Review Detail

...and going, and that’s a good thing! I’ve always shouted it from the rooftops that Cassandra Clare’s Mortal Instruments series is infinitely better than Twilight, and everything Stephanie Meyer was hoping to create. However, I’m not the one who has sold millions of copies of my vampire romance novels and raked in big bucks thanks to five movies so I guess that joke’s on me. Anyway, the entire Mortal Instruments series is routinely consistent with good plot, relatable characters, and a romance I can’t help but be regularly creeped out by slash root for.

The fourth book in particular, "City of Fallen Angels," really shows how brilliant of a writer Cassandra Clare is. She essentially had the chance to end the series as a trilogy. The third book, City of Glass, ended so completely and with all questions answered that she could have gracefully walked away to move on with other projects. Clare had created such a complete world, however, that she could just keep on going with a whole new cast of villains and plot lines to antagonize our favorite Shadowhunters.

This really reminds me of J.R.R. Tolkien or J.K. Rowling in that they created such solid and tangible worlds that they probably could have kept writing adventures based in them for the rest of eternity. They quit while they were ahead, however, and chose when the right time was to bow out. I can honestly say that I hope that time doesn’t come anytime soon for Clare. I’m certain she has more Shadowhunter tricks up her sleeve.