I was going to post this on Friday but I'm kind of in denial that the celebration is almost done so I did find myself procrastinating just a smidge. Where did the time go? Do we really have only one more week left of my very first meme? Further, is City of Bones really 10 years old?!
Man. I just really want to thank everyone who has taken the time to participate in these questions and this getting to know you dance we've been doing for almost ten weeks. While I've nearly completed these tasks, you are more than welcome to join in at any time and work at whatever pace you wish. To learn more about Ten Years of City of Bones, click on "celebration" in the very first sentence of this post.
And now, to the
Well, well, well. It is finally Friday again. While my week has been less than desirable (see: my cell-phone no longer working, general scratchy throat things, laptop being a slow little bugger) I can honestly say I'm stoked to continue my celebration of Ten Years of City of Bones.
As the celebration's ending draws nearer (hullo, week eight!), I just want to say thank-you to anyone who has participated. It's never too late to join in, for those who are new.
This weeks theme is all about the locations and plots which was a great question in theory. Now that I'm over here planning this post I'm just cursing myself because this one seems to have stumped me today. So, I'm skipping over the plots in lieu of the locations only.
The good news is, I've had my fill of coffee for the day and my brain is finally starting to work with itself a bit. It's still sluggish but, hey, that's what happens when you don't sleep, kids. SO! Let's talk locations.
This weeks theme is the age old question: WHO THE FRICKITY FRACK AM I? Or, rather, who would I be in the pages--ahem, the world--we've come to know and love. Which, to be honest, sent me into a bit of an identity crisis! Who am I? What will I become?
Yes, yes, yes. I know what you're thinking, "Jessica. Didn't you, like, so totally write the questions for this meme? Shouldn't you have made it easier on yourself?" the answer is yes, I did. But where would the fun be in the easy route? Is it really a day if I haven't spun myself around in about forty different circles?
I'm not sure. Probably not. Sounds pretty fake to me. #ALTERNATIVEFACTS
And now... without further ado...
To be honest, this is a pretty short post compared to the other topics. I have no idea why I procrastinated like I did. Whoops.
I'm so excited to continue my celebration. Which, if you're confused as to what I'm talking about--click here. Basically, my stan is at its highest level when it comes to Cassandra Clare's The Mortal Instruments series.
I'm going to be tackling my favourite parabatai pairings from The Mortal Instruments and The Infernal Devices because reasons. So let's get down to business. Grab a drink. And blast "I Did Something Bad" by Taylor Swift because it's what I'm doing--it's a total banger.
So. Guess what I'm doing? *Evil laughter* Besides drinking coffee and ogling lipsticks on Temptalia, of course. I'M GOING WILD WITH IT. Or, at the very least moderately untamed fangirl levels of joy and squeals and probably a lot of tears because Cass does tend to have that effect on us, right? Right?! No--but for real, I am extending this weeks theme to those three series because I'm a little feral this evening, as I just finished rereading Lady Midnight and Lord of Shadows this week. And it's one of those moments where our beloved characters just pop up at random or are at least mentioned.
(And I'm still procrastinating writing a review for Lord of Shadows. Which, yes, is pretty sad as I've read it twice since it was released in the spring.)
I feel winded. Can you possibly feel winded from typing? I am pretty sure you can. Let's just get down to the good stuff. Grab a drink. Snuggle in. Find something to use as a tissue just in case the mere mention of a relationship causes total tears and distraction. We're going to be here for a good bit of time.
I don't know what's more shocking--the fact that City of Bones is 10 or that we're on week three of the celebration already! Nuts. Completely. I'm actually in shock about this because apparently I'm easily shocked. Or just #shook. I have a busy weekend ahead of me so your girl actually wrote this ALMOST A WEEK EARLY to schedule it in. Believe me, I'm just as surprised as you are.
If you're wondering what the fresh hell (do the kids still say that?) I am babbling about now (...as opposed to whatever it is I typically babble about on here?)--to celebrate the tenth anniversary of Cassandra Clare's beloved introduction to The Shadowhunters Chronicles/The Mortal Instruments, City of Bones, I decided to host a little meme to get better acquainted with my fellow TMI fans. Which you can read more about here.
I'm not going to lie to you guys. This weeks topic is the one I've been most looking forward to. I was *almost* tempted to make it the first task/theme/topic/trumpet (???) when I came up with the list but decided to pace myself. Adaptations are on the table--including both the film and Freeform television series. Are you excited? Am I vibrating?
For starters, I didn't used to be so mellow about my favourite books being adapted for screen. From the time that Gossip Girl was first aired (honestly, I hated it) and made me flinch into my beloved pieces of trash (the books, obviously) to the Harry Potter films, whose problems were less frustrating for me than Gossip Girl because at least Harry Potter stuck to the general plots, I would analyze and nitpick EVERY LAST DETAIL of everything. Because that's what us book lovers tend to do--we love the way it translates on screen more or equal to the source material or we loath it. And that's that.As I got older and saw more television and film adaptations of work I'd been familiar with or loved--such as The Vampire Diaries, True Blood, Game of Thrones, The Secret Circle, Pretty Little Liars, The Giver, Outlander, The Hunger Games, Divergent--I began to be able to separate the original vs. the adaptations bit by bit. I'm not saying I loved them but I'm not saying I hated them either way, I just slowly began to loosen my grip on the work in question and embraced changes with a little less stubbornness.
(Grumbles into her coffee about Gossip Girl and The Lying Game for life, though.*)
ANNNND, the celebration continues. Happy weekend to us! I was going to post this yesterday but I not only forgot to set it up in the queue, I didn't have internet for most of the day! Sad face. It's okay, though, because I totally talked my best-friends ear off about it while we got up to our usual weekend shenanigans. Because... anything to hear myself talk more. Anything to talk about the things I love!
You know the drill by now, I suppose--but if you don't... in the weeks leading up to the release of THE TENTH ANNIVERSARY EDITION of Cassandra Clare's bestselling City of Bones, I am hosting a meme/celebration to get better acquainted with my fellow fans. You can read more on that here and jump in at any time. Please, I'm so needy and want to converse with you guys.
This week, the questions are FUN and not at all requiring bloodshed and sacrifice. That's a joke... there may be some. I am feeling like a mother picking out her favourite children when she shouldn't have favourites but sometimes you just love the SPARKLING BISEXUAL WARLOCK most of all, you know? And then the little girl who stopped a big war is like, "Excuse me?"
I'm rambling again, aren't I? LET'S GET DOWN TO WORK, KIDS. Get your runes drawn and your stele ready because things are about to get WILD and CRAZY.*
*I say this while I'm sitting on my bed, watching Sabrina and the Groovie Goolies while eating Count Chocula out of a Rugrats bowl.
To catch you up to speed, chances are, you've already read about it here. If not, and you are a fan who wants to participate, please feel free to join in at any time! And across any platform you so desire.
Let's get started on the first week, shall we? The theme is a general walk through your memory lane of the series.
As Shadowhunter fans already know, the very first installment of Cassandra Clare's bestselling The Mortal Instruments series, City of Bones, reached its tenth birthday on March 27th. As part of the celebration, a special edition of the novel will be available on November 7, 2017. Aka, we're just a few weeks away from our shelves gaining yet another beautiful book!
To celebrate the final weeks before this stunning collector's edition is available, and of course to wrap up the year in style, I decided to make some fun featured activities (or, ah, memes/questions) for fans to do in the meantime. That's right, mundanes (or, yenno, whatever you consider yourselves) we've got ten weeks to celebrate ten years!
Pretend I just blew one of those birthday horns in your ear. That's what those are called, right? Feel free to punch me.
The celebration will be begin Friday October 13th, but there is no limit to when you start or finish after this date. If it tickles your fancy (ugh, I can't believe I say that phrase often), you can post them all in one go. You can post once a week. Once a day. Once a month. Once every five or ten or sixteen years.
Additionally, you may post to the social media platform you prefer: your blog, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, all of the above, none of the above--wherever is most convenient to you.
You can spice things up a bit by making your own header for the celebration. I used a free header image from Angie Makes as a base for my text, so if you use that banner in your post--be sure to have a nod to her page.
City of Lost Souls by Cassandra Clare | Rating: ★★★★★ “I know about parabatai,” said Magnus, an angry, dark undercurrent to his voice. “I’ve known parabatai so close they were almost the same person; do you know what happens, when one of them dies, to the one that’s left —?”
I can’t believe I’m almost done with my reread of the entire TMI series but here we are! Cassandra Clare still has me hooked all these years later and rereading the novels feels like I’ve been greeted by an old from. Onto one of my favorite novels in the entire series: this little guy is by far one of the funnest and darkest of the entire run; Cassandra as usual does the best with her plots.
Teenage angst, action, romance and mystery follow us–and in this installment we see even more descriptive locations that will leave us with hearts in our eyes just as much as our bones will chill by the events scattered about. In terms of suspense and comparison to the installments that came before it, City of Lost Souls rivals City of Glass.
In the aftermath of events in the previous book, our second to last installment picks up right where we left off. Mostly City of Lost Souls begins with one question: where is Jace? which follows into who is Jace, now? The answer is not simple, but what ever is?
Due to the attempts of Lilith in resurrecting him, Sebastian has been brought back from the dead and is now tied to Jace.
City of Fallen Angels (TMI #4) by Cassandra Clare | Rating: ★★★☆☆
“Hearts are breakable," Isabelle said. "And I think even when you heal, you're never what you were before".”
My reread of The Mortal Instruments, in preparation for the new television adaptation Shadowhunters, continues with City of Fallen Angels. Serving as the fourth book in the expanded series, we see our favorite Shadowhunters and Downworlders return in a new mystery set a brief time after the events of City of Glass. It is also the weakest book of the series but does a decent job at setting up for this second arch therefore it doesn't dampen my love for this incredible series.
Now that The Mortal War is over, Sebastian (or Jonathan) and Valentine are dead, and the truth has all been revealed, our favorite kids think that they can finally sleep safely at night. Now, they can head back down the path of whatever normal is meant to be–for some that means hunting, for some that means love, some that means acceptance, for the Lightwoods it means mourning the loss of Max and others it means training.
And then there’s avoidance. But we’ll get to that later. I’m going to start with characters.
City of Glass by Cassandra Clare | Rating: ★★★★★ “There is no pretending," Jace said with absolute clarity. "I love you, and I will love you until I die, and if there is life after that, I'll love you then.”
City of Glass was the original end to the then-planned-trilogy The Mortal Instruments. As action packed, mysterious and sexy as the previous two books, we find our favorite Shadowhunters and Downworlders battling it out with Valentine one last time in an effort to end his terror. But as always, things aren’t always what they seem; surprising plot twists, revelations and characters come about in unexpected ways. And tears will be shed at the loss of a character.
Clary has big plans at the start of City of Glass but she isn’t the only one with a thing or two up her sleeves. Strong, witty and intelligent as always Clary is on point and undeniably a teenager. Her actions all reflect that from the start. At the beginning of the novel, we see our favorite feisty redhead explore the options to save her mother as she prepares to go to the Shadowhunters home country, Idris, with the Lightwoods.
The first bump of the series? Her supposed brother and secret crush Jace is attempting to leave without her, to keep her safe. In these moments he calls the only person who would want to protect Clary as he would: Simon. In spite of the two teen boys’ differences, they both love Clary and want to keep her from harms way as much as they can.
City of Ashes by Cassandra Clare | Rating: ★★★★★
“There's no need to clarify my finger snap," said Magnus. "The implication was clear in the snap itself.”
Cassandra Clare’s brilliantly fun and dashing The Mortal Instruments series continues with its first sequel City of Ashes; immediately following the events of its sarcastic and dark predecessor. After being introduced to this world, these characters, and watching a world of mystery unfold, readers were left grappling for the next installment.
So many things left us questioning what could possibly happen next; what each previous revelation means for the overall plot flow. It is just as vivid, thrilling, mysterious and twisty as City of Bones–there’s a whole world of magic out there just beyond our reach and we’ve only dipped our toes into it.
We left off with quite a bit on our plates. Joceyln’s lies, and her reasoning, Clary’s unusual gift, family connections as well as romance, demons, Downworlders, history, the mortal cup and so much more.
With Jocelyn seemingly asleep, Valentine growing stronger and building an army of his own, the world seems just a bit more dangerous than it was before.
So let’s start with connections thus far:
City of Heavenly Fire by Cassandra Clare | Rating: ★★★★☆“Did Brother Zachariah just steal our cat?”
After what felt like decades of waiting, the bestselling The Mortal Instruments series has come to a close and frankly, it may be one of the best books in Cassandra Clare’s popular series yet. I thoroughly enjoyed the finale and while I am especially sad to say goodbye to this batch of characters, I think the ending was very good and extremely entertaining, romantic and action packed.
I’m having withdrawals already and readers, you know it’s always rather bittersweet when a series you love ends. So I’m willing to bet each of you know this feeling very well, regardless of your view on the series.
Although many have mixed feelings on both these novels (including myself in the past) and the author, I find that as the years go by I’ve grown quite attached to these characters and the world of Shadowhunters. In this world, there is just something about it.
The characters are strong and funny and interesting to read; each of them brings something great upfront to the story and makes you love them or hate them. And their world is our world when we enter it.
Cassandra, as usual, provides us with something great to escape to.
City of Bones (The Mortal Instruments #1) by Cassandra Clara | Rating: ★★★☆☆"The boy never cried again, and he never forgot what he’d learned: that to love is to destroy, and that to be loved is to be the one destroyed."
Originally, I had read this novel while I was a teenager and hadn’t had the best impression of it due to reasons that weren’t at all part of the novel itself; moreso do to my mindset at the time. That being said, I picked it up again recently in hopes of getting to know the story and its characters better now that I am, once again, more focused.
I have to admit — I was a skeptic due to things I’d heard about spoilers of the plot and varied things in regard to the author. And at times the way characters were developed and how the novel itself was written, I wasn’t so certain that I’d grow attached to the plot. Though the story flowed in a decently presented manner, I sometimes felt that the appearance and explanations of some things left me wondering the hows and the whys.
And yet, there’s something vivid throughout the story that grips you as Clary fights through a whole new world to find her mother. Her strength, for me, was the definite selling point when it came down to it. At the start of her journey you come face to face with her and the realization that her life is beautifully normal. She could be anybody you pass on the street. You almost don’t expect the growth she had shown throughout this first novel and admittedly I wasn’t prepared to grow attached to her character.
