Once again I find myself in two minds over a novel. It may be me, I don't know. There were some parts to this that I liked, I enjoyed the character of Tessa and how sensible she was in every situation she found herself in. I enjoyed her entry to the story and her time imprisoned by The Dark Sisters and I found her relationship with her brother and it's development well worth reading. I would love to go into more detail on this little fact, but I'd like to keep this review spoiler free. Even though I found this story quite entertaining, it just didn't grip me like The Mortal Instruments series. I wanted it to, I wanted to love it even more, Demons in Victorian London? Men with hats and canes? Corsets? I wanted to swoon, I really did! I mean, just look at the cover! I believe I can recall being told something at some point about not judging a book by... Yeah, but look at the pretty! Everything about it just works. It screams that I should love it and hug it and buy it nice little bookends and other things that it will love. But something just fell short of the mark. I think setting it in the same universe as TMI was both a plus and a minus for this story. A good feature was the opportunity to get to know more about the fascinating world of Shadowhunters. A down side though was that it felt all too similar to what most people had already read in Cassandra Clare's other series.
Another disappointing fact was how little I found myself caring for the characters. They were entertaining and some were quite endearing, but if I'm not clutching the book and gasping then I just don't care enough. I liked the characters well enough, mostly, I just didn't seem to have any connection or passion with this book. I found this rather distressing, since this was one of my most eagerly awaited reads of the year. The only character that I really found engaging was Will. Not only was he rude and sarcastic, but he was hideously inappropriate, especially when the era he is living in is noted. I find Jem to be quite lovely, but bland, no personality whatsoever, besides from being “Oh So Nice”. Will was awful, not even just cheeky, he behaved despicably and I really quite enjoyed it. Unfortunately even he became a little too much after a while and I really wanted him to just shut up and give poor Tessa a little bit of a break. I can't really understand how people can even really be passionately supporting “Teams” that consist of either Will or Jem. I don't see where they are getting their encouragement from, at least not yet. I have hope for some great developments amongst the relationships, I just felt that I am yet to witness them.
I realise now that I'm sounding like I really didn't enjoy this book at all, I did! It was quite a fun read, I just feel it paled in comparison a little bit when you've read Clare's original series. This does sadden me, as I expected The Infernal Devices to be even more impressive. (*coughdemonsinvictorianlondoncough*) But sadly I was left a little under whelmed.
I have hope for the next book though. I do love Clare's writing and I feel like she can turn this around for me. I may feel differently about this book after reading it again. Alas! I shall cross my fingers that I enjoy the next book in The Infernal Devices series as much as I have previously adored The Mortal Instruments Series
Currently Reading: Kiss Me Deadly (Anthology)
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