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alizeasy's review against another edition
adventurous
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5
joyc's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
hopeful
inspiring
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
4.25
alegugel's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.25
Man the first half of this book was simply relationship drama. Felt like that dragged out way too much. The second half really picked up though.
meghanscott's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
4.0
andotherworlds's review against another edition
2.0
2 // oh nawrr what the fook was this?!? "Cordelia ran" DID SHE DID SHE REALLY OMG ITS ALMOST LIKE THAT HASN’T BEEN REPEATED TO US FOR THE PAST 70 CHAPTERS WOWWWWW
This was simply not it. For approx 800 pages this all felt like filler that could have ended 400 pages ago, riddled with plot holes and cliches and unemotional dramatics. By the time I got to this final installment in the Last Hours I kid you not I felt nothing for any of the characters (not to say I felt much in the prior two but I wanted to give the benefit of the doubt for an actually impactful finale which I know Clare has been at the very least slightly more capable of in the past - that being said all my memories of reading her books are highly clouded with nostalgia and the uncritical gaze of greater youth so idk how much value my comparisons hold today).
The series was easy to read and entertaining enough to convince me to finish it off but oh boy does it rank the lowest in Clare’s repertoire. Rip
This was simply not it. For approx 800 pages this all felt like filler that could have ended 400 pages ago, riddled with plot holes and cliches and unemotional dramatics. By the time I got to this final installment in the Last Hours I kid you not I felt nothing for any of the characters (not to say I felt much in the prior two but I wanted to give the benefit of the doubt for an actually impactful finale which I know Clare has been at the very least slightly more capable of in the past - that being said all my memories of reading her books are highly clouded with nostalgia and the uncritical gaze of greater youth so idk how much value my comparisons hold today).
The series was easy to read and entertaining enough to convince me to finish it off but oh boy does it rank the lowest in Clare’s repertoire. Rip
lyakimov's review against another edition
2.0
2.5 stars.
It's official! The Midnight Heir is the only canon content for the Last Hours series in my eyes. I'm going to go through an organized, rant-y list of my grievances (and the things I enjoyed, of course!). I apologize in advance. Let's get into it.
The Plot
Wait, this book had a serious plot? Apparently so. For an 800 page book, there was definitely not that much that actually happened. It took well over 250 pages for the story to actually go in any direction regarding plot. The pacing was SLOW!!! As with Chain of Iron, I was unfortunately underwhelmed by the entire idea of the plot and the way that it was resolved.
Cordelia is supposed to be this incredible warrior but we barely see her fight the entire series, and definitely not in this book because she refuses to pick up a sword. She is giving Belial two mortal wounds and the glorious end where she gives him the third wound....oh wait, James actually stabs himself and gives the final blow! Also, conveniently he is able to overcome Belial's possession for some reason to be able to do it. So basically James kind of steals Cordelia's thunder, and then Cordelia very simply gets her paladin-ship removed without any kind of hardship, really.
Lucie has such an interesting power and she always drew me in much more than Cordelia ever did as a character. I forgot how much of a side character she is, though, because she did have great displays of her ability, but they were put in at random times and then discarded extremely quickly and never spoken of again. It was very weird because she does more than James and Cordelia but she never really gets recognition for solving all the stuff she does. Sure, James and Cordelia dealt with Belial, but Lucie handed Belial his ass any time he tested her and she fucked up Tatiana real bad with that Rupert thing. It's like Clare does not want to admit that Lucie is so much more powerful than Cordelia and James and is lowering her relevance as a character by not really acknowledging anything she does to further along the plot (even though she is practically the MAIN PERSON carrying the plot!). I think maybe it was a mistake to make Cordelia the main character if Lucie was to have all these abilities and carry the whole plot. The plot is usually the MAIN PIECE OF A NOVEL!! Why is a side character basically owning and resolving nearly ALL of the plot in book 2 and 3? And then getting NO recognition for it! It's really weird from a plot and character-building standpoint.
The Characters
The characters all felt kind of subdued to me. I think this is because there are SO MANY of them and too little time to develop them all. Even in this 800 page book where little happened, there were so many issues with character development for me. I'll talk about some notable things.
Lucie, as always, literally carried the whole plot on her back. Lucie walked so Cordelia could run (see what I did there, because we had to read "Cordelia ran" like 100000 times throughout the book?). She was still a side character but she stood out to me a lot for her extreme usefulness and her ability to efficiently communicate, which many of these characters severely lacked.
Christopher, my comfort character, was MURDERED for no goddamn reason and it did absolutely nothing for the plot or for anyone but make Grace even more depressed. I'm so angry about how he was treated. All they cared about with him was his usefulness as an innovator and when that was over, they practically forgot about him. Especially with the fact that Intermission: Grief was about James who is alive and not Christopher was was just killed. Like what the FUCK. Justice for Christopher.
Jesse was an interesting character but we only got glimpses of the potential he could have had to be such a riveting character. It’s honestly sad to me because he has so much going on and everything is brushed aside or not mentioned at all. We needed more exposition on him and his character development. All that was really focused on was his relationship with Lucie, and barely even had development with Grace. We are forced to fill in the gaps and ASSUME this and that happened without any mention on page whatsoever. It’s so weird and it’s sad that he had all this potential but we only saw mere glimpses.
Grace was seriously annihilated in this book. I felt so horrible for her the entire time. She was so depressed and lonely and in this dark place and her and Jesse were not in a great place after he found out about her abilities. Christopher was the one who cared for her and believed in her. She felt like she was WORTH something. She was the only person who I could see clearly mourned Christopher dearly and missed and cared for him so much. It was so sad. I am glad that she was accepted in the epilogue as part of the group and figured out how to make fire messages. It is not clear what her relationship is, even with Lucie, because she only interacts with Christopher and Jesse the entire book. I'm going to discuss her relationship with Jesse when I discuss my inconsistency complaints. Also, just another thing to note: the Gracelet and Grace’s abilities in general were a CHEAP PLOT DEVICE because Clare did not actually want a real love triangle. And in doing so, she assassinated Grace’s character from the beginning of this damn series, which is so frustrating because she had so much potential.
The Friendships
The only friendship that really mattered to me was Christopher and Grace. I love them together so much and he was so kind and empathetic toward her when nobody was, not even her own brother. The only time I got emotional in the book was whenever there were scenes of them together and he treated her so kindly whenever she was not there to defend herself. It was horribly depressing to see everyone so cruel to Grace -- obviously she did terrible things but she is a person and she really had NOTHING. It's like kicking someone while they were down. But he cared about her so much, ugh Christopher deserved so much better.
James and Matthew's friendship was not very notable for me. Their relationship never seemed super strong to me so I don't have much to say. Lucie and Cordelia, however, had a lot more development in their relationship. Cordelia was pretty mean to Lucie even though both of them had done things wrong and to distance themselves from one another. I liked them making up and hanging out in Edom. It actually was the only part of the book where I genuinely enjoyed Cordelia's character. The Wicked Queen Cordelia was actually so hilarious and I love that it was just a snarky diss on Cordelia.
Let's talk about how we were ROBBED of some friendships. In book 2, Ari talks a lot about wanting to be friends with Grace and bonding over the fact that they are both adopted. She even helps Lucie in order to help Grace. They literally share zero words. How about Alastair and Jesse? They had one good line together and I felt it in my soul that we were absolutely robbed of a friendship between them. It makes sense for them to be friends because of their characterization but Alastair does not TRULY develop any relationship in this book other than his relationship with Thomas. Oh, and what about Lucie and Grace? They had this partnership for months and spoke all the time, clearly their story was not done by the end of book 2 and they actually share like 2 words with each other. Grace was in jail for 500 pages and then suddenly told Lucie to raise Rupert, even though at the end of book 2 she still did not know the extent of Lucie's abilities. Plot holes! We love them. It was so aggravating because it's like they didn't even KNOW each other and they spent the entire book 2 running around London together. Ridiculously inconsistent, in my opinion.
The Romances
Oh, I have some thoughts about this. Generally, the romance was a larger piece of the book than the plot ever was. Obviously it follows James and Cordelia the absolute most and we only really get glimpses of the other characters but I'm going to discuss them all because I have THOUGHTS.
James and Cordelia: To me, these two lacked chemistry in book 2 and 3. I do not know what happened between book 1 and 2, but they just lost that spark for me in my opinion. They have lackluster chemistry, more telling than actually showing their feelings and why they love each other. Additionally, it became increasingly repetitive hearing their internal and external monologues constantly saying the exact same thing of how much they love each other. It was beaten to the bone for me. I was so damn annoyed by how long it dragged on. 450 pages until Cordelia found out about the Gracelet! This book was way too damn long.
Lucie and Jesse: I like this relationship, especially because they are the only ones without some ridiculous miscommunication plot line keeping them apart. They are out here chilling in their relationship and they stay together the whole time. They are always honest and tell the truth to each other, which I appreciated a lot with this insane amount of miscommunication going on. They are pretty unproblematic as a couple which I enjoy. Also, oddly they are the only one of all 4 main couples who did not have a sex scene. I am not complaining about this, but I noticed it specifically because of the amount of sex scenes in this book (very high number comparative to other Clare books). I think they are cute and chill.
Anna and Ari: I do not like this relationship at all. I never have because of how terribly Anna treated Ari in book 2 but now for some reason all of that disappeared and now they are together for whatever reason. What the hell happened between book 2 and 3 where all these characters have the absolute REVERSE characterization that they have had in the previous books in the series? I don't understand. I did actually like Anna much more though.
Thomas and Alastair: They are so cute and I loved the amount of content we got, especially compared to the two scenes we've gotten in the last books. I love Alastair and they balance each other out so well and they are just ADORABLE! I loved "Dear Alastair, why are you so stupid i brush my teeth don't tell anyone" like ugh so funny I loved it.
The Writing
Clare is obviously an experienced writer and definitely knows how to entertain, which she absolutely did. There were some extremely funny moments that had me laughing, but I had issues with the pacing and the layout of the story. I was getting extreme whiplash from the amount of point of views there were in this damn book. Every other page, we were switching POV's and it was so difficult to get through some of them and realize where we were, what we are doing, and what is going on in the story currently. Also, the pacing was so slow which caused me to start skimming anything to do with James and Cordelia because, Lord, their POV's were the longest and the most boring. It began to feel extremely exhausting and repetitive to have these POV switches so incredibly quickly and in such a large amount.
Grievances - Inconsistencies
When I was reading, I had a note open on my phone where I jotted down inconsistencies and grievances I had concerning plot and characterization. I have complained and written a lot but these things are what honestly...ruined a lot of the book for me. There are just too many inconsistencies that it is difficult to ignore. Even in an 800 page book we can't solve everything or get resolution. I was left disappointed and wanting more at the end of this book, and let's get into some of these reasons. These are a few of the main ones.
1. In book 2, James was seeing Belial murdering people through Jesse's eyes. There was a continuous mention of the fact that it must have had something to do with Jesse rather than Belial because Belial kept refusing that he had anything to do with the visions. This led us to think, maybe it is because James took Jesse's last breath. Is this mentioned or a piece of the plot in book 3? Nope, not at all. I guess the last breath meant nothing and there is no resolution or reason that James was getting these possessed visions. Great, thanks.
2. So.....why was everyone so nonchalant about Jesse coming back from the dead? Books 1 and 2 were filled with discussion of the evils of necromancy and all these horrible consequences, but nobody gave a single fuck. Also, we hear of an off-page meeting in which the Lightwoods meet Jesse because of the whole hidden identity thing. Other than that, we get absolutely no interaction with Jesse and Gabriel and Gideon, not even one SINGLE mention of the fact that Jesse was cousins with Anna, Christopher, Alex, Thomas, and Eugenia. None at all! What the hell kind of alternate universe are we living in? Remember in the Penultimate Hours, Christopher saw his father crying after Jesse's death and decided to dedicate his life to science in honor of Jesse? And we get NO mention of the fact that they are even related or any of them have any cousin relationship at all. Absolutely INSANE to me. What the hell?? Also, the fact that Jesse could just go to the Clave and explain his situation and they were like "yeah, whatever that's okay" and then everyone just accepts that Jesse came back to life. It was totally an afterthought. So ridiculous and pissed me off to no end. Do not write two books in a series discussing the consequences of Lucie and Grace's actions, when nobody gives a single shit that Jesse is out here living his life after being in a coffin for 7 damn years. BE CONSISTENT, PLEASE!!!!!! Especially because this was the SIDE PLOT OF THE ENTIRE BOOK 2!!!!!!! I'm so annoyed.
3. In book 2, we are told that there is a rumor that Tatiana BOUGHT Grace from the Cartwright family. This is not mentioned whatsoever, so Grace probably does not even know. Why add that in if it's never going to be mentioned and she will never find out because Lucie and Ari will never tell her?
4. When Grace tells Jesse about her abilities, she tells him everything she has done EXCEPT when Tatiana told her to seduce Jesse because she does not want him to know that at all. She never tells him later in the book. Is this something she never will tell him and will always keep to herself? If so, why mention it, and WHY ADD IT IN.
5. Jesse and Grace never had any kind of resolution. Obviously at the end, Jesse is clearly not angry with her anymore and he cares for her but there was no true resolution where he CLEARLY forgave her. We are just supposed to assume it, I guess. I was wanting so much MORE with their relationship but I was sorely disappointed. I also was upset that they were not living together at the end of the book. Honestly I think Jesse was out of character when he was so mad at Grace. Based off his previous characterization, I think he would be more understanding because of their shared trauma and manipulation by Tatiana. It’s always been them against the world. Romantic relationships are not everything. Jesse's main priority was always Grace, and we don't even get any expansion on their relationship and how its changed. He would never give up on her but we got absolutely nothing and are just expected to fill in the gaps with assumptions. We got so little and it actually makes me so upset. It is so damn annoying.
6. I've already complained about the nearly nonexistent relationship between Grace and Lucie, but I need to mention it again. It bothered me the entire book.
7. It's so disappointing that Grace was not the one to kill Tatiana, it was Cordelia. How lame. We did not really get that glorious Estella - Lady Havisham moment. It was sort of there, but not much.
8. Matthew had all this crazy hatred and animosity toward Alastair but it completely disappeared in this book and was never mentioned again, although it was a large piece of Alastair and Matthew’s characterizations in books 1 and 2. Makes no sense why it was absolutely thrown out the window.
9. There was a lot of hinting toward Ari wanting to be friends with Grace and the development of a friendship between them from book 2, specifically that Ari's motivations were to help Grace out and felt a sort of connection with her because she is adopted, but that completely disappeared in this book.
Things I Liked
There were things that I really enjoyed about the book, I'm big on literary analysis but I definitely enjoyed the entertaining parts and comedic relief.
1. I love how Clare created Esme Hardcastle to compensate for that old ass inaccurate family tree. Esme's whole attitude was funny and all the mentions of the family tree were hilarious because it was just so meta. Obviously it was such a cop out but it’s still funny anyway. Rosamund was also funny as hell too.
2. The Wicked Queen Cordelia was so damn good.
3. Alastair was great comedic relief, and so was Christopher. They were very entertaining.
4. Will's weird antics, especially with the telephone, took me OUT. The telephone bit was so ridiculous and I couldn't help but not laugh my ass off.
5. Rupert dissing Tatiana, he owned his two-page pagetime.
6. Jesse calling Grace “Gracie.” This was SO CUTE and it was some of the only glimpses of affection we see between the two of them and implies a depth to their relationship that we sadly didn’t get much of.
6. Other things that I can’t think of currently.
This was a long ass review, so I'm going to wrap this up. I had so much strong emotion and feelings when it came to this book, but all the entertainment and fun did not fix the large inconsistencies in plot and characterization. It really is the end of an era and it's really sad. I will miss these characters and this story a lot, no matter what!
It's official! The Midnight Heir is the only canon content for the Last Hours series in my eyes. I'm going to go through an organized, rant-y list of my grievances (and the things I enjoyed, of course!). I apologize in advance. Let's get into it.
The Plot
Wait, this book had a serious plot? Apparently so. For an 800 page book, there was definitely not that much that actually happened. It took well over 250 pages for the story to actually go in any direction regarding plot. The pacing was SLOW!!! As with Chain of Iron, I was unfortunately underwhelmed by the entire idea of the plot and the way that it was resolved.
Cordelia is supposed to be this incredible warrior but we barely see her fight the entire series, and definitely not in this book because she refuses to pick up a sword. She is giving Belial two mortal wounds and the glorious end where she gives him the third wound....oh wait, James actually stabs himself and gives the final blow! Also, conveniently he is able to overcome Belial's possession for some reason to be able to do it. So basically James kind of steals Cordelia's thunder, and then Cordelia very simply gets her paladin-ship removed without any kind of hardship, really.
Lucie has such an interesting power and she always drew me in much more than Cordelia ever did as a character. I forgot how much of a side character she is, though, because she did have great displays of her ability, but they were put in at random times and then discarded extremely quickly and never spoken of again. It was very weird because she does more than James and Cordelia but she never really gets recognition for solving all the stuff she does. Sure, James and Cordelia dealt with Belial, but Lucie handed Belial his ass any time he tested her and she fucked up Tatiana real bad with that Rupert thing. It's like Clare does not want to admit that Lucie is so much more powerful than Cordelia and James and is lowering her relevance as a character by not really acknowledging anything she does to further along the plot (even though she is practically the MAIN PERSON carrying the plot!). I think maybe it was a mistake to make Cordelia the main character if Lucie was to have all these abilities and carry the whole plot. The plot is usually the MAIN PIECE OF A NOVEL!! Why is a side character basically owning and resolving nearly ALL of the plot in book 2 and 3? And then getting NO recognition for it! It's really weird from a plot and character-building standpoint.
The Characters
The characters all felt kind of subdued to me. I think this is because there are SO MANY of them and too little time to develop them all. Even in this 800 page book where little happened, there were so many issues with character development for me. I'll talk about some notable things.
Lucie, as always, literally carried the whole plot on her back. Lucie walked so Cordelia could run (see what I did there, because we had to read "Cordelia ran" like 100000 times throughout the book?). She was still a side character but she stood out to me a lot for her extreme usefulness and her ability to efficiently communicate, which many of these characters severely lacked.
Christopher, my comfort character, was MURDERED for no goddamn reason and it did absolutely nothing for the plot or for anyone but make Grace even more depressed. I'm so angry about how he was treated. All they cared about with him was his usefulness as an innovator and when that was over, they practically forgot about him. Especially with the fact that Intermission: Grief was about James who is alive and not Christopher was was just killed. Like what the FUCK. Justice for Christopher.
Jesse was an interesting character but we only got glimpses of the potential he could have had to be such a riveting character. It’s honestly sad to me because he has so much going on and everything is brushed aside or not mentioned at all. We needed more exposition on him and his character development. All that was really focused on was his relationship with Lucie, and barely even had development with Grace. We are forced to fill in the gaps and ASSUME this and that happened without any mention on page whatsoever. It’s so weird and it’s sad that he had all this potential but we only saw mere glimpses.
Grace was seriously annihilated in this book. I felt so horrible for her the entire time. She was so depressed and lonely and in this dark place and her and Jesse were not in a great place after he found out about her abilities. Christopher was the one who cared for her and believed in her. She felt like she was WORTH something. She was the only person who I could see clearly mourned Christopher dearly and missed and cared for him so much. It was so sad. I am glad that she was accepted in the epilogue as part of the group and figured out how to make fire messages. It is not clear what her relationship is, even with Lucie, because she only interacts with Christopher and Jesse the entire book. I'm going to discuss her relationship with Jesse when I discuss my inconsistency complaints. Also, just another thing to note: the Gracelet and Grace’s abilities in general were a CHEAP PLOT DEVICE because Clare did not actually want a real love triangle. And in doing so, she assassinated Grace’s character from the beginning of this damn series, which is so frustrating because she had so much potential.
The Friendships
The only friendship that really mattered to me was Christopher and Grace. I love them together so much and he was so kind and empathetic toward her when nobody was, not even her own brother. The only time I got emotional in the book was whenever there were scenes of them together and he treated her so kindly whenever she was not there to defend herself. It was horribly depressing to see everyone so cruel to Grace -- obviously she did terrible things but she is a person and she really had NOTHING. It's like kicking someone while they were down. But he cared about her so much, ugh Christopher deserved so much better.
James and Matthew's friendship was not very notable for me. Their relationship never seemed super strong to me so I don't have much to say. Lucie and Cordelia, however, had a lot more development in their relationship. Cordelia was pretty mean to Lucie even though both of them had done things wrong and to distance themselves from one another. I liked them making up and hanging out in Edom. It actually was the only part of the book where I genuinely enjoyed Cordelia's character. The Wicked Queen Cordelia was actually so hilarious and I love that it was just a snarky diss on Cordelia.
Let's talk about how we were ROBBED of some friendships. In book 2, Ari talks a lot about wanting to be friends with Grace and bonding over the fact that they are both adopted. She even helps Lucie in order to help Grace. They literally share zero words. How about Alastair and Jesse? They had one good line together and I felt it in my soul that we were absolutely robbed of a friendship between them. It makes sense for them to be friends because of their characterization but Alastair does not TRULY develop any relationship in this book other than his relationship with Thomas. Oh, and what about Lucie and Grace? They had this partnership for months and spoke all the time, clearly their story was not done by the end of book 2 and they actually share like 2 words with each other. Grace was in jail for 500 pages and then suddenly told Lucie to raise Rupert, even though at the end of book 2 she still did not know the extent of Lucie's abilities. Plot holes! We love them. It was so aggravating because it's like they didn't even KNOW each other and they spent the entire book 2 running around London together. Ridiculously inconsistent, in my opinion.
The Romances
Oh, I have some thoughts about this. Generally, the romance was a larger piece of the book than the plot ever was. Obviously it follows James and Cordelia the absolute most and we only really get glimpses of the other characters but I'm going to discuss them all because I have THOUGHTS.
James and Cordelia: To me, these two lacked chemistry in book 2 and 3. I do not know what happened between book 1 and 2, but they just lost that spark for me in my opinion. They have lackluster chemistry, more telling than actually showing their feelings and why they love each other. Additionally, it became increasingly repetitive hearing their internal and external monologues constantly saying the exact same thing of how much they love each other. It was beaten to the bone for me. I was so damn annoyed by how long it dragged on. 450 pages until Cordelia found out about the Gracelet! This book was way too damn long.
Lucie and Jesse: I like this relationship, especially because they are the only ones without some ridiculous miscommunication plot line keeping them apart. They are out here chilling in their relationship and they stay together the whole time. They are always honest and tell the truth to each other, which I appreciated a lot with this insane amount of miscommunication going on. They are pretty unproblematic as a couple which I enjoy. Also, oddly they are the only one of all 4 main couples who did not have a sex scene. I am not complaining about this, but I noticed it specifically because of the amount of sex scenes in this book (very high number comparative to other Clare books). I think they are cute and chill.
Anna and Ari: I do not like this relationship at all. I never have because of how terribly Anna treated Ari in book 2 but now for some reason all of that disappeared and now they are together for whatever reason. What the hell happened between book 2 and 3 where all these characters have the absolute REVERSE characterization that they have had in the previous books in the series? I don't understand. I did actually like Anna much more though.
Thomas and Alastair: They are so cute and I loved the amount of content we got, especially compared to the two scenes we've gotten in the last books. I love Alastair and they balance each other out so well and they are just ADORABLE! I loved "Dear Alastair, why are you so stupid i brush my teeth don't tell anyone" like ugh so funny I loved it.
The Writing
Clare is obviously an experienced writer and definitely knows how to entertain, which she absolutely did. There were some extremely funny moments that had me laughing, but I had issues with the pacing and the layout of the story. I was getting extreme whiplash from the amount of point of views there were in this damn book. Every other page, we were switching POV's and it was so difficult to get through some of them and realize where we were, what we are doing, and what is going on in the story currently. Also, the pacing was so slow which caused me to start skimming anything to do with James and Cordelia because, Lord, their POV's were the longest and the most boring. It began to feel extremely exhausting and repetitive to have these POV switches so incredibly quickly and in such a large amount.
Grievances - Inconsistencies
When I was reading, I had a note open on my phone where I jotted down inconsistencies and grievances I had concerning plot and characterization. I have complained and written a lot but these things are what honestly...ruined a lot of the book for me. There are just too many inconsistencies that it is difficult to ignore. Even in an 800 page book we can't solve everything or get resolution. I was left disappointed and wanting more at the end of this book, and let's get into some of these reasons. These are a few of the main ones.
1. In book 2, James was seeing Belial murdering people through Jesse's eyes. There was a continuous mention of the fact that it must have had something to do with Jesse rather than Belial because Belial kept refusing that he had anything to do with the visions. This led us to think, maybe it is because James took Jesse's last breath. Is this mentioned or a piece of the plot in book 3? Nope, not at all. I guess the last breath meant nothing and there is no resolution or reason that James was getting these possessed visions. Great, thanks.
2. So.....why was everyone so nonchalant about Jesse coming back from the dead? Books 1 and 2 were filled with discussion of the evils of necromancy and all these horrible consequences, but nobody gave a single fuck. Also, we hear of an off-page meeting in which the Lightwoods meet Jesse because of the whole hidden identity thing. Other than that, we get absolutely no interaction with Jesse and Gabriel and Gideon, not even one SINGLE mention of the fact that Jesse was cousins with Anna, Christopher, Alex, Thomas, and Eugenia. None at all! What the hell kind of alternate universe are we living in? Remember in the Penultimate Hours, Christopher saw his father crying after Jesse's death and decided to dedicate his life to science in honor of Jesse? And we get NO mention of the fact that they are even related or any of them have any cousin relationship at all. Absolutely INSANE to me. What the hell?? Also, the fact that Jesse could just go to the Clave and explain his situation and they were like "yeah, whatever that's okay" and then everyone just accepts that Jesse came back to life. It was totally an afterthought. So ridiculous and pissed me off to no end. Do not write two books in a series discussing the consequences of Lucie and Grace's actions, when nobody gives a single shit that Jesse is out here living his life after being in a coffin for 7 damn years. BE CONSISTENT, PLEASE!!!!!! Especially because this was the SIDE PLOT OF THE ENTIRE BOOK 2!!!!!!! I'm so annoyed.
3. In book 2, we are told that there is a rumor that Tatiana BOUGHT Grace from the Cartwright family. This is not mentioned whatsoever, so Grace probably does not even know. Why add that in if it's never going to be mentioned and she will never find out because Lucie and Ari will never tell her?
4. When Grace tells Jesse about her abilities, she tells him everything she has done EXCEPT when Tatiana told her to seduce Jesse because she does not want him to know that at all. She never tells him later in the book. Is this something she never will tell him and will always keep to herself? If so, why mention it, and WHY ADD IT IN.
5. Jesse and Grace never had any kind of resolution. Obviously at the end, Jesse is clearly not angry with her anymore and he cares for her but there was no true resolution where he CLEARLY forgave her. We are just supposed to assume it, I guess. I was wanting so much MORE with their relationship but I was sorely disappointed. I also was upset that they were not living together at the end of the book. Honestly I think Jesse was out of character when he was so mad at Grace. Based off his previous characterization, I think he would be more understanding because of their shared trauma and manipulation by Tatiana. It’s always been them against the world. Romantic relationships are not everything. Jesse's main priority was always Grace, and we don't even get any expansion on their relationship and how its changed. He would never give up on her but we got absolutely nothing and are just expected to fill in the gaps with assumptions. We got so little and it actually makes me so upset. It is so damn annoying.
6. I've already complained about the nearly nonexistent relationship between Grace and Lucie, but I need to mention it again. It bothered me the entire book.
7. It's so disappointing that Grace was not the one to kill Tatiana, it was Cordelia. How lame. We did not really get that glorious Estella - Lady Havisham moment. It was sort of there, but not much.
8. Matthew had all this crazy hatred and animosity toward Alastair but it completely disappeared in this book and was never mentioned again, although it was a large piece of Alastair and Matthew’s characterizations in books 1 and 2. Makes no sense why it was absolutely thrown out the window.
9. There was a lot of hinting toward Ari wanting to be friends with Grace and the development of a friendship between them from book 2, specifically that Ari's motivations were to help Grace out and felt a sort of connection with her because she is adopted, but that completely disappeared in this book.
Things I Liked
There were things that I really enjoyed about the book, I'm big on literary analysis but I definitely enjoyed the entertaining parts and comedic relief.
1. I love how Clare created Esme Hardcastle to compensate for that old ass inaccurate family tree. Esme's whole attitude was funny and all the mentions of the family tree were hilarious because it was just so meta. Obviously it was such a cop out but it’s still funny anyway. Rosamund was also funny as hell too.
2. The Wicked Queen Cordelia was so damn good.
3. Alastair was great comedic relief, and so was Christopher. They were very entertaining.
4. Will's weird antics, especially with the telephone, took me OUT. The telephone bit was so ridiculous and I couldn't help but not laugh my ass off.
5. Rupert dissing Tatiana, he owned his two-page pagetime.
6. Jesse calling Grace “Gracie.” This was SO CUTE and it was some of the only glimpses of affection we see between the two of them and implies a depth to their relationship that we sadly didn’t get much of.
6. Other things that I can’t think of currently.
This was a long ass review, so I'm going to wrap this up. I had so much strong emotion and feelings when it came to this book, but all the entertainment and fun did not fix the large inconsistencies in plot and characterization. It really is the end of an era and it's really sad. I will miss these characters and this story a lot, no matter what!
holrebekah's review against another edition
4.0
kind of hated the last 20% but adore the characters, they deserve the entire world