CassandraClare

April 19, 2015 by Bianca 20 Comments

How To: Read the Shadowhunter’s Chronicles

**Disclaimer; this post has been updated numerous times to incorporate extra additions to the series. The last update was on the 9th of April, 2018.

It was a rainy, dark Sunday afternoon and my friend, Thanushri, and I were discussing how much homework we had~~n’t done~~, when she asked for a book recommendation.

We fell into a deep conversation of our favourite books when Thanushri asked if City of Glass (of which she had not read) was more interesting than City of Bones and City of Ashes. Of course, with this, I began explaining everything to her, and then it came to me that it would be more efficient to write a post all about how to read The Shadowhunter Chronicles, than explaining it to every single person on this planet.

Welcome to the world of Nephilim. I have a feeling that you won’t be leaving anytime soon.

THE SERIES + BOOKS

One of the best things about being in the Shadowhunter fandom is the fact that new stuff comes out all the time! On March the 27th, 2007, Cassandra Clare released City of Bones, the first instalment of the Mortal Instruments Series (first series).

I, personally, believed that the series was meant to stop after City of Glass, since if you stop there, most problems were resolved. Once I got out of my reading slump and began to read City of Fallen Angels, I realised that Cassandra Clare had an amazing talent of leaving small hints everywhere that don’t mean anything until later in the series (and it makes you feel like a fool for not guessing, beforehand). So please, don’t repeat my mistake, and read all 6 books.

THE MORTAL INSTRUMENTS

This series consists of six books;

City of Bones —– THESE TWO BOOKS
City of Ashes —– EXPLAIN THE UNIVERSE.
City of Glass —– THIS BOOK OPENED UP THE SCENE FOR THE FINAL THREE BOOKS.
City of Fallen Angels
City of Lost Souls
City of Heavenly Fire —– BEST BOOK, BY FAR!!

[Read more…]

March 8, 2015 by Bianca 2 Comments

Cover Reveal: The Magisterium Series, Copper Gauntlet

So far, regarding the Magisterium series, we know that Cassandra Clare and Holly Black are planning on writing five books, and their working names, at the moment, are:

The Iron Trial {released: September the 9th, 2014}
The Copper Gauntlet {September, 2015}
The Cosmos Blade {2016}
The Golden Boy {2017}
The Enemy of Death {which is going to be released in 2018 *cries*}

On Magisterium Day, 2015 (the 2nd of February), Cassandra Clare released this cover to the public:

I am in love with it, already! I cannot wait to get it on my bookshelf!

On the first instalment’s cover, there were three people and no animals. Here it is:

Children'sBookReviewTheIronTrial Cassandra later told us that the cover featured Call (left), Aaron (centre) and Tamara (right). It’s not official, but I believe that the ‘monster’ in the background is meant to tease readers about the massive plot twist (even though no one knows of it until they finish the book).

However, on Copper Gauntlet’s cover, stand (left to right) Havoc, Aaron, Call, Tamara and Jasper.

I simply cannot wait to find out what happens! Can you? Have you any ideas?

March 7, 2015 by Bianca Leave a Comment

Cover Reveal: Welcome to Shadowhunter Academy + The Lost Herondale

**I apologise for the lateness of this post, it was in my queue and I completely forgot about it.**

This post is for all of us Mortal Instruments fanatics that are dying of Shadowhunter deprivation after closing City of Heavenly Fire in May, 2014.

Boy, do I have some exciting news for you. Cassandra Clare has just released two of her covers for the e-book series, Tales from the Shadowhunter Academy!

So, we all know (or should know) that Cassandra Clare has teamed up with Sarah Rees Brennan, Maureen Johnson and Robin Wasserman to create a series of ten novellas, taking place after the events in City of Heavenly Fire.
Each of these books will be released on a monthly basis, beginning with “Welcome to Shadowhunter Academy” in February, 2015.

The titles of the books, to date, are:

Welcome to Shadowhunter Academy
The Lost Herondale
The Whitechapel Fiend
Nothing But Shadows
Evil We Love
Pale Kings and Princes
Bitter of Tongue
The Fiery Trial
Born to Endless Night
Angels Twice Descending

They sound interesting, don’t they?

Right, so, now to the big, exciting and extremely fantabulous cover reveals of the first two books.

Now, if you put them next to each other, they form a part of a picture (of someone about to let an arrow fly).

Ahhhh oh my Gosh, I cannot wait for this series to be released in hardcopy.

And, of course, this will work just like The Bane Chronicles; in which ten eBook novellas were released (once a month) and then a hardcopy was released afterwards.

I cannot wait any longer for more Shadowhunters! Can you? What are you most/least looking forward to in the upcoming Shadowhunter Chronicles?

February 23, 2015 by Bianca 3 Comments

Review: The Iron Trial by Cassandra Clare and Holly Black

Title: The Iron Trial

Series: Magisterium
Book Number: #1
Author/s: Cassandra Clare & Holly Black

Publication Date: September the 9th, 2014
Publisher: Scholastic

Pages: 299

Purchase: Amazon | The Book Depository | Booktopia | iTunes

Synopsis

Most kids would do anything to pass the Iron Trial.

Not Callum Hunt. He wants to fail.

All his life, Call has been warned by his father to stay away from magic. If he succeeds at the Iron Trial and is admitted into the Magisterium, he is sure it can only mean bad things for him.

So he tries his best to do his worst – and fails at failing.

Now the Magisterium awaits him. It’s a place that’s both sensational and sinister, with dark ties to his past and a twisty path to his future.

The Iron Trial is just the beginning, for the biggest test is still to come . . .

Prior to reading The Iron Trial, I’d heard rumours that it was ‘yet another rip-off of Harry Potter’.
5 days ago, when I finished the book, I could finally say, from the bottom of my heart, that it was not Harry Potter. When readers start comparing two books from the same genre (in this case, it’s fantasy), they’re going to find a lot of similarities, but if all books were completely unique, genres would not be an acceptable way of sorting text.

I originally picked up this book because I was on a book-hangover (no thanks to City of Heavenly Fire) and decided that Cassandra Clare’s writing may have the ability to rescue me from the pit of sadness, just as well as it put me there.

I was wrong.

Cassandra Clare and Holly Black may have threw me a rope and pulled me up, but only to drop me back into the pit. I cannot wait another seven months to find out what happens with Call.
Plus, the cover of The Copper Gauntlet (book number 2 in the Magisterium series) was just released… AND JASPER WAS ON THE COVER?!?!?!

I need an explanation… now!

Despite the fact that I am completely obsessed with the story, I found a few faults within the text – mostly just places where decent descriptions were lacked – but I can forget about them, thanks to the MASSIVE PLOT TWIST!?

Cassandra and Holly have a way of weaving small hints into the text, that seemingly mean nothing, but make heaps of sense once the time comes around.

Overall, I adored this book and if I had my time again, I wouldn’t hesitate picking it up again.