of Becca Fitzpatrick’s Hush Hush series this summer. Anyway, OMG Daniel Grigori seriously, and Cam as well, you won’t be lacking boys in this one I can promise you that. And also the main character of Luce, I love her, she’s so troubled but still manages to find new friends and stuff. Yay her. I’m waiting to read the next book which I failed to add to my latest book order.

Goodreads rating 4/5

That is all for now, hopefully my new books will get here soon and I can show them to you. Have a great evening/day wherever you may be!

xx Kayla

Cassandra Clare

Hi guys. Remember I told you that I ordered some books a while back? Well they're here!

The complete Mortal Instruments boxed set and the Infernal Devices. 

I can't wait to get started on these. I've already read Clockwork Angel and I started on City of Bones (didn't finish because the series got spoiled) but I've decided to give the series another try. 

That's all for now. Will probably post a review on Captivated by You by Sylvia Day since I'm currently reading it. 

Take care! xx Kayla

Clockwork Angel by Cassandra Clare ( The Infernal Devices #1)

Original title: Clockwork Angel

Year published: 2011

Published by: Walker Books Ltd

Number of pages: 488

First sentence: “The demon exploded in a shower of ichor and guts”

Plot: Tessa Gray arrives in London after being summoned there by her brother Nate. However, everything is not as it seems and Tessa soon learns that not only is she different but that there are people looking to use her for purposes unknown. Drawn into a world she never knew existed she finds allies in the most unlikely people and uncovers secrets that would perhaps have been better kept secret. Tessa is beginning to realize that her life changed as soon as she stepped of that boat.

My thoughts: I have to admit that I was a bit put off in the beginning, because of my experiences with Clare’s other books, namely one, I never actually got past that one. The particular book was “City of Bones” the first in her Mortal Instruments series. But I’ve realized that there wasn’t actually anything wrong with the book, I didn’t like it because somehow it was spoiled for me. Anyway back to the book at hand. I absolutely loved this book. I loved being transported back to a 19^th century London and all that it entails. I love the characters, especially Tessa, even though I don’t care much for how she thinks that women shouldn’t fight. The character of Will Herondale is disturbingly alike the character of Jace Wayland/Morganstern/Herondale or whatever the hell his name is these days. I have a love/hate relationship towards both characters although I don’t believe I was ever this enraged with Jace. The last scene between Tessa and Will had me screaming, literally. I was so mad at Will that I got mad at myself for actually being mad at a fictional character, it was rather confusing. 

Moving on to a character that is much more lovable, Jem. Oh god, I thought I wouldn’t like Jem, but I did. Where Will is obviously sarcastic Jem is more subtle in his sarcasm and he is much more gentlemen like. His appearance confused me a bit but I think that maybe that was the idea. I can’t get a picture of Jem in my mind like I can with most of the other characters and that’s sad because I really would have wanted to. I do however like the way his voice sounds in my head, all calm and collected.

There were of course many other characters in the book but I won’t go in to detail on those. All I’m going to say is that they all complemented each other well.

I have a feeling that we’re in for a love triangle with next book. I’m not sure if I like that or not. I tend steer clear of love triangles, “Twilight” has forever scarred me. But I guess I’ll just have to wait and see. I will read the next book because I really want to learn more about Tessa and her past and the reason why she is the way she is. I also want to see the relationship between her and Jem evolve, I’m not saying it will be but I’m hoping. Right now I just want her to forget about Will because I hate him so much. But I’m sure I’ll change my mind and be back to loving him soon enough.

Do I recommend this book? God yes! Please read it!