Now, I'm here to discuss the series as a whole, including my opinions about the entire series, my rankings of the books, rankings of the covers, and some of my favorite things in the series.
Series Summary
The Mortal Instruments series begins in New York City in 2007. One night while Clary Fray is out with her best friend, Simon, she sees people that no one else can see. When her mother disappears the next day, Clary is sucked into the world of these people. They're called Shadowhunters, and their job is to protect humanity by hunting and killing demons. However, Clary quickly learns that she may already play a larger part in this world than she originally understood.
Overall Opinions
I've loved this series ever since I read the first four books back in 2012. Cassandra Clare has created such a huge and detailed world, and it's so interesting and exciting that you can't help but be sucked in. Not only has she created this incredible world, but also incredible characters that you fall in love with incredibly easy. The series is, however, just a little inconsistent. All of the books are good, but Cassandra Clare faltered just a little when expanding it from the original trilogy into a 6 book series. Thankfully, however, it wasn't a huge slip, and she recovered and finished strong.
As with the Infernal Devices discussion post, I'll be using a 10 star rating system rather than a 5 star one. Either way, I find it really hard to give it an actual rating. It's hard to be objective when, subjectively, I feel so much love toward it. I think I'm going to give it 9.5 stars out of 10. I got really close to giving it 9.6, but 9.5 at least goes by .5.
Ranking The Books
#6: City of Fallen Angels
This and #5 are pretty much tied for me. City of Fallen Angels is not my least favorite of the books (if this was solely based on my taste, it would be #5), but I do think that quality-wise, it's the least successful, which is why it is #6 rather than #5. Way too much of the book was focused upon relationship drama, and the actual plot fell by the wayside a few too many times. It didn't start to get extremely exciting until the last few chapters.
Favorite moment: Everything after chapter 16.
Rating: Overall, continuing the 10 star system, I'd give it 8.5 stars out of 10.
#5: City of Lost Souls
This is probably my personal least favorite book of the series, mostly because the fact that my favorite character in the series isn't himself in this book. I think that quality-wise, it's better than City of Fallen Angels, which is why it's #5, rather than 6. The parts I dislike are because of personal taste, and not due to it being a bad book. It's definitely not the worst book in the series. And it's not like I hate this book, I do actually like it, I just don't like it as much as the great books in this series.
Favorite moment: Probably the final battle scene, although I thought it was too short.
Rating: I'd have to give it 9 stars out of 10.
#4: City of Ashes
Just like my 5th and 6th choices, 3 &4 are fairly equal. I just have a deeper connection to the book that got 3rd place than to City of Ashes... although once again, City of Ashes might be a touch better. I really loved the action-packed scene at the end, and some of the big plot points, but some of the book was a little slow.
Favorite moment: The action-packed scene at the end, for sure.
Rating: I'm going to stray away from strinct .5 ratings and give it 9.3 stars out of 10.
#3: City of Bones
Is City of Bones the best book in the series? No. But it was my introduction to the entire Shadowhunter world. When I first read this book, it pulled me in so much that I read it in one day. I was so intrigued and just wanted to know more and couldn't put it down. It may not be the best, but it'll always hold a special place in my heart as the book that made me fall in love with the Shadow world.
Favorite moment: Magnus's party, for sure.
Rating: Once again straying from the strict .5 ratings, this gets 9.4 stars out of 10.
#2: City of Heavenly Fire
This was a really satisfying conclusion to the series. I read the entire thing in a single day, and enjoyed it immensely. I've said this before, but Cassandra Clare is really skilled at concluding series. They always have some heartbreak, but you walk away from them content with the way everything turned out. That's how I felt about this book. After a couple books that weren't my favorite, this one was a breath of fresh air.
Favorite moment: Probably the epilogue.
Rating: I'd have to give it 10 stars out of 10.
#1: City of Glass
I'm surprised I loved this one as much as I did. It was a re-read for me, and the first time I read it, I liked it but just thought that it was about as good as the books preceding it. But it's not. It's so, SO much better. I think this one wins over City of Heavenly Fire partially due to the nostalgia aspect. However, I also think that it capped off the original trilogy really nicely. This being placed higher than City of Heavenly Fire is once again, just personal taste, since they're both really great, great books.
Favorite moment: The scene at Lake Lyn near the end with Clary and Valentine and Jace.
Rating: It was a clear 10 stars out of 10. I really, really enjoyed this book.
Ranking The Covers
#6) City of Ashes
It's nothing special. I get that the blue and orange are supposed to offset each other and look striking because they're complementary colors, but the cover just looks pretty monotone besides that little orange bit. I've never been a huge fan of having half of their faces cut off either.
#5) City of Fallen Angels
Once again, this is a case of monotonality for me. It's all orange and yellow. If a cover is going to be interesting, the colors have to at least have some sort of contrast so that something stands out.
#4) City of Bones
This cover is a nice dose of nostalgia for me, remembering that first time I saw it and wanted to read it. However, the way I always picture Jace and the Jace on the cover don't really match (even though I'm clearly the incorrect one here). And once again, why only half a head?
#3) City of Heavenly Fire
If the inside of the jacket were included in this list, this would win hands down, because the inside is just so cool. Excluding that though, it's still a pretty cool cover. There's definitely a large gap between my 3 favorite covers and 3 least favorite covers. This one is just really dynamic with the fire and Clary's hair and the purple radiating from Sebastian. Super cool.
#2) City of Glass
This is when they got the color contrast right. The orange sky contrasted with the blue glass city looks really cool. Add in Sebastian with wings, and it just looks really dynamic.
#1) City of Lost Souls
The choice of this cover as #1 is more for color than anything else (which seems to be the pattern, honestly). Red and grey is one of the best color combos for me, and I really like the contrast of Clary's dress and the blueish grey background. As cheesy as this embrace is, I like that we at least don't have half-head syndrome. Also, I think that this is the closest the covers got to depicting the characters as I envisioned them.
Favorites/Least Favorites
Favorite character: Jace and Magnus. They're both just so wonderful! I also really like Simon
Least favorite character: I'm not going to be obvious and choose a villain. Of our good characters, I've never been a huge fan of Maia. I don't know why, I just never particularly cared about her.
Favorite ship: Jace and Clary. Obvi.
Least favorite ship: Simon and Maia. I never really got that one.
Spoilers!
Favorite moment: I don't know if there's really one singular moment in the series that I can say was my favorite. Lots of smaller, wonderful moments, but not one total favorite.
Least favorite moment: When Simon is stripped of his immortality and loses his memories. It was so incredibly heartbreaking. If Cassandra Clare hadn't remedied that situation, I think she would've had a mutiny on her hands.
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So, there you go, that's all for The Mortal Instruments Series Discussion! Have you read the series? What did you think of it? I plan on getting my TMI vs. ID/ Wrapup post up tomorrow, so be on the lookout for that! Regular series posts and Harry Potter posts are coming soon! Promise!
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