Clockwork Angel, a review

Clockwork Angel by Cassandra Clare is my fourth book by the author and within her world of the Shadowhunters. My first three books were all within the Mortal Instruments series which is set in the modern day in New York, and I’ve decided not to continue with these books. This, instead, is the first book in a trilogy set in Victorian (Edwardian? I’m not sure) London, England.

I enjoyed this book more than I’d expected. This was the last book that I was gunna read from Cassandra Clare and I wasn’t expecting anything special. But it was an interesting book and quite fun!

There was the usual (i.e. stereotypical) YA pining over love interests, which I personally have less time for now as an adult. However, I did also like the plot against our protagonist and her family. The twists and turns this plot took were so engrossing and so much fun.

In CAWPILE I gave this book: Characters: 8, Atmosphere: 7, Writing: 5, Plot: 7, Intrigue: 7, Logic: 6, and Enjoyment: 8. That gave me a rating of 6.86 which is a respectable 3 stars.

So like I said, I enjoyed this more than I had expected, but I still think it’ll be the last Cassandra Clare book I read. I imagine that I would’ve adored these books if I’d read them back when I was 12/13. But at 25 these are very much just not for me anymore. I’ve unhauled all of my Shadowhunter books and I hope that some teenager out there finds them and loves them!

Almost regretting an unhaul!

I read Clockwork Angel in August (I think) and I actually enjoyed it a lot more than I thought I would! So much so that I was actually regretting that I’d unhauled Prince and Princess!!

I had read the first 3 books in the Mortal Instruments series and they were… fine? So I thought it was fine to unhaul these and I just kept Angel for a reading challenge I had that month. But I enjoyed Angel more than I expected!

It turned out all good in the end though, because I no longer actually want to read these 😅 let me explain! These books (including the original mortal instruments trilogy) are like junk food. They’re fun reads, and they’re definitely enjoyable! But it’s not something I’m ever going to reread and now that there’s been a little bit of time since I read the last book I have no real desire to go back and read books 2 and 3. Also if this does change in the future then I can always borrow them from my library!!

So essentially I felt a lot of regret and then no regret, happy ending!! 😂

First Lines Friday! #27

It’s time for another First Lines Friday! Hosted by Wandering Words!!

What if, instead of judging a book by its cover or its author, we judged the book by its opening lines?

Here is how it works:

– Pick a book and open to the first page.

– Copy the first few lines without revealing which book it is.

– Reveal the book!

So… do these first lines entice you?

London, April 1878.

The demon exploded in a shower of ichor and guts.

William Herondale jerked back the dagger he was holding, but it was too late. The viscous acid of the demon’s blood had already begun to eat away at the shining blade. He swore and tossed the weapon aside, it landed in a filthy puddle and commenced smoldering like a doused match. The demon itself, of course, had vanished – dispatched back to whatever hellish world it had come from, though not without leaving a mess behind.

Scroll down to reveal the book!

Clockwork Angel by Cassandra Clare

This is the first book in the Infernal Devices trilogy and it’s my last chance saloon with Clare’s work! I’ve recently unhauled everything that I own by her as it’s just a little too young and cheesy for me. But this is the last chance that I’m giving the Shadowhunter world. I wonder if I’ll regret unhauling all the books or regret wasting time on it! We’ll have to see!!! Have you read the Shadowhunters books? What did you think of them??

Fourth Chance Author?

How many chances do you give an author before you give up on them?

A question I’ve been asking myself a few times lately. The first author I asked myself this for is Cassandra Clare. I’ve recently unhauled all of her books from my shelves bar one. That one being Clockwork Angel. It’s the last chance book for me.

Her writing is… fine? But seems a little juvenile and whilst the stories are entertaining, it’s in a bad and cheesy way. And with so many books in the world that I need to read, they don’t quite reach the priority list!

I’ve heard that some people really gel with her historical fantasy vs her urban fantasy, hence why I’m giving Clockwork Angel a shot. But I’m truthfully not expecting wonderful things and this is likely to be the last book I read from Clare (I’m sure she’ll be devastated with all her millions of fans)

And then there’s V.E. Schwab. Victoria Schwab. I’ve read A Darker Shade of Magic twice now. And both times I still don’t know what I actually rate it. And recently I’d tried to pick up This Savage Song, gotten 50 pages in and then lived in a reading slump for weeks.

I really don’t know why that is. And I have so many of her books on my shelves! And she seems lovely too! The few interactions I’ve had with her online and being able to meet her at a signing, she’s so kind, and I love seeing her online content. So I really want her books to be for me! But I can’t lie I seem to be struggling.

Fingers crossed that I’m able to get through some more of her books and really love her writing! But if not? Well at least I’ve supported a nice person and some others will be able to pick her books up in the charity shops and hopefully love them!!

Which authors have you given multiple chances to? And has it worked out for you? Let me know! Give me the motivation to keep picking books up by these two!!

City of Glass by Cassandra Clare | A Review

I did it! I read the complete first trilogy of The Mortal Instruments! This definitely wasn’t on purpose, but I read City of Ashes and just knew that I wanted to continue on with the story (and seeing as I read City of Bones in 2018 I didn’t want to lose that motivation!). It is obvious that this was intended to be the end of the series, as everything is wrapped up in a nice little bow. However, if you didn’t know by now, my opinion of this series is that it’s trash YA (and that I’m trash along with it) so the nice little bow felt right! And don’t worry, this is a spoiler free review.

In this book we finally get to see things coming together. The character development across the previous two books has left these characters actually forming relationships with one another (not always friendships!) and the way in which this then impacts the storyline is really well done.

Having them finally visiting this city that they’ve mentioned so many times was a lot of fun and I enjoy the different ways that we get to learn about the city from the various perspectives and locations that people are in.

There was a BIG shock reveal in this book, but from the rampant spoilers on the internet I had already known about it! It just made me impatient to want to get to it! But it did make the pre-reveal sections read differently in my head than they would have been. I’m kinda fine with it having been spoilt.

There does seem to be a lack of development in the female characters compared to the males. I know so much more about the boys, and that’s saying something considering that our main character Clary is a girl. She still feels a little two dimensional (I would say one but she’s at least improved a little) compared to the four dimensional Jace or Simon. I did love Izzy in this book though, vastly more than previously.

Overall, this was a fun, if not particularly well written book. But I still do intend to carry on with these series’ and will be reading the first Infernal Devices book next!! (I’ve been told that’s a good order to go in). I do still hope that the quality of the writing, and the development of the female characters, improves, but the story itself is a lot of fun.

I finally read City of Ashes! A Review

I first read City of Bones by Cassandra Clare in May of 2018, it took me over 2 years to pick up the sequel! I read City of Ashes to fulfil the fuck book elitism prompt for the Fuckathon hosted by Noria Reads, because these books are absolute trash. Ab. So. Lute. Trash. And yet I’ve rated the both of these books 4/5*! They’re just so enjoyable despite the writing being so bad!

In the second book of the Mortal Instruments series we follow our main character Clary as she gets used to being immersed in this supernatural world that she had never heard of before as well as seeing character development from her and the others around her.

From a critical point of view? This is so badly written. The writing style is undeveloped and incredibly simplistic and the plot points are incredibly predictable. BUT just from an entertainment point of view? They’re so much fun! I sped through City of Ashes just like I sped through City of Bones and I’ve found myself invested in the story of these characters! I don’t care for Clary at all, if I’m being honest, but I really want to learn more about all of our side characters and I’m definitely more interested in finishing up the series now and reading more of Cassandra Clare’s tie-in books!

I also am hoping that Clare’s writing will improve as I go further through the books. She has the entertainment factor down, and these were her first published books (I believe) so there is definite room for improvement here and all of my fingers are crossed for it!

Have you read this series? How do you feel about it?

City of Bones by Cassandra Clare, a review

So I’ve finally read a Cassandra Clare book, it took me long enough! Not only did it take me a while to buy the book(s) to the point where the box set was out, but I also didn’t read the first book till a couple years after that. And I’ve still only read one, but here we are. I gave the book 4 stars, but it’s a weird one. I obviously did enjoy it, in fact I flew through it incredibly quickly, however, it just was a bit…juvenile? I feel like I would have enjoyed it vastly more if I had been 12 to 15, rather than 21 when I read it.

Part of this was the writing style itself, it just felt very young and underdeveloped, however, I’m sure that Cassandra Clare has improved much over time and I look forward to seeing this progression in future books. There was also the element of the plot, which seemed incredibly predictable and there were only a couple of moments throughout where I didn’t know exactly what was going to happen…

BUT

I still really enjoyed it?! I was simultaneously engrossed within the story and also completely separate and evaluating the events which were taking place on a critical level in a more negative light. It was an incredibly weird experience.

As I said, I still gave this book four stars, and I definitely intend on reading more of Cassandra Clares work as to me this suggests that there is real potential for me to enjoy her future works now that she has so many books out and has honed her writing even further. Fingers crossed that is what has happened and I’ll enjoy the books progressively more as I continue on!

Have you read the Mortal Instruments series? If so what did you think of it? Are you really p***ed off at me for my review or do you think I was too kind? Let’s chat!