Okay, so the last chapter wasn’t all that bad, and we are heading towards the last quarter of the book. With any luck, this chapter won’t suck too bad.
Plus, we have a great moment from Simon to look forward to.
This chapter picks up where the last one left off. Everyone’s staring at the Cup in silence. Despite CC’s insistence to the contrary, I’m pretty sure Clary expected to be praised for this, and she’s not getting any. And then we get a moment of actual comedy from Jace.
“Somehow, I thought it would be bigger.”
I think I’m seeing what the problem with Jace’s ‘jokes’ is. Most of them have been targeted at other people, particularly Simon. Jace isn’t being funny, he’s just being mean. He comes across as a bully. And it doesn’t help that Simon is far more likeable, and Jace bullying him just makes Simon look more sympathetic.
Anyway, Clary defends the MacGuffin Cup, and apparently Jace was expecting it to be about the size of a house cat. I think Isabelle nicely sums up my response to this idea:
“It’s the Mortal Cup, Jace, not the Mortal Toilet Bowl,” said Isabelle. “Are we done now? Can we go?”
Yes, please, let’s not drag this out any longer. We have half a book’s worth of plot to get through, and a little over a quarter of a book to get through it.
But no, them just grabbing the Cup and leaving quietly wouldn’t be interesting, now would it?
Dorothea says that the Cup’s been damaged. When Clary starts handing it over so Mme. D can show her, Jace suddenly moves between them, ready to draw his weapon, and completely kills the mood.
“No offense,” he said calmly, “but no one touches the Mortal Cup except us.”
Yeah, wouldn’t want Dorothea to get her filthy mundie hands all over the Cup, now would we?
Dorothea tries to calm things down, but Jace just whips out his sword (not sure if I wish that were a metaphor or not) and starts threatening the woman.
I’m just going to spoil this now – there is something wrong with Dorothea. But this is just like when he chucked a knife into Raphael’s chest back in chapter fourteen. I’m sure that both situations were to demonstrate just how awesome Jace’s instincts or whatever are, but the fact that he just reacts instead of getting any evidence, and that he always reacts violently doesn’t make me think he’s awesome. It makes me think he’s a violent, paranoid sociopath.
Back to the book. Dorothea offers to let them use her magic door, which completely throws Jace for a loop. When Mme. D yanks the curtain, revealing a weird red cloud-thing, with something moving through it. Everyone ducks for cover and the thing hits Dorothea, who proceeds to do the standard possession act, stopping just shy of spitting pea soup.
And in the middle of all this, Alec and Jace have a wonderful little conversation.
Next to him, Alec in a choked voice said, “But you said there wasn’t much demonic activity – you said the levels were low!”
“They were low,” Jace growled.
“Your version of low must be different from mine!” Alec shouted.
It’s really nice to see Jace get called out for stuff. And honestly, I’m not sure what I find more entertaining – that Jace might have read his Sensor wrong, or that the thing might just be totally useless.
Jace makes his first intelligent decision in the whole book, and they all book it. Unfortunately, the door is magically locked. Jace asks for his wand back, though given what we’ve seen of his lock picking skills, he’ll only make it worse. Luckily for the door, the former Dorothea bursts into the hall to attack them.
Alec stares at the thing in horror. It seems that, without his bow, laying there like a slug is his only defense. But yanks his ass to safety before anything can happen.
Things are looking pretty grim for our heroes. But then the Dora-thing makes the same mistake all the other demons have made – it starts talking.
It starts out just demanding the MacGuffin Cup, but then Jace demands it identifies itself, things rapidly spiral downward.
The thing inclined it’s head. “I am Abbadon. I am the Demon of the Abyss. Mine are the empty places between the worlds. Mine is the wind and the howling darkness. I am as unlike those mewling things you call demons as an eagle is unlike a fly. You cannot hope to defeat me. Give me the Cup or die.”
You know, it is really hard to take these things seriously when they’ll just start babbling at the drop of a hat.
Isabelle helpfully informs us that this a “Greater Demon”, and no, I did not capitalize that.
Weird Word Choice: 1
Clary again gives a surprising demonstration of humanity (i.e. any at all) and asks what happened to Dorothea. The demon, ever accommodating, informs her that Dorothea is effectively dead, nicely avoiding any moral quandaries that might result from killing the demon.
Not that I doubt Jace or Alec would have any problems killing it if Dorothea were still alive, though. I mean, she is a filthy mundie, after all.
And then Jace does something possibly even worse than threatening the innocent old lady – he starts snarking at the monster.
“By the Angel,” Jace said, looking the demon up and down. “I knew Greater Demons were meant to be ugly, but no one ever warned me about the smell.”
The demon, rather than squashing him like the bug he is, instead hisses menacingly at Jace. Not since the Cullen family have I been so intimidated.
And Jace responds with yet more snark.
“I’m not sure about this wind and howling darkness business,” Jace went on, “smells more like a landfill to me. You sure you’re not from Staten Island?”
Okay, it’s not that I don’t like snarky characters. I love them – I can appreciate a character that looks a monster in the eye and cracks a joke. Heck, the Dresden Files are some of my favorite books.
But those characters don’t come across as being arrogant the rest of the time. Plus, those books are usually written in first person, so the reader knows that the hero is just managing to not piss themselves in terror.
I don’t get any of that from Jace. To me, he’s just pissing the thing off, which will make both his death and those of his companions all the more painful.
Oh, and points.
Rapier Twit: 2
Jace leaps at the Dora-thing, somehow manages to stab it twice before getting thrown into a wall, and yet manages to get up completely unharmed. I am really getting sick of how Jace just shrugs off getting hurt like that.
There’s an extended fight scene, with all three Shadowhunters participating, and Clary just sitting there like the proverbial bump on a log. Unfortunately for the three would-be demon slayers, they are way under-level for this encounter (maybe they should have spent more time grinding and less time going to parties and having teenage drama).
The demon gives Clary the standard “give me the thing or I kill your friends” speech, with Jace doing the standard “no don’t do it” stuff. But just before Clary can decide who to listen to, something awesome happens.
Simon makes his entrance.
But before I get to Simon being awesome, I need to share Clary’s reaction to this:
She had forgotten he was outside, had almost forgotten he existed.
So, yeah, Clary’s back to her old ways. It’s been, what, five minutes since she left Simon’s company, and not only has she completely forgotten that he’s there, she almost forgot that him entirely.
Bitch: 1
And this is even more egregious considering what Simon does next.
Remember the bow and arrows that Alec left in the van like an idiot? Well, Simon’s got them, and he intends to use them. Specifically, use them to shatter the skylight, bathing the demon in sunlight and killing it deader than disco.
Oh, god, that was awesome. So much so, in fact, that even CC feels we need a breather after that.
Random Scene Break: 1
We come back about half a second later, and even Simon’s impressed with what he just pulled off. Unfortunately, Jace groans, so Clary comes running so she can fret over him. Maybe he’ll learn something from this, like “don’t taunt the monster when you have nowhere to run”.
But Jace tries to act all tough and only shows concern for Alec. Yeah, somewhere in that fight scene that I skipped over, Alec got hit pretty bad. Clary briefly comes to her senses and acknowledges that Simon just saved all their bacon, but Jace again interrupts her. I guess when he talked about how he and Alec are “like brothers” he only meant “from a dysfunctional family”, because only now is Jace showing any real concern for Alec.
Alec is acting pretty loopy, but getting the shit beaten out of you will do that. But he’s conscious enough to ask if he got the kill. Because that will prove that he’s a real man or something.
God, Shadowhunter society is messed up.
Clary tells Alec that the demon is dead, which is apparently all he needed to make him happy and willing to undergo the excruciating pain of being healed. Seriously, what is up with this guy’s priorities?
And on another note, why is this such a big deal? It’s not like using Shadowhunter healing magic (sorry, “runes”) has really been treated with such severity before. I mean, is it a particularly painful process? I mean, yes, I could infer that, but honestly these people seem to whine about the tiniest little things, so they might be overreacting.
They actually get around to inspecting Alec’s wounds, and it turns out he got scratched by the demon’s claws, which is apparently a Big Deal. Simon suggests they take him to a hospital, but Jace and Isabelle put the kibosh on that because a regular doctor wouldn’t know how to treat these kinds of wounds.
They get Alec into the van, and just before they drive off, Jace says this to Simon.
“Drive fast, mundane,” he said. “Drive like hell was following you.”
Jace? Come here for a second.
Simon literally just saved your life, and those of your “friends”. Would it kill you to refer to him by his name? Oh, wait, he’s a mundane, so it’s not like he’s not a real person or anything.
Thank you, CC, for reminding me that, at the end of the day, Jace is still a racist prick.
Scene break to a few minutes later, and they’re still in the van.
Random Scene Break: 2
After we’re told the route they take (because that will be so useful to non-New Yorkers), we then move to Clary’s head, and she’s feeling all sad about Alec being hurt. Isabelle asks how much longer it’s going to take (ten minutes because, again, New York isn’t a car-friendly city), and then she does this:
“Simon – what you did, that was incredible. You moved so fast. I wouldn’t have thought a mundane could have thought of something like that.”
… Okay. On the one hand, thanks for finally acknowledging that Simon did something awesome. But Isabelle, you really should have stopped after “incredible”. Because everything after that just reeks of this ingrained, unintentional racism. And what makes it worse is that it’s coming from Isabelle, the one who so far has been the nicest of all three main Shadowhunters.
But what makes it even more obnoxious is the fact that apparently Clary/the narrator seems to think Simon should be amazed that one of the almighty Shadowhunters has deigned to bestow praise upon him. It reminds me of this bit from the Justice League cartoon. Yes, the praise is there, but the racist undertone makes the whole thing really uncomfortable. To quote one Amazon review (via tvtropes) it’s like “Simon’s mundane status [is] a crippling retardation he managed to overcome; apparently mundanes are incapable of dexterity, motor skills, or strategy?” So yeah, I can get why he isn’t fawning over Isabelle’s comment – it was a backhanded complement at best.
But rather than having Simon point all this out, CC has him explain that, because it took him so long to remember that there was a skylight in Clary’s building, it really wasn’t all that amazing. Don’t try to force him to be all humble, CC – Simon has once again proven to be more of a hero than your Draco knockoff. Leave him be.
Simon’s comment about the skylight does get Clary thinking, though – namely, that she did know about the skylight, and yet was totally useless. Just like she’s been since the very beginning. If this is an attempt to gain my sympathies, CC, you’re failing.
Even Jace complements Simon’s mad demon slaying skillz, and he has the decency to leave it as a simple “good job”. We then get into explaining what really happened, because once again, CC apparently thinks that if something isn’t explained to the audience, then they won’t understand it.
No Shit Sherlock: 1
Short answer that you’ve probably already figured out: Dorothea got possessed, and the demon hid most of itself in her magic door. Hence why they didn’t get any demon radio – it wasn’t technically in the building. This segues into Jace talking about the demon, and just how nasty it really was.
“Abbadon – one of the Ancients. The Lord of the Fallen.”
“Well, it looks like the Fallen will just have to learn to get along without him from now on,” said Simon, turning onto the street.
“He’s not dead,” Isabelle said. “Hardly anyone’s ever killed a Greater Demon. You have to kill them in their physical and ethereal forms before they’ll die. We just scared him off.”
Goddamnit, Isabelle, stop raining on Simon’s well deserved parade. And what do you mean, “we” scared him off? Last I checked, the three “trained demon hunters” were out for the count when Simon busted in and took it out with one shot. So, yeah, fuck you.
!http://ajikaslafma.wikispaces.com/file/view/fuck%20you%20(2).gif/355958548/fuck%20you%20(2).gif!
What is up with Isabelle this chapter? It’s like CC realized that she was too likeable and decided to crank Isabelle’s Scary Sue levels up to eleven.
Also, I’m not counting some of those capitalizations, because those probably are proper nouns.
Alec starts making choking noises because that’s what wounded people do, which gets Jace all pissy and demanding when they’ll get there. But no need to worry, because they’ve arrived.
Wait, what?
Plot Hole: 1
That was either the shortest ten minutes I’ve ever seen, or Simon’s driving is so good he managed to bend space. Seriously, all that talking should have taken maybe two minutes, tops. Maybe Simon drove through the plot hole.
Jace and Isabelle take Alec inside while Clary and Simon talks some more. Or to more accurately phrase it, Simon reassures Clary that she wasn’t completely useless on this trip, even though most of what she did was take up space and convert oxygen into carbon dioxide.
One scene break later, and Clary’s inside.
Random Scene Break: 3
Clary goes upstairs to the Infirmary (because having to carry wounded people up a flight of stairs is such a wonderful idea), and Alec’s already being treated. Hodge is playing doctor, with Isabelle serving as nurse. Meanwhile, Jace, who is “like a brother” to Alec, is standing out in the hall.
Now, I’ll admit that it’s hard to have someone you care about in the hospital. I’ve been though it a few times myself. Not everyone responds the same way – some might be overly comforting, some might go into denial, and some might just go into a kind of shock. But still, unless Jace was specifically told to stay out of the way, he should at least be in the room.
When Clary looks over at Jace, he opens his eyes, and his pupils are really dilated. Like, really, really dilated. They’re described as “all gold swallowed up in black.”
Um, dude? What’s up with your eyes? Are you high or something? Or is this just CC not understanding how eye dilation works?
Clary asks about Alec’s condition, and it seems that, in addition to losing a lot of blood, he’s also been poisoned, because apparently demons can do that. Go figure. Clary tries to sympathize, but Jace is having none of it, declaring Alec being wounded to be entirely his fault, and even quoting Catholic Mass (either because Christianity is Catholic or so we can have more Gratuitous Latin), specifically the phrase “mea culpa, mea maxima culpa”, which he translates as “my fault, my grievous fault.”
And yes, it is all in italics, because LATIN.
Weird Word Choice: 2
And now, a few quick fun facts regarding that phrase.
First, if you want to get technical, the phrase is “mea culpa, mea culpa, mea maxima culpa”. Second, since it’s in the ablative case, it more accurately translates as “through my fault, through my fault, through my most grievous fault.”
Back to sporking. Clary actually calls him on his quoting Catholic Mass, and Jace starts going off on how Shadowhunters don’t buy into religion, but they’re super serious about stuff like honor and guilt and penance. I don’t quite buy it, though, because as we’ve seen, Jace doesn’t quite seem to grasp the concept of taking responsibility for his actions. So him going on about how all this stuff is just ingrained in him comes across as really disingenuous.
Oh, wait, this time it’s Alec who’s laid up, not Simon. Never mind.
Jace goes on about how he should have noticed Alec’s behavior, and how he should have done something, and how during the fight he should have been thinking about his buddies instead of about the useless lump whose pants he’s trying to get into.
Yeah, CC really wants me to feel sorry for Jace, but it isn’t working. Again, for me to feel sorry for him, I actually have to kind of like him in the first place. So here, it feels less like he’s sorry, and more like he’s trying to turn this situation to his advantage.
And it works. Clary starts being all nice, saying that it’s totally not his fault, and thankfully Hodge shows up before this can get any sappier. He’s pumped enough drugs into Alec that the kid can sleep, but otherwise, there’s nothing he can do. They all start moving towards the library so Hodge can send a note to the Creepy Psychic Monks, because apparently this sort of thing also falls under their bailiwick.
(Hehe. I just got to use the word “bailiwick”. Awesome.)
Along the way, they explain that, yes, they did in fact find the MacGuffin Cup, something that Jace didn’t feel necessary to mention when he brought Alec in. Okay, yes, his priorities were in the right place, but you’d think he could have mentioned it somewhere along the line.
Hodge freezes up at this, so Clary pulls it out of her pocket to prove it. Then he starts acting really weird, talking about how Jace looks like his father, and then has his bird attack Clary.
Yeah, turns out that Hodge has been Evil All Along and, now that the Cup has been retrieved, is making his move.
I’m a bit iffy on this plot development. The usual problem with reveals like this are that there’s no evidence to back it up, or that it’s so obvious that the characters come off as stupid for not seeing it. This twist somehow manages to do both.
On the one hand, this feels like a complete ass-pull from CC. Yes, it’s a dramatic reveal, but you have to plant evidence for this kind of thing. For example, Prof. Quirrell being revealed as the real bad guy in the first Harry Potter book was a big twist, but in retrospect, you can see the clues. Here? Not so much. Hodge is around, but there’s really no reason to suspect him. At all. Which only supports the fanfic-like nature of the book – “Oh, I’ve written myself into a corner! What will I do? Uh… this guy is secretly a villain! Yeah!”
But on the other hand, we did learn that he was a member of the Deatheaters Al Qaida the Circle, so we know that he’s worked with Valentine before, and have no real proof that he’s repented his actions. So really, he shouldn’t have been let free in the first place, but as I said back when we learned this, the Shadowhunters are run by a bunch of morons.
So yeah, it’s bad writing versus idiotic world building.
After the commercial break
Random Scene Break: 4
Clary flails around a bit before falling on her ass, where she will remain for some time. There’s some indication that Hodge poisoned his bird’s talons, but let’s be honest – Clary’s been worthless for almost this entire book so far. Why should that change now?
Oh, and somehow Hodge has managed to incapacitate Jace as well. Wow. The Big Bad Demon Hunter just got taken down by a guy who’s got to be at least in his forties. My hero.
Unfortunately for us, Clary is still conscious, so of course she starts explaining exactly what’s been going on, presumably for the audience because Hodge already knows all of this. And then she accuses him of working for Valentine.
And then Hodge falls into the same trap that all the other villains of this book have.
Yep. He starts talking.
“I do not work for Valentine,” Hodge said […] “But I am Valentine’s man, it is true.”
Hey moron, why don’t you just sign a confession while you’re at it?
Hodge does something with Jace’s ring, has a brief talk with a voice from nowhere, and suddenly Valentine appears.
Yep. Three quarters of the way through the book, and the Big Bad finally makes an appearance. And immediately falls into the talking trap with Hodge. During their little chat, Hodge’s motivations are revealed (in detail), the reason why Alec and Isabelle’s parents got off so lightly despite being known terrorists (friends in high places), and then Hodge finally hands the MacGuffin Cup over. And the whole time, no one even mentions the fact that Clary’s right there and can hear everything.
I swear, if the villains in this book would just learn to keep their damn mouths shut, the heroes would be completely clueless.
Valentine grabs Jace, slaps Hodge on the chest and somehow removing the curse on him, and then departs, bringing our chapter to a close.
So that was chapter nineteen. It was mercifully short, and did contain one of the most awesome parts of the book, but my god did it bring the stupid. Yes, I skimmed over a lot of the text, but only because there’s not much to it beyond what I told you – a fight scene isn’t worth sporking, and villainous dialogue isn’t all that impressive.
As for the chapter title, well, it is pertinent to what happens. Unfortunately, it only applies to about half the chapter. Maybe something like “Revelations” would have been more appropriate.
On another note, after checking the archives, I note that it’s been of a year since my first sporking of this book posted. I really should have finished it a long time ago, but, well, I got lazy. But now we are only four chapters and an epilogue away from the end.
And with just shy of one quarter of the book left to go.
So here’s the goal – finish this book before November. I’m pretty sure I can do that.
Happy anniversary, everybody.
Counts:
Weird Word Choice: 2 (Total 92)
Rapier Twit: 2 (Total 65)
No Shit Sherlock: 1 (Total 38)
Plot Hole: 1 (Total 72)
Random Scene Break: 4 (Total 19)
Both Hands, Ma’am: 0 (Total 28)
Bitch: 1 (Total 23)
Resistance on 18 September 2013, 17:45 said:
All I could think about when I read the chapter title was Maradonia.
Epke on 18 September 2013, 19:11 said:
And all that poisoning going on… BUT WHAT ABOUT POISON?
Resistance on 18 September 2013, 19:22 said:
I absolutely hate how Simon’s accomplishment is just brushed to the side. “Oh, well, it wasn’t killed, so it’s not anything,” while NONE of the Shadowhunters did anything.
And love the subtle (or not subtle, in this case) racism, as usual.
Resistance on 18 September 2013, 19:24 said:
@Epke – Exactly. Hehe. I think that Hodge should have just poisoned Jace and the lot of them in the first chapter and kept Simon on as an apprentice or something. That would have been an enjoyable book.
Master Chief on 18 September 2013, 19:36 said:
I would substitute both of the punch Jace Gifs for one of the beatdown scenes from Goodfellas/Casino.
And yes, resistance, ALL HAIL ABADDON AND THE CLUB OF EVIL!!! Lets sing the mother earth song.
Resistance on 18 September 2013, 19:42 said:
Maybe if Jace sings the Mother Earth song, he’ll change his Shadowhunter ways and instead join the Club of Evil and help track down/kill Maya and Joey.
swenson on 18 September 2013, 21:09 said:
That’s how Spider-man works too. Peter snarks because he’s either having fun or he’s terrified, and he’s pretty well never snarky otherwise, because he respects and is decent to regular people. And Harry Dresden’s kinda the same way. But Jace? He’s just rude to everybody, so it’s not particularly more notable when he’s doing it to a bad guy.
WHAT A SURPRISE.
As opposed to swooning over the guy who just saved all of them with brilliance and ingenuity.
Jace simply cannot accept that anybody else could ever do anything decent, can he? Only he is allowed to do things.
Yet again the characters do the spork for you. Why yes, Clary. You were and continue to be useless. Will this change your character? Not in the slightest!
Yeah… she started off kind of nice in this chapter, and then took a left turn into demeaning compliment land.
This is actually something I like in books—perhaps because I’m from a culture that makes less of a big deal out of personal honor, but I find characters that are like this very interesting. Unfortunately, Jace is not one of them, and the Shadowhunter culture doesn’t make much of it either, from what we’ve seen.
wait what.
I figured he was the Chiron or Dumbledore type this whole time… you know, the permanently good mentor who’s conveniently shows up for exposition or whatever but could never go bad. (Unless Dumbledore went evil in a part of the books I haven’t heard of?) That… really surprises me. I was definitely Wrong Genre Savvy there.
I hate monologuing villains. I hate heroes who only figure out what’s going on because of monologuing villains even more.
Also… happy sporkaversary!
@Master Chief – alternately (because there can never be too many postings of this gif):
Master Chief on 18 September 2013, 23:07 said:
swenson, that works too. Actually makes a bit more sense in contact.
dashery on 19 September 2013, 13:05 said:
Wait a second.
Couldn’t they have just gone through the portal door thing in Madame Dorothea’s place. I mean, the demon’s gone so it should be safe now. And if Alec really is that hurt and needs attention NOW you’d think they’d risk it.
Rachel on 19 September 2013, 14:24 said:
Wait a second. Tesch said that “the Powers of Evil believe in teamwork.” Abaddon may have lost the Cup, but Hodge and Valentine won it. And with all the poisoning going on in this chapter….
Gloria Tesch was right!
Asahel on 19 September 2013, 14:37 said:
Well, I guess that explains why Dorothea was laughing so hard at Jace’s… well, I’ll say jokes for lack of a better word.
swenson on 19 September 2013, 15:11 said:
@Rachel – you’re right! It all makes sense now!
@Asahel – that also makes an awful lot of sense.
Ziggy on 19 September 2013, 17:30 said:
Wait, if Valentine knew that the Shadowhunters were just going to bring the Mortal Cup directly to Hodge (ie they were going to bring the Cup directly to Valentine!) why would he waste a (presumably valuable) resource like a Greater Demon? Either way he has the Cup, right?
Rachel on 19 September 2013, 18:28 said:
I suppose it has something to do with Clare’s fanfic roots. Remember how in GoF, Voldemort had Barty Crouch, Jr. in Hogwarts the entire time he was waiting to make his move at the Triwizard Tournament? Honestly, it would have been simpler (to me, and I might be missing something) to just have the fake!Moody nab Harry in the middle of the night or when he was on his way to the bathroom or something, instead of going through all the rigmarole of getting Harry’s name in the Cup, getting him through the first two challenges, and then getting the Portkey Cup in the maze without anyone noticing.
Fanfic writers tend to fall into two camps: They either see the flaws in the source material and address them, or they don’t notice the flaws because they’re too obsessed with shoehorning in their OTP. Clare, rather than seeing the flaws in that (admittedly fun) book, just copied the plan wholesale and changed just enough to avoid copyright infringement so she could write an overlong series about her precious OTP.
Deborah on 20 September 2013, 10:00 said:
Actually, I thought the main point of getting Harry in the Tournament was to make his death look like an accident. Since the Triwizard Tournament had had fatalities before, his death in it wouldn’t be so out of the ordinary. Not nearly as strange as it would be if he got kidnapped off the school grounds or something like that.
Rachel on 20 September 2013, 11:55 said:
True, I’d forgotten about that. But still, having him vanish right when he reaches the end would be a bit suspicious, what with everyone watching.
Asahel on 20 September 2013, 14:37 said:
Technically, that wasn’t an issue, but the reason it wasn’t an issue is much more odd than the issue itself would be. Recall that the final challenge took place in an overgrown hedge maze. No one would’ve actually seen him killed (just as they didn’t see how Cedric died, either). Of course, that makes a really odd spectator sport when the audience can’t actually, you know, spectate.
Rachel on 20 September 2013, 14:50 said:
“Well, folks, it appears that the hedges are….um….still hedges. Yes, they’re still….um….branches…..and a few brambles….with leaves growing on them…..dear Merlin, why didn’t I go into Muggle Relations when I had the chance?”
Juracan on 20 September 2013, 20:52 said:
This plan seems to be the product of the opposite of Voldemort’s need for complexity, as it relies on the Shadowhunters being completely moronic. Here’s a guy who used to be a member of the occult Nazi party, and so to punish him the Shadowhunters bind him to a large building where he watches over their children?
Seriously, what the hell?
Apep on 20 September 2013, 21:02 said:
That’s what I’ve been saying. The fact that said children are also the offspring of other members of the occult Nazi/Al-Qaeda organization makes them look even stupider. For all they know, Hodge and the Lightwoods could have been reforming the Circle this whole time.
And it’s not like with Papa Malfoy – at most, the authorities had suspicions regarding him, and he had very high connections in the wizarding government. These people? They are known terrorists. They should be locked up.
But they’re not. Because the Shadowhunter leaders are a bunch of morons.
Pryotra on 20 September 2013, 22:30 said:
And yet, somehow, we’re supposed to support them, and think that they’re the best defense against demons. As far as I’m concerned, they all deserve for Valentine to take them over since they’re all so stupid.
I mean, the Ministry of Magic really had some dumb people in it, but at least they had the sense to lock known terrorists, or even people they were pretty sure were terrorists up, rather than let them run around free or in an area where they could, you know, hurt someone.
I kind of think that Clare needed something to happen, so she just made Hodge evil and thought that it might be a shocking twist in line with some of the earlier Harry Potter books.
I almost feel like I’m looking at the second draft and it needed at least two more…
Ziggy on 21 September 2013, 11:25 said:
I suppose it has something to do with Clare’s fanfic roots. Remember how in GoF, Voldemort had Barty Crouch, Jr. in Hogwarts the entire time he was waiting to make his move at the Triwizard Tournament? Honestly, it would have been simpler (to me, and I might be missing something) to just have the fake!Moody nab Harry in the middle of the night or when he was on his way to the bathroom or something, instead of going through all the rigmarole of getting Harry’s name in the Cup, getting him through the first two challenges, and then getting the Portkey Cup in the maze without anyone noticing.
That makes sense. Except here I feel like this is even more confusing since the Shadowhunters were essentially working for Valentine the whole time. They were going to bring the Mortal Cup to Hodge who was going to hand it to Valentine. Hodge didn’t really have to do anything; you could come up with a handwavey excuse for Barty Crouch that it was unsafe to break into a dormitory and grab a student and smuggle him off of the grounds (on foot?) It would still be a plot hole but it wouldn’t be this huge.
Here though, Valentine already has a more or less flawless plan to get the Shadowhunters to hand him the Cup, and he risked ruining it by having some random demon (doesn’t he hate demons??) swoop in and attack them before they can get him the cup. What if there’s some kind of trick that makes it so that only Clary can get the cup out of the card or something? If she dies in the apartment, then it is lost to him forever.
Honestly, I think that she just wanted to shoehorn another fight scene in there. The bit with Abaddon has no effect on the remainder of the plot; if Abaddon had won, he would just bring the cup to Valentine. And if the Shadowhunters had won, they would… just bring the cup to Valentine. If Clare’s editors told her to another fight scene, she could just had Hodge sic Abaddon on the Shadowhunters after he leaves with the cup, or have Hodge actually be Abaddon in disguise, or anything else. I don’t mind some plot holes but Clare really went out of her way to underline this one.
Apep on 21 September 2013, 12:48 said:
Okay, I’m going to play Devil’s advocate for a minute.
Yes, Valentine’s could be viewed as overly complicated. But I’m going to give CC the benefit of the doubt just this once.
Maybe, just maybe, Hodge was the backup plan.
I know, shocking, but stay with me.
So, somehow Valentine finds out that Mme. D has the cup, but is unaware of it (presumably Jocelyn told him), and Clary is the only one who can get it (because Jocelyn won’t cooperate). So he sends Abbadon to possess Dorothea, with orders to get the Cup if the opportunity presents itself – note that Abbadon only revealed him(it?)self after Clary got the Cup.
But what if the Shadowhunters had left Clary behind, or waited until they were in a safe place to pull the Cup out of the card (like they should have)? Well, then Hodge grabs it, and Valentine gets it anyway.
But things didn’t quite go according to plan – Simon showed up and used his awesomeness to take down Abbadon. Well, now it’s like the escape from the Death Star in Star Wars – if it had been too easy, then one of the Shadowhunters (probably Jace, because he’s a paranoid psycho) would have pointed this out.
If the way things went was the original plan, it is stupid and needlessly complicated, but we don’t know what Valentine’s actual plan was. I don’t remember Valentine gloating about how it was all going exactly how he planed or anything.
And to be totally honest, I didn’t even consider how stupid this plan was until you guys started talking about it, and I’m the one sporking it. Maybe I’ve just been over-exposed to this stuff.
Epke on 21 September 2013, 13:50 said:
Right, serious face.
When the rival to your protagonist is both more likeable and funnier than said character, you’ve got an issue.
And here’s something that always bugged me: Dorothea isn’t possessed yet. Not yet. When Jace goes all threatening, Dorothea is still Dorothea. Abaddon hasn’t started wearing her like a fleshsuit… so Jace? Paranoid, racist twatwaffle.
<rolls eyes> How Downworlders have ever been a threat to the world, I don’t know. Shadowhunters are all morons, the Downworlders are all picked from the cast of every Saturday morning cartoon and ordinary humans show more prowess than either.
Proper spelling would be “Abaddon” – unless it’s Clare trying to be speshul. And it should “You cannot hope to defeat me… so give me the Cup.” and Abaddon proceeds to take the Cup. None of this talking business.
I hate this. I really do. It’s something Supernatural does all the time as well: the heroes kill demons left, right and centre, but to do so they have to kill the bodies they inhabit: bodies that are people who can be saved. And they never feel bad about it. It’s a cheap way of going “oh, this demon has to die, but I don’t want the moral implications to get in the way, herp derp”.
Is the reader supposed to laugh or find Jace cool? If I’d been Abaddon (properly spelled and everything), I would have turned Jace’s skin inside out for even saying anything other than “Here’s the Cup”.
Haha! Well, that’s Clary in all books, really.
Simon’s awesome and everything but… uhm… when and where is it stated that demons are weak against sunlight? It might just have slipped my mind, but where?
I seem to recall that being healed by the One Power in The Wheel of Time series was painful as well? Maybe it’s something like that here as well.
Know the best part? Simon’s debt (if we can call it that) to Jace is paid. In full. And he did it way, way better than Jace did.
Twilight all over again. “Great scot, humans can think?” Hey, Isabelle? YOU ARE AN ORDINARY HUMAN WHO JUST HAPPENS TO KNOW THAT THINGS DO GO BUMP IN THE NIGHT. It does not give you super-special brain powers 1.
You can’t Apparate or Disapparate inside Hogwartsthe Institute doesn’t have some anti-teleportation defense? You suck.1 A line from Fullmetal Alchemist came to me here when reading this. When Edward Elric, a genius alchemist offers up his own alchemy powers to save his brother, Truth asks him if he’s fine becoming just an ordinary human who can’t use alchemy. His response? “I’m not going to ‘become’ anything. I’ve always been an ordinary human. Someone who caught a glimpse of of the ‘Truth’ and started over-relying on its gift only to fail again and again… Even if I lose alchemy, I’ll still have my friends.”
That leads me to this other bit. Jace, Alec, Isabelle, Hodge, Valentine… all Shadowhunters define themselves and others as Shadowhunters or non-Shadowhunters. Being a Shadowhunter defines them, it makes them who they are. They don’t see themselves as ordinary humans who knows how to make a difference: they see themselves as more than humans and that humans should be grateful to them: their knowledge has made them arrogant and inflated their sense of importance… and that is why they fail.
Apep on 21 September 2013, 14:27 said:
Actually, she was already possessed when they showed up – the smoke cloud thing hiding in the portal was only most of the demon.
It’s either the latter, or CC got her info wrong. I checked my copy, and it’s spelled “Abbadon”. Maybe he/it the cheap knock-off version or something.
Not true. On several occasions, the Winchesters did exorcise demons (and did at least one mass-exorcism), so they have at least tried to avoid killing possessed people whenever possible. And the whole “he who fights monsters” thing is kind of a theme in the show.
It was on the drive over, in the last chapter. No, it still doesn’t make sense, but at this point, who cares?
Yes, but in Wheel of Time, it’s also explained (healing uses energy from both the healer and the one being healed, IIRC). Here, it’s not, so I’m left wondering what all the fuss is about.
Yeah, but as near as I can tell,
apparatingteleporting isn’t as ubiquitous as in some other series. I think you need one of those handy magic tesseract doors that Dorothea has to do it. (Side note – why is it a “five” dimensional door, anyway? Is four not enough?)Potatoman on 22 September 2013, 03:52 said:
Why can’t Simon have more focus in the books?! He’s a gazillion tmes more epic than the other characters.
Pryotra on 22 September 2013, 07:41 said:
Because Clare doesn’t think that he’s as hot as Jace, and only the prettiest are worthy of her Sue.
Juracan on 22 September 2013, 07:50 said:
Which is sad, because Simon has all the makings of a protagonist…
Epke on 22 September 2013, 09:50 said:
Ah, crud.
Mass-exorcism in season three, at the police station? Where Ruby asked for the heart of a virgin? That, imo, was because they couldn’t kill them all. I’ve found that on most occasions, both brothers are very, very happy with plunging a certain knife into people. It’s like when Meg Masters’ spirit, the real Meg, lays the truth on Dean (and calling out Sam for his shit) in the fourth season: the Winchesters shoot first, chants in Latin later.
Good. Had it been an pulled out of hammer space, I’d be so annoyed. As it is now, it just shows that Simon pays attention.
We got the three spatial dimensions, then time which is the fourth. Five… <sneakily googles> Particle physics? Gravity and electromagnetic force? Uhm… I got nuttin’.
Too close to Harry Potter, I guess. Bespectacled young boy with dark hair in a supernatural setting?
swenson on 22 September 2013, 14:34 said:
Space, if you’re Susan. But I tend to ignore most of the specifics from the first season of Doctor Who anyway. Some good episodes—some really weird stuff implied about the Doctor and the TARDIS.
Epke on 25 September 2013, 14:13 said:
I don’t watch Dr Who, so can’t comment :(
Rachel on 26 September 2013, 01:57 said:
You mean the horse that wants you to respect his life choices? :P
Jade on 16 July 2016, 17:48 said:
Jace’s ring? Why does Jace have a way to summon the evil dude? (or at least a beacon for him) I’m assuming this gets explained since you didn’t comment?
Apep on 16 July 2016, 19:03 said:
There is something “special” about Jace’s ring, but no, it doesn’t allow him to contact the bad guy.
If you run across stuff like that, it’s pretty likely that I started doing quick summations because I wanted to be done with the chapter/section. This stuff can get exhausting, especially when I have to describe and comment on what’s happening.