Tagged: cassandra clare
My Favourite Villains
This is the first article in a weekly series. Today I will be covering my favourite type of character: villains. Villains are the spice in novels and well-developed villains turn good novels into great novels. Here I will list my top 5 favourite villains in descending order. Warning: this may contain spoilers.
1. Niccoló Machiavelli from The Magician by Michael Scott.
If Michael Scott is good at one thing, it’s creating complex characters. Machiavelli may be a villain, but he certainly has flashes of good and his backstory is quite sad. He seems to reluctantly work for Dee and the Dark Elders, but he is also very pragmatic about it. Throughout the series I have been unable to truly figure him out, although his character does take an interesting turn in the penultimate book, The Warlock. I really hope to see more of him in The Enchantress because he’s a truly fascinating character. I guarantee you, he is one of the best villains you will ever see in YA fiction (and regular fiction, for that matter).
2. Satan from Paradise Lost by John Milton.
Yes, this is probably a pretty controversial choice, but as a character, John Milton’s Satan is a wonderful villain. Charismatic, powerful and completely evil, he is the epitome of a villain. He believes what he is doing is right and will do anything to achieve his goal. After being thrown out of Heaven, Satan goes to Earth and convinces Eve to eat from the Tree of Knowledge in order to corrupt mankind and spite God. The only reason John Milton’s Satan is not my favourite villain is because he’s portrayed as pure evil, rather than having any real redeeming qualities. Continue reading
City of Ashes by Cassandra Clare
(Cover picture courtesy of Gripped Into Books.)
A murderer is loose in New York City…
…and the victims are Downworlder children. Clary Fray and her fellow Shadowhunters have a strong suspicion that Valentine, Clary’s father, may be behind the killings. But if he is the murderer, what’s his true motive? To make matters worse, the second of the Mortal Instruments, the Soul-Sword, has been stolen, and the mysterious Inquisitor ahs arrived to investigate, with his eyes vigilantly targeted on Clary’s brother, Jace.
Clary will need to face some terrifying demons and even more terrifying family decisions. No one said that the life of a Shadowhunter would be easy.
It’s rare that the second book in a series or trilogy is better than the first book (see Catching Fire), but Cassandra Clare has managed to pull it off. City of Ashes has twice the suspense, romance and surprises of City of Bones.
It has many of the clichés of the first novel, but these are given some interesting spins that kept me on the edge of my seat (especially in Chapter 9: And Death Shall Have No Dominion) up until the very end. City of Ashes may be my favourite book in The Mortal Instruments trilogy, but it does have its flaws. Clary could still be substituted for any YA protagonist and Jace is still the stereotypical super hot but icy love interest. The only redeeming thing is that we get to see many other characters’ points of view, which gives them a bit more depth than in the first book.
We see a bit more of Valentine, which I really like. Many of the villains in YA fiction are neglected and end up having what I like to call Dr. No Syndrome: they’re just evil with no explanation or the explanation is really unbelievable. No one really thinks of themselves as a villain in real life, so why should it be any different in fiction? Valentine really thinks he’s doing the right thing and the perverted logic he uses makes it sound like he is the true hero, even if his actions do not match up. I think many YA authors would do well to study Cassandra Clare’s enigmatic villain.
I give this book 4/5 stars.
City of Bones by Cassandra Clare
(Cover picture courtesy of Kirkwood Public Library.)
When fifteen-year-old Clary Fray heads out to the Pandemonium Club in New York City, she hardly expects to witness a murder—much less a murder committed by three teenagers covered with strange tattoos and brandishing bizarre weapons. Clary knows she should call the police, but it’s hard to explain a murder when the body disappears into thin air and the murderers are invisible to everyone but Clary.
Equally startled by her ability to see them, the murderers explain themselves as Shadowhunters: a secret tribe of warriors dedicated to ridding the earth of demons. Within twenty-four hours, Clary’s mother disappears and Clary herself is almost killed by a grotesque demon.
But why would demons be interested in ordinary mundane like Clary and her mother? And how did Clary suddenly get the Sight? The Shadowhunters would like to know…
Clary Fray is just an ordinary fifteen-year-old girl until she witnesses a murder in Pandemonium Club and realizes no one else can see the murderers. She discovers that the murderers are Shadowhunters, people who hunt and kill demons. When Clary’s mother is kidnapped and Clary herself is almost killed by a demon, the Shadowhunters take her in and Clary discovers secrets about her past and her mother that she might have been better off not knowing.
City of Bones is pretty much your average urban fantasy book: vampires, werewolves, warlocks and secret societies. Despite these clichés, it is a surprisingly enjoyable read. The plot is riveting and filled with unexpected twists and Cassandra Clare has obviously spent quite a bit of time on world-building. The only aspect that really falls flat is the characterization. Clary could be substituted for any other YA protagonist, Jace is your stereotypical ice-cold hunk, Isabelle is a man-eater and Simon is the tragic best friend who *SPOILER ALERT* secretly loves Clary.
If you can get past the poor characterization and the typical urban fantasy clichés, you will enjoy City of Bones. It does have its shortcomings, but Cassandra Clare is a good writer and manages to pull off a funny, enjoyable and addicting book.
I give this book 3/5 stars.