To me, now and then, the premise of the Mortal Instruments
series was very interesting. You have a female protagonist (which is almost
always nice because I find it easier to get into the mind of a female lead) who
thinks she’s an ordinary human and she soon finds out she is not. Enter the
world of Shadowhunters (demon killers), Downworlders (your vampires,
werewolves, etc.) and demons. They all have hierarchies and their own worlds
and I was very intrigued to see how Clary handles it when this whole new world
opens up to her.
When I first read the series I loved it. I was not a part of
Goodreads and I didn’t really read reviews before I picked up books. Instead I
just wandered around the library and took home things that looked interesting.
Now I know more.
Apparently Cassandra Clare used to be a pretty big name in
the world of Harry Potter fanfiction. (Which is really weird that I had never
come across some of her stories because I have gotten pretty far into the
wormhole that is Harry Potter fanfiction. Hell, I’m even to the point where I
write my own but I digress). But it seems that when Clare was into fanfiction
she liked to take quotes and passages from other people, either their
fanfiction pieces or quotes from popular shows like Buffy the Vampire Slayer
and inserted them into her fanfiction without attributing them to the original
writer. So basically plagiarism. Which, as a fanfiction writer and an aspiring
author myself, I know is a very bad thing.
But I’m sure she’s learned her lesson (do you really think
an agent/editor wouldn’t have learned about the issue and then did everything
to make sure there weren’t any problems in the published pieces?) I don’t think
that’s an issue when you look at the series that did end up getting published,
i.e. The Mortal Instruments. Sure there are some similarities to popular books and
shows but what show/book hasn’t been influenced by things that have come before
it?
The major points I see people taking offense to include (and
I won’t mention the ones that could spoil the book for others): Valentine is
like Voldemort because both V’s wanted “pure” worlds and surrounded themselves
by weaker followers that they pretended to be friends with. Those two are
similar but who else does that sound like? Hitler, maybe? And I’m sure there have
been dozens of other literary and historical figures who have followed the same
path. There’s also parts where when a Shadowhunter sees a building it looks all
nice but normal humans would see a hovel or something. That sounds a little
like Harry Potter but also like any other story about magic where there are
things like “glamours.” I could go on and on and link things that people say
remind them of Harry Potter but in truth you can find links between so many
things in this day and age. Just to name a few: Gandalf is Dumbledore is Obi Wan
Kenobi. Luke Skywalker is Harry Potter is Eragon is Clary.
It happens because, as I think I heard/learned somewhere, is
that there are only like seven major arcs in storytelling but there are
millions of stories that are being told so it only makes since that things
overlap sometimes. And in this case I don’t find so many similarities that it
puts me off.
I like Clary and Jace and their eccentricities and issues. I
like that the Shadowhunter world is flawed and that there are quite a few
people who are judgmental and borderline “racist” (maybe “speciest” is a better
word since it’s Shadowhunters looking down upon vampires and vice versa, etc.)
because although it’s not nice it does reflect how a society would really work.
And I will read the series and if I like it then that is all that matters.
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