The Mortal Instruments: City of Heavenly Fire by Cassandra Claire

(In which human beings are proven once again to be suckers for happy endings.)

***

When I decided to read series, I thought it's a win-win situation. First, I get to read books that I don't usually read (because I haven't seen an art fiction series yet). Second, I save myself from deciding what book to read next. Finally, I get to read a lot of books. The only downside I realized at that time is the painful waiting for the next installment. I'm looking at you, George R. R. Martin!

In retrospect, I found out that I completely forgot that some series tend to get old real fast. Worse, some are even predictable and cliché, albeit in different levels. And now I'm giving Cassandra Clare's Heavenly Fire my bloated stare.

To begin with, I do not hate the book (Although I have to admit that I can't get the 'Morganstern' typo out of my head). It's just that I thought the story deserves more than the and-of-course-Sebastian-has-to-die and all the rest lived happily ever after. I'm sorry, that's an exaggeration. And stop scowling because that is not a spoiler. What, did you not see his death coming?

Cassandra Clare warned her fans that six main characters will die at the last book. (By page 338 the fourth character dies. And the last two died at the boss battle stage.) While everyone was crying out for her to save Magnus, I was wondering if Clare would dare pull a Veronica Roth and kill Clary. But she didn't do that. The following is my own summary of Heavenly Fire.

After the battle at the Burren, where Clary, Jace, Alec, Isabelle and Simon found out about the Shadowhunters evilly transformed by the Infernal Cup, the whole race of Nephilim face a far greater and more threatening Sebastian than the one who bound Jace. He now leads the army of Dark Shadowhunters (now called Endarkened) and their number continues to rise as they attack Institutes and either Turn or murder Shadowhunters. The only hope to save Nephilim lies in the heavenly fire contained by Jace's body, which he doesn't know how to control yet. With the help of their unlikely band of supernaturals (again), Jace and Clary uncover betrayals and alliances, journey to a desolated realm of Hell and attempt to save the world... but not without sacrifices.

These sacrifices come in the form of their friends' corpses and memories. But just as it is impossible to regain lives, one character’s memories, on the other hand, could be retrieved in just a matter of, what, weeks? Say what you will. But I can't simply believe this could be done by sheer willpower. And the memory was sucked out of this character by a Demon Prince! This is the part where I threw up my hands in frustration. I am not totally in favor of letting major characters die but I think Clare's refusal to let it happen led to pushing things to the height of annoyance. I mean, if she doesn’t want any serious harm to come to Clary and friends, at least when she decided to sacrifice a major character’s memories in lieu of life, she should have just left it at that. But then everyone’s life would be incomplete and that would be a terrible ending for everyone, correct? I am not sure. Or maybe I just have issues with predictable, happy endings.

That’s for another blog post.

Now, even after realizing that I only have ten more pages towards the end of the series, I don’t feel a sense of finality. I was thinking, “Am I supposed to be shocked by a cliffhanger here?” Suddenly, I was finished reading. But then the book wasn’t finished with me yet – with me and with all the other readers of this seemingly never-ending saga of Shadowhunters. I knew because I was greeted with an introduction to a new series which will pick up from the ending of Heavenly Fire. Surprise!

But I am finished with it. This will be my last Shadowhunter-related reading experience. They get old real fast, indeed. But to those whose tolerance is impressively high, you are welcome to another Nephilim adventure with this:

You will have to zoom the image many times to read the Seelie Queen’s message to the Arthur Blackthorn of the Los Angeles Institute because, you know, the Fair Folk are quite secretive with their correspondence.

Currently reading:

The Maze Runner by James Dashner

Photo sources:

City of Heavenly Fire

Maze Runner

The Mortal Instruments: City of Fallen Angels by Cassandra Clare

(In which surprises fall semi-unlimitedly.)

***

I believe one of the codes fiction writers live by is to never run out of surprises for readers. If this is the only criterion upon which any fictional work should be judged, then City of Fallen Angels will be one of the high-scorers.

After the battle in Alicante where Downworlders and Nephilim join hands against Valentine and his son Jonathan (who took Sebastian Verlac's identity), life for Clary and her friends seems to go back to normal. I believe there is a tremendous need to capitalize "seems". To elucidate, Simon is dating Maia and Isabelle (which means they are both oblivious to it of course); Luke still has to be used to Jocelyn loving him and the fact that they are getting married; and Clary is now openly dating Jace after the truth of his parentage gets revealed, which makes her happy, only that Jace is acting terribly weird.

On top of the sudden change in Jace' treatment of Clary, the gang gets confronted by appearance of new faces - Kyle, the hot guy who wants to apply as a vocalist in Simon's band and Camille, a vampire who asks Simon for his help to get rid of Raphael. With the precious information from these seemingly-innocuous people, Clary and others are led to various hair-raising discoveries that ranges from an assassination plot on one of them to a sinister attempt to emulate Valentine's experiment. And just when Clary thought that love indeed conquers everything, she'll realize that it is a means of destruction after all.

City of Fallen Angels is a crafty concoction of teenage emo moments and their equally crafty attempt to act like adults. In this installment, the characters try to solve their own problems so as not to be burdens to others. This character transformation, apart from Clare's signature humor, is what I find enchanting about this book. Clary takes responsibility for her actions and feels the need to protect people and not the other way around. Simon finally discovers the true power of the Mark of Cain amd uses it to save a friend's life. Maia gradually decides to move forward without bitterness or remorse. Alec embraces his true nature even more and Isabelle learns to accept her vulnerabilities. Mostly positive transformation, eh?

Except, I think, for Jace.

He didnt't lose his signature cockiness and his over-awareness of his staggering good looks, thank goodness. In fact, we know things are fine when he starts praising himself and bullying others with his sarcasm. What he lost, however, is that thing that drives Clary, or other people, to him - his ethereal ability to provide comfort and protection. In City of Fallen Angels, he is the one who seems to be in constant need of being protected and nurtured. Or maybe I was wrong and his vulnerability is still what attracts Clary et al towards him. But, sexism aside, I don't quite enjoy the idea of Jace being an emo kid with tons of teenage drama. And whatever happened to his linguistic eloquence? And then the explanation that he could offer to Clary regarding his sudden coldness is "I don't understand what's happening to me" or "I love you, Clary"? Why did he wait for Clary to seek help from the Silent Brothers? Why can't he tell Simon if he can't tell Clary? And then, as if he's not yet in trouble, his problems turn out to be detrimental for everyone. I thought Jace could do better than that. But then again, that's just me. Those who find it endearing must have been tired of the whole damsel-in-distress thing and finally thought that it's about time men have their share of being rescued. Besides, Clary is the heroine of this series? Sigh.

Well, after everything's been said and done, what really matters is that this book is an enjoyable read. And if we rely on that blurb  by The Trades saying “. . . If you’re a fan of The Mortal Instruments, you need to read City of Fallen Angels. And if you aren’t a fan, then you really need to find out what’s wrong with you, fix it, and start from book one.”  to gauge a part of our sanity, then at least I'm pretty sure nothing's wrong with me yet.

Currently reading:

City of Lost Souls by Cassandra Clare

Photo Sources:

City of Fallen Angels

City of Lost Souls

The Mortal Instruments: City of Glass by Cassandra Clare

(In which we finally get answers.)

***

The bad thing about reading a series late (i.e., when the series already has five books and is already turned into a movie) is that you get the terrible feeling that everybody already knows it except you, which kind of justify the necessity of adding fomo (fear of missing out) to the Oxford Dictionary. The good thing (and believe me when I say it outweighs the bad) is that you don’t get to suffer from the more terrible feeling of waiting for the next book to come. You finished one book and move on to the next without further ado. Now, that’s addicting. And a convenient addiction at that.

At this point, I have to tell you that spoilers, albeit minor, are included in this blog post. Continue reading at your own risk.

When Clary receives an invisible-to-mundanes visitor in the City of Ashes, she realizes that the coma her mother is suffering from is self-induced and could be reversed by a warlock named Ragnor Fell. And she decides to go to Idris, the home of the Shadowhunters, to find the warlock and wake her mother up. The City of Glass opens with Jace, along with the Lightwoods preparing to go home to attend the Clave meeting especially now that they know that Valentine plans a large-scale war against the Clave. Clary intends to go with the Lightwoods but due a sudden attack of Forsaken, she is left behind and is forced to open up a Portal to Idris. Upon arriving there, she is welcomed by the poisoning waters of Lake Lyn, followed by a meeting with Luke’s sister, then a meeting with Sebastian Verlac (who eventually helps her find Ragnor Fell) and finally walking in on Jace and his new girlfriend in the Penhallow’s house.

Despite the awkwardness of things, Clary is determined to seek all necessary help from anyone who is willing to give it in order to save her mother, even if it means asking Jace to take her to the Wayland manor to retrieve a book that will reverse the coma-inducing spell Jocelyn puts on herself. In there they find the book, along with some of Valentine’s nastiest secrets. And in their final attempt to right the wrongs done by long-running philosophical feuds among Shadowhunters and Downworlders, Jace and Clary discover the truth about their powers, their families and the fact that they are not siblings. 

Among the first three installments, it is not unfair to say that City of Glass is the most exciting aside from the fact that it is the most action-packed; what with the rain of demons from Valentine’s army and the children of the Night, Moon, Lilith and Faerie all coming together against one common enemy in an epic warfare. But what really makes it exciting is the transformation of the characters. Clary is more determined and more powerful while Jace is more expressively passionate and aggressive. And Simon, the geeky, playing safe Simon, finally learns the value of true sacrifice. 

City of Glass is a complex tapestry of the grand battle against extinction and corruption, woven with lies, deception, confession and acceptance all in one thread. It is an opus with themes as fragile as glass itself. In an equally-fragile city inhabited with equally-fragile characters, Jace and Clary and all the major teenage Shadowhunters are forced to maturity, with the realization that the path to the truth is led by love. In the final pages, however, they discover that love might also be the cause of their downfall.

Currently reading:

The Mortal Instruments: City of Fallen Angels by Cassandra Clare

Photo Sources:

City of Glass

City of Fallen Angels

The Mortal Instruments: City of Ashes by Cassandra Clare

(In which the addiction continues.)

***

One of my terrible habits, at least in the eyes of my students, is that I ask them if they have seen an interesting movie that has been recently shown. The worse part of my strangeness is when I share with them the new book I'm reading. As sad as it is real, my students are not the reading kind. But I was lucky to have at least one student who can relate and actually shares back. It's not so bad, especially when the fact that two students in two different classes are three books ahead of me and, as they themselves said, are "just waiting for The City of Heavenly Fire to be released". What other motivation can be more persuading than that?

So that is the impetus behind this recent update in this blog, and the apparent sudden adrenaline to finish the first five books of Clare's best-selling series. 

I bookmarked my latest progress on the second book - City of Ashes, which continues were the City of Bones left off - the revelation bomb that Clary and Jace are siblings. 

It is sadly expected that Jace will be a magnet of controversy after the Clave gets informed of his true parentage. The complication is so severe that Maryse Lightwoods, mother of Alec and Isabelle, decides to send Jace out of the Institute in fear of him being Valentine's spy. To prove his innocence, Jace declares that he is willing to undergo the Trial by Sword. The process involves the use of the Soul-Sword, another Mortal Instrument guarded by the Silent Brothers and this powerful weapon can determine whether someone is lying. For the trial to happen, Maryse summons the Inquisitor of the Clave, who appears to believe that Jace works with Valentine and is determined to punish him. What complicates matters is a series of murders of young Downworlders and the Silent Brothers in the Bone City. And the Shadowhunters believe Valentine is behind it. In their pursuit of discovering Valentine's plan, Alec and Isabelle find themselves tangled in a familial conflict while Jace, Clary and Simon struggle to find their places in the lives of people who matter to them most.

What's worth saying about the second installment is that Clare's signature wit (that interestingly manifests itself in almost all the characters) is a refreshing comic relief even in the most dangerous fight scenes and confrontations. The plot somehow runs predictably but one still clings on to the next turn of the page. Some sections are expected to raise several eyebrows (both eyebrows in a single face at that) but will surely melt more hearts. With its curiosity-inducing foreshadowing, City of Ashes provides a satisfying piece of the puzzle of the search for the justification to the answer almost all readers of the novel already know.

Currently reading

The Mortal Instruments: City of Ashes by Cassandra Clare

Photo Sources:

City of Ashes

City of Glass

On Novels and Movies: The Mortal Instruments - City of Bones by Cassandra Clare and Unique Features & Constantin Film

(In which I tried to hit two birds with one blog post.)

***

We are in an ever-changing world of changes. One day, we were texting on noisy keypads. The next we are drooling over a fan-made video of a smartphone with keyboard and screen projection features. One day we were idolizing wholesome actors and actresses. The next, we wonder at their odd fashion sense and even odder dance moves. One day I was contented with reading historical fiction. Last week I lost some sleep for a gothic romance.             

That was rather an abrupt transition. But at least you get the picture.

Going back to that change-related introduction, as a reader I personally make it a point to read the novel from which a novel-turned-movie was based for the sheer assurance that I won’t awkwardly gape at the cinemas and bog my companion with questions regarding plot, or more embarrassingly, the script. So I had purchased my boxed set of Hunger Games before the movie was out. And I had read the first three books of the Percy Jackson series before I decided not to watch the Sea of Monsters. But for the movie adaptation of the City of Bones, the first of Cassandra Clare's The Mortal Instruments series, I put off the reading because the trailer was exciting. 

But unfortunately, not all changes of hearts, or sudden lapse of judgment, or sudden disobedience to personal practices, happen to end up very positively.

The novel’s motion picture counterpart starring Lily Collins and Jamie Campbell Bower is set in a modern New York City where Clary Fray (Lily Collins) lives the life of an ordinary teenager with her mom Jocelyn (Lena Heady), and her mom’s friend Luke Garroway (Aidan Turner). And when we picture out ordinary, we mean teenagers doing the stuff that basically make them happy (which, to Clary, happen to be painting and spending time with her bestfriend Simon [Robert Sheehan]), being confused with things that they do and occasionally having an argument with their parents, primarily because of the weird things that teenagers like Clary do. But Jocelyn has good enough reasons to be worried, though.

Clary’s ordinary life gets to a halt when she sees a trio of teenagers kill a man in a bar one night when she’s hanging out with Simon. Unfortunately, she seems to be the only one who sees them and she, for a time, believes she’s gone insane. From then on, Jace Wayland (Jamie Campbell Bower) appears and makes her feel even more scared. What’s worse, she realizes she’s been drawing a symbol and she thinks that it has something to do with her being the only one who can see people like Jace, and other creatures. She then learns that Jace is a demon slayer called Shadowhunter and that Clary can see him because she is not a mundane, or ordinary human. During their conversation, Clary receives a phone call from her mom warning her not to go home. Just as she asks for details, she hears terrible growling sounds and the line goes dead.

When Jocelyn officially gets missing, Clary accepts Jace’s offer to take her to the Institute. When they find out that a certain Valentine kidnaps Jocelyn and that she hid the Mortal Cup, Clary seeks Jace’s help, as well as the sibling tandem of Alec (Kevin Zegers) and Isabelle Lightwood (Jemima West), and Simon to bring her mother back. In the process, she learns the main reason why she can see the Shadowhunters, the great power of the Mortal Cup and who she really is. But unfortunately still, changes don’t seem to be friendly even for a movie heroine.

What’s good about the movie was primarily Lily Collins. Seriously. I liked her in Mirror, Mirror and she’s more adorable in this movie. Although she could use a bit more of novel-Clary’s sarcasm and wit. Jamie Campbell Bower, on the other hand, (as I keep on telling anyone who cares to ask about my take on the movie’s main characters), was dashing in his first appearance in the murder in the pub scene. But his charm seems to dry out the moment he took off his hood. But, surprisingly, he regained that charm in the next hour –and-so of the film, especially with those longing looks. But I’d definitely take the novel-Jace anytime. Campbell, I believe, lacks the ego and sexy rudeness that Clare described in her novel. 

What’s not so good about the movie is the same problem almost all movies based on novels suffered from – time constraints. The novel was a complicated mix of folklore, biblical allusions and character histories that 500 pages gave justice to. Converting that to a live action version composed of only a couple of hours is a terrible gamble. While watching the movie – and with no literary background at that – I seriously had to suspend whatever doubt and disbelief I had in my mind just to keep holding on to the plot, which didn’t make sense in most parts. What were left in the original 500-page story were dead ends and unexplained phenomena, simplified complications resulting to confusion and a love triangle made cheesy by the lack of the original and necessary weight of conflict. In the end, what really stuck was that the kissing scene at the greenhouse has been done in almost all Pinoy romantic soap operas and movies and that Johann Sebastian Bach was a Shadowhunter. (I swear I always had to fight laughing out loud whenever I recall the hidden Marks on Bach’s arms and neck in his portrait.)

Oh those, and the amazing soundtrack that literally sucks the life out of my phone. 

Currently reading:

The Mortal Instruments: City of Ashes by Cassandra Clare

Photo Sources:

City of Bones novel

City of Bones movie

City of Ashes