Reviews Literature / The Mortal Instruments

One of the most undeservedly hated series there are

Alright, so I'll get the obvious out of the way first: yes, this is very similar to Harry Potter. I consider it sort of a homage, for the simple reason that Infernal Devices isn't similar to Harry Potter (or anything else) at all, but I'm not the biggest Harry Potter fan - if you're a fan of it, you're likely to feel like this series is treading old ground. But I don't. There are definitely some elements similar to Harry Potter, but again, I think it's an intentional homage. And it feels like an injustice to dwell on that, because this is a shockingly enjoyable series that, while it won't appeal to everyone, most definitely appeals to me.

The negatives:

• The prose can sometimes give unnecessary details.
• Clary is a Mary Sue, and with the exception of City of Ashes, she feels constantly undeveloped in every book.
• The similes got a little annoying after a while.
• Again, the Harry Potter parallels can get a little annoying. (The Twilight ones, by the way, are probably coincidental - by the time Twilight came out, Clare would've been almost finished writing this or beginning to query it.)
• City of Glass had an unrealistically happy ending.

The positives:

• Other than Clary, all the characters are well-developed and interesting. In particular, Jace is a great exploration of someone with abusive parents, and far less of a jerk than everyone detests him for.
• The writing, other than the similes, was phenomenal.
• The plots were well planned out and normally well-paced.
• The world, while it had the occasional contradiction (as the previous reviewer pointed out), was cohesive, interestingly formed, and logical.
• The dialogue is fucking hilarious.
• Clare handles diversity really well, her homosexual characters in particular.
• Magnus is awesome.

Basically, the series is definitely flawed, and it's not for everyone, but I really enjoyed it. And maybe you will, too, if you're the type of person that would enjoy it.