Cassandra Clare

11th Mar 202028th Mar 2020 belleinpagesLeave a comment

The point of stories is not that they are objectively true, but that the soul of the story is truer than reality. Those who mock fiction do so because they fear the truth.

[POTENTIAL SPOILERS AHEAD]

Chain of Gold by Cassandra Clare (CC), the first instalment into her new The Last Hours series, is one of those books that will go down within my reading memory and history as a totally encapsulating, awe-inducing story. I loved it. I don’t know how to really put into words how much I loved it. 5 out of 5 x 100 times. Do not overlook this book and the chance to read it, grab it by the horns and fill your boots! It was a wild ride.

Built upon the foundations of Cassandra Clare’s The Infernal Devices stories; showcasing the Shadowhunters within Victorian London, this took it one step further. Not only did the main protagonists of TID feature heavily, AS PARENTS (!!!) but time had moved onto the Edwardian period of history, in London. Now, I am Scottish. I am from the UK. I’m well accustomed with the time period of Victorian/Edwardian London. My parents’ house is an Edwardian manse. It is as romantic and traditional in its historical teachings as CC portrayed, and so for that, I tip my hat to her. It can’t be ignored that she has taken liberties with certain elements, however this is to be expected since it is a fantasy book – and I think even with those she did it successfully. Her world-building, contributing to what she had presented within TID, was on the mark and fully immersive.

I’ve seen a lot of reviews on this already raising that they didn’t enjoy the over-explanation of Shadowhunters as a race; their meaning; purpose; relationships etc. I personally don’t feel that this was an issue?! Having recently re-read (for the umpteenth time) The Mortal Instruments which was CC’s first endeavour into the Shadowhunter universe, the explanations and fortifications of info was much heavier within those novels in comparison to TLH. If anything, I felt that the slight lacking of explanations of these things makes it slightly inaccessible to readers to the book who haven’t read anything of the various CC series beforehand. As someone who has read EVERY SINGLE BOOK by here ever, I had no issues. Anyone else?

The characters within this were fantastic: in-depth, well thought out, descriptive and unequivocally human. But, my god, there were A LOT. I felt exhausted half the time just trying to keep up with them. Although this book was large, I don’t think it was large enough for all of the perspectives being thrown at us. It’s fast-paced-ness also meant that I was frequently flicking back and forth between pages; trying to remember who was who to which characters and whose parents were who and whose relationships were forming or breaking down and built on what. Bear this in mind, content-wise this is not a difficult read, but complexity of characters-wise, it is a bit gruelling. You have to be very switched on. Herondales, Carstairs’, Lightwoods, Cartwrights, Blackthorns, Fairchilds…. A lot of big Shadowhunter names and a lot of cousins, brothers, sisters, mums, dads, aunts, uncles. Sometimes I was trying to make sure that there was nothing incestuous going on with the relationships…

The MAIN foursome protagonists (and the ones I was most interested in) were James, Lucie, Cordelia and Matthew. I loved them. James Herondale – new Shadowhunter poster boy – is my jam. Yes. Matthew is the typical best friend struggling with his inner demons, Lucie and Cordelia the heroines you don’t realise you need until you see them. James and Cordelia’s budding romance features the most heavily and I loved it, but I wanted MORE LUCIE AND MATTHEW. PLEASE. I can only hope they’ll have more front-and-centre time within the next novel. Cordelia was a force to be reckoned with, and if you have read CC’s other series, The Dark Artifices, then you will get series Emma Carstairs vibes. This was fine, because they are essentially within the same ancestral tree, however it is slight character regurgitation, no? Just to be watched.

My one area of particular annoyance was towards the end of the novel. There seems to be a potential love triangle surfacing… I do not want it. I can only hope that it’s to be short-lived, because I think that will put a real dampener on other elements of the series for me.

I was pleasantly surprised by how ANOTHER facet of the Shadowhunter world became apparent – in the form of James’ Shadow realm and ability to access the Demon World. Also – Tessa’s dad is a Prince of Hell?! PLOT TWIST. The cliff-hanger at the end clinched it for me to. I am very excited to see where the next installment of this goes.

Really, really good. If you are a fan of YA Fantasy – this is definitely one for your list. Although if you’re a YA Fantasy fan then I doubt you’ve not had this on your list already…

What are your thoughts on Cassandra Clare’s latest novel? Let me know!

A xo

Book Reviews

Stepsister // Jennifer Donnelly

8th Mar 202027th Mar 2020 belleinpagesLeave a comment

Here are the things girls die of: hunger, disease, accidents, childbirth, and violence. It takes more than heartache to kill a girl. Girls are tough as rocks.

Well, well, well. What do we have here? A not so fairytale retelling? A slant on Cinderella that barely includes its namesake, Cinderella?

Stepsister by Jennifer Donnelly gets 3/5 stars from me. Inventive, heartbreaking, romantic – it was a joy to read! I’ll be honest, in the beginning this was slightly slow and tricky to immerse myself within. I’m going to put that down to the fact that I had two very BIG and very high-profile YA fantasy books being released imminently when I picked this up…. I think I was just watching my time to make sure I could read them when they came out.

When I actially began to let myself enjoy this I REALLY enjoyed it. The messages within this novel are so much more than meets the eye – Isabelle is a symbol of not only overcoming the pigeon-holing and categorising that society has deemed for you (fitting that this is being posted on International Women’s Day 2020…) but also showing that, it’s okay to dream and want to achieve more for yourself. Books provide me with an escape, as I’m sure they provide most readers with, and that’s why I am consistently picking them up and delving into their pages. But another reason why the underlying themes of this book resonated so deeply with me were because I saw my own desires reflected in Isabelle – desperate to be liked (shamefully), but wanting to also not just conform to that which is expected of me to BE liked and wanted. This story features Fate and Chance as secondary characters and I thought this was a really clever idea to personify elements of the human condition and experience that are fantastical and mystical within themselves. It also helped to assign blame to the right people when it was due.

I would say that this book is more fantasy than historical fiction, and I would used that term extremely liberally. The author has obviously taken what she wants and what she doesn’t from the world she has created to resemble known historical facts on society and nationality within France. Cinderella and her Prince (The King and Queen of France) feature very little within this. That was one of the things I enjoyed most. I loved this alternative telling of the Cinderella story with the frame shifted to focus on the ugly stepsisters, and an offering of redemption for them through highlighting WHY they are so ‘ugly’. It became clear that this ‘ugliness’ was a reflection of their personality, rather than their looks (a theme that is apparent within the Disney and Grimm tales but is often accomponied by physical features that some associate with being unattractive). Because really, who is to say what is and isn’t ugly/pretty?

I highly recommend anyone to read this with an open mind and heart towards the characters and to be willing to view the renowned fairytale from the villian’s POV. It is definitely worth it.

P.s. Anyone else who has read this – did you not want more of Tavi??! She is an ultimate force to be reckoned with. I would read a second installment of this just to get her individual story too.

Book Reviews

The Royal Companion // Tanya Bird

9th Feb 202020th Feb 2020 belleinpagesLeave a comment

I know nothing about war, but I understand grief. I know it extinguishes everything else, even victory I imagine.’ She twisted a piece of his hair and let it go. ‘How odd it must be to return home a hero and be confronted with celebration while grieving.’ She slipped her hand into his. ‘How ludicrous you must find the feasting as you count the empty chairs before you.

This is a quick one but felt it deserved a wee review cause I think… This is my favourite book so far of 2020. I know. I’m surprised too – relatively unknown and not a cult following fantasy read; but I just couldn’t put it down!

WOAH. This did a total 180 on me. Started incredibly slowly and I struggled to keep interest, however it definitely picked up by about a 1/3 of the way through. This is definitely a romance front and centre, so don’t assume anything else when you pick this up.

Some of the perspectives are a bit *ahem* sexist and degrading to women but I think this is the entire point and helps to present the contrast between the main character and her love interest nicely – in both senses of the word they are looking for the opposite of what ‘royal society’ is constraining and categorising them to.

My one bug-bear is that the world-building and characterisation is a bit empty… A lot more could have been done with this to help the story develop and help the reader become fully immersed within the read. That being said, some of the writing was truly beautiful and had me pause after reading (like the quote above) and think, “huh.”

For a free book on Kindle it is definitely worth a read – and there are loads more in the series! However, I feel I have been trapped as all others are £4 (Still cheap but now I need to buy them ALL to follow what happens next).