Midnight by Derek Landy

I have been reading this series for years now. I first read them by borrowing them from my middle school library, and then my mum got me the first 3 paperbacks (all that was out at the time) for Christmas. Since then I have gotten every single book within a week of its release date and I’ll be honest I’m completely biased and love all of these books. This urban fantasy world has been built so well and I’ve enjoyed the way that Landy has managed to keep the books relevant to his older readers since the series first started and also relevant to the children finding the books today.

In the eleventh book in the series, Val is back and her little sister Alice is in danger. She’s been kidnapped in order to lure Valkyrie into a fight, and she’s running straight for it. We have Omen back in this book again, and I enjoyed his contribution. We don’t need everyone to be a badass! Sometimes it’s great to see how someone like us would react (because let’s be real, no matter how much I wish I was Val, I’m definitely an Omen) in this world of madness and magic.

Some people aren’t enjoying this revived series, which to be honest I hadn’t seen until I was writing up this review. I have never actually checked the internet that deeply for skulduggery related content, and I was kind of surprised to see the negativity from fans. But I also understand it, the series definitely has a different feel in this “new” series, and it did also feel like it had been rushed to completion. But I still really enjoyed being back in this world and devoured this book in one sitting, so if you like the world Landy has built I do definitely recommend still picking this one up.

If you’ve never read a Skulduggery Pleasant book then what are you waiting for? It’s a book about magic, a skeleton detective and a young girl in Ireland. It’s awesome!

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!