City of Fallen Angels by Cassandra Clare

Confession: I liked The Mortal Instruments trilogy. I know it’s not literary genius, and I was okay with that. I know it’s a laughing stock in the YA community, and that’s okay with me. I know the fandom wank about Cassandra Clare and blah blah blah, but I will admit to you: she has a talent. She wrote a riveting story that sucked me in, despite its overuse of metaphors and similes. Some of the characters entertained me and, as if in a morbid sense of fascination, I wanted to see where the series went and how it could possibly end. Over all, I was pleased with the ending of City of Glass. I would have preferred that Jace stayed dead, but we all knew better than that. The fact Clary asked for him out of everything in the world annoyed me, as I prefer my protags to have a bit more substance, but, I was fine with the ending. I was content to let Clary and Jace go off and be disgustingly in love and let Simon roam the world as a Daywalking vampire and Magnus and Alec could go be in lurve~ and just let the world be.

I was fine. I liked it. It made me happy.

Clare then began her new series, and against my better judgment, I preordered it. You’ll learn this is a terrible habit of mine, and one whose mistakes I never learn from. To my immense surprise, it was GOOD. So good that I had renewed hopes for Clare’s announcement she would add three new books to the TMI trilogy. I thought, “Her writing has improved so much! She chucked some of those similes and metaphors! Maybe City of Fallen Angels will be good!”

Again, I preordered. How could Clare let me down after the beautiful improvement of her Infernal Devices series?

One day, I will learn my lesson.

Maybe had Angie not read the book before me, I wouldn’t be so reluctant to read. I remember sitting around, waiting for the book to arrive from Amazon. I remember Angie talking to me on MSN while she read the book, and I remember how each time she spoke of the book, my hope faded more and more, until it’d nearly completely diminished.

Once the book was in my hands, I was all hesitance. I tried the first chapter – and nothing. The book opens with Simon, which should have been great! I’m a very vocal Simon fangirl. I love him, and I prefer him to Jace. But I just couldn’t get into it, because I knew what waited ahead: drivel.

Nearly eight months later, I decided to reopen the book and suffer through – mostly because Angie kept begging me so she could have someone with whom to bitch, but also because I figured I may as well. There you have my feelings summed up: I may as well.

What. Did. I. Just. Read?

No.

Really.

What was the plot? Because as far as I’m concerned, this book felt like a massive fanfiction written by someone who missed the TMI series. Everything was shipping, and everything hurt!

Loosely, the plot can be summed up as: Shadowhunters whom were previously supporters of Valentine are falling dead and no one knows who’s doing it. But that’s okay! Because I promise you, this plot has next to nothing to do with the book. Really! Don’t worry about it! Simon is coming to grips with being a vampire and trying to find the balance of humanity and monster, but he’s kicked out of his house and trying to fight his instincts, he’s dating two girls, and he is propositioned by a vampire to take over the NYC vampire clan. As for Clary and Jace? Oh, don’t worry – Jace just keeps having dreams in which he kills Clary so, rather than do anything rational or tell her about it, he just freezes her out, refuses to break up with her, and occasionally mouthrapes her before fleeing off into the night to be BFF with Simon.

And honestly? That’s the best part of this book for me. I rather LIKED Jace when he hung out with Simon, and I could totally get behind a Jace/Simon bromance, except I know better than to expect so much. But really. That was the best. They were funny, awfully delightful, and it was a great reprieve from the disgustingly corny drama of Jace and Clary.

Seriously.

I’m probably biased, in my dislike for Clary/Jace. I’m probably TERRIBLY biased in my near disdain for Clary. Another confession: I skimmed so much. Every time I was in Clary or Jace’s head, they just ANGSTED the entire time about the other. “Oh noes why doesn’t Jace look at me, doesn’t he love me, he won’t kiss me, he’s avoiding me, waaah my life is over my life is ending!” “Oh noes, I dream I’m killing Clary, clearly I am my father, by the Angel, I can speak of this to no one lest they find out I’m a monster, what should I do, oh NOES!”

I just… all that clichéd drivel; and it was SO repetitive. Every few pages, it would pick up again, as if MAYBE I’d forgotten JUST HOW DETRIMENTAL THIS WAS.

There was also this other underlying plot involving the attempted recreation of Sebastian and a lot of dead babies infected with demon blood. It was meant to be a bit more horrific, I think, than I found it.

I just… I can’t wrap my head around what I read. What I FORCED myself to read. At times, I felt as if I was literally pushing myself along, encouraging myself to complete this, just to say I could.

And frankly, this book should never have existed.

The ending of the TMI trilogy was great! The books were a fanciful guilty pleasure, a great, fun read, and when they ended, I felt at peace. I was excited for her Infernal Devices series. And then… this: an obvious cashcow piggybacking on her own success of a trilogy swarming with obsessive, rabid fangirls in love with the obviously mental-issue-ridden Jace, crazy about the selfish Clary. And if I’m to be perfectly honest, I feel that’s’ all this book is. A continuation of the Clary/Jace relationship, which probably explains why I didn’t care for it. There was no overall plot; everything was just SHIPPING romance and terribly repetitive dramas.

Even the “villains” in this book didn’t come across as realistic.

Here we have LILITH the UBERDEMON of Demons. The MOTHER of Downworlders. And she felt like a villain from Scooby-Doo! Her speech came across as terribly unrealistic, and she did like all great Scooby-Doo villains do, by telling us exactly what her plan was, assuming it infallible, and most offensively, assuming readers not clever enough to read into subtle clues and figure out what was about to happen. It was one of the worst dialogue-driven info dumps I’d read in ages. I didn’t feel ANXIOUS for anyone, I didn’t expect anything BAD to happen. And once Lilith explained just what she was doing, I couldn’t even be arsed to CARE.

Amongst all this, I’d hoped perhaps Magnus, fabulous Magnus, could entertain me a little, but no such luck. After returning from exploring the world with Alec and meeting up with his old boo, Camille, Alec turned into a jealous fifteen year old. “Waaah, waaaah, my immortal warlock boyfriend is immortal and has loved before me. Waaah waaaah waaaah, who was Will, how dare you know others in your past? Waaah waaaah waaaaah every time you mention someone from your past I will assume they meant something to you. Waaaaaaaaaaaah I clearly mean nothing to you but a fleeting romance until you tire of me and my pretty face.”

OH MY GOD HE NEVER STOPPED THAT PETULANT BRAT ALL HE DID WAS BITCH AND MOAN AND POUT. HE ACTUALLY KICKED A CHAIR. HE. KICKED. A. CHAIR. WHAT? WHAT? WHAT? WHY?! Ugh.

I TOLD YOU. All this book became was SHIPPING DRAMA out the WAZOOO.

I’d actually FORGOTTEN about the dying Shadowhunters.

Even after reading, I’m left with one last question. (That’s a lie: there’s a LOT of questions, most about the idiocy of the book and the lack of plot.) WHERE THE HELL DOES THE TITLE COME FROM?! IT STILL MAKES NO SENSE TO ME.

And you know what’s even worse? Knowing that, because I’m 4 of 6, I will finish reading the last freaking books of this damn series, just because I can’t bear to own an incomplete series. City of Lost Souls and City of Heavenly Fire will find their way on my shelves and I will only pray they were have some actual plot, as opposed to more shipping drama to ~distract me from the complete lack of story.

Take Michelle’s advice. Don’t buy them brand new. Don’t preorder them. When City of Lost Souls comes out, wait a week or two for the people who LOATHED the book to show up on Amazon begging people to “please, PLEASE take this drivel off their hands for a measly $2 dollars PLEASE I beg of you.” I assure you, you’ll be better off that way. Because, if you’re like me and you’re compelled to finish off this forsaken new trilogy, you may as well save as much money as possible.

★

Divergent by Veronica Roth

Divergent tells the story of Beatrice (later known as Tris), a girl who lives in a world where as soon as teenagers reach the daunting age of sixteen, much choose to which faction they wish to belong for the rest of their lives: Abnegation, Candor, Erudite, Dauntless and Amity. [1] When Beatrice chooses the path of the courageous and admittedly unpredictable Dauntless over the selfless Abnegation life she'd always known, no one is more surprised than Beatrice's family. But what Beatrice didn't know was that just as it was within her right to choose Dauntless, it is within Abnegation's right, too, if she gets to stay. And so, her initiation begins, not only exposing her to the ruthless and violent demands of her new faction, but also threatening to reveal a secret that may cost Beatrice her life.

Perhaps my favourite part of this novel was its heroine. Beatrice was in no way the stereotypical self-conscious and socially impaired main character we all know and are tired of reading about. Tris starts off as a seemingly meek girl from the Selfless Faction of Abnegation but soon her true colors are shown; she is resourceful and sometimes scheming, kind but not to the point where it can be used against her, and appears to know herself enough to know her strengths and weaknesses. As a reader, it was a refreshing experience to see her world through her calculating eyes. [2] 

The same could be said for the rest of her characters, too. Doubtlessly, we don't spend a lot of time with them meeting them as Tris is admittedly not very interested on her new Faction friends, but the times they were part of the narrative, they appeared to be well-rounded and interested, thus leaving me, someone who has the pesky habit to grow attached to side-characters, wanting more of them. Fortunately, there was enough action that not only managed to keep me interested but also helped the book move along at an acceptable speed.

But not everything is the color of roses [3] and as it happens, I had a few issues with the novel.

Warning: Spoilers time! And time for Snarky Writer to honor her name!

First of all, I'd like to say that I really like Roth's dystopian society. [4] It was unique, and interesting, and certainly different from the societies of other books (of the same genre) that I've read in the past. That said, the plot was almost too simplistic and at times, made no sense whatsoever. There was no world building, no explanations about anything; at times I felt like I was just shoved into this world were everything was fuzzy and nothing made sense. Other times, I had to remind myself that this was the first book of a series rather than a sequel; facts were given to me without a single explanation, as if expecting me as a reader to understand the reasoning behind them, and were never ever brought up again.

I know what you're thinking: But you just said yourself that this is the first book! And I did. It's true it is the first book, but it is also true that when you give yourself the task to create a new world for the characters in your novel to live in, it is necessary to at least explain some things. To think that everything can be explained later on and expect the reader to be fine with it is, to put it bluntly, ridiculous.

Unsurprisingly, I had a similar problem with the factions [5] and the idea of anyone deciding that a sixteen year old possesses the ability to make what is arguably the most important decision of their life. Because, did I mention that once you choose a faction, you're stuck there for life? Because that's how it is. Sixteen year olds are known for doing exactly what is wrong for them, and often do things out of spite; in short, they're stupid and tend to make rash decisions to mend the mistake a previous rash decision caused. 

But back to the factions! We're never told how they came to be, or why would anyone ever thing they're a good idea - which, again, brings up to those pesky little things known as No World Building and Lack of Explanations. We are simply told that Candor (the honest), Abnegation (the selfless), Dauntless (the brave), Amity (the peaceful), and Erudite (the intelligent) were created to ensure that society functions efficiently and to prevent war.[6] Abnegation and all the pushovers behind it are in charge of the government because the power should be given to those who don't want it, or so we are told; the self-entitled, self-centered and arguably self-sufficient Erudite work on developing new technology; Candor is composed of what can easily be called human lie detectors, whilst the job of ensuring security, then, falls on the hands of the always reckless sociopaths of Dauntless. It was unclear to me as to what Amity did, other than they did everything with a big smile adorning their faces.

So, exactly what happens in Divergent? We spend the majority of the novel with Tris, as she participates in the training that will determine whether she'll truly is a Dauntless or if she'll become one of the factionless [7]. Considering that the purpose of the Dauntless is to protect others and keep the order (aka the police) the training those who wish to be part of them have to endure is preposterous as it is mainly composed of senseless violence, death-defying acts of sheer stupidity that are supposed to be considered a signs of bravery,  and what doubtlessly is psychological torture. 

Somewhere along all these training, the times Tris got the living everything beaten out of her (see: senseless violence), and was nearly raped by a pack of bullies that were hardly punished by any given authorities, we're supposed to remember that title of the book is Divergent and that it means something. Fortunately, the author makes sure to explain the meaning behind the name of the book; being a Divergent, it would seem, means that you can easily fit into any of the factions and immediately become a problem to the authorities, should they discover your condition.

Early on in this review I stated that I'd enjoyed Tris as a character. But the problem with Tris is that Roth seems to have used her Divergent condition as an excuse to make her capable of being good at everything she does. Or at least, that's what she'd have us believe; because the truth is that if Tris could have easily fit in any of the other factions - including the Erudites - how was it that more than once I found myself being two or three steps ahead of her? And in spite of being a Divergent, and knowing how dangerous this could be if anyone found out, Tris constantly did things that more or less equated to her jumping up and down and telling the world exactly what she was.The inconsistencies in her character could become irritating, as I expected Tris to both catch up on what was going on and to simply know better than to act like an idiot.

The thing about Divergent is, though, that it still sort of met my expectations; the problem was that in order for it to meet them, it stumbled its way to the climax, tripped with its untied shoelaces and then proceed to fall on its face like a drunk freshman after its first College party. At times, I wasn't amused, but that didn't stop me from finishing what is a 500 pages long book in two and a half days. Because for all its flaws, Divergent is addicting, and serves the purpose that so many other young adult novels fail to do: it entertains the reader without asking them to take its narrative too seriously. 

★★★

NOTES 

1.  Think of Harry Potter and all its houses but without the sorting hat. I found it pretty cool, at first, and immediately sorted myself as an Erudite, which should not be a surprise to anyone who knows me. In fact, because I am nerdy, I went out of my way to sort the factions:

• Gryffindor: Dauntless! And don't tell me that the "sociopaths" part makes them Slytherins because, cunning and ambitious=/=sociopath. And really, you are very naive if you think that Gryffindor is full of saints.
• Hufflepuff: I actually feel like shoving the spineless Abnegation and almost catatonic Amity into Hufflepuff is an offense to the house, but they just really don't fit anywhere else.  
• Ravenclaw & Slytherin: The two houses in which Erudite would be sorted into, of course. /biased

2.  Sounds familiar? It should! Because Tris is basically the low-rent version of our beloved Katniss Everdeen. And I know that sounds harsh, and that I said I liked her, but that doesn't mean it's not true. It's like Veronica Roth read the book and went, "Ohh, I'll make the blonde, short, and well-off version of Katniss and everyone will love her." No, really, I understand why some people didn't like Tris at all; the bitchy, deadpan and "selfish" demeanor works for Katniss (and for us as readers) because at this point in her life, and after all the things she's been through, she's almost entitled to be that way. But Beatrice? No. She's bitchy and sometimes mean, and kind of selfish without any reason other that she claims to never have fit in Abnegation. And it kind of pissed me off a bit that the author felt like excusing these flaws of her, because - why? Why can't the main character be like that for no reason other than she's an ungrateful sixteen year old? Sixteen year olds are often self-centered little shits just because they can. I WOULD KNOW, I WAS ONE. I just don't get it. I mean, honestly, the reason why I like her is because she was like that instead of the meek and annoying typical MC we get in most YA novels.

3.  I'm actually not sure that phrase made much sense. Because I pretty much used the literal translation of this spanish phrase (No todo es color de rosas) that basically means that not everything was/is pretty/good. Anyways, my apologies if it confused you!

4. I did! I mean, as opposed to a lot of Dystopias out there, I did feel like I was reading about a completely different society. Most of the time, anyway, because sometimes she'd mention JEANS and I'd go like, "Are you telling me the super smart Erudite have yet to come up with something more comfortable than JEANS? SHUT UP!" 

5. Who the hell would EVER think that separating people like this is a good idea? Like, I have NO idea how the world in this novel EVER functioned? It makes no sense at all. Because by their very existence, structure, and way of living the factions promote things like segregation, discrimination, inequality, oppression, and competing belief systems. DO THESE SOUND FAMILIAR? They should. Because the leading causes of discord & war among human civilizations throughout history. Are you really gonna tell me the Super Smart Erudites did not see this coming? Oh, what am I talking about, they've always known, the crazy bastards! No wonder by the end of the novel they're trying to go all fuck da police! let's throw down the system!

• 5.1 Did I forget to mention that the Erudites developed this vaccine that basically turned most of the Dauntless (except for Tris and her boyfriend, of course) to throw down the government by annihilating the Abnegation faction because they are the government? So basically genocide! yay! and it was taken super lightly and really, at the end of the book it was the Big Plot but for MOST of the book it was just a ~*threat*~ that Dangerously Loomed in the Background. Ugh. I like this book I like this book I like this book. 
• 5.2 I also forgot to mention that Tris made her instructor her boyfriend. I'm sorry. Except I'm not because the entire romance was stupid and unnecessary, but thankfully was like only 2% of the book, so thank you for sparing me of that, Veronica Roth. 

6. War happened. And, again, you're telling me NO ONE THOUGHT THERE WAS ANYTHING WRONG WITH THIS SYSTEM? I can't. Don't insult my intelligence, Veronica Roth. I beg you.

7. The factionless are the individuals who have dropped out of their factions or have gotten kicked out because they never passed the tests you're supposed to pass when you turn 16 in order for you to be fully part of your faction. Lovely. More segregation. But to be honest, I think that, ultimately, I’d prefer to be factionless because, frankly, all those factions are full of assholes.