If you've never heard of the Mortal Instruments, you must not be a teenage fangirl. I'm not a teenage fangirl, but sometimes I act like one. Things that bring out my inner fangirl are: The Chronicles of Narnia books (too bad the movies are horrible, particularly this one); Jane Austen; Joss Whedon; Doctor Who; and, most recently, The Mortal Instruments! (Yes, I do enjoy Harry Potter. I think the books will be around for ages. I'm just not obsessed with it.)
Notice what wasn't on the list? Twilight. That's right. I've read them, sure. Everyone told me how "great" they supposedly were. Um...everyone was wrong.
I get the appeal of the stories -- that kind of obsessive romance satisfies something in the crazy part of the typical female brain (no, I am not saying we women are crazier than men...there's a crazy part in the typical male brain, too). When we engage the rational parts of our brains we go, "Ew! What's up with Cullen the creeper? And werewolves falling in love with babies? Ick!"
So, when you inevitably start hearing people compare The Mortal Instruments (TMI) to Twilight in August, tell them Kara says they're crazy if they don't think TMI wins by a longshot. This comparison is only natural, as they are from the same genre. However, TMI kicks Twilight's butt.
Okay, sorry, I had to get that out of my system.
Now I can start the actual review!
TMI is a series written by Cassandra Clare about a race of people called Shadowhunters (AKA Nephilim). The Nephilim are demon (monster) hunters who have descended from Jonathon Shadwohunter -- a man given angelic blood by the angel Raziel. So, you can see where we're going with this: into total Nerd-Land (AKA Awesome-Land)!
In the first book, City of Bones, Clary Fray thinks she's a normal girl, but then she suddenly starts seeing really weird stuff everywhere. And, for some reason, this blonde Shadowhunter kid named Jace starts following her around. Well, Clary's mom is kidnapped, Clary gets attacked by a demon (and she kills it! Woo-hoo!), and, to nobody's surprise, it turns out she is, in fact, one of the Nephilim. Also, there is a human kid named Simon and some more Nephilim named Isabelle and Alec. Everyone is good-looking, and there are lots of unrequited crushes and other appropriately angsty teenage problems.
The story is really predictable. In fact, I knew how it would end when I was halfway through. The funny thing is, I didn't care. Even if the plot wasn't intriguing enough to keep me guessing, I still wanted to spend time in the story and connect with the characters. It's not great literature, but it is great entertainment!
The next couple of books were only slightly less predictable. (FYI, I know some people who don't think they are predictable at all. I'm not alone in my opinion, though.)
The best thing about these stories is that they are well-written: they are fast-paced without neglecting character development; there are plenty of sub-plots to add depth; you won't be able to get enough of some of the characters (Magnus Bane, for example); and, well, there are a lot of great action sequences and battles. Oh, and, unlike Twilight, people actually die in these battles. The best fantasy novels need to run the gamut of human emotion as often as possible, and these books come pretty close.
There is something really appealing about urban fantasy. It lets you daydream about another world existing within our everyday reality. I've always found it appealing when characters are plucked out of our typical set of human experiences in this life and exposed to a whole new world or reality, whether that world is found in a wardrobe, modern-day New York City, or in a bigger-on-the-inside British police box.
So, to summarize: The Mortal Instruments are good, and if you like YA fantasy at all, you should definitely read the books and watch the City of Bones movie in theaters in August! Hooray!
Note: Currently, there are five TMI books, and a sixth is in the works. Cassandra Clare has another series of Shadowhunter books, The Infernal Devices, a prequel to TMI, which is complete and comprised of three books.
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