Another Paranormal YA Romance

Cassandra Clare takes on her first YA novel with a series called “The Mortal Instruments”. Book One is City of Bones. You can tell this is a first novel. The crappy side of YA literature shines through in this attempt at writing.

I’m being harsh? Perhaps. But I’m tired of crap being pedaled off as Young Adult literature. It seems all authors have to do these days is come up with a paranormal romance plot, add a mysterious boy and a girl who discovers an alternate world she never knew existed, and BOOM! You got yourself a best seller. Why are they selling and so popular then if they’re crap, you ask? Well it’s because they’re compelling. You want to know what’s going to happen. They’re world building and that creates a mystery of what these other people, this other world, is like. So even though I found myself rolling my eyes while reading this book, I kept going because I had to hear the ending.

Clary is a fifteen year old whose world has just flipped on its side. She sees a murder of something not human by three teens who no one else can see except herself. Then a day later, her mother is kidnapped and Clary is attacked by a demon. Suddenly, her eyes are opened to a world that was hidden to her from birth: the world of the Clave, Shadowhunters who are descended from angels to protect humans from demons. She meets Jace, a mysterious Shadowhunter with golden locks, who brings her into his world and helps her find her mother, who has been stolen by Valentine, a Nazi-esque ex-Shadowhunter.

Ok I’ll start with the good, so you don’t think I’m a one sided bitch. The plot is a rich one, kind of Constantine-esque (the movie with Keanu Reeves). I wanted to read the book when I found out it is being made into a movie. There’s a lot to build on in this plot: God versus Satan, the ultimate good versus evil, creepy and frightening creatures, and a world that encompasses so many aspects of the supernatural. This is a plot that keeps moving and keeps you interested. I completely understand why the book is popular.

Now the bad!! Goody goody, there’s so much to say. First I need to go with the characters. I didn’t feel attracted or sympathetic with any of them. They were so 2D. There was nothing that felt real about them.  As in a lot of YA novels, their emotions were so overly dramatic and their characteristics were stereotypical. The mysterious, hot guy who tries to shut out the world until the main character comes around. O wait he’s sarcastic. Who would have guessed!? The girl who’s artistic and doesn’t feel like she really belongs…because she doesn’t! Wow. Revolutionary!  The main guy, Jace, is the mysterious warrior man, but upon meeting Clary, our main character, he just starts telling her about this secret world. REALLY!!?? If he’s so secretive why is he doling out this information to a complete stranger? It feels like it’s going against the character’s personality and against the underworld society.

The plot. Warning, I’m going to spoil the plot here so STOP reading if you do not want to hear it. Clare, the author, stole from Star Wars! She took that whole Luke and Leia plot line and put it in her book along with the whole evil father part. First, dude, you can’t just steal stuff from Star Wars and then crap on it. Not Cool. Second, what is up with incest as a plot line these days? Creepy. O and Clare completely cops out on the religion aspect of the story. Obviously if there are demons, there is a demon leader, i.e. Satan, and if there is a Hell and a Satan, then there is a Heaven and angels (Newton’s Law). I mean the Shadowhunters are supposedly descended from angels, but Clare denies the existence of one God. Instead, Jace doesn’t know if he believes in God and no one actually knows if angels exist. Come on Clare! If you’re going to write a book that’s essentially about angels and demons, you got to adopt some sort of overarching belief. I don’t care if it’s the Flying Spaghetti Monster and his beer volcano, but there needs to be a heaven and a hell, thus rulers of both.

The writing. The story is narrated from Clary’s perspective. She is the main character, and as the reader, you’re discovering everything at the same time she is. That makes sense. I got angry when out of the blue, one chapter was partially written from Jace’s perspective. Then back to Clary’s. You can’t just throw that in out of nowhere! Come on! The writing was juvenile. He said, she said. Discovering characters' names, personalities, and plot points in the most obvious of ways. There was no artistry here.

I’ll give Clare props for putting out a bestselling first novel, but that’s about it. My coworker tells me Clare’s “Infernal Devices” series is much better, and after giving myself some time away from this genre, I think I’ll give her other series a read. I know many people love this series. People also enjoy bathroom humor. It has its audience, but it’s certainly not polished or thoughtful.

This was a very long review. Sorry, I just needed to get that venom out of my system and onto the internet. You’re welcome world!

Urban Witchery

“Once a Witch” by Carolyn MacCullough

Tamsin is a normal girl in a family of witches. She’s an outcast in a family of outcasts. Her grandmother predicted that Tamsin would change the fate of her family and would be the most powerful witch in generations, but it seems she was wrong. Luckily, Tamsin goes to boarding school in New York City and can at least be among people like her, those without Talent, and away from a family that makes her feel lacking. But with the family’s ancestral home in upstate New York, their pull is never far away. While back at home for the summer, a stranger comes around asking for the family’s Talent in locating a lost object. As she’s the only one present, Tamsin decides that she will find what the man wants by herself and prove to her family that she is an asset even without magic. But what starts as a ploy to impress the relatives, turns into a course of events that may bring back old enemies and ruin the family forever.

“Once a Witch” is an urban fantasy. Tamsin is a typical YA character, Angsty, upset with her lot in life, but likable. She drinks and smokes on occasion and is not perfect, but has ambition to make her own way in life away from her family, thus she is relatable. What adds to the novel are secondary characters Rowena, the perfect one in the family, and Gabriel, the hunky childhood friend. There were times I found myself not wanting to put this book down. It is short and flies by, so part of the appeal is finishing it quickly and finding out the ending. The plot has some points to build on, with the family history and all the Talents, but is not puzzling and is simple to follow. Overall it was nothing thought provoking, but a fun YA novel. To those who like urban fantasy, and modern day magic practices, give this a try. There is also a sequel to Once a Witch called Always a Witch. Another YA urban fantasy series that might be worth your time is Blue Bloods by Melissa De La Cruz about New York's wealthiest family and their blood sucking secrets...