These books make me feel old (not that I'm really that old), but I first started reading Cassandra Clare books 7 years ago. Honestly, if an author has kept me reading their books for that long there has to be something good about their books. I don't know if it's because I'm super sentimental or what, but I love these shadowhunter books.
This world always manages to drag me in. It's probably because it has just about all the supernatural creatures you could ever possibly imagine and want all in one and I'm a sucker for supernatural books. Especially well written supernatural books. I'm all for the author's writing, mainly because I actually laugh out loud while reading. Ok maybe it's more of a snicker, but still. I have way more emotions from this book than I've had reading many other books.
I really enjoyed the whole cast of characters, even if I would get some of them confused. It took me forever to stop getting Ty and Tavvy confused. Tavvy didn't really have any really distinguishing qualities, except for the fact that he was the youngest. Dru and Livvy also weren't that distinguishable, but I didn't really get them mixed up (probably because their names were so different). I wish that those characters were more developed throughout the story. Since they weren't developed it almost felt like there were too many characters, especially for someone that isn't familiar with the series. There were many name drops and guest appearances by characters from other series that would not make sense if the reader hadn't read any of the other books. While I did enjoy seeing some of my old favorite characters, it kind of felt unnecessary.
I did really love the main cast of characters, specifically Julian, Emma, and Mark. Julian is so precious and I loved how fiercely he loves his family. Emma was badass, but also had a soft side and she felt like a real person. Especially since she was dealing with the loss of her parents, while also trying to navigate her feelings. I also really enjoyed Mark's character, but I don't really want to spoil too much, so I'll leave it at that.
The romance was something that I enjoyed, but was also frustrated with. As much as I love Emma and Julian, I didn't understand why they couldn't always be truthful with each other. The ending was something that didn't really make a whole lot of sense to me. I feel like they could have worked it out some how and it was unnecessarily painful. I did like the build up of their romance though. It was sweet and it didn't feel like insta love because they had been friends since they were children.
I definitely enjoyed this book. I couldn't put it down most of the time and I really loved being able to return to the shadowhunter world I've loved so much. I'll definitely be going out to get the next one very soon!
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 - Cassandra Clare)
