There is nothing more exciting than the release of the next book in a series. Then where has the magic gone for the release of City of Heavenly Fire?
Set to be the sixth and final book of the Mortal Instruments series, City of Heavenly Fire by Cassandra Clare seems to be missing the excitement that last installments usually draw. Where the initial trio of the series was praised for having a…unique plot and setting, the continuation of the series has had significantly less hype. This is even after the movie made based on the first book: City of Bones. Where a movie usually excites more fans to become readers of the series; this movie left there series pretty much where it started.
The story follows the adventures of Clary Frey as she goes through discovery of not only a supernatural world, but also the truth about her family. From that sentence alone it can be seen why this series has maybe turned off so many readers. In the category of Young Adult novels, countless can be described the same way with minor changes. Clare’s initial success can probably be contributed to the Twilight craze since the two series are of the same genre.
Without giving away too much plot of the books, they can be seen as perfectly fine for what they are: a young adult romance. The plot was filled with twists that came out more like a bad mystery novel, the characters were clichéd, two-dimensionally flat, and the supernatural element of the books seemed unrealistic in its interaction with the regular world. The only saving grace seemed to be the creativity on how far Clare took her interpretation of myths and the places she created to go with them. But after the many authors of the Young Adult genre, even this is not enough to save the series, which seemed to have made a game out of how many times they can jump the shark (a phrase used to describe an outrageous plot twist that is there only to shock readers).
So with the upcoming release of City of Heavenly Fire, set to come out May 27, 2014, one can only think that fan loyalty to the series has kept readers coming back. The last three books all seem to smell faintly like a ‘sell out’. There is no shame when an author when they make money off of their work, but when the work is just for money, it reflects in the books.