4 STARS! ★★★★
Today marks the start of my CC week where I'll be reading her Mortal Instruments series, woohoo! I've been having most of her books on paperbacks and in an attempt to tackle my paperbacks TBR, this series has been on top of my list.
I'm gonna change up my review style a little bit; keeping it short and simple so that I can tackle as many books in this series as I can in my CC-dedicated week.
Loved the world of Shadowhunters that CC is trying to draw us in by having the current setting blend in with the modern city background. I liked the idea of a whole new world hidden in our real world. Was sucked in from the first chapter itself as it starts off with a thrilling scene and later catapulted to a whole new world where we start to meet more than just the Shadowhunters: namely vampires, warlocks, demons, werewolves to name a few.
However there were some minor moments that I thought the infodumping was a little extreme to my liking in where I had to retrace my steps back sometimes (I'm a little slow in absorbing all the new terminologies lol). Once I got the hang of it, I was completely enthralled by this new world and found the entire read to be entertaining and addicting!
CC really managed to weave this intricate universe that poses so many secrets that have yet to be unlocked.
I loved the dynamic between Clary and the Shadowhunters gang; Jace, Alec and Isabelle. Everytime they kicked butt, I feel like doing fistpumps! And admittedly at first, I wasn't a huge fan of Simon but he slowly grew on me during the second half of the book. Secondary characters like Magnus and Luke were also characters that I've come to like and drew me in as I'm certain there's a whole lot more to their backstory.
Valentine had me drawing some parallels to Harry Potter's Voldermort where the bad guys aren't necessarily born evil but they're driven by a stronger cause in what they believed would save their own kind. And the plot twist at the end there from Valentine? It kinda makes you wanna weep and wish you could erase that part!
What I enjoyed most: Jace/Clary witty banters. And almost everything that Jace says :D I like how he cracks me up in even the most dire situation but it was nice to see a glimpse of a different side of him every now and then ♥
Since I've watched the movie (& loved it!) before reading this one, I didn't really get the oomph factor since it felt a like a refresher read for me especially with the movie being rather spot-on with most of the key events played here.
It was action-packed that kept me on my toes and I'm eager to explore this whole new world that has yet to come. Super excited to see how the relationship between Jace & Clary will play out in the upcoming books.
Off to the next one!
