A Definitive Ranking of the Seasons of RuPaul's Drag Race

Over the past few years, I've watched and enjoyed many new shows, but there are few shows that have impacted me the way that RuPaul's Drag Race has. I started watching about 4 years ago, and quickly fell in love with it and went back and watched every single episode of every single season. It's a show that I find myself going back and re-watching all the time, and it found itself super high up on my list of favorite TV shows when I ranked them back in May (which you can check out HERE).

So, as with everything that I really love, I've decided to do a ranking of all of the seasons of Drag Race! I've decided that this list is going to include both the regular seasons AND the All Star seasons. I went back and forth several times, but eventually settled on including them because when I do my winner rankings (coming soon!) I want to include the All Stars winners in my rankings. So, these are my rankings of all 11 seasons. Per usual, I'd like to remind everyone that these are just my opinions. We all have differing opinions. I respect yours, so I hope you'll respect mine by not yelling at me in the comments if you disagree with a season's placement. With that being said, let's go ahead and jump into the rankings!

11) Season 1

I feel like season 1 just has to be the worst by default. It's also been dubbed the "Lost Season"... and for a pretty good reason. Fans always joke about the horrible "blurry filter" but I feel like the video quality is even worse than the jokes lead on. In my opinion, this is by far the least compelling cast. As the show has gone on, it's gotten much more high fashion, while this first season was very ready to wear-- some queens even walked into the workroom in a t-shirt and jeans. Seriously. Like many first seasons, Drag Race hadn't quite figured out their formula yet. The timeline within the episodes was incredibly wonky, jumping back and forth between segments in a way that was hard to follow, and including things that they would later realize simply weren't important. There are definitely some good aspects to the season-- Tammie is such an interesting character, Ongina's story is always inspiring, and we get some really great queens like Shannel and Nina. But overall, this season is the clear weak link when compared to the other seasons. 

10) All Stars 1

To be perfectly honest, I struggled to get through this season. Sure, there were some queens brought back that I really loved, but the twist that RuPaul threw into the mix just made it so little fun to watch. Fan-favorite Pandora Boxx was cut episode one because she was forced to team up with Mimi Imfurst. Still not sure why anyone decided to bring her back. It had lots of great queens, the same judges, and the same studio, but the pairs twist just made it feel very foreign-- almost as if it wasn't Drag Race at all. I'm glad that Chad won, because Chad was definitely one of the most deserving losers of the main show, but overall this season was just a struggle all the way through.

9) Season 3

OK, so we've gotten out of the "bottom of the barrel" section of the ranking and into my next tier, AKA the next 2 seasons. The seasons placing at #8 & #9 are mostly tied and are a definite step up from the ones below. Overall, I really enjoy season 3. There are certainly aspects of it that I like more than the season that placed just above it, but there are also some definite detractors. I think the major knock on season 3 for me is that I have yet to re-watch the second half of the season. Might be a bit petty, but for a show that I go back and re-watch regularly, the fact that I've never re-watched half of this season is a definite knock on it. I feel like there were also a lot of queens that I didn't really love. Raja and Manila are fantastic, and I love Shangela, but other than that there weren't many queens who I really gravitated toward. I do think that the level of drag and the quality of the challenges was definitely upped from S2, but overall this one just comes off as a bit less memorable and often overly catty/mean. 

8) Season 2

Like I said, Seasons 2 & 3 are mostly tied for me, but I originally had them flipped. And that was mostly because the level of drag in season 2. It was kinda walking the border between S1 & S3. Not quite as ready-to-wear as S1, but not quite upped to the level that someone like Raja brought in S3. But what really stands out to me this season are the characters and the storylines. Raven and JuJu are still some of the most memorable queens in the history of the show. Pandora was lovable and hilarious. Tati was sassy and snarky but in the most fun way possible. And Tyra was... Tyra. I didn't like her the first time, but upon a re-watch my mind definitely was changed just a little bit. Still not my favorite winner, but she was more likable the second time around. And even some earlier eliminees like Nicole Paige Brooks and Mystique Summers Madison were really memorable. Also, who green-lighted the "Chicken or what?" competition? Because that's still a head-scratcher 7 years later. Overall, it's a really fun, drama-filled season that's just a bit rough at the edges. 

7) Season 9

I really enjoyed this season of Drag Race, so after finishing up my ranking, I was actually a bit surprised to see that I put it all the way down at number 7. I think that on its own speaks to the overall strength of this show and how much I love it. Like with Season 2 & Season 3, this one and the next one are mostly tied, but this one got edged out by just a little bit. Overall, Season 9's biggest strength for me was the quality of the queens. There were certainly some weak points in the cast, but once we got up to the top 7, everyone was so talented. I honestly kinda liked how nice the cast was to each other, especially since we got all of the fighting out in the reunion episode. I also absolutely loved that even by the final 4, I had no idea who was going to win. Yes, Shea won the most challenges. Yes, Sasha had the fans' support. Yes, Pepper probably had the worst track record. But all 4 of them brought it so hard all season long and proved over and over that they deserved to be there. There were just so many really strong contestants this season.

We also got some really gag-worthy moments, like the cringey lip syncs and Sasha's finale lip syncs that made up for all of the bad ones. I think the weakest point for me was some of the challenges. They were fine, and nearly all of them fit into one of the typical challenge molds for Drag Race, but it just always seemed like something was missing, whether it was the contestants' ability to impress, the writing, or just the challenge as a whole. While I'm mostly very #GurlBye on Lucian Piane being gone, I do think that his musical talents were pretty sorely missed.

6) Season 8

This season was really solid across the board. The challenges were really great. The a cappella lip sync is probably my favorite lip sync challenge that we've had across the board and the RuCo Empire challenge was absolutely hilarious. The queens were really awesome across the board. I liked almost every single one of them, and they were all really strong queens. The few weak links got cut fairly early, leaving us with an overall really strong cast. The biggest down side to the season is that it was pretty clear from the beginning that Bob was going to do well, if not win. Bob was the front-runner from the very beginning and it was a pretty easy march to the end with maybe one little tiny slip-up near the end. Overall, it was definitely a really fun season and really strong all-around but not quite as great as the next 5 seasons. 

5) Season 4

I feel like this might be a bit controversial, but I'm alright with that, because this is just how I feel. I know that Season 4 is the season that really got people into the show and was really the first of the "modern" Drag Race seasons, but for me there are a few seasons that are better. I feel like this cast is the perfect case of amazing highs and incredibly low lows. Sharon, Chad, Latrice, Willam, and even PhiPhi were really strong, while there were some absolutely disastrous people like Alisa, Madame LaQueer, Milan, and Kenya Michaels. There were, however, some really fun challenges. Honestly, pretty much every single one of them is really memorable to me. The prison acting challenge is probably the biggest stand-out, though. Plus, we get some really iconic moments like the "go back to Party City" fight, Willam's disqualification, and Sharon's apocalyptic look. Speaking of Sharon, she's probably one of the most memorable queens in the entire history of the show. I have yet to do winner rankings, but she's definitely a queen that I've really loved and appreciated, and both her presence on the show and the fact that she won had such a huge affect on drag. Sharon was the weirdo that broke the rules and it was so great to watch her win.

4) Season 7

I'm pretty sure this is the most taboo of all of my rankings, because Season 7 doesn't have such a great reputation. But I loved it, and I love going back and re-watching it. Admittedly, a lot of the reason that I love watching it is because I love watching the train wreck over and over again, but it makes it such entertaining TV. Season 7 gave us one of the biggest stand-outs in recent years- KATYA. I'm also a pretty big Pearl fan (her personality just speaks right to my overly-chill heart), and I really liked Max as well. Apart from them, there were a few other strong queens, many weak queens, and a few really unlikable queens. I actually don't mind Violet, and I generally like Ginger, but Kennedy and Jasmine were nearly unbearable. But the challenges this season were really great. Shakesqueer was fantastic despite being a mess, the parody music video was hilarious, and I re-watch videos from the Divine challenge and Glamazonian airways on the reg. Yes, I think that the cast could've been a bit stronger in the talent department, but I think that they made up for it with the entertainment that they brought to the show.

3) All Stars 2

I feel like everything this season was either absolutely amazing or just really messy. The cast of queens was amazing. I've never been a big Coco fan, so I thought she was a bit unnecessary in the cast, but everyone else clearly belonged on the season and was great to watch for their own unique reasons. Even including Coco, the entire cast were all people who were incredibly memorable and made huge impacts on their respective seasons. On top of this, the challenges this season were fantastic. The All Stars Snatch Game was great, and my personal favorite was probably the Herstory of the World lip sync performance. To be honest, I don't think there was a single challenge that I thought was a dud. They were all really interesting and gave us some really great moments. Even the makeover challenge, which is usually a bit of a snooze for me, was really great because it was their own family members. We also got the now-classic Shut Up and Drive lip sync between Alyssa and Tati, which was just absolutely phenomenal and probably the best (or at least, most competitive) lip sync in the history of the show. 

Now, here comes the slight negative. I feel like this season definitely tainted my opinion on a few queens that I absolutely love. Going into All Stars, my top 3 favorite Drag Race queens of all time were Adore, Bianca, and Alaska-- probably in that order as well. Now... let's just say that Bianca is firmly in first place. I still love Alaska and Adore, and they're probably still both in my personal top 3. But, for some people, this season completely tanked their reputations. I have no qualms with Alaska winning the show- she killed it almost the whole season and clearly deserved the crown. But, that hissy fit that she threw in the second-to-last episode was just a mess, and I think we all know that Katya deserved the money on at least one of the challenges that she narrowly lost to Alaska. Despite those couple of hiccups, I really enjoyed this season and despite some pretty low moments, I thought it was a really entertaining season.

2) Season 5

These top 2 seasons have consistently been my top 2 over the years, and I really don't see them going anywhere any time soon. Both of these seasons are just so awesome, and I find myself gravitating toward re-watches of them constantly. However, season 5 is the clear #2 for me. I think the cast this season was pretty awesome. I mean, if you look at the All Stars 2 cast, the entirety of the top 6 this season (sans our winner, Jinkx) was brought back. That's literally half the All Stars cast. Season 5 really had everything that you could want in a season of Drag Race- a great cast, great challenges, and oh. so. much. drama. This cast is especially interesting to me, because I feel like it was very top-heavy (AKA, the best were super strong, not that they were all tops haha) but the rest of the cast was kinda weak. However, we got a ton of really memorable personalities. We got introduced to Serena ChaCha, who chachaed onto our screen for a hot second to fight with everyone and then shashayed away. With Jinkx, we found another really quirky queen who helped to try and change the overall perception of quirky queens. We got our first on-show trans confession with Monica Beverly Hillz. And, of course, we got our first double-elimination and Roxxxy's wig reveal lip sync. So, even though some of the queens were a bit weaker, they still gave us great moments. 

On top of that, the challenges this season were fantastic. We got the perfume challenge, which gave us the now-classic Alyssa's Secret. The RuPaul Roast was not only a fantastic challenge overall, but the lip sync that episode was the one where we got Roxxxy's wig reveal. We also got the great telanovela challenge and the candy couture challenge as well. Plus, the kids Barnyard Buddies TV show challenge. There were just so many really, really great ones this season. And of course, the drama. Alyssa and Coco were constantly at each other's throats, giving us the amazing "Backrolls?" line (technically, that was Jade's doing, but let's just forget about her), Roxxxy was coming for Jinkx constantly, and the aforementioned Serena ChaCha totally brought the drama for the 2 episodes she was on. This whole season was just so entertaining from beginning to end, and I can't help but re-watch over and over and over.

1) Season 6

And finally, we're at my favorite season of Drag Race. To be honest, it's not even close. Ever since the first time I watched this season, it has been my favorite. I've re-watched this season probably more than I've watched any other season put together. Everything about it is absolutely fantastic. The best part about the season for me is the cast. Every single queen brings something to the season-- even Magnolia Crawford. Joslyn Fox is completely precious, Gia Gunn is so oblivious, Milk is crazy-unique, De La is so rootable, Adore is a perfect mess, and Bianca is just actual perfection. Even Trinity K Bonet is fantastic. I just absolutely love this entire cast. They're so awesome and such a great mix of personalities, all of whom made a huge impact on the season. Personally, Gia Gunn annoys me to death, but it's so much fun to watch her on the show. Overall, the cast is just absolutely fantastic. 

The challenges this season are also amazing. Honestly, I think every single challenge this season is memorable. Every time I re-watch, I have trouble stopping because I see the next week's preview and think "ooh, I love that challenge." For me, this season's Snatch Game is unquestionably the best in the history of the show. Even the people who landed in the middle were overall fantastic, on top of the fact that Bianca, Adore, and De La's performances were elite. The Scream Queens challenge was really great, Oh No She Betta Don't was hilariously perfect, and Shade the Rusical is in contention for my favorite challenge in the history of the show. It's amazing. Like I said, I don't think there's a single challenge this season I don't like. Every single one is so good. Plus, in addition to these challenges, Laganja gives us a great amount of drama. It's so much fun to also watch the Adore/Bianca friendship develop from strangers, to slightly antagonistic, to actual besties. Plus, the development of Trinity K Bonet as a character is really fantastic. Overall, this season just has everything I could ever want and I re-watch it over and over and over. It's amazing.

So, those are my rankings of the seasons of RuPaul's Drag Race! I'm planning on ranking the winners very soon, so watch out for that very soon! Let me know down in the comments what you think of my rankings, and which season of Drag Race is your favorite!

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Pendragon Book 2: The Lost City of Faar Discussion [Summer Reading Challenge]

Hey, y'all! I'm here with another summer reading challenge post! I'm continuing on with my July challenge: The Pendragon Adventure!

Series Info

Since this series is a little less well-known than the other series in my Summer Reading Challenge, I decided to discuss the premise of the series as a whole. The Pendragon Adventure is a 10 book series centered around our main character, Bobby, and his adventures through multiple dimensions (or territories, as they're called in the books). The books are told from a dual perspective. Our main perspective is of Bobby, told in first-person through journals which he sends to his best friend to keep a record of what is happening. The secondary perspective is of Bobby's best friend, Mark, and pseudo-girlfriend, Courtney, who receive the journals and go through their own problems on Earth. The majority of the books focus on a single territory each, as Bobby travels there to thwart the evil Saint Dane.

Book Summary
As always, remember not to read this if you haven't read the previous books in the series, because this summary will probably spoil you for any books that came before this one!

After successfully defeating Saint Dane in Denduron, Bobby and Uncle Press follow him to the territory he has escaped to- Cloral. Cloral is a world made up completely of water, and rather than having land, there are floating cities called habitats. But, upon arriving on Cloral and meeting up with Press's friend, Spader, they find that Cloral seems to be doing just fine. But things may not be exactly as they seem.

Overall Thoughts

Non-spoiler section!

In my last post, I said that I didn't remember much about The Lost City of Faar. That's both true and false. I remembered a lot about the world and a lot about Spader. It was the plot that I couldn't remember. I remembered maybe 2 plot points, but nothing else at all. This second (at least, I think it's only the second time) read reminded me why I really like this book. I'll have to get through the entire series before I make a definitive statement, but Cloral is definitely one of my favorite territories, if not my absolute favorite. It's such a cool world and DJ MacHale does such a great job making it come to life.

Along with that, Spader is one of my favorite characters in the series. He has so many really great qualities along with being just a really pleasant person in general.

Although The Lost City of Faar and The Merchant of Death are about the same length, The Lost City of Faar seems like a much quicker read than Merchant of Death. I guess this could be because in Merchant of Death, we not only learn a lot about everything, but also get a ton of action, whereas Lost City of Faar is less action, more adventure. Which I fine with me, because I've always been more a fan of adventure than action.

Lost City of Faar is also a really important turning point in the books. I obviously won't say why right here since this is the non-spoiler section, but some of the events in this book cause a huge turning point for Bobby continuing on into the rest of the series, and it's definitely great to see the way that Bobby responds to it.

As far as rating, because I really love the territory and the characters and the adventure, I'll go with a 4.5 out of 5 for now. As always, this could change for my final ratings, but that's where it is for right now.

Spoilery Discussion!

I know I said this about both Loor and Alder, but Spader is one of my favorite travelers. A lot of my favorite travelers are introduced fairly early in the series. I had actually forgotten that Spader accompanied Bobby in to the next territory. I remembered him being in more of the series and being a bit of a sidekick for Bobby, but I couldn't remember if it was immediately after Cloral. And I still can't remember how long he's with Bobby. Like I said, it's been a really long time since I read these books. I read most of them in 7th grade, then read books 7 &8  when book 8 came out, and then the last two when they were released. So it's been quite a while. I remember people and places but all of the plots are fuzzy.

As I said, I really like Cloral. That would be a really cool territory to visit. But I also enjoy the adventures they have while on Cloral. And the gadgets that Cloral has are really cool. And, of course, the city of Faar being totally hidden for centuries and centuries is also cool. Saint Dane also got pretty sneaky on Cloral. In Denduron, we saw him pretending to be two people, but this time we got three. I had totally forgotten that he impersonated one of the scientists, as well as the scene where he took the form of an aquaneer to get out of the brig. I'd forgotten how many different forms that Saint Dane took. Also, it seems like my question has been answered- Saint Dane clearly doesn't always have the blue eyes. However, it seems like he retains the blue eyes for whatever main villain he's impersonating, but whenever he actually doesn't want Bobby to know who he is, he'll change his eye color.

One of my favorite scenes in the book is when Bobby takes Spader to Zadaa to talk to Loor. Like I said in my last post, I used to not like Loor, but she's now one of my favorite characters. She's always there when Bobby needs her. Always.

And, we have the turning point of the entire series- the death of Uncle Press. Uncle Press's death always makes me thing of Dumbledore's death. Both are the only real mentors that the main character has, and their death shows that the main character is now on his own and has to solve his problems by himself. I think that's why, on my first read-through, I was shocked that Uncle Press died. I think I knew it would happen at some point in the series, but I don't think anyone expected it that early in the series. And it was just so sudden.

I haven't talked a ton about Mark and Courtney up until this point. Obviously, their plot isn't as exciting as Bobby's. I don't really remember a ton about their plot throughout the rest of the series, although I do remember bits and pieces. But I do know that their plot throughout this book is frustrating. Mitchell is just so annoying and I wanted him to go away. I had totally forgotten about Mark and Courtney tricking him, but I still wasn't sure why that was necessary. Once Mitchell had started claiming that the pages had come through some magic passageway in Mark's ring, the police would've just thought he was some crazy kid. Either way, their little trick worked, so yay.

Favorite Quotes

Page 58: "Nice of you to say, Press," replied Spader. "Last one to Grallion buys the sniggers?"
"Snickers?" I said. "They have candy bars here?"
"Sniggers, Bobby. It's a drink," answered Uncle Press

Page 71: A small grocery store was next to a small library and that was next to a shop that carried a little bit of everything from tools to toys to cookware. On Second Earth we had a name for this kind of store. Target.

Page 172: Unfortunately nobody else in the stadium was as excited as I was. Here I was jumping up and down like some crazed fan from the Cleveland Browns Dog Pound, and everyone else was just sat there, watching me, wondering who this idiot was who had lost control. Every eye in the stadium was on me, including the warriors down on the field. I felt like a total imbecile.
"Is this a custom where you come from?" asked Spader, who was just as surprised at my enthusiasm as everyone else in the stadium.
.........
She didn't even know who I was. I felt horrible. Then, a moment later, I saw it in her eyes. She finally recognized me; that's when something happened that I never would have expected. It was so shocking that I no longer cared about being embarrassed. It just didn't matter anymore, because as she stood there breathing hard, Loor looked up at me and smiled.

Page 236: If I had only one sentence to describe what it was like to be a Traveler, it would be this: "Just when you think you've seen it all... you haven't."

Page 309: "You want to know what I think?" I asked Saint Dane. "I think if you truly knew what was going to happen, if you really believed this was all part of your plan and that you couldn't be beaten, then you wouldn't keep begging me to join you."
Saint Dane blinked. I saw it. I had hit a nerve.
"What do I think?" I added. "It might not be here, it might not be today or even on this territory, but for the first time since I met you on Second Earth, I think that when this is all over, I'll be the one who's beaten you... because that is the way it's supposed to be."

Page 343: "Okay," I said, not really understanding. "What will stop his quest?"
Uncle Press didn't answer at first. I wasn't sure if he didn't want to tell me, or he didn't know. Finally he said:
"It won't end until he thinks he's won. That's when he'll fail.

Page 350: "I've told you there is only one Traveler from each territory," he said. "You never asked why there were two from Second Earth."
He was right. I never did. I don't know why, but the thought never crossed my mind. It was so obvious, but I never thought about it. Or maybe I didn't want to.
"Are you going to tell me?"
"The answer is, there can't be two Travelers from Second Earth. I knew my time was short. That's why I brought you from home. It was your time. It was Loor's time, and Spader's too. You are the next Travelers."
..........
"I'll tell you something else," he said. "You are the last. All that has gone before is prelude. The fight is yours. You will take it to the end. You are the last Travelers."

Page 360: I seriously thought about getting back to Second Earth and hiding under your bed, Mark. You could feed me leftover mac and cheese, nobody would know where I was, and I'd never have to think about anyone named Saint or Dane again.


So, there you go, that's all for this summer reading post! Have you read the Pendragon series? What do you think of the series? Let me know in the comments!

I've also created a Facebook page for my blog, so if you want to check that out and like it, you can click HERE. I'll try to keep that pretty up-to-date with new posts and such.

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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 Lost Souls Discussion [Summer Reading Challenge]

Hey, y'all! I'm here with another summer reading challenge post! I'm now in the process of reading The Mortal Instruments series. The first four books of the series are re-reads for me, while the 5th and 6th books will be first-time reads, so City of Lost Souls is the first book of the series that isn't a re-read for me. As usual, I'll give a non-spoilery summary and overall thoughts/rating before jumping into a spoilery discussion and my favorite quotes.

At the time when this post goes up, I'll either be still asleep or deeply engrossed in City of Heavenly Fire. As I said on previous posts, I 100% plan on having City of Heavenly Fire finished by the end of the month. That means that I'll be reading most of the day. I'm not sure if I'll have the discussion post up Sunday, but I kinda doubt it (because it'll probably take all day Saturday, and I'll be exhausted). The following days will be the series wrap-up and the monthly wrap-up, back to back.

Book Summary

[Reminder: don't read this section if you haven't read all 4 of the previous books. I have to talk about what's happened up to this point to discuss the plot of City of Lost Souls!]

It has been two weeks since the conclusion of City of Fallen Angels, and no one has seen or heard from Jace since he disappeared. When Clary finally sees Jace again, she realizes that Lilith's magic has effected him in a significant way, and joined him to Sebastian more closely than she could have ever realized. She sets out to try and save Jace from the hold that Sebastian has on him... but is there anything left of the real Jace to save?

Overall Thoughts

Non-spoiler section!

In my last discussion, I talked about how City of Fallen Angels wasn't anywhere near my favorite Cassandra Clare novel, I thought it was still a good book and felt that it was important to separate personal like/dislike and appreciation. I feel that somewhat with City of Lost Souls as well. There were certain aspects of the book that I just didn't like, solely due to my own personal taste. These aspects were essential to the plot and made it a great quality book, but it upset me to see certain characters behaving the way they were.

City of Lost Souls was definitely back along the lines of the original trilogy as far as the intricate plots and tense, exciting scenes. There was, of course, relationship drama... but it wouldn't be a Cassie Clare book without relationship drama! It just wasn't excessive and didn't push the plot by the wayside for more than half of the book as was done in City of Fallen Angels.

One complaint I did have was with the pacing. Well, maybe not so much the pacing as just with the length of the final scene. The last bit of the book is building up to this exciting scene, and when I finally got to that scene, I checked to see how much of the book I had left (I was reading it on my kindle). I was surprised to see that it was the last chapter! I usually expect the one final scene to be at least a couple chapters. It just seemed very abrupt and short.

So, rating. At this point, I'm giving it 4.5 stars out of 5. Despite the fact that I didn't like some aspects of the book, I think that quality-wise it was definitely on par with the bar that the original trilogy set. 

Spoilery Discussion!

So, as I was discussing in the non-spoilery section, I was really bothered by Jace throughout the book. Yes, I know that he was possessed and that he couldn't control what he was doing, but I just didn't enjoy reading those bits and seeing him being... not him. Obviously, it's a very important plot point, and is instrumental in making it a good and powerful book, it just made me really sad to see him acting like that.

Also... Magnus and Alec broke up.... NO. I mean, Cassie Clare tends to give her fans really satisfying endings, so I'm sure they'll get back together at some point... right? RIGHT? I mean, Magnus Bane has gone from person to person, never really forming a real bond, but for the first time, he actually, truly, loves someone. It would be terrible of Cassandra Clare to leave an extremely loved character unhappy.

I thought that Clary definitely seemed a lot stronger in this one. She's clearly becoming a fierce fighter and is becoming a stronger character... I mean, she drove a sword through the one person she loves more than anything else. And she did it because she knew he'd rather be dead than continue living the way he was. I mean... whoa. I couldn't do that. That's for sure.

OK, so I don't have a ton more to say about the book, but I do have some theories about City of Heavenly Fire. So let's get into that, shall we?

City of Heavenly Fire: Crackpot Theories 

Spoiler Warning: If you have not read all of Cassandra Clare's books preceding City of Heavenly Fire, you shouldn't read this. It involves stuff from both the Infernal Devices and the Mortal Instruments!

I've seen a couple of my favorite booktubers talking about their crackpot theories for City of Heavenly Fire, and I liked a lot of the ideas they had, and they seemed to agree with a lot of the things I was thinking.

So right off the bat, Cassandra Clare said that 6 named characters will die. So let's list off who I think that will be.

1) Sebastian. This one's obvious, right? C Squared (This should be Cassandra Clare's new nickname) has already said that every character gets closure. If Sebastian doesn't die, NONE of our main characters get closure.
2) Maureen. C Squared (liking this name more and more) has set her up to be somewhat of a villain at the end of City of Lost Souls. And villains need to die. Every character has closure. I don't know what other closure could be given to Maureen.
3) Rafael. He's going to come after Simon once he knows Simon doesn't have the mark of Cain anymore. He's already said that. The only way for this to end well for Simon is for Rafael to die.
4) Robert Lightwood. When I saw the crackpot theories videos, they mentioned a hint about a "Shadowhunter funeral," one of the few hints I didn't know about. I think this will be Robert Lightwood's. It could be Maryse, but I think we need her around to explain one of my other theories. Plus, C Squared is more likely to kill him off because he's just not as good of a person as Maryse.
5) Jordan. This is probably the most painful one for me. I know one of the couples is going to be separated. Supposedly a boyfriend dies. C Squared isn't going to kill off Jace, Simon, Magnus, or Alec. Come on, now. But it's plausible for her to kill off Jordan. I love Jordan, but most people wouldn't be too hurt for him to die. Honestly, I'd prefer if Maia died. But she made the inside cover. She isn't going anywhere.
6) Amatis. She's become one of Sebastian's followers, whether she wanted to or not. We've been told that there's no way to change them back. Therefore, I think that she is going to have to die.

I do have 3 other people I think could be plausible substitutes for the 6 above:
1) Camille. But wait, isn't she already dead? Well... according to Maureen, she is. But do we really believe that Camille, Camille, the most powerful vampire we see throughout both series, could be killed by a fledgling vampire? I think NOT. Honestly, I think she's going to be the one to kill Rafael. But I wouldn't be surprised if she was killed as well.
2) The Seelie Queen. OK, so we don't technically know her real name, besides "The Seelie Queen" but hear me out. She's already proven that she's thrown her lot in with Sebastian. She's going to be an actual villain in this book rather than just an annoyance. The only thing I think saves her butt is that she does whatever is most beneficial to her. When she sees Sebastian losing, she'll change alliances.
3) Magnus Bane. Again, hear me out. I like the theory that Katytastic threw out, saying that Magnus will die of old age in the epilogue. I'm pretty convinced that Magnus and Alec will get back together and that Magnus will give up his immortality to grow old with Alec. However, I'm not sure that the epilogue will stretch out far enough into the future for us to see that. The only reason we saw so far into the future of Tessa and Will and Jem was because Tessa and Jem lived for that long. I think the epilogue is going to be more similar to City of Glass. Everything wraps up, we find out what their immediate plans are, and everything is happy. Because I'm sure we'll hear more about all of our favorite characters in the Dark Artifices.

Speaking of the epilogue, I think it's going to be Jocelyn and Luke's wedding. I definitely think that their wedding will take place sometime during City of Heavenly Fire. We've waited this long for their wedding- Cassie isn't going to deny that to us. However, I don't think they would drop everything to get married in the midst of all this turmoil... Unless they went all Elizabeth Swann/ Will Turner on us. That would be epic. Doubtful, but epic. Because of that, I think they'll probably get married in the epilogue.

OK, relationships. we've been told that a couple will be separated forever. I think this will be Jordan and Maia. It's painful, but it's not going to completely destroy us. That's how Cassie likes it. We've also been told that a character will die saving another character. I think this is also referring to Jordan. I wouldn't be surprised if he died saving Maia. Past that, I think that all of our major couples will stay together.

Kat (of Katytastic) and Christine (of PolandBananasBooks) have come up with a theory about Isabelle... and I think I agree with them. At some point in City of Lost Souls, there was a blatant mention of Isabelle's dark eyes and how she wished that she had her parents' blue eyes. Now, I'm no science expert, and it's been years since I've taken Bio, BUT I do remember a bit about genetics. Kat and Christine both believed it was impossible for two blue-eyed people to have a dark-eyed child. I don't think it's impossible, but it IS unlikely. Brown eyes are a dominant gene, while blue eyes are recessive. If one or both parents carried the dominant gene, there's some possibility of two blue-eyed parents having a dark eyed child, because dark eyes are dominant.

HOWEVER, let's stop talking genes, and let's start talking Cassie Clare. Kat and Christine went through their books, and couldn't find an instance where Max's eye color was mentioned. His eyes are mentioned, but never their color. We know everyone else's eye color, even some of the unimportant ones. And yet, we are never told Max's, despite the fact that his eyes are mentioned several times. I find that to be a highly unlikely coincidence. And Cassie Clare does love a good plot twist. So, Kat and Christine had an idea... What if Isabelle isn't the daughter of both Maryse and Robert? The first thought was that she was the offspring from one of his affairs. BUT she looks A LOT like Maryse and that's been mentioned several times. Then, the conclusion that I came to (approximately 30 seconds before watching the part of Kat's video where she mentioned that this was also their conclusion) is that... maybe Isabelle is the child of Maryse and VALENTINE. Valentine has dark eyes. Maryse thought she was extremely close with him. Every Shadowhunter in the circle hung on his every word. Also, Valentine was experimenting on children/pregnant women at that time. I wouldn't put it past him to get someone pregnant to experiment on their child. Which also means... could Isabelle also have some sort of different blood in her? Jace and Clary have angel blood, Sebastian has demon blood... warlock? vampire? faerie? werewolf? There are so many possibilities!

Anyway, this is all theory. There's a good chance that this is getting blown out of proportion and that Isabelle is actually full Lightwood. BUT it also seems like an unlikely coincidence.

Finally, my last theory about City of Heavenly Fire has to do with one of the things about the book that I'm most looking forward to... the overlap between TMI and ID. The most popular theory, and the one I believe, is that Jace's heavenly fire is what burns the demon blood from Jem and allows him to leave the brotherhood and become a shadowhunter again. We know that the epilogue of Clockwork Princess happens sometime during City of Heavenly Fire, but WHEN? Honestly, I hope that it's early on. After touching Jace and learning what's going on with him, I think that Brother Zachariah probably realizes that this could help him. If he acts on this quickly enough, we can have our Jem back early on and we can get Tessa into the story quickly. That part is more of a hope than a theory, but I'm sure we'll get them in the story eventually. I'm still of the mindset that the brunette Magnus Bane was speaking to at the end of City of Glass was Tessa. Maybe that'll be mentioned when Clary first sees her.

That's all the theory I really have for the book... I'm ready to just dive right into it!

Favorite Quotes

Page 71: Alec looked merely irritated by this comment. "The only way you could raise enough money to hire Magnus by selling lemonade is if you put meth in it."

Page 79: "A silent brother was present, someone sworn to secrecy, and a female warlock who took the place of the Iron sister."
Jem and Tessa. It has to be Jem and Tessa. RIGHT?

Page 94: "I was hoping they'd put up flyers like they do for lost cats," he said. "Missing, one stunningly attractive teenage boy. Answers to 'Jace,' of 'Hot Stuff.'"

Page 108: "Saint Magnus's Home for Wayward Shadowhunters," he said in a deep voice. "Welcome." He threw an arm wide. "Spare bedrooms are that way. Wipe your boots on the mat."

Page 140: Simon patten the seat beside him as if someone were sitting there. "Let me introduce you to my good friend No."........."'No' is a magical word," he told her. "Here's how it goes. You say, 'Simon, I have an insane, suicidal plan. Would you like to help me carry it out?' And I say, 'Why, no.'"

Page 198: "I hate ducks. Don't know why. I just always have."

Page 467: "I was going to start off 'Friends, Romans, evildoers...' but I didn't think they'd see the humor."

Page 478: "Speaking of hope, did you see that shot Alec got off with his bow? That's my boyfriend." He beamed and wiggled his fingers; blue sparks shot from hem. He shone all over. Only Magnus, Simon thought resignedly, could have access to sequined battle armor.

Page 505: "No, Jace's is sort of the antiaircraft artillery tank of male egos," Simon admitted.

Page 531: "Unless you want that whole baby-I'm-on-fire-when-we kiss thing to become freakishly literal."


So, there you go, that's all for this summer reading post! Like I said earlier, the next few posts will be up ASAP!

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!