The Bane Chronicles- Cassandra Clare, Sarah Rees Brennan and Maureen Johnson

Book 4 of My Summer Reading Challenge

My rating: 3/5 stars

As Magnus was my favourite character from The Mortal Instruments series, I think that It is safe to say that I was expecting great things from this collection of short stories which revolved around Magnus's life before and during the time in which The Mortal Instruments was set.

 



However, this book did not meet the high expectations which I had and I was left feeling very disappointed. It got to a point, where this book was a chore to read and I only put up with it due to the fact that I was on holiday and was the only book that I had with me that I had not read.

The reason that this book has 3 stars and not any less is because there was a few good points about this book, especially What Really Happened In Peru which I did find hilarious and my parents got annoyed with me as I sat there giggling at the events which were taking place.
I also enjoyed the stories with Alec in as I have always loved this couple and it was fun to see how that managed to get through their first date in The Course of True Love which was never talked about in TMI.

Overall, this was most likely another way for Clare to extend the Shadowhunter books and I would only recommend reading these if you are an absolute fan of the work by Clare. Otherwise this is most likely just a waste of your time. In my case, I will probably read all of the short stories which are being released on kindle at the moment when they are put into a book version just so that I have all of the shadowhunter books on my shelves. Otherwise, this is a no-go.

Clockwork Princess- Cassandra Clare

Book 3 of My Summer Reading Challenge

My rating: 5/5 stars

WARNING: This book will most likely cause you to cry. (I am not ashamed to say that I cried towards the end of this book.)

Cassandra Clare gets a load of hate for her Shadowhunter books, especially after the first three Mortal Instrument books as people think that she is only writing more books to get more money out of the franchise, but all of that aside, I do not really care if she drags on the book series as long as I am completely compelled by the books and they leave me wanting more which is exactly what this book series did for me.

As this is the finale book in the trilogy The Infernal Devices which was a series which I have enjoyed recently, I sis have high expectations of this book and let me tell you, all of these expectations were met. The writing was beautifully written, and I had trouble putting this book down so I had to find every possible time to get a chance to read this book.

In my opinion, there was one minor fault that I found in this book, and it is so minor that I am not even willing to drop down my rating of this book. This was the fact that I already knew that [Spoiler alert!] Jem was a going to be a Silent Brother and that he was Zachariah which took away the suspense for me when Tessa and Will found this out for themselves. But I suppose that isn't a fault in the book but because I read City of Heavenly Fire before I read this series.

I must of cried a few times during this book as I sat there trying to stop myself from crying so that my parents didn't notice. It wasn't when Jem was saying goodbye to Tessa but it was when Will and Jem were saying goodbye to each other I found it so emotional.
It was obvious that Will was going to grow old and die while Tessa stayed young but when this was mentioned at the end and about how he died in her arms it somehow made it all real and I just couldn't control myself.

Even if Tessa couldn't choose between the two boys in this love triangle, at least she got the opportunity to spend a lifetime with both.

(I still prefer Will though)

I think it is safe to say that I shall definitely be reading The Last Hours when they are published which is a series which is dedicated to the shadowhunter generation after Tessa, Will and Jem.

For anyone who is struggling to decide to read this series or not, I highly recommend it. Even if you were not a huge fan of The Mortal Instruments, this series is a heap lot better!

Clockwork Prince- Casssandra Clare

Book 2 of My Summer Reading challenge 2015

My rating: 5/5 stars

Words cannot describe how much I loved this book. I could not put it down at all, even staying awake late into the night. I want nothing more than to start reading Clockwork Princess right now to see how this epic trilogy is concluded but unfortunately I need to sleep, and if I start the book I know that I will not be able to stop.

Not sure why, but I enjoyed this book much more than Clockwork Angel, maybe down to the fact that I had more time to read? I found it much more exciting even if they didn't find Mortmain, but the whole Will storyline kept me fascinated. I just wanted to know that he would have it all sorted out!

"If no one really cares for you at all, do you even really exist?" - Will Herondale (By far the best quote of this book, so deep too.)

So, the ongoing battle of Will or Jem?

It has to be Will, before, I was not too sure, but in this book I fell in love with him. Just knowing that he is a t**t just because he doesn't want Tessa to be hurt is the most adorable thing.

Normally, I am not a fan of love triangles, but this one doesn't leave me gagging for some reason, I just love absolutely everything to do with this book.

Now Tessa, you listen to me! Give Jem back his pendant and you go and get Will!

Now I just hope that Clockwork Princess lives up to my expectations.

Clockwork Angel- Cassandra Clare

Book 1 of My Summer Reading Challenge 2015

My rating: 4/5 Stars

I have got to say that I loved this book, so many twists and turns which you didn't see coming so that it left me wanting more.

I would of given this book 5/5 stars were it not for the fact that I found it was very similar to The Mortal Instruments books. Don't get me wrong, I loved the TMI series and I've read it through twice but I was hoping for something new and exciting from Clare. I just found that many of the characters which were in the TMI series were recreated to fit them into this storyline.

Also, Mortmain as the Magister? Called it! I thought that it was too predictable that De Quincey was the Magister and it would of been too easy for the shadowhunters to defeat him. Also the fact that the main characters got left behind at the Institute gave a big clue that something huge was about to go down.

Towards the end of this book there was hints which Clare added so that the reader is left wanting more. such as the idea of who is Tessa's father? What is her mother? Why is this Clockwork Angel necklace suddenly alive? What is going on with Will? and why is he going to Magnus for help? All of these things are clever ways to get the reader to buy the next book.

Despite the minor problems which I found with this book, I need to say that I just cant get enough of the Shadowhunter world and I WILL be reading the next book just because I need to find out what happened!

Also, Will or Jem?

Jem is an absolute sweetheart but at this stage in the series I am kind of leaning towards preferring Will. Maybe it is just the 'Bad boy' part of him. We shall see in due course.

The Mortal Instruments- Cassandra Clare

My ratings: 

City of Bones- 5/5 stars 
City of Ashes- 3/5 stars 
City of Glass- 5/5 stars
City of Fallen Angels- 1/5 stars 
City of Lost souls- 4/5 stars
City of Heavenly Fire- 4/5 stars 




I read the first 5 of these books a few years ago so when City of Heavenly Fire came out, I thought it was worth reading the whole series again so that I didn't forget anything that happened. After re-reading them, I now realise what a complete waste of time it was. Maybe this was due to my reading tastes changing or because I already knew what was coming but I just did not enjoy the books as much as I hoped that I would the second time around. 

So, this review is mainly a review on City of Heavenly fire:

Normally, I would of given City of Heavenly Fire 5/5 stars but I just didn't feel like it was worth it. It's no secret that this series was obviously dragged out past the initial trilogy so that more money could be made  (let's be honest, the series would of made sense if Clare just stopped at the end of city of glass which in my opinion was the best book) and book 4 was a complete bore fest for me but I think Clare brought this series back from the depths of hell slightly to finish off with a high, even though there was a few things which I didn't enjoy about the book. 

To start with, I think that the sections with emma was a complete waste of time and that if I'd read the book without them it would of still made sense.. In my opinion it's just another way to develop the blackthorn story line into another trilogy so that Clare can get more money from this. 
Don't get me wrong, I'll probably still read them just so that I can finish all of the shadowhunter chronicles even if I don't enjoy them.

The whole way through the book there was references to Tessa which I found annoying since I haven't read The Infernal Devices yet and wanted to get round to them soon but now I feel like I know what the endings are going to be to those books so I found it cheeky for Clare to presume that everyone had already read TID .

Other than that I thought the book was great (apart from the utter heartbreak I felt during the loss of a part certain persons memories which I will not say because of spoilers) and it was able to finally bring the series to a close.