Rating: 2 Stars

Now Playing: Experience by Ludovico Einaudi

Favorite Quote: “When you find a man you wish to marry, Tessa, remember this: You will know what kind of man he is not by the things he says, but by the things he does.”

My Thoughts:

I feel like I might be missing something. I read the first three books in The Mortal Instruments years ago, back before the fourth one came out, and I really loved them. Because of that, I had been really looking forward to this one, especially since I’ve heard many people say it’s even better than The Mortal Instruments. Unfortunately, it just didn’t quite click with me.

The first thing I noticed was that I had a very hard time caring about the characters. No matter how much I tried, I just couldn’t seem to connect with them. Since Tessa is the main character, she should have been the one I connected with most, but I really struggled to do so. While I didn’t necessarily dislike her, I also didn’t feel particularly invested in her. During moments when her life was in danger, I realized I wasn’t really worried about what might happen to her. Maybe part of that is because I already know she survives and appears in later books, but I think the bigger issue is that I never felt a strong connection to her as a character.

There were two characters I really struggled with, to the point of almost hating them. The first is Jessamine. Every time she appeared in a scene, I found myself wanting to skip ahead. I understand that she never wanted the Shadowhunter life, but that doesn’t mean she has to make everyone around her miserable because of it. From what I could tell, Charlotte never forced her to go on missions and seemed to respect her wishes not to fight. Because of that, I had a hard time sympathizing with her. If she had been constantly pushed into dangerous situations with Will and Jem, I could better understand her resentment. As it stands, though, it was frustrating to watch her complain while still benefiting from the Institute's protection and support without contributing much in return.

The other character I had a difficult time with is Will. I did look up his backstory and understand the reasoning behind his behavior, but I still felt that he often went too far when trying to push people away. One moment that really stood out to me was near the end of the book, when Tessa tells him she plans to stay and begins to hint at her feelings for him. Instead of simply telling her he doesn’t feel the same way, he makes a crude comment implying she could become his whore. While I understand that he was trying to drive her away, there were so many other ways he could have done that without being so cruel. My frustrations with him had been building throughout the book, and that moment really was the nail in the coffin for me.

Because I never fully connected with the characters, I also struggled to feel invested in the romance—especially between Will and Tessa. As I mentioned earlier, I didn’t like Will very much and only felt neutral about Tessa, so their relationship never really worked for me. I also didn’t fully understand how Tessa developed feelings for him in the first place. There aren’t many moments where the two of them are alone together, and in the few scenes they do share, Will usually ends up being cruel or dismissive toward her. When she kissed him for the first time, all I could think was: why would you kiss someone who storms off every time you try to have a meaningful conversation with him? I did see a bit more spark between her and Jem, though that may simply be because Jem was kind and considerate, while Will often came across as immature and antagonistic. It probably also helped that Jem was the one character I genuinely liked.

My final issue with the book is that it felt far too long. For most of the story, I found myself bored. I understand that this book serves as many readers’ introduction to the Shadowhunter world, but there were several moments that dragged because of heavy exposition. Since Tessa is new to this world, characters frequently explain things to her—but often those explanations are repeated again a few chapters later in slightly different ways. There were also several lengthy stories and monologues that felt much longer than necessary. For example, when Nate explains the plans he overheard, the scene seemed to drag on. I really feel like the important points of that conversation could have been delivered much more efficiently instead of stretching into such a long chapter. Overall, the book could probably have been closer to 300 pages than nearly 500.

Even though I have quite a few complaints about this book, I wouldn’t say it’s the worst thing I’ve read. I never felt the urge to throw it across the room or completely give up on it. However, because I found much of it slow and struggled to connect with most of the characters—aside from Jem—I don’t think this is a series I’ll be continuing.