Rad Readers...
I am shattered, broken, exhausted, and amazed.
This was an insanely good book and a phenomenal ending to a legendary series. It really blew me away. I feel like it is always the final book in a series that makes it or breaks it. For example, nobody will ever forget the disappointment we all endured as the Divergent series progressed... City of Heavenly Fire made it, though! There can be so much disappointment in finales because readers feel so strongly towards characters that if they don't end up exactly how they envisioned them, there is always major backlash in the bookish community, which I never really think is fair. It is the author's story, and therefore it is their choice how they want to progress it, ya know? I digress.
Obviously, seeing as it is the final book in the series there is absolutely no way that I can avoid spoilers, so just read the books!!
SPOILERS AHEAD!
Let's just start out strong... Jordan's death. I was never that into his story line-- unpopular opinion, I know!-- so this one didn't really get me as good as it had everyone else. People said that they were upset that more time wasn't spent on his death... eh. I thought it was perfect, honestly. If they all stayed on that topic forever then we would complained that it dragged on for too long. He died in the very beginning of the book, certainly within the first 75 pages at least. Then Maia's story line kind of fell off and it bummed me out that she was only really written in to be Jordan's girlfriend? I don't know? That honestly hit me harder than his death. Like I said though, I wasn't really very invested in either of their story lines. Especially due to the fact that we still had 700-ish pages of absolute insanity hurtling at us from all angles. Within the next 100 pages I'd basically entirely gotten over it.
That brings me to my next point: I felt like there was a bit too much time spent on the side plots. I really just cared about the core gang at this point in the story, and I know Cassandra Clare wants to connect all of the stories she creates, and even perhaps market them, but I just wasn't enjoying that. Specifically I am talking about the Emma, Julian, and the rest of the LA Shadowhunters. I just... didn't care enough. That is always how I feel about side plots, though. I understand that the majority of the time they are added to expand the world and make it feel more authentic, but it honestly just takes me out of the story, because then I am only looking forward to when we get back to the main plot. In City of Heavenly fire, the subplots simply took up too many pages. I have only read TMI thus far, so perhaps when I read the others I will grow to appreciate the parts that those characters played in this book, but not right now. I wanted to read about Jace, Clary, Simon, Isabelle, and Alec. I don't know who Julian and Emma and Mark are? I don't care!! Not right now, at least! I honestly --at a certain point-- just began to skim those parts, and you can't even blame me for that one. We'd been in the middle of some crazy important part with Isabelle and Simon and then scenes would change to something about Emma avenging her family. It wasn't that those parts were necessarily bad, it was just that I certainly didn't care about them (at all) at the time. My research tells me that these are the characters in the Dark Artifices, so maybe when I read those I will appreciate their cameo more, but who knows? I will say, though, the prologue with them in the Los Angeles Institute when Sebastian was there and Julian killed his father and Emma was trying to save everyone and they were just these little kids... that tugged on the heart strings a bit, that's for sure. Certainly a great intro. All in all, not really that big of a complaint because it didn't really bother me that much. Some parts were good, and some parts were still good just placed poorly, in my opinion.
It was a banging start and I have praised these books, genuinely from the very beginning on the fantastic pacing. There is no beating around the bush (perhaps aside from City of Ashes) and there is no delay to the action. It was very "boom boom boom" if you know what I mean? It was one thing after the other after the other. In some books that can go wrong, things may not be unpacked well enough or they might seem random and out of place, but I didn't find that to be an issue here. Rather, it was constant action and excitement.
Rafael's death... kinda big, kinda not. I didn't care too much but it as shocking nonetheless that it had happened. I think it was more so meant to represent how far the gang had come, because Rafael was kind of an important character in the very first book, and it is pretty crazy to think about how the story had progressed since then.
Amatis being turned into an Endarkened and then ultimately being killed... thatttt was heavy. I never really liked her but she was definitely an important character and it was a tough point in the novel for basically everyone. It certainly was one of the darkest points for the gang, and there was a shift in the tone from then on, as well as the fact that the levity of what they were going through only seemed to increase. It really had be questioning weather or not they were going to make it, because I could totally see Cassandra Clare writing a devastating ending where Sebastian wins.
Finally... Sebastian's death... the moment we have all been waiting for. Okay, so, I heard a lot of reviews saying that people were upset that he didn't have this extraordinary death, but when I heard those complaints I was immediately reminded of Harry Potter. Does Voldemort's death ring a bell to anyone? J.K. Rowling purposely wrote his death to show that he died just like any other wizard would. There would be no extravagant bursting into flames of the corps, Voldemort just... well... died. The same was with Sebastian. I thought that he died in such a way to prove that he was no different than the other shadowhunters. He just chose the wrong path in life, ya know. Well, that and the demon blood... What I didn't like about Sebastian's death was the fact that Clary and Jocelyn kind of felt bad for him in the end. I sort of understood Jocelyn. That was her son and even though he 100% needed to go, it is still probably tough on her. Clary on the other hand!? Why in the world would she feel anything but immense relief from this fools death? He ruined her life on so so so many accounts and tried to kill her and her friends basically every time he got the chance. HE KILLED MAX FOR GODS SAKE! MAX! I WILL NEVER FORGIVE HIM FOR THAT! MAX DESERVED SO MUCH BETTER!
The humor was great throughout, as it has been in all of Cassandra Clare's work. She is so so so talented at writing dialogue and I think that is why we are all so attached to these stories. Her characters just seem so real and so incredibly developed. The development with Clary and Jace was what we have been looking for from the jump with these books. Finally they are done being insufferably angsty, broody, and dramatic. They are finally learning how to communicate and stop being lame, and I really appreciated that. Especially in these last three books, I felt like they were a broken record. Things were going good and then something small happens; and then one of them keeps it a secret; and then because its a secret things escalate; and then things get worse; and then the truth comes out; and then things blow up; and then simmer back down; and then repeat. FINALLY we got out of that loop and I loved it!
The continuity in this series is extremely impressive. The way Cassandra Clare was able to bring back the rune that Clary had been envisioning from book one as the rune to link the shadowhunters and downworlders reminded me of when J.K. Rowling connected the R.A.B mystery from Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone all the way to The Deathly Hallows. Extremely impressive. That is how you know that the author is either extremely smart, or knew what they were doing from book one. Either way, it was a great homage to her detail oriented and very dedicated fans!
Okay... now as much as it physically and emotionally pains me to do, we need to talk about the ending and we need to talk about Simon, and we need to talk about the fact that it literally had me crying on a bench in a very public place.
Cassandra Clare, why did you do that to me?
Was the ending incredible? Yes.
Will I ever be okay again? No.
When Simon had to give up all of his memories of the shadow world and his best friends to save everyone... I cannot think of anything more hurtful. He has been best friends with Clary for his entire life, and just like that, he doesn't even know her name anymore. And the fact that she will still remember him... UGH! I AM SO SAD! To have gone through an entire journey with people you have come to love so dearly and care about and made so many memories and great times with, only to forget about it all in the end... I genuinely cannot think of anything worse. The moment when I was absolutely shattered to the point of no return was when Simon tossed Clary the Fae ring... THE TEARS WERE FLOWING! I have never gone through so much strife in just 100 pages ever. I genuinely don't even know what to say about it because I was in such shambles.
Then finally, in the epilogue, Clary visits Simon, he has no idea who she is, the lady at Java Jones is like where is your friend and he's like what friend and there I was crying and crying and crying again... and THENNNNN, Simon gives Clary his band flier, and the band name... what does he choose... THE MORTAL INSTRUMENTS!!!! THE MORTAL FREAKING INSTRUMENTS!!!!! NOT ALL OF HIS MEMORIES ARE TOTALLY LOST! HE CAN STILL BE SAVED! It was just so perfect that it must have been planned from book one. It was just too good. He was literally trying to find his band name from the very beginning... Oh my gosh, why am I tearing up as I'm writing this!?!? Then Magnus gives him the choice to try to ascend to becoming a Shadowhunter so he can get his memories back, and then the book ends. Major props to Cassandra Clare for sticking with her guns and having it end with him still not remembering anything, because it was really powerful and really emotional so if she went back on it, then it would just seem like a cop out. Perhaps we will know in one of the other books in the Shadowhunter Chronicles if he ends up remembering, but for now we still must be saddened by the ending. Not completely saddened, but certainly fractured.
Okay, Rad Readers, that was a lot.
Ave atque vale,
- C8 ;)
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