Megan Danvers

Hello again, readers! Now before I get started I should probably admit that I have not read the majority of Cassandra Clare’s work nor have I even finished City of Bones as I felt the overwhelming urge to DNF it. That said, I will not be going over my confusion regarding her entire bibliography and will only be approaching my confusion with the popularity of the Mortal Instruments compared to the usual disappointment in the Shadowhunters TV series.

I, as with several books that I have read that have adaptations to tout, saw the adaptation—in this case, the Shadowhunters TV show—before attempting to read the books. And just like my experiences with Harry Potter I wound up much preferring the adaptation to the book itself. Why is this, you may ask? Well, let me tell you.

The first and biggest issue I had with City of Bones was Jace Wayland, or as we are to later learn in the series, Jace Herondale. He was the most arrogant loser I have ever read in a book ever. He insisted that Clary and all other girls were in love with him even as Clary made it abundantly clear over and over again that she couldn’t care less. He was so full of himself that I found myself dreading the next time he was on the page or would open his mouth.

Shadowhunters’ Jace did not make me hate him like that. I might not recall his exact personality in the TV series as it’s been a couple years since I watched it but I do distinctly remember him not being overwhelmingly in love with himself. He might’ve been a bit arrogant and condescending, but I don’t recall wanting to knock some sense into him in every scene. Maybe they dialed back on the egomania for the show, maybe they just redid his whole character to be more likeable, but for whatever reason TV Jace won me over (or at least succeeded in not making me hate him) where book Jace failed to impress.

Another issue I had with the book was something that was greatly downplayed in the show, if only because we weren’t directly in Clary’s head, was Clary’s whole “I’m not like other girls, I’m a boring old plain jane” shtick. It didn’t annoy me as much as Jace did because it did feel a bit minor even in the books but it always irks me whenever a female protagonist wishes for bigger boobs or wider hips or prettier hair or whatever instead of focusing on the supernatural plot of the story. Again, Clary didn’t focus on that too much so I had originally been willing to overlook that at first, though it’s presence did bother me. Fortunately the TV show downplayed this by not having us hear Clary bemoan the fact she wasn’t as pretty as Izzy, with only minor instances of getting dressed up to serve as the “not like other girls” moments.

Speaking of the TV series, I want to bring up the thing that drastically confuses me. Why the hate for the show when it makes the characters more likeable than in the books? My sister says the show had bad acting the one time she tried to watch it, and while I have no eye for acting quality, I do have at least a bit of an eye for writing quality. If the writing in City of Bones was bad enough that I didn’t even finish the first book—let alone the entire series which I had already bought because I liked the show and had faith I’d like the books too—how then is the bad acting enough to drive the book fans away from the series when they liked the writing of City of Bones?

I’m not going to pretend the show had stellar writing. It was okay writing that kept me entertained and that’s about all I can say about it since judging the writing for on-screen media is harder than judging the writing of a book. What I will say, however, is that the characterizations in the show were more appealing than the book had been. As said before, Jace came across less arrogant, Clary less “I’m not like other girls, I’m not pretty”, and even Magnus Bane had more charisma than what I read in City of Bones. I won’t speak to the characterizations for Izzy, Alec, or Simon as they had pretty minor roles up to the point where I DNF’d the book. I actually think Simon might’ve still been a rat at the time I put it down.

Another thing that irritated me about the book was the pacing and plot progression. It seemed as though City of Bones was supposed to be about Clary trying to find her mother and also the Institute figuring out Valentine was rising to power once more, yet the plot seemed to get distracted very early on by focusing on Luke and the other downworlders, Jace’s past, and Simon getting turned into a rat and kidnapped by vampires. The only time it felt like we weren’t taking an unnecessary detour was when they went to Magnus Bane to try and find out about Clary’s memories but whatever happened at that point was immediately forgotten in favor of saving Simon from the bloodsuckers. I won’t say the plot was much more focused in the show, but I will say that given shows are known for the occasional filler episode it was less glaring when we veered off the beaten path.

Tl;dr, the characters were more likeable in the show and issues with plot progression were less noticeable in the TV series given the format. But yeah, that about sums up why I had to stop reading City of Bones, my very first ever DNF in my life. I can forgive a lot in writing but characters that annoy me in one way or another are about the biggest turn-off for my reading tastes. Again, these are just my personal opinions and honestly, I might try reading her work again in the future. The only thing putting me off from a second try—besides the original attempt making me cringe—is the allegations I’ve heard that Cassandra Clare plagiarized the Dark-Hunter books by Sherrilyn Kenyon. I need to do more research to know for sure whether or not these allegations are valid as I do not want to support an author who has plagiarized the work of another author.

But that’s going to be all I have to say today. Thanks for reading. Peace out, readers!