Here I am at last about 10 months late CreativityByBecca
As you can see, this is another series by Cassandra Clare.
Let's talk about Cassandra Clare for a moment. She's basically my guilty pleasure, and has been for years. There are many, MANY things wrong with her work, and she has several worrying moments, plus some truly questionable plot points, but overall, my unwilling loyalty ensures I will read every book she publishes.
This series was her third, and yep, it went much as you would expect, but, if possible, even weirder than the other two.
PROS
#1: More Beautiful Writing
Cassandra Clare has very pretty writing. Her description is great and her magical is wonderfully built.
#2: Representation
It's kind of ridiculous to me that the best author for representation hands down is goddamn Cassandra Clare, but here we are. In this series we get our usual gay stuff, though I do wish there had been a little more. Cassandra is prone to focusing too much on straight stuff, especially those hilariously awful sex scenes. We also get a throuple, a wonderfully written transgender woman, and then Ty.
I'm not sure how to word this because I don't want to offend anybody. I don't understand enough about autism or anything, but it's clear Ty has some form of autism, or asperger's, or something like that. The author deals with this with extraordinary sensitivity, and gives him a family who understand and care for him. I think it matters so much that she doesn't show him as any different, and despite what the Shadowhunter community on a whole might say, his family are understanding. It's beautiful what Julian says about his hands: Ty flutters his hands, and Julian calls them his butterflies, and tells him to let them fly. I thought the whole thing was very tasteful and sweet.
#3: Magnus
Just Magnus. I adore our glittery beautiful freewheeling warlock. If Clare ever publishes a book with no Magnus in it, I might cry.
#4: Diversion From Your Typical MC
Though the book is told from a lot of different P.O.V's, Emma Carstairs is the main character. Like Clare's main characters from past series, she's pretty flat and dull, but there is one thing I like about her:
Emma has had boyfriends before Julian. She isn't a virgin, and she's pretty experienced in relationships.
That's actually so groundbreaking and it's fucking ridiculous how groundbreaking that is. In most YA the main girl is a virgin who's never had a boyfriend before and it's a breath of fresh air to get something different.
CONS
#1: The Main Character Again
Main characters are easily Cassandra Clare's main fault.
The three of them, Clary, Tessa and Emma, are all straight white teenage girls in their original series. They all have a boy or boys they have difficultly in loving. They're too similar, and they just don't have enough personality. They're all fucking boring.
