me: I'm never gonna read a Shadowhunter book again
me: NEVER
me: Mortal Instruments is a MESS
me: never
me: the Infernal Devices finale s u c k s
me: nope
me: the Bane chronicles are so bad I cried
me: n e v e r
me:
me: I'm so gonna read this book
Fellow reader, after giving up Shadowhunters for good...I fell victim to them once more. And surprisingly, I think I enjoyed myself?
Let's state the obvious, I really liked CC's writing style in CoG, her period Shadowhunter novels just have that romantic atmosphere that comes with a more antiquated and elegant style of writing. I also found the characters much (much) less irritating than Clary, Jace, Will and most of that whole messy bunch. Apart from Magnus that is. I think he is overused and badly written and I just don't enjoy having to read about him. But even James and Matthew seemed less annoying than their predecessors. Their edges are softened and they're not totally unbearable when it comes to self-centredness and the urge to feel pity for yourself 24/7 while looking dramatically gorgeous.
But, while we're at it, I do find it boring that every single character is beautiful. If everyone is beautiful, the world gets boring. SJM makes the same mistake and it results in characters becoming soulless and interchangeable. Also, eyes like "pale gold tea"? Oh please. I imagine CC sits in her writing room and just pulls random adjectives out of a glass jar. Well, what eye colour will our character have today? Muddy sapphire it is.
I believe that the cast of characters was way too big. CC might know them inside out but whoah it was a lot to take in and eventually I stopped trying to keep everyone apart. They blurred into each other, and I also found myself not caring who lived or died cause I didn't know who they were to begin with. I did like that multitude of queer characters, mostly because there can never be too many queer characters. I've seen people criticise her representation of them and saying that she merely included them to make her book more diverse. Personally, I could not find anything wrong with how the queer characters were written, although I am concerned about Anna Lightwood - who cannot be older than 20 - and the many immortals that have had an affair with her. That feels a bit iffy.
The story was engaging. It was slightly predictable, especially considering who would end up with whom. But I am intrigued to find out what happens in the sequels, and it feels like CoG was merely a setup for books two and three. The plot wasn't overly dramatic, so I expect the stakes will be much higher in the future. I genuinely enjoyed reading it, and even though it was almost 600 pages, it was a quick and entertaining read. I guess the many alternating POVs make it more engaging. What I don't enjoy is CC turning the last 100 pages into a soppy epilogue. She did this with Clockwork Princess and it resulted in me wanting to throw the book out of the window. And she did it once more with CoG. The final showdown happens around the 500 page mark, but we get about 90+ more pages of plot and nothing really happens? I find that very irritating.
Kudos though to CC including a more diverse set of poets and writers in this book. I remember her doing this ever since City of Bones: every chapter is introduced with a quote from Dickens, Yeats, the bible. But this time around, it wasn't just dead white men, I spotted a selection of female writers and a beautiful traditional Persian tale that was also woven into the main plot. Thumbs up for that.
So yes, even though nothing can get me to read TDA or her novella collections, I really want to know what happens next in this series.
me: NEVER
me: Mortal Instruments is a MESS
me: never
me: the Infernal Devices finale s u c k s
me: nope
me: the Bane chronicles are so bad I cried
me: n e v e r
me:
me: I'm so gonna read this book
Fellow reader, after giving up Shadowhunters for good...I fell victim to them once more. And surprisingly, I think I enjoyed myself?
Let's state the obvious, I really liked CC's writing style in CoG, her period Shadowhunter novels just have that romantic atmosphere that comes with a more antiquated and elegant style of writing. I also found the characters much (much) less irritating than Clary, Jace, Will and most of that whole messy bunch. Apart from Magnus that is. I think he is overused and badly written and I just don't enjoy having to read about him. But even James and Matthew seemed less annoying than their predecessors. Their edges are softened and they're not totally unbearable when it comes to self-centredness and the urge to feel pity for yourself 24/7 while looking dramatically gorgeous.
But, while we're at it, I do find it boring that every single character is beautiful. If everyone is beautiful, the world gets boring. SJM makes the same mistake and it results in characters becoming soulless and interchangeable. Also, eyes like "pale gold tea"? Oh please. I imagine CC sits in her writing room and just pulls random adjectives out of a glass jar. Well, what eye colour will our character have today? Muddy sapphire it is.
I believe that the cast of characters was way too big. CC might know them inside out but whoah it was a lot to take in and eventually I stopped trying to keep everyone apart. They blurred into each other, and I also found myself not caring who lived or died cause I didn't know who they were to begin with. I did like that multitude of queer characters, mostly because there can never be too many queer characters. I've seen people criticise her representation of them and saying that she merely included them to make her book more diverse. Personally, I could not find anything wrong with how the queer characters were written, although I am concerned about Anna Lightwood - who cannot be older than 20 - and the many immortals that have had an affair with her. That feels a bit iffy.
The story was engaging. It was slightly predictable, especially considering who would end up with whom. But I am intrigued to find out what happens in the sequels, and it feels like CoG was merely a setup for books two and three. The plot wasn't overly dramatic, so I expect the stakes will be much higher in the future. I genuinely enjoyed reading it, and even though it was almost 600 pages, it was a quick and entertaining read. I guess the many alternating POVs make it more engaging. What I don't enjoy is CC turning the last 100 pages into a soppy epilogue. She did this with Clockwork Princess and it resulted in me wanting to throw the book out of the window. And she did it once more with CoG. The final showdown happens around the 500 page mark, but we get about 90+ more pages of plot and nothing really happens? I find that very irritating.
Kudos though to CC including a more diverse set of poets and writers in this book. I remember her doing this ever since City of Bones: every chapter is introduced with a quote from Dickens, Yeats, the bible. But this time around, it wasn't just dead white men, I spotted a selection of female writers and a beautiful traditional Persian tale that was also woven into the main plot. Thumbs up for that.
So yes, even though nothing can get me to read TDA or her novella collections, I really want to know what happens next in this series.