Series Review: The Mortal Instrument (by Cassandra Clare)

Series Name: The Mortal Instruments
Author: Cassandra Clare
Genre: Young Adult, Urban Fanasy
Overall Series Rating: 4/5
Books:
City of Bones (3/5)*
City of Ashes (4/5)
City of Glass (4/5)
City of Fallen Angels (4/5)
City of Lost Souls (5/5)
City of Heavenly Fire (5/5)

Book One Synopsis (from Goodreads):
When fifteen-year-old Clary Fray heads out to the Pandemonium Club in New York City, she hardly expects to witness a murder― much less a murder committed by three teenagers covered with strange tattoos and brandishing bizarre weapons. Then the body disappears into thin air. It's hard to call the police when the murderers are invisible to everyone else and when there is nothing―not even a smear of blood―to show that a boy has died. Or was he a boy?

This is Clary's first meeting with the Shadowhunters, warriors dedicated to ridding the earth of demons. It's also her first encounter with Jace, a Shadowhunter who looks a little like an angel and acts a lot like a jerk. Within twenty-four hours Clary is pulled into Jace's world with a vengeance, when her mother disappears and Clary herself is attacked by a demon. But why would demons be interested in ordinary mundanes like Clary and her mother? And how did Clary suddenly get the Sight? The Shadowhunters would like to know...

Exotic and gritty, exhilarating and utterly gripping, Cassandra Clare's ferociously entertaining fantasy takes readers on a wild ride that they will never want to end.

My Background (with the series):
I feel like this is important for understanding my feelings about the series, and I promise to keep it short. I started this series before the third book was out in middle school (yes, I had to wait for the third book - and we didn't know some stuff that's pretty common knowledge now. It was torture). And, honestly, I don't know if I had just first read them now, if I would of enjoyed them as much as I did.

Series Thoughts:
First off, I think that the reading order for this series and The Infernal Devices should be, either publication order - or read the original trilogy of these, ID, and then the last three of this. And I don't think you have to of read Infernal Devices to finish this series, but it will kind of ruin the ending of that series and you won't be able to appreciate everything.

I have a few problems with this series and, at some points for another series, they would of been enough to make me want to not continue with the series - but these books are so easy to read and they're fun, that I kept reading them. But I didn't care about the characters, really at all, and definitely not as much as I ended up caring for the characters in The Infernal Devices.

And I think I know why - these characters grow, but not a lot, not as much as they could have, maybe even should have, but I think it's because it takes place over such a small amount of time. This series is six books long and takes place in a few months - a few months, that boggled my mind when I first realized it, but it explained a lot. They're still very, very young - throughout the whole series - but I'm not sure that can excuse my next problem: bad, awful, teenager decisions. It does get better in later books, but not too much better.

That's what I'm calling it, because that's what I feel these are. Sometimes the characters make informed... ish decisions, but most of the time I can't understand why they're doing what they're doing. Sometimes this works out in their favor, sometimes it doesn't and you want to shake them, but either way - it's infuriating.

That being said, with those problems a few more, I do really enjoy this series. It's a lot of fun, easy to read, the world is kind of awesome (it's not too intricate or hard to follow, but it also doesn't really feel flat or underdeveloped, for the most part). Clare's writing isn't amazing, but I like the humor woven in, though it's not for everyone.

* ratings on these books are from my rereading them (if I'd read them previously, of course).
The Infernal Devices series review