#also the quote is from the tales of the red wayfarer

[redwayfarers]

“We’re a pair made of a blue melusine and an elf with very long red hair,” I remind him and lift a brow. “Both exceedingly tall and exceedingly handsome, if I may say so myself. Wonderful taste we both have, truly. If you think we aren’t stared at, think again.”

GUYS, LOOK AT WHAT @just-eyris-things MADE FOR ME! It’s part of an art trade between us, my part’s coming soon, but in the meantime, can we !!! at this Cassmel piece she did!!! Cass’ hair, Mel’s jewellery, the red and blue!! The details on Mel’s serithan!! Truly, Eyris, you have outdone yourself ;;;;; <333

Thank you so, so much, I love this so, so, sooooo much <333

[ladyhindsight]

I had no effing clue what the story was going to be about. Went in absolutely blind this time, and I find it really difficult to come up with a cohesive order to discuss this book. After I finished reading it, the story just felt weird and hollow, untied and all over the place. I can’t find a purpose other than to set up the Biggest, Baddest, Never-Before-Seen Evil in The Wicked Powers. After finishing the book, it really seems pretty evident that Lucifer and the Princes of Hell are the biggest enemy the Shadowhunters are going to face.

Unlike in The Red Scrolls of Magic, flaws in continuity didn’t straight up punch you in the face. I didn’t really detect much anything as to continuity errors, although I haven’t read Ghost of the Shadow Market yet so that might change things, of course. There was one tiny detail that bugged me to no end though. The book begins with a prologue that takes place during City of Glass, right before the moment Clary and Sebastian arrive at Ragnor’s house. Last paragraph (that is one sentence) reads “From the window he watched the steady footfalls of Clary Fairchild’s and Sebastian Verlac’s horses as they descended into the clearing to meet him.”

HORSES.

There was ONE horse and ITS NAME was WAYFARER.

Additionally the prologue does a fairly nice job patching up the whole weirdness in City of Glass where Magnus doesn’t seem all that sad over Ragnor’s death. Retconning Ragnor’s death fits well in the overall story in the series, and I at least don’t notice it bothering the continuity. I didn’t lose serotonin over this is all I’m saying.

It was rather surprising that the chapter titles were actually relevant and tied to the content in their respective chapters, not just some obscure references to poems, quotes, or classical literature. The writing was good in some parts, okay in some, and in some parts just the same atrocious telling, exposition-vomiting, and filtering the events through the characters. The usual. Compared to the The Red Scrolls of Magic I did notice more variance in the writing style however, but again, I haven’t read anything from Chu so I don’t know who to attribute this.

The plot was just plain weird, wacky, and disjointed. If Magnus and Alec both having being stabbed with the Svefnthorn is without consequence, what was the whole point? You can’t read this book without having read The Mortal Instruments, because nothing would make sense. The characters are lifted straight from TMI, and you’d have no idea who these people even are or what they’re like without reading TMI. On the other hand, the book relies heavily on the main series and the events in it, but at the same time feels the need to explain the Dark War, the Cold Peace, or anything relevant relating to the main events. Events which readers of TMI would already know, rendering all this dumb exposition useless.

The story also rides on the coattails of Tales from the Shadowhunter Academy when it tries to deal with Simon’s trauma but does it so heavy-handedly that it feels shoehorned in for the sake of having it addressed at least somewhere.

There is no cohesive story structure. I fucking missed the climax because I didn’t believe that the culmination of the story would end up with the main antagonists just walking away. When the gang returned back to Shanghai from Diyu, I had to stop and realize that yeah, that was it, like a moron.

I liked some of the humor in the book. I’m also glad that there was a double twist with Tian because I was about to roll my eyes out of my skull when he was first revealed as a “traitor.” Tian’s character, however, didn’t really have any distinct personality which was pretty unfortunate. He’s main role was to be an exposition machine and a tour guide to the other characters.

There were few surprisingly conscious observations made about the characters:

Jace being rash and self-sacrificing, thinking that he is only ever risking himself, and then Alec, Magnus, and Clary reminding Jace that him doing that will always affect the people who care about him

Jace being the only one having a realistic view of his own ability to run an Institute while others are trying to justify this eventual turn of events by saying, nah, you can totally do it

Alec noting how few years back he would’ve found the idea of Isabelle and Simon finding reassurance in each other ridiculous

Magnus noting how few years ago Clary would’ve been brash and has now grown up to be more considerate, which is cool because I like this Clary more than the one in TMI, but her character didn’t really experience that growth in the main series

Alec knowing he is sometimes ridiculed by Jace and Isabelle for wanting to have a solid plan whereas the latter ones tend to act on a hunch

Jace telling his plans once he’s already running towards the danger

These ones I can see in The Mortal Instruments and are somewhat in accordance to their characters. It’s just these observations should be in the main series, not in a companion book where all is said and done already years ago. The consciousness of the writing here does really nothing in the end when weighed against the thoughtless and Clace-centric writing in TMI.

I really think this is the extent of any cohesive thought I have about this book, so here some general notes on things:

i. In the first chapter Magnus thinks about Ragnor. “Ragnor, who had disappeared three years ago. Who had reassured Magnus he would be in touch soon.” The prologue takes place in 2007, it is told. The story takes place in 2010, which is also told. I am sure readers can do basic math that “three years ago” is such an unnecessary reminder immediately after the prologue.

ii. When Alec arrives to the scene where Shinyun and Ragnor are leaving their apartment, Magnus thinks about the fact that Alec thinks he might be too ordinary for Magnus, but as Alec stands there with his bow and arrow, Magnus “did not think Alec understood what it was like to behold, up close, a Shadowhunter in full warrior mode.”

iii. A Shadowhunter, which just sounds like jerking off to all the Nephilim. “the Shadowhunter” would mean just Alec, that Alec is not at all ordinary.

iv. When discussing backup for Shanghai, Alec brings up the fact that what if he needs runes as one of the reasons they need said backup. Like, you can draw them yourself?

v. I love that we have gone from “Angels probably do not exist, no one has ever seen an angel” to “Archangel Michael himself totally obliterated Sammael eons ago.”

vi. Alec is worried because Jace has not told him about Maryse asking Jace to take her place as the head of the New York Institute. “Why hadn’t Jace mentioned it? Even if he had doubts, who else be better to talk about them with than his parabatai?” I don’t know what to tell you Alec, Jace barely told you anything in The Mortal Instruments either.

vii. It’s ridiculous that the gang left Magnus alone in the hotel when they know Shinyun was after him. What were you expecting to happen?

viii. “Magnus and Jem had so much shared history, their relationship was so long and complex” Alec thinks, but I feel like I am being told stuff again.

ix. Magnus is experiencing side-effects from being thorned and Alec is concerned about him, but not enough to not to start lusting after him in the middle of it.

x. I feel like the go-to way of showing affection is always kissing, whereas embracing and leaning foreheads against each other would be far more intimate and far less constantly horny.

xi. I loved Elyaas making an appearance. I guessed it right from the part “A second tentacle joined the first, then a third. They shifted around on the desktop, leaving bits of slime.” And I got really excited after guessing correctly. Good god.

xii. Alec being total badass is being totally watered down. ““Michael,” he said, and as the sword blazed up with holy flame, Sammael visibly flinched at the sound of the archangel’s name.” Which is then followed by, “Magnus felt a wave of pride. Not everyone could diss a Prince of Hell so artfully.” Which is like patting yourself on the back for coming up with this. Alec’s spite is absolutely diluted.

xiii. I liked and enjoyed the integration of Chinese mythos. Diyu was more interesting and different than Edom (which was plain boring like Thule).

xiv. I don’t know what the hell is going on with people talking about Tessa and Jem’s wedding? There is apparently a bonus story, but my copy doesn’t have one. Nor does the PDF I found, so I’m really out of the loop. (Except that I have now found it and read it. What is it with all Clare’s characters having a prolonged make out session before everyone else? Also it was a blurb of names doing this and that, way too over-crowded for such a short piece. I see people complaining about Tessa and Jem’s wedding being a dream, but I honestly couldn’t care less whether people remember their wedding or not.)

xv. Why does Ke Liqin have to be Australian at all? Why is it always some English colony?

xvi. For a story taking place in China, it has very few Chinese characters in it.

xvii. Magnus and Alec’s relationship felt really flat and I enjoyed more the scenes where there was interaction between the whole gang, but it was also the kind of interaction that should’ve happened far earlier and in the main series. Alas, Jace’s torment and deep-as-hell love for Clary made no room for such niceties.

xviii. The Alliance rune makes a long-waited comeback and somehow is the reason the day is saved, but the story fails to explain why Alec didn’t get hurt and how he had the power to save Magnus? The writing just shrugs it off by saying “even we don’t know how!” This better go somewhere sometime because otherwise it means nothing and is just a cheap trick to solve an unsolvable problem.

xix. “All the stories are true” also makes a comeback. As if we needed more flashbacks to TMI.

xx. It’s weird that Sammael’s return has not been noted in The Dark Artifices. Oh, right. No one had come up with it yet.

xxi. I don’t know where to stand with Sammael as a villain. He was such a caricature but sometimes I found him funny. Then his villainess was explained by Alec, that Sammael is sooo powerful he has nothing to prove. I don’t really know what to make of it.

xxii. Clary and Isabelle’s friendship was refreshing after the bullshit in TMI, but because of the bullshit in TMI it was emphasized just a tad too much how they care about and love one another. It comes across as making up for their relationship in the main series.

xxiii. At this rate Isabelle is going to need her own series because even this book that she was in did absolutely nothing with her.

xxiv. Despite all the positive things I found in the characters in this book, they were rather simplified and underutilized. It was like all else was just filler and the point was to explain Ragnor’s “death” and prepare for The Wicked Powers since the last installment of this series will take place during that.