The YA Issue

UPDATE: I wrote this more than eight years ago. Since then, my views have greatly evolved. I no longer believe a lot of what I wrote in here. The heavy handed moralizing is due to a stint I had with the Catholic Church, but that's long pass. I still believe that art should better society in some way, even as it seems purposeless. But I no longer have such rigid standards about the methodology. If anything, I believe that good art forces us to confront the ugly truths inside us. I think I can fairly say that the me who wrote this essay was avoiding some truths she'd been confronted with. I'm not going to remove this. Fuck, no one is ever going to even read it except me since this blog is a long fossilized piece of history that very few knew about or interacted with in the first place. But I'll know that once upon a time when I excavated this blog via long forgotten passwords and platforms, I saw this post, realized it was problematic, and did something to address it. 

Review: Shadowhunters and Downworlders: A Mortal Instruments Reader edited by Cassandra Clare

Shadowhunters and Downworlders: A Mortal Instruments Reader by Holly Black, Kendra Blake, Gwenda Bond, Sarah Rees Brennan, Rachel Caine, Sarah Cross, Kami Garcia, Michelle Hodkin, Kelly Link, Kate Milford, Diana Peterfeund, Sarah Ryan, Scott Tracey, and Robin Wasserman

Series: The Mortal Instruments (companion)

Published: January 29, 2013

Publisher: SmartPop
Pages: 198

Join Cassandra Clare and a Circle of more than a dozen top YA writers, including New York Times bestsellers Holly Black, Rachel Caine, and Kami Garcia, as they write about the Mortal Instruments series, its characters, and its world. 
Inside you’ll read:• 

• A cinematic tutorial on why the best friend (Simon) always loses out to the bad boy (Jace)• 

• The unexpected benefits of the incest taboo•

• What we can read between the lines of Alec and Magnus’ European vacation•

• The importance of friendship, art, humor, and rebellion• 

• And more, from the virtues of Downworlders to the naughty side of Shadowhunting

Now, before you look at that 5 star rating and say, “oh, it’s just another of Cassies cray cray obsessive followers…” hear me out.

An Open Letter to Ms. Clare: On the Subject of Books and a Girl

EDIT: I submitted this article to Hypable and they so kindly published it. You can view it here. It’s copied word-for-word below also.

Dear Ms. Clare,

I do not know if you’ll actually ever happen upon this (here’s for trying), but whatever the case, let this be a letter for all those who have read The Infernal Devices, and love the series as I do.

Review: City of Bones by Cassandra Clare

City of Bones by Cassandra Clare

Series: The Mortal Instruments

Published: March 27, 2007

Publisher: Margaret K. McElderry Books

Pages: 442

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.

So, unless you want to be spoiled, I suggest not reading the highlighted parts above. This is why I try to avoid summaries as much as possible - because while establishing the premise of the world for this book, that summary also gives away the big twist of the first chapters. -_-

I thought about giving this 5 stars, simply because it doesn’t compare to my love for TID - but I’ve also accepted that my love for that series is somewhat uncanny. But I do love this series too, it’s just a different kind of love.