Review: The Mortal Instruments.

Yesterday, I told you I was pining for City of Fallen Angels (Mortal Instruments, Book 4). Today I'm going to share my thought on the first three books in The Mortal Instruments.

Short Summary: Clary Fray was living a normal teenage life in NYC. She enjoyed hanging out with her best friend Simon, drawing and magna. But a trip to a club with Simon leads Clary to a world she never knew existed and to one where she just might belong. She meets Jace, Alec and Isabelle--Shadowhunters who fight the demons that roam the earth. Secrets and plans are revealed and Clary and her friends must fight for what and who they believe in.

First off, Cassandra Clare has created a great fantasy world. I loved how she combined the different mythological characters with a new bread of her own creation--the Shadowhunters, descendents of angels. She kept the vampire and werewolf lore pretty basically, making it easy to follow without becoming confused. She might have do the same with the faeries, but sadly I do not know that much about faeries to begin with :) By keeping those myths simple, it allows the read to concentrate on learning about the Shadowhunters history and legends. I haven't read much angel lore, so this was a pleasant experience for me. And it left me waiting to read more about angels, like Cynthia Hand's Unearthly (Unearthly - Trilogy). Sadly, BarnesandNoble.com is holding my copy hostage.

As for the characters, I immediately liked Clary. She's fiercely loyal, intelligent and curious.  The last trait leads her into some interesting situations, but she take it all in stride. She doesn't let fear shake her from those she loves and doing what she must in order to help them. Jace in another story. He's quite mysterious and moody in the beginning and I had a hard time trying to figure him out. It took several chapter to really catch a glimpse of who Jace really is--a question he struggles with throughout the series. 

Alec and Isabelle, along with Luke (a werewolf) and Mangus (a walock), make great supporting characters. You both love and hate them at sometime or another, and anytime a minor character can pull so many emotions from you shows signs of a well-written bit player.

Interesting world. Great characters. THRILLING PLOT. I tore through the Mortal Instrument books. Clare wove a web and I was caught. I couldn't wait to see what was going to happen at the end, and how so many of the books' conflicts were going to be resolved. Each book left me wanting more, and Clare delivered with each installation for her series.  My co-worker actually suggested this series to be and has been laughing at me all week because of how frustrated I was because I had NO IDEA WHAT WAS GOING ON.

While I'm excited to read City of Fallen Angels, I'm also surprised that there is a fourth book in the series. I felt City of Glass ended well, so it will be fascinating to find out what new story lines Clare creates in CoFA.

Any other fans of Clare out there? What do you think of the books? Any ideas of what happens in Book Number Four?