I read #3 3 years ago and for some reason hadn’t picked them back up again until now.

Working through this one was actually quite a chore. The world building and characters individually are still interesting, but I found it far less fun following the story in this one.

One I stopped to consider why, I realised things like we’d find ourselves in the middle of an action scene but it would be in past tense. This would have the effect of messing up the pacing and I felt super detached from what was happening.

I also found the descriptions really repetitive. For example, Clara was “stumbling” 3 times in 2 paragraphs, Jace is constantly described as beautiful with washboard abs, Izzy wears short dresses and is hot, Simon is cold and has no heart beat, there’s star marks and rings worn as necklaces. These facts are repeated so many times, sometimes in the next section when a character walks in and repeats those details from their POV! We’re at book 4, for God’s sake, we’re pretty familiar by now. And I don’t need to hear Simon thinking about silver rings and gold dresses after Clary has already looked at herself in the mirror for ages thinking about those things. Urgh.

I also realised I really can’t stand most of the relationship angst with most of the characters. Maybe it’s expected of YA but it’s just so boring.

With all that in mind, it’s clear this is one of those rare occasions where I prefer the series to the book.