Saturday, February 22, 2014

My Thoughts on Cassandra Clare's Shadowhunter Universe

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If you have not heard the news yet the summary and names of the next series of shadowhunter books written by Cassandra Clare has been released. There are already a plentiful number of books written in this world - we have The Mortal Instruments, The Infernal Devices, and the soon to be coming Dark Artifices, Last Hours, and Wicked Powers. I have already read all three books in the Infernal Devices trilogy and all published (five of six) books in the Mortal Instruments.

But I highly doubt I will read the next three series. Why?

1) I find the Shadowhunter concept highly over drawn. Like - extremely incredibly over done. I was just about done with it by the end of Clockwork Princess, the last book I read by Clare. They really are not that interesting. In fact, I find the takes on the other supernatural creatures such as vampires, werewolves, and faeries much more interesting throughout this series. The whole concept of runes is also very confusing and is never really cleared up. Needless to say, these stories are action packed and exciting. But that leads me to my second point...

2) Cassandra Clare really isn't that good of a writer. Sure, she is decent enough. Her action scenes are descriptive and well thought out. But if we are being honest, the first thing we think of in connotation with her books are the love scenes. Clare should probably be a romance writer because she would be much better at it. Her purpose in writing is to tell a fantasy action story, but that does not come through in its delivery. However, there is nothing especially unique that should require this number of books on one topic.

3) In total, this will bring the Shadowhunter world to a total of...18 books. Eighteen books about one concept. There are only so many ways to stretch the world, to build characters inside it, to come up with interesting love stories. The pure number of books about this is daunting. I have no idea how Clare is going to keep them all separate and interesting and unique. When City of Bones first came out, the concept was new. Now, it's just old news. The popularity of them is burning out anyway (especially with the failure of the movie) and I doubt the next series will ever sell as well as the first two have.

Those are my three reasons why I really don't like Cassandra Clare's Shadowhunter Universe! I don't think I am going to be reading the next series, and I am highly considering not reading City of Heavenly Fire. What do you think? I know this is a highly debated topic and I am interested to get some more perspectives!

1 comment:

  1. I lost interest in the TMI series after book 4 and was not wowed by her TID series. I didn't even care enough to finish that series either. It annoys me when a story has waaaaay too many books. It's like she's trying to milk a dry cow instead of giving us new stories. I think I'm passing on her new series too.
    Plus, the hype around her books annoys me...

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