Embarrassingly Large May/June Book Haul! [Book Haul #2]

Hey, y'all! So remember back in April when I did my book haul and talked about how embarrassingly large that book haul was? Clearly, I didn't understand the definition of "embarrassingly large." The real definition is THIS:

In case you were wondering, that's approximately 50 books. Granted, this haul is over the course of 2 months rather than just one, and June's my birthday month so I got birthday money, but that's still an incredibly large number of books. I'm actually so ashamed of myself that I'm putting myself on a book buying ban. I've made a list of books I'm allowed to buy if I find them for a good price, and I'm allowed to buy books from used bookstores. This eliminates the real problem which is my compulsive online buying. Often, if I see a book online for fairly inexpensive, and I've heard good things about it, I buy it. Also, I'm completely out of room on my shelves, and I can't put up my full 5 shelf bookcase until I move into my new apartment at the beginning of August. So the ban will probably span all of July, and then I'll probably change the stipulations some. Because if I don't give myself limits, I'll buy all the things.

Anyway, enough rambling. On to THE BOOKS.

A Series of Unfortunate Events

So I decided to start with the section that I feel the least shame about, because I actually bought less than half of these books. As I've previously mentioned, I work at a library. One great thing about working in cataloging is that if the library gets books as a gift, and it's determined that we don't need the books, I can have them if I want them. It's not like I'm allowed to take every single discarded book, but if I see some that catch my eye, I can have them. The library got gifted the first 11 books of A Series of Unfortunate Events. We already had books 1-9 and 11, so we didn't need extra copies. I'd already bought the 1st and 6th book a few weeks before, so I got to keep 2-5, 7-9, and 11. I then found books 10 and 12 at a used bookstore. I have yet to find book 13 anywhere, but I'm not in a huge hurry. I do want to re-read these eventually, because they were a pretty significant part of my childhood. And these books are just gorgeous, so I'm really glad that I have almost all of them now!

Book Outlet

I had a Book Outlet coupon and stumbled across a lot of books that I'd been eyeing for quite a while, so I made a pretty sizable purchase.

Music by Nicholas Cook

This was one of the more impulse buys of the order. I'm a music/psychology major, and I'm really interested in books examining how we think about music, and that seems like what this is about. I also liked the minimalist cover.

Nothing Feels Good... by Andy Greenwald

When I saw this book, I HAD to have it. It sounded like it was practically written just for me. I love punk rock and emo music, and I started listening to it when I was a young teenager (and it feels really odd to say that I'm not a teenager anymore). I'm excited to get into this, though I noticed recently that it doesn't have such great ratings on GoodReads. 

Infinity by Sherrilyn Kenyon

This is the first book in the Chronicles of Nick series. I've been eyeing these books for quite a while, and when I found this for only a few dollars, I decided to get it. It sounds like a really exciting and action-packed fantasy series with a similar premise to Cassandra Clare's books, and I see Sherrilyn Kenyon books everywhere, so she seems to be a pretty popular author. I'm excited to get into this series eventually. Because everything's eventual.

Invincible by Sherrilyn Kenyon

I also picked up the second book in the Chronicles of Nick series. It was a cheap hardback, and I really enjoyed the cover. I almost bought the 3rd, 4th, and 5th books, which were all also on Book Outlet, but I decided to wait just a little bit in case I didn't like the series for some reason.

The Black Cauldron by Lloyd Alexander

In my last book haul, I showed the other four books in this series, which I also purchased off of Book Outlet. This time, the second book was actually on there (ONE lone copy- $2.99), so I snatched it up and plan to marathon the series sometime this year, complete with a viewing of the 1985 Disney movie, which is one of my top 5 Disney movies of all time. I'm just a little excited. 

Memoirs of a Teenage Amnesiac by Gabrielle Zevin

This is actually the book that got me onto Book Outlet. I watched one of Ariel Bissett's videos where she raved about how much she loved this book. It sounded just so interesting, so I checked Book Outlet, and they had it for $1.49. So I grabbed my coupon and browsed around to see what else I could find. The concept behind this book is absolutely intriguing. I'm not sure when I'll get to it, but it was totally worth it.

You Have Seven Messages by Stewart Lewis

I saw this one in Barnes and Noble one time and the concept was interesting, so I took a picture of it to remember it. And then I saw it on Book Outlet for less than $3 so I just added it on. This one also doesn't have the highest GoodReads ratings, but the concept has me intrigued. It reminded me just a little of Thirteen Reasons Why, which is one of my favorite books.

Asylum by Madeleine Roux

I've been pining for this one for quite a while. I've seen it in a handful of book hauls and have wanted it since I first saw it. It looks so creepy, which is one of my favorite types of books/ movies. I think I'm going to have a horror TBR for October, so I think I'm going to be saving this one for that, along with a few more books I really want to read. 

Vicious by V.E. Schwab

This is yet another booktube find. A lot of people I watch have absolutely loved this book, and I thought that it sounded like a really interesting concept. This is also another one I've had my eye on for quite a while. I had really wanted the paperback cover of this, but this hardcover was inexpensive enough that I decided to go for it. If I fall in love with it, maybe I'll splurge on a paperback copy. 

The Pendragon series by DJ MacHale

I already had books 7-10 in hardcover, but I wanted the entire series in hardcover since it's one of my favorite series. So, I got the first six used from various sites, to varying degrees of success. At least they all will display well on the shelves, regardless of some of the semi-damaged books. I also think that some used bookstores need to re-consider what they consider to be "very good condition." I had to bring several of these to work to clean them up and remove stickers and other junk from the books. And those were the fixable problems.

Online Purchases

This section is just a random assortment of books that I got from several different orders at several different times.

The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky

I already had this on my kindle, and I'm not sure why I didn't just buy the hard copy the first time around, but now I have it in hard copy! My one annoyance is that I ordered a used copy in the original cover... and this brand new movie-tie in was what I got. In general, I'm not a fan of movie tie-in covers. I don't dislike this cover, I just wanted the original cover. I almost returned it, but it's the same book, in perfect condition, with Logan Lerman on the cover. I can cope.

Ultimate Unofficial Guide to the Mysteries of Harry Potter

(Analysis of Book 5)

I have the first Unofficial Guide (which covers books 1-4) and found it really interesting. I happened to discover that they'd made one for the 5th book, which I was conveniently not far from starting, so I decided to pick it up and read them together. 

Infinite Jest by David Foster Wallace

There's one booktuber who raves and raves about this book and how amazing it is. It's over 1000 pages long and sounds like a really interesting challenge. I had my eye on it for a while, and came across it one day on the Book Outlet, so I picked it up.

Daughter of Smoke & Bone and Days of Blood & Starlight 

by Laini Taylor

Katytastic on Youtube raves and raves and RAVES about this trilogy, and has touted it as her favorite trilogy ever. I tend to have a fairly similar taste in books, so I generally trust her quite a bit when it comes to recommendations. These were $6 apiece on Books A Million's website, so I jumped on the opportunity to get them.

City of Heavenly Fire by Cassandra Clare

This book... so beautiful. I pre-ordered it back in February and finished reading it less than a week after it came out. I did a full discussion on it, which you can check out by clicking HERE. It was an amazing conclusion to one of my all-time favorite series. LOVE.

Used Bookstores

These were all purchased during multiple trips to used bookstores throughout May and June. Yay for bargain books!

Pretties and Specials by Scott Westerfeld

These are the 2nd and 3rd books in the Uglies trilogy. I read the first two books of this trilogy back in junior high and really enjoyed it, so I wanted to pick it up and read the entire thing. I have yet to find Uglies, but I'm not in a rush. I want to pick up some more of his books, because I also enjoyed his Midnighters trilogy in junior high as well. 

Holes by Louis Sachar

I've been purchasing some of my favorite childhood books so that I can have a little collection on my shelves, and this was one of the ones that I had to have. It was always one of my favorites and I absolutely cannot believe that I sold this book a few years back.

Ghost Town at Sundown by Mary Pope Osborne

This is another book I wanted from my childhood. I read this series almost religiously, and this was my favorite of the books. When I found it, I jumped at the chance to get it.

Sweeney Todd

I stumbled across this and I'm still kinda confused about it. Sweeney Todd is one of my favorite movies, but as far as I know, it wasn't originally a book. I know it was a play and a musical before the Johnny Depp movie, but I don't think it was ever a book. I'm assuming that this might be one of those random movie to book adaptations, since it does have the movie cover on it. Either way, it seems really intriguing and I'm curious to see how it translates to a book.

The Hunger Games Trilogy by Suzanne Collins

To be very honest, I almost didn't buy these. I've never read the series (yes, I know, shock, gasp, horror, etc.). Honestly, the hype surrounding it is what has kept me from reading it for this long. I've had the first book on my kindle for more than 2 years. I do think I'd like it, since dystopians are my thing, but I just haven't picked it up. These were all together in perfect condition for only $7 apiece, so I decided to get them, because I'll read them at some point. So they'll sit for a while, but I'll get to them eventually. I promise.

The Dark Tower Books 1 & 2- Stephen King

Like I said in my stand-alone book discussions, I've been wanting to read more Stephen King and this series was recommended to me by a few people I know. It sounds really interesting and I found the first two books in the same edition at a used bookstore, so I picked them up.

Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone by J.K. Rowling

Before anyone freaks out, this is not my first copy of the book! When I originally bought the series, the first 5 were out in paperback, so I got them in paperback. I have the last 2 in hardcover because I bought each of them the day they came out, and so I've been trying to find the first five books in hardcover, first American edition. That's why I was SHOCKED to see this first American edition sitting in a used book store, in near perfect condition. I had to grab it.

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix by J.K. Rowling

My favorite used bookstore seems to get a constant flow of Harry Potter books, and many of them are in really great condition, including this one! They also had books 6 & 7 in PERFECT condition and I was extremely tempted to buy them because the dust jackets on mine are very well used. But I refrained, because my original copies have sentimental value. The store also had Chamber of Secrets and Goblet of Fire, but the quality wasn't as good as I wanted, so I haven't gotten those even though they're the last two I need in hardcover. I'll be patient though, because it's my favorite series, and I want them to be perfect.

Under the Dome by Stephen King

This has been on my to-buy list for quite a while. I'd been planning on buying the huge floppy paperback because I really like huge floppy paperbacks for some reason (like Infinite Jest! That's a huge, awesome paperback). I found the paperback and it was in good condition except that the spine was cracked in several places and I'm not a spine crack fan. I was going to get it, but stumbled across the hardcover on display just a few feet away for only $1 more, so I went for it because it was in near-perfect condition. I really can't wait to read this one because I keep seeing commercials for season 2 of the show based on this book and it seems really interesting.

Random/Misc. Books

This last section isn't super exciting, it's just a few books I got from assorted places.

Nobrow by John Seabrook

This is another book I got from the discarded books at work. Originally, I thought that it was a non-fiction psychology book analyzing our culture. And by looking at the cover, it would certainly seem like that. However, it's actually a fictional dystopian set in a world where the culture has deteriorated to the point where fast food restaurants are the fancy places. I don't know a ton about it, but what I saw sounded intriguing, so I took it home.

Sleeping Murder and Murder at the Vicarage 

by Agatha Christie

Once again, this is a book that I got from work. Agatha Christie is one of my favorite authors, so I was really excited to come across this. These are both from her Miss Marple series. I have read several Poirot novels, but I have yet to get into Miss Marple, so I think that these may be the ones that get me into it!

Wreck This Journal

This one was a birthday present from my roommate (well, we don't live together right now, but we lived together last school year and will be sharing a room starting in August, but whatever). I've actually been eyeing it for a while, but hadn't bought it yet. I've already done a few of the things in it, but I don't want to rush anything since the point is to get creative with it. This should get exciting!

So there we go, those were the nearly 50 books that I got over the last two months. Hopefully my next haul will be significantly smaller because of the semi-ban I've put myself on, but I've already ordered 3 books (all from the list of books I'm allowed to buy, and for a good price! Promise!) so it may be a bit bigger than I really want it to be. Also, new post tomorrow- Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix discussion. Fanfiction chapter will be out... soon. Probably once I'm not reading constantly to finish my challenge. But it's my first priority after the Reading Challenge posts. 

Thanks for reading! If you like my posts, I'd really appreciate if you'd subscribe/follow so that I know you're enjoying what I'm posting! See y'all soon!

The Mortal Instruments Series Discussion [Summer Reading Challenge]

Hey, y'all! I'm here with another summer reading challenge post! I finished The Mortal Instruments series by Cassandra Clare, and I've posted discussions about each of the books individually. Here are the links to all six posts:

City of Bones

City of Ashes

City of Glass

City of Fallen Angels

City of Lost Souls
City of Heavenly Fire

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! 

Thanks for reading this! If you like my posts, don't forget to subscribe/follow, since it lets me know that you're enjoying what I'm doing. See y'all soon!

City of Heavenly Fire Discussion [Summer Reading Challenge]

Hey, y'all! I'm here with another summer reading challenge post! I've finally reached the end of The Mortal Instruments series, and I can't believe that it's over! WOW. When I finished this book, I really didn't know what to do with myself. It's like when I got to the end of Harry Potter.

Book Summary

[Reminder: don't read this section if you haven't read all 5 of the previous books. I have to talk about what's happened up to this point to discuss the plot of City of Heavenly Fire!]


Sebastian is on the move, attacking Shadowhunters and turning them into Endarkened warriors, tearing apart families and friends. The New York Shadowhunters retreat to Idris, but not even Alicante's Gards can keep Sebastian away. Clary, Jace, Isabelle, Simon, and Alec must find out how to destroy Sebastian before he destroys the entire Shadowhunter race.

Overall Thoughts

Non-spoiler section!

First of all, can we just talk about the inside of the cover?

It's so pretty! My only wish is that it were an actual poster included rather than on the dust jacket. I want to put it up on my wall, but it's the book jacket, so I have to keep it on the book. I actually considered buying a second copy JUST to be able to display this. I might do it eventually, but for now, I'm going to stick with my one copy.

After being slightly disappointed by the last two books, I was incredibly impressed with this one. It was an action-packed, exciting conclusion to one of my favorite series. The balance between the romance and the action was really great. Cassandra Clare may not always write the perfect book, but she knows how to write amazing series endings. She proved that with Clockwork Princess, City of Glass (the end to the original Mortal Instruments trilogy), and now with City of Heavenly Fire. She has a special talent of writing a conclusion that is a great mix of happiness and heartbreak.

My one complaint that I did have was about the new characters that were introduced. As many of you may know, Cassandra Clare is writing a new trilogy called The Dark Artifices, which is a companion trilogy to The Mortal Instruments and is set approximately 5 years after TMI. It follows the teenage Shadowhunters at the Los Angeles Institute. Cassandra Clare spends time in City of Heavenly Fire introducing us to these characters... but they're often not really necessary. There were only maybe two points in the book where they proved to serve an actual purpose. After spending 5 books with characters I really care about, I wanted to see what they were doing, not these new characters that I don't care about yet. But that was fairly minimal, since our main characters went through so much in this book. 

So, rating. I think I'm going to give this 5 stars out of 5. I keep comparing it to Clockwork Princess, and I have yet to decide which I liked better. I've also been comparing it to City of Glass, and those two are neck-in-neck as well. In the next few days, I'm going to have to compare these series, and I still don't know how I feel. I'll figure it out, right? RIGHT?

Spoilery Discussion!

OK, so let's talk about my predictions that I made. Because I'm kinda proud of myself, honestly.

First: deaths. We were told that 6 named characters would die. My predictions were: Sebastian, Maureen, Rafael, Robert Lightwood, Jordan, and Amatis. Of those 6, I correctly predicted... FIVE! Let's talk about my correct predictions.

1) Sebastian. I mean, we all knew this was coming.
2) Maureen. She made herself a villain, so she had to go. BUT, I thought Camille was going to burst in and be like " I'm not dead!" and kill Maureen. But apparently Camille is really dead. I still don't buy it. I bet she turns up in The Dark Artifices and gets to announce "I'm not dead!" then.
3) Rafael. This turned out WAY differently than I thought. He wasn't killed because he was trying to kill Simon, which was the whole reason I thought he would be killed. And I still haven't decided whether or not I like Rafael.
4) Jordan. The saddest death, for me. I'd grown to love Jordan over the last two books, and it was really sad to see him killed.
5) Amatis. Like I said in my last post, she had been turned. We knew that there was no way to turn her back into a Shadowhunter. She was now a villain. If she couldn't be turned back, she'd have to be killed.

So, the one death that I predicted which didn't pan out: Robert Lightwood. I'm not trying to cover myself by saying this, but I thought this was the flimsiest of my predictions. My prediction was based upon info someone mentioned about a possible Shadowhunter funeral early in the book. Clearly, that didn't happen. Oh well, you can't win them all!

And, the one death that happened that I didn't predict: Meliorn. I didn't predict this... but I kinda did. Ish. I put the Seelie Queen among my list of other characters I think could die, due to her alliance with Sebastian. I'm not sure why I didn't even think of Meliorn. But he did die for the reason I listed, so.... half credit?

I was also right about the epilogue taking place at Luke and Jocelyn's wedding! Obviously other things happened in the Epilogue, but my point was that I thought the book would end at Luke and Jocelyn's wedding, and it did! I loved it. It was really great.

Also, it WAS Tessa that Magnus was talking to in City of Glass! I was right! Woo! And the heavenly fire DID save "Zachariah"!

And the last bit of me tooting my own horn: I got the relationships correct as well. Maia and Jordan were the couple separated forever. The rest of our couples fell into place pretty nicely. Well... mostly. I'll get more into that couple later.

Now for my major failure: the Isabelle theory. That was a total bust. I had actually convinced myself that Isabelle could really be Jace and Clary's half sister! Clearly I was way, way off target. Oh well. It was a cool theory to think about.

Now into the part of the book that kept me sobbing. And sobbing. And sobbing. SIMON. Honestly, I would have preferred him dying over him losing all of his memories of the Shadowhunter world [and therefore all of our main characters]. At least if he had died, he would have died as the real, true, Simon rather than living a false life for the rest of his life and believing in false memories. Him losing his memories was the most heartbreaking part of the book for me, and I was actually convinced that Cassie was going to leave it at that (which would have left me murderous). Thank goodness she didn't. Hallelujah. While we didn't get our Simon back fully by the end of the book, we're starting to. I'm not sure if we'll ever have our Simon fully back, but any amount of our Simon is better than a Simon without any knowledge of his real life. That poor boy has been through the ringer. Being turned into a vampire, getting the mark of Cain placed upon him, then having the mark of Cain removed, and then being stripped of his immortality, vampirism, and memories. Poor, poor boy.

I thought it was really cool to see our main characters travelling through demon realms. It was interesting to see this new part of the Shadowhunter world, and I wasn't expecting it (even though the dust jacket totally mentions demon realms. I definitely didn't read the description well.). I think my favorite part of it was seeing all of their hallucinations... how Clary's life could never be complete without Simon, how Simon truly loved Isabelle, how much Isabelle loved and missed Max ("I'll always be nine" how heartbreaking is that?!), and how Alec just wanted Magnus's love and his father's respect.

OK, issuing a warning: if you haven't read the Infernal Devices and The Mortal Instruments, skip this bit, because I'll be talking about the cross-over. OK? OK.

I'm not sure why Cassie Clare didn't just allow Jem to be Jem. I understand that she's probably trying not to spoil the ID for people who have only read TMI, but if she doesn't want to spoil them, she probably shouldn't include so much crossover. As someone who can now say I've read all of Cassie's published books (except the Shadowhunter's Codex but I don't think that really counts), I really appreciate the crossover. BUT even while continuing to call Jem "Zachariah," I feel that people could be spoiled. Maybe not that they would know without any other knowledge that Zachariah is Jem, but that they would figure it out before they were supposed to. Tessa mentions the connection between Emma and Jem... I mean could it be more obvious? Someone who has read TMI, who then reads the ID would see "Jem Carstairs" and could probably deduce who he is. And there you go, Infernal Devices spoiled.

I'm not saying that Cassie is making a mistake having all of this crossover... I just think that the order to read the books in should be more clearly stated. It says on her website (I think that's where I read it) that the books should be read in the order they were published. Meaning that you should start with TMI books 1-3, then Clockwork Angel, City of Fallen Angels, Clockwork Prince, City of Lost Souls, Clockwork Princess, and City of Heavenly Fire. I think that probably really is the best way to read them in. BUT, no one seems to know this! I see people asking what order to read them in ALL THE TIME. I just think this knowledge needs to be better circulated to fans so that they don't accidentally get spoiled. That's just my opinion.

Anyway, after that mini-rant, I have to say, I love seeing the two series intermingling... Tessa and Clary chatting was super cool. Too great. I wish we'd gotten to see Jem just a little more, since he became Jem again approximately 200 pages in. Also, we didn't get to see Tessa until the very end, which made me sad. I assumed we'd get more of them!

Overall, LOVE. Just LOVE.

Favorite Quotes

As you can see above, I marked SEVERAL places. Each color represents a different person. Yellow is for Jace (because he's all gold!), Green is for Simon. Blue denotes the death of a character we know. Purple is for "Zachariah." Pink is almost always Magnus, but occasionally is Alec, and once it's for a warlock that reminds me of Magnus. 

Page 34: Jace leaned over and grabbed the phone out of his parabatai's hand. Alec protested and reached for it, but Jace held him off with one hand, expertly scrolling through the messages on the phone with the other. "Magnus, just call me back. I need to know if you're okay-" He shook his head. "Okay, no. Just no." With a decisive move he snapped the phone in half. The screen went blank as Jace dropped the pieces to the ground. "There."
Alec looked down at the shattered pieces in disbelief. "You BROKE my PHONE." 
Jace shrugged. "Guys don't let other guys keep calling other guys. Okay, that came out wrong. Friends don't let friends keep calling their exes and hanging up. Seriously. You have to stop."

Page 327: "Simon, you're blushing," observed Jace. "And you're a vampire and almost never blush, so this better be really juicy. And weird. Were bicycles involved in some kinky way? Vacuum cleaners? Umbrellas?"

Page 403: "Help? Of course we can help," Malcom said, turning around to face them. "You need to get a message through? There's always carrier kittens."
"You mean pigeons," said Bat. "Carrier pigeons."
Malcom shook his head. "Carrier kittens. They're so cute, no one can deny them. Fix your mouse problem too."

Page 439: "Don't look at me," said Jace. "My adoptive father was a mass murderer, And I still worried about what he thought. It's what we're programmed to do. Your dad always seemed pretty great by comparison."
"Sure, he likes you," said Alec. "You're heterosexual and have low expectations of father figures."
"I think they'll probably put that on my gravestone. "He Was Heterosexual and Had Low Expectations."

Page 532: "WHY DOES THIS KEEP HAPPENING?" There was a sound of shattering glass, and they both sat up to see Alec glaring at them. He had dropped the empty bottle of wine he had been carrying, and there were bits of sparkly glass all over the cave floor. "WHY CAN'T YOU GO SOMEWHERE ELSE TO DO THESE HORRIBLE THINGS? MY EYES."

Page 538: They all stared for a few silent moments. Then Simon pointed. "What's that wobbly thing?" he asked. "Is it a tree?"
"Those are the gates," Jace said.
"Ohh," said Isabelle, pleased. "So what are the swirly bits? Is there a moat?"
"Those are trajectory lines- Honestly, am I the only person who's ever seen a strategy map?" Jace demanded, throwing his stele down and raking his hand through his blond hair. "Do you understand anything I just said?"
"No," Clary said. "Your strategy is probably awesome, but your drawing skills are terrible; all the Endarkened look like trees, and the fortress looks like a frog."

Page 573: Magnus exhaled- for a moment he no longer felt ill, or afraid of dying, or even angry or bitter. Relief washed over him, as profound as sorrow, and he reached up to brush the cheek of the boy leaning over him with the back of his bruised knuckles. Alec's eyes were huge and blue and full of anguish. 
"Oh, my Alec," he said. "You've been so sad. I didn't know."

Page 704: He [Simon] looked down at her. There was uncertainty and hope in his expression, and a slightly dazed look, as if he'd just woken up from a dream and wasn't entirely sure where he was. Then he smiled. "I don't remember everything," he said. "Not yet. But I remember you." He brought her hand up, touched the gold ring on her right index finger, the Fair Folk metal warm to the touch. 
"Clary," he said. "You're Clary. You're my best friend."
I'm so pathetic that I'm tearing up just reading it again.


So, there you go, that's all for this summer reading post! My discussion for The Mortal Instruments should be up tomorrow!

Thanks for reading this! If you like my posts, don't forget to subscribe/follow, since it lets me know that you're enjoying what I'm doing. See y'all tomorrow!