Bella and Edward. Katniss and Peeta. Tris and Four. Jack and Schuyler. Lucinda and Daniel. Clary and Jace. In young adult fiction/fantasy those 6 couples are legend. Some more than others. Everyone knows Bella and Edward, Katniss and Peeta and most recently Tris and Four. The last 3 are not as known but for this avid reader, they are the most important.
Supernatural and fantasy stories - movies, books, television - are my addiction. I gravitate toward any and all of those stories I can find. The Mortal Instruments series by Cassandra Clare is my most recent and this story involves the last couple on the list - Clary and Jace. Clary is a 16-year-old normal teenager who finds out that there is a world beyond your imagination dealing with demons, vampires, werewolves and Shadowhunters - half human, half angel beings that are the “police” of the world beyond. She and her best friend Simon go to a club one night and Clary witnesses what she thinks is a murder when in fact it was a pack of Shadowhunters killing a demon that was not supposed to be here. No one is supposed to be able to see the Shadowhunters unless you are one (they glamour so that no one can see them) so the “head” shadowhunter of the group - Jace - takes an interest in this girl and tries to find her the next day. When the two of them do find each other, Jace tries to explain to Clary that normal humans are called mundanes and she isn’t supposed to see them so she probably has some sort of shadowhunter blood in her but Clary doesn’t remember any of this. She gets a call from her mother at home that she thinks is telling her to come home when in fact her mother tells her to not come home and go to her mother’s friends house, Luke until she gets there. But the phone cuts off after hearing what sounds like a fight on the other end of the line. Clary races home (with Jace running after her unbeknownst to Clary) to find the apartment in shambles and a demon waiting for her which she and Jace kill. From here beings Clary’s journey to finding out about who she really is and diving into a world that she never thought possible.
The relationship between Clary and Jace is what resonated with me from the beginning. Jace has a hard shell around him no matter what he goes through. He doesn’t trust anyone very easily and he rarely gives his heart away to anyone. When he meets Clary, there is something about her that he can’t seem to understand so naturally he has to find out more about her. Throughout the book you see pieces of Jace’s shell coming off when he is with Clary and you can tell by looks and thoughts that his emotions are becoming unhinged when he is with her. Without giving too much away, the ending came as a shock and begs the question where do Clary and Jace go from here? Despite the ending, the relationship between Clary and Jace is one honestly for the ages. The affection they have towards each other resonates throughout the book and even bleeds into other characters.
Cassandra Clare weaves together a story full of passion, love, friendship, survival, hope, and uncertainty without making any character seem shallow, young or over the top. None of the writing dragged or was overly long. Everything - every chapter, plot line, dialogue - seemed to be the right length. That is a something rarely seen for this reader. Because of the writing, I was able to read this book in 2 days. That’s right - 2 days. I haven’t read a book in 2 days since I don’t remember when. I didn’t read Twilight, Hunger Games, Divergent, Blue Bloods or the Fallen series in 2 days. This was my favorite of the young adult books I have read so far. It satisfies my need for supernatural, fantasy, love, passion and friendship. It has everything a reader would want and doesn’t get bogged down with unnecessary plot lines or characters. Every character has a purpose - even the annoying, self-absorbed ones. Clare creates such an intricate web of a story yet nothing seems confusing or out of place. Building a story and world over 6 books can be a daunting task but after reading the first book you can see that the Mortal Instruments world is beyond anything the readers and the characters could imagine - vampires, werewolves, demons, warlocks, and everything in between.
Just as Hodge said, “all the stores are true.”
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