Hello, folks. Back now for the penultimate chapter (assuming you don’t consider epilogues to count as actual chapters), so let’s just get into it. I do have some news, but I’ll post it in the comments.
So, chapter nineteen’s title is “Peniel.” A bit of googling reveals this to be Hebrew for “the Face of God.”
Well, okay then.
We’re in Simon’s POV, so this will either be great, or royally suck. He’s with Maia, who is leading the way to the vampires. There’s a nice little bit describing how Simon has no trouble keeping up with Maia, even when she starts running, and how it’s actually something he likes about being a vampire.
This is good. More of this, please.
But no. They quickly reach their destination, and Maia starts shouting for Raphael to show up.
And he does, along with several other vampires. They elect to make a very dramatic entrance, suddenly appearing after some wind blows a bunch of leaves into the air.
And for some reason, several of them are from the New York group, because Simon recognizes them. Seriously, why are all the important characters from the same place?
Raphael continues to refer to Simon as “Daylighter”, so that’s still a thing.
You Keep Using That Word: 2
Also, he tells Maia to pass the word to Luke that the vampires will join the fight.
You Keep Using That Word: 3 (“Night Children”)
Maia makes one last attempt to talk Simon out of going through with this, but he won’t be talked out of it. Maia only leaves when Simon points out that they’ll both probably end up dead, and the vampires might just decide to go back on their deal if she stays.
So Maia leaves, transforming into a wolf for no apparent reason.
You Keep Using That Word: 4 (“Change”)
Yes, for some reason, CC decided that the word describing turning from human to wolf needed to be capitalized. No, I don’t understand why, nor do I want to.
Raphael does that creepy “suddenly being way too close” thing. Dude, personal space.
Then Raphael actually tries to comfort Simon right before killing him, even saying that there’s nothing personal in this. I really like this; for all the attempts to make the vampires out to be the bad guys, they’re not unreasonable or cruel.
But before Raphael can finally just get on with it, Simon shows off the Mark of Cain on his forehead. This leads to everyone present freaking out. And yes, it is confirmed to be the Mark of Cain.
Before we go any further, let’s get this out of the way:
You Keep Using That Word: 10 (“Mark”)
Apparently everyone just knows what this is, because no one has to have it explained to them. Not that this will stop them from doing so, but whatever. Kinda curious as to how everyone knows this, though.
Un-Logic: 1
Also, Raphael says what Simon has was “drawn by the Maker’s own hand.” Because even though we’ve established that he can mention God, he doesn’t for some reason. And even though like, 97% of all the world building has been straight-up Judeo-Christian material, we don’t want to go too far.
Also also, this:
You Keep Using That Word: 11
Simon drops a quote from the Bible, laying down why this is a big deal, and why he’s basically untouchable. Short version: it’s like a death-switch. Anyone who tries to kill Simon will get the same back seven times over.
Quick side-bar: all this talk about the Mark of Cain and it involving vampires gets me to thinking about the old Vampire: the Masquerade rpg. In that game, Caine was the first vampire, with the eponymous Mark being turned into a vampire. And as luck would have it, when I was making my notes on this section, the publishers of the latest edition of the game had recently released an early version of the new rules.
This certainly doesn’t mean anything. I just thought it was an interesting bit of serendipity.
Anyway, a redheaded vampire says they should kill Simon anyway, but Raphael refuses. And so does everyone else.
Question: if they can’t kill him now, what’s to stop them from just reneging on the deal? Did we not think that bit through?
Clearly we didn’t think that through.
Raphael assumes that this was all Luke’s plan, but Simon explains that it was all his idea. Raphael is aghast at this, because I guess he actually paid attention in Sunday School.
You Keep Using That Word: 12 (“Daylighter”)
But Simon says he’s fine with it. Also, he’s somehow divined why they wanted to kill him: if other vampires learned about what he could do (i.e. not burst into flame in sunlight) and how it happened (drinking Jace’s blood – not that Simon says so; he puts it on Valentine), they might start going after Shadowhunters, and presumably leading to conflict between the two groups.
I gotta say, though, this feels a bit like an ass-pull. I can’t help but wonder if CC made up this explanation because someone pointed out that the vampires deciding to kill Simon made no sense, and rather than fix that, she decided to just make up a reason.
Un-Logic: 2
Whatever. Another vampire points out that he’s known some vamps who drank Shadowhunter blood, and nothing happened to them (which should undermine Simon’s random line of thinking, but whatever).
You Keep Using That Word: 13 (“Night Children”)
Whatever. Raphael is frustrated, but decides that they’ll hold up their end of the bargain. Even though they have a solid case for why they shouldn’t. But also, Simon has to take part in the fight, so there’s that, at least.
You Keep Using That Word: 15 (“Night Children”, “Daylighter”)
And end scene.
And we’re back with Jace. Goodie.
He wakes up choking on blood. Presumably his own, which makes me somewhat happy.
Jace is also tied up, so Sebastian/Jonathan isn’t a complete idiot. He has, however, decided to go full-on villain, and not in a fun, interesting way, first by doing the “oh, good, I can still kill you,” bit.
Jace decides to get snarky with his captor, because of course he does.
Rapier Twit: 1
Sebastian/Jonathan then decides to go further into bad-villain territory by monologuing, and doing some info dumping as well. Seems he knew about Jace, but Jace didn’t know about him. Which Jace uses to try and mock him some more.
Now, if I were writing this, I’d have Sebastian/Jonathan at least kick Jace. But I’m not, so that doesn’t happen. Jace is allowed to be a smart-ass, and there’s nothing anyone can do about it.
Both Hands, Ma’am: 1
Instead, Sebastian/Jonathan decides to gloat a bit about how he knows all about Valentine’s plans, while Jace doesn’t. Then he pulls out his fancy-ass sword to show something off.
Also, Jace is still very confused about how Sebastian/Jonathan can also be Valentine’s son, because for some reason CC feels the need to drag this out some more, despite having already addressed this.
Sebastian/Jonathan goes up to a big, reddish stalagmite in the middle of the chamber, and slices it open, unleashing a whole bunch of demons.
Not that this is immediately apparent, mind. CC takes several long, very flowery paragraphs to make this clear. Because word count or something.
The demons don’t actually do anything, mind. They swirl around a bit, look vaguely menacing, then leave.
Jace maybe passes out at some point during all this, because why not?
When he comes to, he then decides it’s a good idea to try scolding Sebastian/Jonathan for what he did – not because it was evil, mind, but because he did it before Valentine said he should.
Seriously, that’s where he decides to go.
But Sebastian/Jonathan just shrugs it off, because he’s like a honey badger – he doesn’t give a shit.
And then he decides to go full psychopath, talking about how much he’d love to watch Shadowhunters get slaughtered, because he’s evil, and CC doesn’t do subtlety.
Jace tries to argue that the Shadowhunters will go down fighting, which prompts Sebastian/Jonathan to explain Valentine’s Evil Plan ™.
So here’s the plan: Valentine uses the MacGuffins (including the mirror, aka the lake) to summon up Raziel. Once that’s done, he’s going to have all the Shadowhunters that aren’t loyal to him stripped of their powers, so they’ll get slaughtered by the demons.
Also, we get reminded that the first Shadowhunter’s name was Jonathan Shadowhunter.
Shoddy World Building: 2
That’s one for how little sense it makes, given the location of Shadowhunter land, and another because of how utterly stupid that name is.
Also, this plan doesn’t really explain the need for the whole “demon army” thing. Like, Valentine could do every other part of this, and he’d probably have a much better chance of succeeding, because no one would know about it until it was too late.
But hey, he’s a villain, and villains gotta villain. Or something.
Sebastian/Jonathan then says that Valentine totally would, and refers to Valentine as “my father.” Jace corrects him by saying he’s “our father”. For some reason, Sebastian/Jonathan mistakes this for Jace praying.
Rapier Twit: 2
Because I assume that’s CC trying to be funny. It doesn’t work.
Also, we get this description of Sebastian/Jonathan:
His hair was a white halo; he looked like the sort of bad angel who might have followed Lucifer out of heaven.
Great. Now I’m imagining that he looks like Sephiroth from Final Fantasy VII.
Anyway, Sebastian/Jonathan calls Jace an idiot (accurate), and then asserts that Valentine never spoke a word of truth to Jace in his entire life. Jace tries to counter by arguing that maybe Valentine was really lying to Sebastian/Jonathan.
It doesn’t work.
Sebastian/Jonathan does some more of the “I’m evil, and I’m going to kill you,” schtick. Honestly, it’s getting boring. Just do it already, you coward.
Jace tries to goad Sebastian/Jonathan into untying him, but Sebastian isn’t stupid enough to fall for it.
But Jace keeps at it, pointing out that while Sebastian/Jonathan might kill Jace and make up some excuse for how he died, Valentine will know what really happened, because he left his bird behind.
I’m not entirely certain that’s true, but I don’t feel like going back to check.
Also, Jace is pretty certain Valentine will think Sebastian/Jonathan is a coward if he kills Jace while he’s still tied up. This really pisses Sebastian/Jonathan off, and he takes a swing at Jace.
Unfortunately, the scene ends right before we find out what happens.
Damnit.
Oh well. Next scene has us with Clary. Great.
She’s all by her lonesome in Shadowhunter HQ, feeling sorry for herself. Apparently, once everyone left, she decided to stay here, rather than go be with her… friend? Acquaintance? Whatever. Isabelle. But now she’s feeling very lonely, so she…
… stays where she is, and tries very, very hard not to think about all her loved ones that aren’t there.
And of course, the first one is Jace.
Both Hands, Ma’am: 2
So to distract herself, rather than, say, spending time with a friend, she stares at a single floor tile and counts the number of cracks in it over and over again.
There are six, so it really doesn’t take that long.
And then the ceiling explodes, saving the readers from having to deal with any more of this nonsense.
Clary looks up through the new hole in the ceiling and sees the writhing mass of demons that have been unleashed. And as they pass over Shadowhunter HQ, they cause the skylight (why is there a skylight?) to break, sending shards of broken glass plummeting to the floor.
And of course, we cut away before getting the results.
Well, at least it was short.
Next scene is with Simon, and it too is short – only a paragraph long.
He’s with the other vampires, heading towards where the big battle is going to be. Then they all stop and look up when the horde of demons flies past.
And that’s it.
Look, I get it. It’s all very cinematic. But do these scenes – especially that last one – really add anything to the narrative?
Entirely Pointless: 1
Whatever. The scene break is unmarked, for some reason, but suddenly we’re back with Jace.
Honestly, did anyone really expect him to be dead?
No, he didn’t die. But he did pass out. Wuss.
Sebastian/Jonathan decided to drag him out of the cave, after cutting Jace free. Jace asks why they’re outside, and there’s actually a decent answer:
“Two reasons,” Sebastian said. “One, I enjoyed knocking you out. Two, it would be bad for either of us to get blood on the floor of that cavern. Trust me. And I intend to spill plenty of your blood.”
That’s not… terrible villain dialogue. And I’m fully behind anyone who likes hitting Jace.
The only weapon Jace has is a knife. He kinda pretends to complain about it, but Sebastian/Jonathan doesn’t give a damn, and comes in swinging. To his credit, Jace manages to both pop Sebastian/Jonathan in the face and disarm him. Jace gets the sword, and Sebastian/Jonathan is sprawled out on the ground.
Well, that was quick.
Oh, wait, then this happens:
Jace hesitated. He didn’t want to hesitate, but there it was. An annoying reluctance to kill anyone lying helpless on the ground in front of him. Jace remembered Valentine taunting him, back at Renwick’s, daring his son to kill him, and Jace hadn’t been able to do it.
I’m sorry, what? Since when has Jace had this sense of honor? He didn’t hesitate for a second to start a bar fight with a bunch of werewolves in the last book. Or do werewolves not count?
And even granting the bit with Valentine from the first book, there’s a world of difference between killing your father (or even someone you think of as your father) and killing a stranger.
Don’t pretend that Jace has been this great paragon of honorable behavior, CC. It’s too late now.
Whatever. Sebastian/Jonathan leaps up, kicks the sword out of Jace’s hand, catches it, and takes a swing at Jace.
I’m going to sum up the next several paragraphs real quick: it’s a fight scene. It’s a very dancy, flippy, jumpy fight scene. I’m sure it would look very cool on screen.
But book’s aren’t a visual medium, so all that jumping around and whatnot isn’t all that awe inspiring.
Also, I could probably find something just as good in almost any martial arts movie ever made. And I probably wouldn’t have to deal with a protagonist as obnoxious and annoying as Jace, either.
Anyway, the fight ends with Jace on the ground and Sebastian/Jonathan poised to stab Jace through the heart.
And instead of doing that, you know what Sebastian/Jonathan does instead?
He starts monologuing.
If only the villains here were remotely as self-aware as characters from a movie that came out four years before this book was published.
And why, you ask, is this happening now?
Why, so Jace can learn that he’s not really Valentine’s kid, and therefore not Clary’s brother, has no demon blood, and so it’s okay for him and Clary to boink like rabbits.
Again, the reader has already known this. For several chapters now. So this “revelation” has no weight.
Oh, but also Sebastian/Jonathan is low-key jealous of how much Valentine liked Jace more than him, because apparently he wouldn’t shut up about Jace.
Jace – being the brilliant guy that he is – decides that the best thing to do right now is taunt Sebastian/Jonathan with how much Valentine doesn’t love him/is ashamed of him, because otherwise he totally wouldn’t have ordered Sebastian/Jonathan to stay behind while he completes his Big Evil Plan ™.
And apparently this is the button not to push with Sebastian/Jonathan, because he looses his shit and finally decides to stab Jace.
Oh, but wait. First he decides to taunt Jace some more about how, since he and Clary aren’t related, they could totally have been boinking this whole time, but oh well.
But it seems that Jace managed to run out the timer, because just as he’s about to get shanked, Isabelle shows up and cuts Sebastian/Jonathan’s hand of with her whip.
Okay.
Fairly certain that you can’t actually do that.
Now, I actually took the time to look into this. A quick Google search revealed a video of someone using a whip to cut through a can of soda.
So yes, whips can cut through things. But do I really need to explain that there’s some significant differences between a can of soda – even a full, unopened can – and a human wrist.
Which is really a shame, because if anyone in this book deserves a moment of being awesome, it’s Isabelle. Girl’s been put through the wringer.
I also can’t help but point out that, once again, the big, tough, super-awesome warrior and killer of all things Jace needed someone else to pull his ass out of the fire.
Sebastian/Jonathan decides to run for cover.
Well, that was quick.
Isabelle runs up to start healing Jace. Jace, meanwhile, is convinced that, despite Isabelle being “spectacular and brave and talented,” she’ll get her ass kicked by Sebastian/Jonathan. Because, you know, he managed to beat Jace.
Little reminder: Isabelle, in a single stroke, probably did more harm to Sebastian/Jonathan more than all of Jace’s dancy, flippy bullshit.
*Our “Heroes”: 1
Luckily for everyone, Jace can’t get any of this out. So Isabelle goes into explaining all stuff about Jace, and Clary, and all that, because I guess we needed that all explained for a third time. And also how she managed to track him down (Jace passed off one of his old toys to Max).
So of course Isabelle is so distracted by all this that she doesn’t notice that Sebastian/Jonathan has returned until he grabs her, throws her off Jace, and starts kicking the shit out of her.
Literally.
I’d be lying if I said a part of me didn’t wonder if this was some form of payback on CC’s part for possibly upstaging Jace. Because no one is allowed to be better than Jace.
And because Sebastian/Jonathan is a sadistic bastard, he’s too busy beating on Isabelle to notice Jace get up, grab the knife, and ever-so-slowly make his way over to Sebastian/Jonathan.
Seriously. It takes four fairly chunky paragraphs for all that to happen.
Christ.
And at one point, Jace kinda blacks out, and thinks about Clary.
Uggghhhh.
Both Hands, Ma’am: 3
Finally, Jace stabs Sebastian/Jonathan in the back.
And of course this is what manages to take him down. Sebastian/Jonathan conveniently falls over and lands next to the river, far enough away to ensure that we can’t be 100% certain he’s dead.
(I say this because, even though I haven’t read any further in the series, I do know that he comes back later. Because why waste a good villain?)
And then Jace collapses. Again.
And even though she’s probably suffered more of a beating than Jace, Isabelle only expresses concern for him.
End scene, thank god.
Now we switch to Simon’s POV. I wish I could say this was an improvement, but it’s really not. Here, judge for yourselves:
Simon was a veteran of countless battles. That is, if you counted the battles engaged in while playing Dungeons and Dragons.
Because Simon’s a nerd. Get it?
But it falls flat, because apparently CC thinks D&D is a war game, or at least that there are some mass combat portions of it. And while D&D wasn’t as big a thing as it is now, I’d be willing to bet that there was a not inconsiderate portion of CC’s audience that was, at the very least, D&D-curious.
Also, I can only assume that they never covered the First World War in any of Simon’s history classes, because apparently he’d always pictured battles as “two groups of people advancing at each other across a flat expanse of land. Straight line and orderly progression.”
Man, battles haven’t been fought like that since maybe the mid-19th century, if that. Because here’s the thing – having soldiers arrayed in a nice, orderly line is a terrible tactic once you have weapons that can hit stuff reliably at over fifty yards.
Officers in the US learned that in 1860s. European generals learned it in 1914. They all learned it the hard way.
But that’s not important. This fight is a big mess, which doesn’t surprise me in the slightest. Also, Simon expected that he and the other vampires would show up, chat with someone in charge, watch the initial clash of combatants, and then join the fray.
None of that happened, because, well, dur.
You Keep Using That Word: 16 (“Night Children”)
I will give credit for some stuff, though. Like demonstrating why having super-hearing would kinda suck – there’s a lot of loud noise, and it’s almost painful for Simon.
Simon stumbles around the battle for a while, acting all shell shocked. I’m not surprised by this, or even really bothered.
But enough of that. Time for Simon to actually get involved in this shit. So a random skeleton-type monster knocks Simon over and goes to take Simon out, when a random Shadowhunter guy shows up to one-shot it. Apparently he read the Monster Manual or something, because he remembered that skeletons are vulnerable to bludgeoning damage.
Random Shadowhunter Dude (or RSD for short) helps Simon up. Apparently he partnered up with a werewolf, because he has super-strength, and isn’t quite used to it. He and Simon chat for a bit, presumably so we can establish that not all Shadowhunters are assholes. Also so RSD can thank Simon for participating.
Not that Simon appears to have actually done anything at this point, though.
And then, having served his purpose, RSD gets grabbed by a random flying monster and killed.
RIP Random Shadowhunter Dude.
Simon is, understandably, a bit shocked by this. So he looks around for a minute, fails to spot anyone he knows, and finally decides that maybe he could actually do something useful.
To cap off this revelation, we get this:
A true vampire knows he is dead, Raphael had said. But Simon didn’t feel dead. He’d never felt more alive.
Well, he certainly isn’t showing it.
A big lizard-y demon shows up and decides to take Simon on. Simon jumps on it, and literally sinks his teeth into it. The taste is, unsurprisingly, horrible.
You Keep Using That Word: 17 (“Mark”)
End scene.
And next we’re back with Clary. Unfortunately, she did not get skewered by any of the falling glass.
She stares up at the new hole in the ceiling for a minute. All the magic lights in the room have gone out, so she can just barely see by the light from the Portal outside.
You Keep Using That Word: 18
Clary concludes that hanging around is probably a bad idea. Gee, ya think?
No Shit Sherlock: 1
No concern or even curiosity about why the ceiling suddenly exploded, because why wonder about stuff like that?
Clary turns around and suddenly Malachi is there, in the middle of the room.
A somewhat smart person might wonder how he suddenly got there. A really smart person would probably put two and two together.
Clary notices that Malachi has a raven on his shoulder, and she recognizes the raven as Hugo. How did she somehow miss that on initially spotting him? Not recognizing the bird, but seeing it in general. Ravens are not small birds.
And only now does Clary decide to find some cover.
Malachi steps onto the dias, pulls out a ring, and summons up a hologram of Valentine for a chat.
Malachi tells Valentine about Jace and Sebastian/Jonathan, including the two of them fighting. And at the mention of Jace possibly being in danger, Clary swoons.
Both Hands, Ma’am: 4
When she comes back, Malachi and Valentine are discussing Valentine’s Evil Plan ™. Seems Malachi wants to try to save some of the kids, and Valentine notes that it’ll probably take them a few days to be affected by the sudden loss of their special magic-status, so they could probably save some. Also, Valentine’s flunkies should also be safe.
You Keep Using That Word: 20 (“Mark” x 2)
I get the bad guys not being overly concerned with maintaining secrecy right now, but do they have to start spouting every little detail of their plan?
Valentine hangs up, because even he can only take so much groveling.
Clary is so stunned by this giant info dump that she totally misses Hugo flying up to her and going for her face. Maybe if she hadn’t zoned out so much, she could have avoided this.
Malachi tries to call Hugo off, but when the bird doesn’t… something happens, and suddenly it’s on the ground.
No, there is no clear explanation; one minute, it’s clawing at Clary’s face, the next it’s on the ground.
There’s a confrontation between Clary and Malachi. Fairly typical, really; Clary’s all “Valentine is evil!” and Malachi just goes “I’m racist, so I don’t care!”
I wish I could say I expected better, but I honestly don’t at this point.
Unfortunately, Clary is in Distressed Damsel mode, so once Malachi has a grip on her, she’s helpless. You’d think, growing up in a city like New York, she’d have at least some self-defense training – at least enough to know kick an attacker in the balls.
But that would be Clary showing initiative, and that’s not her thing.
Luckily for Clary, Hugo was only stunned, not dead, and decides to go after Malachi. Who promptly trips, falls over, and apparently dies.
That’s just sad.
Clary, not being entirely stupid and helpless, decides to make a run for it, and makes her way to tell everyone what’s up.
You Keep Using That Word: 22 (“Portal” x 2)
End chapter.
So, let’s take a minute to examine this chapter.
On the one hand, stuff actually happened. The plot moved in a direction one might describe as “forward.” That’s good.
Also, there were some decent scenes, or at least portions of scenes. Unfortunately, most of them involved characters other than the main protagonists, which isn’t great from a big-picture standpoint.
Which gets to the not so great stuff. Like that there were several points where information the reader already knew was repeated. Possibly several times. Yes, CC, we got it. Jace isn’t Valentine’s son; he and Clary aren’t related. Okay.
And then there’s the two short, random scenes that, while they work from a cinematic view, don’t really need to be there from a narrative one.
And finally, there’s the fact that it feels like so much of the book has been focusing on stuff that isn’t really all that important, while the stuff that actually is important is happening in the background.
Let’s give a quick comparison to a series that CC knows quite well: Harry Potter. Most of that series is told from a tight third-person perspective – Harry’s. But in Half-Blood Prince, there were certain important details that the reader needed to know (namely the extent of Voldemort’s activities and Snape’s promise to help Draco) that Harry would have no reason to be aware of.
Why do I bring this up? Because something similar could have been done with this book, so that the reader isn’t totally in the dark about the greater goings-on in the Shadowhunter government.
Oh, there’s nods to this, namely in the brief scene from Luke’s POV, but that’s after most of the stuff has been done. As boring as big political debates might be, watching a bunch of teenagers sitting around dealing with their comparatively minor drama is pretty annoying.
Ah, well. One more chapter, plus the epilogue, and then we’re done.
See you all then.
Counts
Both Hands Ma’am: 4 (Total: 88)
Entirely Pointless: 1 (Total: 17)
Our “Heroes”: 1 (Total: 79)
Plot Hole: 0 (Total: 14)
Rapier Twit: 1 (Total: 9)
You Keep Using That Word: 20 (Total: 152)
Shoddy World Building: 2 (Total: 33)
No Shit Sherlock: 1 ( Total: 5)
A Word From Our Sponsors: 0 (Total: 10)
Aikaterini on 6 March 2020, 10:35 said:
Because he’s an idiot. Did he learn nothing from his imprisonment in the last book? Of course not.
Yep, that’s Jace’s morality in a nutshell, isn’t it? He doesn’t do things because they’re wrong or right, it’s about whether or not he’s allowed to. He kills demons because Shadowhunter society permits it, not because he cares about mundanes or about protecting anyone. He stops attacking the werewolves because Luke shows up.
And because the narrative wants to make Jace look better by comparison.
Valentine hates demons and Downworlders because his Shadowhunter parents were killed by them -> Valentine will make deals with demons -> Valentine will sic the demons on Shadowhunters who aren’t loyal to him. What is this man’s motivation supposed to be again?
After all of the flowery prose and pretentious titles, this is what follows for description? ‘Bad angel?’ That sounds like something that a child would say. I thought that Jace was supposed to be this erudite scholar of wit.
Since the narrative needed him to look better than Jonathan.
That’s why I really wonder if Jonathan was this last-minute addition when CC wrote this book. Seriously, everything about him is an excuse for Jace and Clary to get together. Oh, Jace and Clary are siblings – oh, wait, no, they’re not, because Jonathan is actually Clary’s brother. Jace is a narcissistic, psychopathic piece of garbage who only cares about himself – oh, wait, now that Jonathan’s here, Jace is now suddenly honorable and ‘smells like sunlight.’ This character is just a Get Out of Jail Free card for Jace.
Look, Jonathan? Sebastian? Buddy? I know that you really want to vent right now, but the faster that you kill Jace, the faster that you can get back to Clary. Stop wasting time and just kill him already.
Because even though Valentine abused Jace, which is supposed to be the reason for Jace’s psychopathy, he still likes him better than his own son.
I’m sorry, am I supposed to be rooting against Jonathan here because he resented that Valentine incessantly praised Jace? I’ve been forced to hear the narrative and the other characters incessantly praise Jace!
In fact, get Simon in this scene, I’m sure that he and Jonathan would get along great while they started complaining about how Clary worships Jace for no reason and how everyone makes excuses for him.
She just cut his hand off while Jace did nothing. This is the same garbage that Jace pulled with Simon. He really can’t stand anybody being better at him than anything. Why am I supposed to like him again?
She also missed it when she met Hodge for the first time, back in the first book. Maybe CC really doesn’t understand how large ravens are.
And how is this different from Jace’s mindset? He was about to join Valentine twice, in two separate books. Because he’s racist and he doesn’t care about mundanes or Downworlders.
Because it’s not like she’s supposed to be the protagonist or anything.
Apep on 6 March 2020, 13:10 said:
That’s probably one of my bigger issues with this series. Not the “Valentine using demons to do his dirty work” thing, but that no one actually points it out. I’m fine with the villain being a hypocrite (see: half-Muggle Voldemort being a Pure Blood wizard supremacist), but it has to be acknowledged, either implicitly or explicitly.
Eh, I doubt it. CC started sowing the seeds for this back in the last book, with Jace’s sudden random birthmark. As much as I’m convinced that CC has an incest/taboo kink, she does seem to be aware that actually going through with it isn’t viable, at least not for mass market success.
Jace seems to decide how he views someone when he first meets them, and it takes something major to change that view. It took Simon becoming a vampire for Jace’s view of him to change, and that seems to consist largely of switching from referring to him as “mundie” to “vampire.” Simon still isn’t an actual person.
RE: the above – between the previous sporking and now, I’ve launched my personal author website. There’s not a lot there right now, but I’m hoping to change that soon. Link is in my user name.
WorldSerendipity on 6 March 2020, 19:46 said:
I’ve been reading this for a long time, but this is the first time I ever commented on here. Hi.
I never really understood how people responded so positively to this stuff. I don’t get how people don’t consider Jace to be a total nightmare to deal with in real life. There’s nothing sexy or attractive about a man who demeans everyone around him; it’s just grueling. I don’t know why people say they’re so pulled into the world of Mortal Instrument, as it’s just a dimes-a-dozen fantasy that someone idly scribbled on their napkins while waiting for dinner to come. Most of all, just how could they even finish reading this book? It’s BORING! There’s hundreds of pages of characters mucking about, doing nothing, and the only reason why the action is finally happening is because the plot dictated it so, not because of the characters’ action. This story is just sloppy is all I will say.
“between the previous sporking and now, I’ve launched my personal author website. There’s not a lot there right now, but I’m hoping to change that soon. Link is in my user name.”
I’m looking forward to checking out that site. I started writing recently, and I’m trying to get more tips on doing it well.
WorldSerendipity on 6 March 2020, 20:01 said:
Oh, and I forgot to mention it in my last post. I enjoyed your sporkings. I think I got more of an understanding on what to do when you’re writing romances.
Apep on 6 March 2020, 20:36 said:
Hello! Thanks for reading, and don’t hesitate to comment. I can honestly say that reading comments on this stuff really helps. Sometimes it feels like I’m tossing stuff out into the void, so comments prove that at least someone is actually reading this stuff.
I think that’s the thing – it’s not real life, it’s a fantasy. [cue “Bohemian Rhapsody”]
But seriously, that’s what it is – it’s the fantasy of the “tough guy who secretly has a heart of gold, but only shows that to the one special girl”, or the “bad boy who just needs the love of a good woman to fix him.” In reality, there’s a real chance that those guys don’t get ‘fixed’, they just end up abusing their partner.
But that fantasy was already out there; CC just repackaged it for a new generation.
I suspect that might be because these folks don’t read a lot of Urban Fantasy books. Because there’s maybe one thing that’s kinda unique to this franchise – the Shadowhunters – but even then, it’s not all that original.
I honestly don’t know. I know I’m not a great example of eclectic tastes in literature, but I have read books where the focus was on the personal lives of the characters’, and I enjoyed those.
I think the problem is that there’s two central drives, and they don’t work well together: the large-scale stuff with Valentine, and the small-scale stuff with the characters’ personal lives. And the later feels really insignificant when compared to the former, while also getting much more focus.
(Incidentally, this is part of why I didn’t really care for Order of the Phoenix – I’m not super interested in Harry’s love life when Voldemort is back and doing who knows what)
Oh, I wouldn’t recommend looking to me for advice, at least not yet. I’ve only published two short stories over maybe five years, but I appreciate the clicks! Hopefully my other geeky stuff doesn’t drive you off.
I would recommend listening to Mur Lafferty’s podcasts, “I Should Be Writing” and “Ditch Diggers.” The first one is general writing life stuff, and the second one discusses the business side of writing. There’s good advice in there.
Well, romance isn’t really my chosen genre, but I’m glad I could help!
WorldSerendipity on 6 March 2020, 21:08 said:
I’m practicing on being more outspoken on my thoughts, so I say it’s a win-win for us :)
I’m pretty aware of this trope, and to be honest, I’m a huge sucker for it. The issue I have is how poorly done it is here. Jace is just all Jerk and no Heart. I guess it can be forgiving if the worst trait he ever have is being abrasive, but he’s much, much worse than that. He condescend to and insults everyone, he’s a bloodthirsty maniac whose only interest is battling, and he’s a huge racist. And his list of good deeds is rather short. Seriously, does the guy do anything nicer than holding the door for anyone? Jerk with a Heart of Gold can be fascinating if done well, but there’s a line you need to make sure you don’t cross, and Jace went beyond the call of duty on that a long time ago.
Any story ideas can work fine if you know what you’re doing. The only reason why it fell apart here was that CC chose to focus the story on these characters. Sorry, but I don’t care at all, Clary, that you can’t be in a relationship with Jace. Maybe if you did more than cry about it every time, I might be interested, but it never rises to that level. It’s a shame. Maybe if the story focused more on Clary trying to revive her mother, a more personal stake, or exploring the relationship between the two in light of Clary finding out about her secrets, it would be infinitely more interesting.
I think I’ll still frequent there in the future. It seems as though that our interests line up rather well.
To clarify, I’m not looking for someone to teach me more on writing. I’m looking for someone who can give me feedback. I’m in the middle of writing a story, and I’m about to post it up soon. Do you know anyone who could critique me?
Apep on 6 March 2020, 22:35 said:
Yeah, that’s the real problem. For all the claims of how Jace’s behavior has changed, we don’t really see much of it. And while it’s only been maybe a month or so since the first book started, that only excuses so much.
Exactly. My go-to example of this (small stakes, but still gripping) is Mary Robinette Kowal’s Shades of Milk and Honey. It’s a Jane Austin pastiche, and the big problem at the end isn’t some “end of the world” issue – it’s that her sister’s reputation will be ruined. That’s pretty minor, all things considered.
But the main character cares, and I like the main character, and she takes active part in trying to protect her sister’s reputation.
Well, I’d maybe recommend asking some friends or family that you trust.
If that’s not an option, but you’re on twitter, I’d try connecting with folks on writing twitter.
You could also try Critique Circle. They have a decent system for ensuring stuff gets critiqued: you earn credits by writing critiques of posted works (I think there’s a minimum of a few hundred words for a full credit), and it costs three credits (I think) to post something.
WorldSerendipity on 6 March 2020, 22:42 said:
On Critique Circle, do they accept fanfiction?
Apep on 6 March 2020, 23:37 said:
I’m not entirely sure.
But if you’re somewhat active in a fanfic community, there’s probably people willing to give you feedback before you post. Try asking about it.
WorldSerendipity on 7 March 2020, 01:52 said:
Just checked the website, and they said they don’t accept fanfictions. Shame. I already have one person checking my work on FF.net, but I figured it wouldn’t hurt to get more people to check it out.