MINI-REVIEWS: The Mortal Instruments by Cassandra Clare

I'll be honest, this is part-review, mostly confessional, because I have a lot of feelings and memories after marathon-reading all 6 books in 6 days. And then Tales from the Shadowhunter Academy the next day. I am so tired. So tired.

Now, I've never read all 6 books back-to-back before. I first read the series in 2011, after City of Fallen Angels came out, and I probably reread them before book 5, but by the time the last book released, I was pretty much off the series so. It was certainly very different reading them now, all at once and as I'm older. I'll expand on this more later, but when I first read the series, I was head-over-heels in love with the books, and honestly . . . I think I was dragged back in. Yes, all of this is problematic (this was mostly a nostalgic and guilty reread), but I can't help but love being back in this world again.

I also live-tweeted my reread, so I'll include some of the better tweets here. Profanity ahead, because some of all of this was so ridiculous, I couldn't help it. Also many, many spoilers ahead, for all of the series in the Shadowhunter universe. And, in case you're wondering, I use the original covers to fully express the embarrassment this series brings me. The new covers are too good.



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The Mortal Instruments by Cassandra Clare


City of Bones (book #1)


I honestly thought I would hate the writing because, you know, it's the first one, and it was published in...2005? But I was actually surprised, and pleasantly reminded of why I fell so hard for this series and this world in the first place. You can't deny that Cassandra Clare's banter and writing has an addicting quality, despite all the problematic aspects (plagiarism, incest, homophobic jokes, etc.)
City of Bones was a strong introduction of the series, and later, the entire Shadowhunter world. The worldbuilding is decent enough to be built upon (and oh she did), and the characters were flat enough to grow (and thank god they did). Honestly, all of the characters other than Clary and Jace were portrayed so horribly; they were caricatures, and I'm so glad they got fleshed out later.

Reading this book again gave me whiplash because I kept envisioning the movie (not the show. I don't talk about the show smh), a movie that I haven't even seen in five (5!) years, yet I have such vivid memories of it. But that's a different post for later (really. I have the post written).
FLASHBACK: I picked this book up in the summer of 2011 (do you remember summer '09...only one direction fans remember); there were few shows that aired in the summer, no one had Netflix back then, and I live in the South, so going outdoors would set you on fire. My sister had bought this book, and at that point in my life, I would pretty much read anything.

I became obsessed with this series almost immediately, an almost unprecedented obsession with a series, other than Twilight (I don't want to talk about that), Harry Potter, and Percy Jackson. The Mortal Instruments was my gateway into YA as a genre, and I'm honestly glad that it's brought me to where I am now. Although there were some, uh, cringey stops along the way (TMI also brought me to Tumblr because that was where CC posted all the news and updates and snippets and whatnot), it's really made me the reader I am today.

City of Ashes (book #2)


I honestly thought my reread would end with this book. I'm fairly fickle when I read, so I didn't really expect to get through the whole series. City of Ashes has always been one of my least favorites of the books, but...it wasn't as bad as I remember honestly?

To be fair, nothing really happens in this book. It's definitely a bridge novel, in that it just exists to have something between the beginning and conclusion novels (except, ya know, we got three more books afterwards). I still hated the scenes I knew I would: the incest angst ugh, Clary and Simon dating ew, and more incest angst.


FLASHBACK: So after I'd read CoB, I desperately needed the next books; this was before I knew my library could ship books across their branches, and I was not willing to only read whatever my branch had. Now, I'd just gone to my local Half Price Books (a used bookstore chain), and I'd just so happened to have seen the next four books for sale. I begged my dad to take me, then proceeded to buy those books, all hardcover, which was...still kinda expensive tbh. Yeah, my dad did not like that. And my mom didn't like that the copies of CoA and City of Fallen Angels didn't have the slip covers (WHY people sell books without the slip covers, I do not know), but I didn't really care. Thus started my venture further into the series.


City of Glass (book #3)


Now, I think City of Glass is the book I've read the most in this series, loosely meaning that it was my favorite of all of them. I mean, here we get the most plot of the original trilogy, so I was actually looking forward to reading this one again.

The same scenes still hurt: Max dying, Isabelle's reaction, I can't even think of anything else. The same scenes were still tedious: incest angst, Jace having demon blood angst, more incest angst, ACTUAL INCEST this time. Honestly, this book was...both more and less thrilling than I remember, if that makes sense? I think I got used to The Dark Artifices, where three million things happen in each book. Also this was before The Infernal Devices, so CC wasn't shoving references to the other series down our throats just yet (I say, having cried over any and every reference to TID.

FLASHBACK: I brought this book with me on vacation, because I think I wanted something long to read? Because it was a road trip? I also remember bringing The Diviners, because, ya know, that book is also huge. My dad flipped through it because he was bored, and he was confused so I had to explain some of it to him. He was still confused.

City of Fallen Angels (book #4)


This book always tied with CoA for my least favorite in the series, and that honestly held up. I think its weakness is that it's way too much exposition for a book that's in the middle of a series, and that made it. So. Boring.

I also hated all of the angst in this one because it was just ALL miscommunication angst, which I despise, and it's like half of the book!! I mean, reading about how Clary is sad that Jace is pulling away from her, but Jace hates pulling away from her yet still does? Annoying. And Simon dating both Maia and Isabelle? Made me so angry. Other than the cheating (which is, ofc, wrong!!), it was just so irritating reading his thoughts of, oh no what shall I do, two beautiful women like me!

I did like Jace and Simon bonding. Mostly because I totally forgot about those scenes (THE GROCERY STORE SCENE UGHHH).

Oh yeah, I forgot that I STILL HATE THAT SCENE WHERE JACE AND CLARY ARE ABOUT TO HAVE SEX AND SHE THINKS HE'S PULLING OUT A CONDOM BUT INSTEAD HE PULLS A KNIFE ON HER. WHY. JUST. WHY. Young me did not need to read that, nor did current me.


I also never really cared about Jordan and Maia (I'm sorry, it was just so random and didn't add anything to the plot honestly), and that held true in the next book.

FLASHBACK: That cliffhanger made me so angry...then I discovered that there was a prequel series. And we all know how that ended up (hint: with me in tears). But really, this was a couple of months before Clockwork Prince released, so I was dying in wait of it, which meant that I didn't really care about this series or for City of Lost Souls that much anymore.


City of Lost Souls (book #5)


This one was the first new release I was there for in this series. I remember not particularly caring for it, but again, at that point I wasn't as into these books as much. Honestly though, reading it again? Wasn't that bad.

I liked the separation of the two plot lines. They were pretty evenly balanced, and I was actually interested in both sides. I mean, the Team Good scenes! Simon and Isabelle's scenes! I loved all of them.

I still don't care for Maia and Jordan's random scenes. They didn't really add to the plot tbh, and just took your mind out of what was important. Also? Alec meeting Camille to talk about Magnus? Very tedious. I mean, I understand Alec struggling to deal with Magnus's immortality, but Camille is obviously not going to tell him anything, ugh.


FLASHBACK: Back then, my parents didn't really like me buying books, especially new ones (especially especially these books because they're so expensive), so I asked my uncle to buy it for me. Even though it didn't come out near any particular gift-giving days. My parents were like, Michelle, you can't just ask him to buy you stuff for no reason, but I was just happy because I got the book.

City of Heavenly Fire (book #6)


At this point, I was barely interested in the series; I mainly just wanted to know what happened. I will say that CC is so good at sharing just the right snippets to keep you interested. I did actually reread this book back in 2015, even though I thought I wouldn't touch the book again, just because I had pretty much closed the book (h a h a) on this series (yet look where I am today).

Reading it today? I actually really liked it. City of Heavenly Fire is a pretty strong conclusion for a series 9 years in the making. I think CC is good at bittersweet endings and maintaining realistic expectations (i.e. the Cold Peace), although that might just be her building up to the next series. I suppose it could be both.

I'm so glad that Alec, Simon, and Isabelle finally get the attention and the treatment they deserve :')) I think I developed a newfound love for them in this reread. Although, why don't we get more Simon and Isabelle content in TDA? And do we really need The Eldest Curses.

Anyways, the thing that that is forever burnt into my memory is the literal sex scene in hell. Young me did not deserve this!! Current me is still haunted by it!!

FLASHBACK: I wanted to get the book from Barnes and Noble because of the bonus content (don't remember what it was), so my mom took me there after...my eighth grade graduation practice. Wow, that was so long ago. Anyways, my mom was like, it's cheaper at Target, so she would just get it for me later while I went to the class party. When she picked me up, she gave me the book, and I stayed up all night reading it. Who even was I? This book is like 750 pages. Although I did finish it in one day this time around as well...never mind.


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This series definitely wasn't perfect, but it definitely wasn't as bad as I thought it'd be when I decided to revisit it. Yeah, we all know that it should've ended after three books, but I did think that we got some strong scenes in CoLS and CoHF, so I'm kinda glad it was lengthened? Honestly, you could just consider them separate trilogies, which was what made CoFA so bad to me. Also, you can tell that she wanted to intertwine this series with TID so badly that she just chucked a bunch of references into CoLS and CoHF (without us knowing with CoLS bc Clockwork Princess hadn't come out yet), so that was kind of...bad. In a poorly written sort of way. Also, how did I not see what was coming in CP2 with all the foreshadowing (or, well, the opposite) that CoLS throws at you with Brother Zachariah. I guess I was too blinded by all of the incest and the angst.

Having read TDA, and missing the original characters, I've concluded that I love this group of characters, but...hate their points of view? Maybe that's just because so much of this series was just. Not well written. So yeah, I think that I like reading about these characters from someone else's point of view.

I definitely still have a love-hate relationship with TMI, but I'm so glad for where it's brought me. Also rereading this series was just the right pick-me-up that I needed :') Let's hope that I can get through my reread of TID without breaking down in tears at every scene.

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My ranking of the books before I reread them:

  1. City of Glass
  2. City of Bones
  3. City of Lost Souls
  4. City of Heavenly Fire
  5. City of Fallen Angels
  6. City of Ashes
My ranking of the series now:
  1. City of Heavenly Fire
  2. City of Lost Souls
  3. City of Glass
  4. City of Bones
  5. City of Ashes
  6. City of Fallen Angels
I guess I have a new appreciation for the later books because I. I got really into this reread? So I was actually into the later books when I wasn't when they came out? I really can't believe that City of Heavenly Fire (i.e. let's have sex in hell. I'm sorry but that scene is forever burned into my memory) is now my favorite of the series, but I really realized how much I hated the "oh no, we're siblings but we're meant to be together, oh no, I have demon blood" angst in CoG. I also really loved CoLS for the Team Good and Sizzy (UGH I hate that I'm using that ship name) scenes :')).


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Were you in the 2011-2014 TMI fandom and want to scream at some memories with me? Comment some of the cringiest things you remember from way back when! Memes are appreciated. Or tell me your ranking of the books!

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Bonus tweets from me reading TfSA!



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Maira Gall