The Mortal Instruments City of Heavenly Fire: The End of an Era, A Comparison & A New Beginning

Cassandra Clare is a bad ass, in every sense of the name. She writes beautifully delicious tales designed to make the turning of pages a compulsion, not an option. Previously, I have written about the absurd talent she possesses in creating characters that seem to just jump off the pages and into the head of the reader. Her final book in the Mortal Instruments series, City of Heavenly Fire, does just that–and somehow, miraculously, gives the impression of possible continuations/spin-offs of the series, while also presenting a well-stylized accounting of the greater themes of the series and providing some closure for a number of the characters.

I think I’m secretly in love with both Simon Lewis and Magnus Bane in this series, which is why I’m thrilled that her spin-off The Bane Chronicles, telling some of the many backstories of the legendary gay warlock, is currently cued on my Ipod. And why I kind of what to cry when it occurs to me that there is no more Clary, Jace, Izzy, Alec, Simon and Magnus . . . amongst many of the other widely ranging cast of characters (even Chairman Meow!!)

This final installment of the series takes the main characters to Idriss, hell, and beyond; it forces the downworlders to rethink their individual causes and desires and to at least try to create some semblance of unity; it presents death and destruction as a reality, but not an inevitability; and it requires honesty of the heart, mind and word of the Shadowhunters themselves. If you’re thinking so far that the series is pretty epic, well, you’re right.

Especially when comparing the ending of this series to that of other popular YA Lit series, this one is so much better structured and realistic! Although I also have a writer crush on Laini Taylor, this ending was much better focused, the ends better tied (or left loose, depending on the character) than what we saw in the Daughter of Smoke and Bones series. In many ways, it was reminiscent of the closure to Cate Tiernan’s Immortal Beloved series, wherein the main characters are given closure, but not everything is perfectly wrapped up. At the same time, Mortal Instruments has a much larger cast of characters than Immortal Beloved, so the semi-closure makes more sense with the wider cast. As a final series book, this was infinitely better than the final installment of Suzanne Collins’s The Hunger Games, as well, which I actually found to be inferior to the first two books in series. The ending also rang more true (and less sappy) than the final book of Stephanie Meyer’s Twilight series. Basically, we see the growth, change and development of the characters, and leave the story knowing that their lives are continuing on and, for most, we have some idea of the trajectory which those lives will see.

Even though I know I should be less biased, and if pressed could probably think of one or two issues that could be improved, overall this series is just totally worth reading. And I assume, too, that her next series–The Dark Artifices–will also be. This next series isn’t coming out until next year, but will build on the stories of (presumably) Emma and her best friend, Jules, at the LA Institute, both of whom played fairly prominently in City of Heavenly Fire.

I’m pretty psyched to see that the entire Mortal Instruments series is going to be redone as a tv series–which is probably a better setting for it, as the books are quite long and contain a lot of details. I greatly disliked the film take of the first book, and found it to be quite a juvenile retelling. (I know, I know–it’s YA Lit, but that doesn’t mean tween lit, right?) My hope with the tv series is that they are able to focus on all the different character plots, develop the characters as well as the action/story, and not waste a ton of time/money on special effects. We shall see. . .

Anyone out there have a chance to read this series? Have a favored character or ten? Thoughts on the upcoming series/tv series?

What’s Next?: What to Fear When All Our Fears Have Been Reinvented as Lovestruck Studs

Recently, I was reminded of an article I read many, many moons ago that addressed the trends in what scared the American populace (I recall that the emphasis had, indeed, been placed on the fact that it was only Americans that had been surveyed/documented). There was a period of time in which the trend was ghosts, another with vampires, another with monsters (this was a very vague and broad category, which I interpreted to include monstrous appearing/acting creatures that wouldn’t necessarily be termed monsters if one were being more specific), and aliens.

Intriguing, then, how in YA Lit, we see not only an acceptance of such creatures, but an embracing of them. Forlorn, heartfelt ghosts? Check. Romantic zombie paramours? Check.  Fiery hot demons? Check. Obsessive, lovestruck werewolves? Check. Emotional yet powerful fallen angels? Check. Sultry vampires? HUGE check. (The list goes on and on).

I do note though that I haven’t read anything (YET) that really does a romanticizing of aliens–I suppose the closest would be Stephanie Meyers’s The Host, which I’ve attempted to read on four separate occasions and can never finish, out of sheer boredom. And even then, the aliens are reviled for the most part, with one implanted beast baring human-esque emotional qualities, and so being more broadly accepted as a being as opposed to just a human-skin-suit-wearing parasite.

So I posit this: when everything that used to scare the populace has been reinvented as a misunderstood heartthrob, what will the public be scared of?

Well, what seems to be hitting the YA shelves of bookstores lately (perhaps in response to the 2013 Publisher’s Weekly article in which YA Lit editors were interviewed and bemoaned the lack of Gillian Flynn-style crime thrillers for young adults) seems to be an emphasis on the bad in humans. In those veins, we have Laurie Stolarz’s Welcome to the Dark House, Jennifer Armentrout’s Don’t Look Back, and even Gayle Forman’s If I Stay. I’d add to this category the subcategory of asylum spins in which the sanity of the protagonist has been questioned (I’m thinking alone the lines of the Mara Dyer series, though there is definitely an element of the supernatural there, as well), leading to hospitalization and/or her own ongoing questioning of what really happened/whether she’s responsible for it.

I’m all for it, and find this line of writing fascinating. (Plus, it lets us still be scared of some of those things that go bump in the night. 🙂 )

So what do you think? Excited for the advent of the YA Lit crime thriller? Think that it’s time has already come and gone? Still preferring the supernatural/paranormal hottie YA story?