Book Recommendation

Your world has been shattered. Your boyfriend is now possessed by your murderous, coldblooded brother that you never knew you had. Everything you’ve known for 17 years is a lie. Now you are a part of an elite group of super-humans called ShadowHunters that could very possibly be eradicated by your brother. That is exactly what happened to a teenager named Clary in The City of Lost Souls. It was a really good read. Since the beginning of the school year, I’ve been continuing to read the Mortal Instruments series (City of Glass, City of Fallen Angels, and City of Lost Souls). All of these books were well-written, suspenseful, and descriptive. However, I read the corresponding series (The Infernal Devices) and the Moral Instruments did not live up to my expectations.  I already exclusively classified the Infernal Devices as one of my favorite series, so I figured that the Mortal Instruments series would be ‘mind blowingly’ good since they were making a movie for it. The main characters are really well developed and the reader is able to see these characters through different lenses. One can see them when they thrive in their best of times and crumble and adapt in their worst of times- this really allowed me to understand and relate to each of the characters.

 

 I feel like the series has experienced its up and downs. The first book I would say was the best. The second one was less exciting, but the third one redeemed the series with its unexpected twists in plot. The fourth book was my least favorite- it was very predictable and had minimum action until the last fifty pages. The characters pretty much went about their daily business and the author described this. Only near the end of the book did an antagonist show up and turned the character’s world upside down. The fifth book I really, really enjoyed reading. Although it did drag a little, I felt that there was enough action and was well written enough to keep me reading. From the middle of the book to near the end, the story was told through 2 different perspectives. One from the place that Clary, Sebastian, and Jace was in and the other from where Simon, Isabelle, Alec, and other ShadowHunters were staying. This kind of got confusing sometimes, but like with all changes, you'll get used to it.

Overall, I would give this book 4.5 stars because of the well-crafted writing, exciting plot line, unexpected turn arounds, and deeply relatable characters. However, I feel that the story was rather drawn out and a lot of irrelevant detailed was included. I would definately recommend this book to anyone who likes a little romance mixed in with a lot of action and surprises. Also, if you do like this book, I suggest that you read the Infernal Devices series or the Bane Chronicles.