Angela

in this review, i'm going to talk not only about ‘city of glass' but about the first three books of the ‘the mortal instruments' series and their adaptations. i wanted to review the whole series but i feel like this is a good place to start. (warning: spoilers)

So let me start by saying that this is my first encounter with these books. I don't remember if i came across them at the time of their popularity or nor but even if i did i obviously didn't care enough to start reading.
Then it was 2014 and i found the film. i heard a lot of bad stuff about it and naturally, it sparked my interest. I was intrigued. How awful must the film be for ppl to talk about it so loudly? So i watched it and it was.. ok. It was no masterpiece of course, but it was not awful. In some ways, it reminded me of harry potter, in some of twilight, in some of any other story with an ordinary someone who suddenly finds out they are actually really special. I thought it was a little rushed but i liked it fine to want to see what's going to happen next. But not enough to starts reading the books when i heard they cancelled the franchise. So i just kinda said ‘whatever' and forgot about it for a while.
Sometime after that, I heard they decided to try again. This time as a tv series. I just kind of made a mental note to myself to watch it and didn't pay much attention to what's going on. I had my doubts about the whole thing.
So then the tv series happen and I hated it. I'm sorry. I just did. I think the script is so cheesy. I know now how many things they have fixed and I can appreciate that but I can't get behind the lines they say. All I can do is hope for some improvements in the future. I noticed that the plot was a little different from the film but it didn't bother me that much since I didn't know what the original story was (and now that I know I'm even glad it is). And although i hated it i tend to finish things once i start them.
And that's when it happened. Malec. I fell in love with them. I kid you not, they are the only reason i've been watching this show since the 4th episode. I was so invested. They are something i was looking for without even realising it. The closest i got to it before was probably coliver from htgawm but there was to much drama there. So malec kept me going and then the 1st series ended and i was left with that feeling of ‘i want more and i want it now'. So i picked up the books and... was disappointed. There was no malec in there. Like, yeah, we get a glimpse of them but it was such a small part of the story. I was sad. But then again, i tend to finish things once i start them so i continued with the reading. And by the end of the first half i can say that i like it fine. In some aspects, i expected more but i guess i was kind of spoiled by harry potter where every little detail is there for a reason.
I honestly feel like a lot of the stuff was very predictable. And i'm not even talking about the whole bad-guy-always-loses thing. I'm talking about the incest. Not for a second have i thought they were brother and sister. I mean seriously. So by the third book, i was quite annoyed with our main characters whining over each other. Make out already, would you? No one cares if you're brother and sister. We have bigger problems here. I remember there was the same thing in twilight. When it's kind of killing them if they are not together but it was done so much more enjoyable there. Here the main ship just irritated me so so much. Then the whole santa barbara thing about sons and relatives. It was interesting but dragged for far too long. The lake lyn being the mirror was kind of obvious too.
The experiments were horrifying. But that's what struck me the most. The author can go far enough to have a guy experiment on his pregnant wife and unborn child, to have a guy actually kill a child, but not far enough to kill at least one of the main characters. Why? It is a war for fuck's sake! And still, nobody dies. How come? The battle for Hogwarts feels like this major thing, like smth we ourselves lived through, because it felt real. We lost so many characters, characters we love. And that is what happens. No one is safe. No matter how unfair it is for a child to lose both of its parents after just being born, no matter how painful it is to lose a twin brother, this is what happens in reality. And you can't help but feel like it meant smth. It was real. I don't know a single person who did not shed at least a single tear at some point of the harry potter books. This war against valentine, these battles against demons, they did not feel real to me. I never felt like anyone was in some real danger. Even when jace supposedly dies at the lake lyn, you know he doesn't. You know she would not kill her main characters. And i think this is the main problem here. No matter how serious the conflict is supposed to be i didn't feel it. Do you know what the first rule of the storytelling is? Show, not tell. And here it felt the opposite.
I actually liked the politics. I wish there was more of that. I want to see what happened behind the closed doors and not just characters telling me after ‘well, we talked about this and this and they were being stupid and stubborn'. Show me! It's just your words. There's no black and white. I want to hear what both sides said and not just luke saying he was right but they wouldn't listen.
I wish they grieved about max more. I don't have anything else to say here. I just think it was rushed.
I like magnus. I can see why ppl say he's very different in the books. And i like both of them (tv and book version).
I still think malec is the most interesting relationship in the series and i wish there was more of them. I like what i saw, i just want more. They are cute and sweet and i want to see how it all started, who made the first move, what it was etc.

The shortest description of this book is “it's a fairytale with time travel”. Seriously. I feel like I read Cinderella. Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying it's a bad thing. But the book as we have it is... okay? I mean it was not bad but not fascinating. Some major plot point were way too obvious. The only thing I haven't figured out was the identity of count Saint-German in today's world.
I don't see the point of some of the plot elements. Like why there needed to be precious stones for each time traveler. It never came into play so I don't see the point of that. Why it was set in London. It could have as easily happened in Berlin or smth.
I didn't like how they prevented James's death and nothing changed. Umm, buterfly effect? No? I am not sure his house would became a school at all if he didn't die.
I liked the deamon though. He was funny. And the whole insta love thing I'm fine with. Did not like the immortality stuff in the end. Thought it was an easy way out. What I did like was the speed. The whole series takes place during like a week or so. I liked how it wasn't streched out for no reason. And I liked that every little detail comes back. The key that's been stolen. the letter that was mentioned, nothing was there just to fill the pages. It was done very clever.
So overall is was an okay series, sometimes funny, maybe a little predictable. If you want a Cinderella who can time travel do read it.

i feel it was some kind of pwp, nothing more. the only story that had potential was the 3rd, if i remember the order corectly. about a guy who was in love w/ his brother and then the brother dies and there's a psychological trauma going on. but the solution was too quick and too contrived. so i don't recommend reading it.

Well, that was quite a book
I didn't like it. I thought the idea was interesting but the way it's written...
Do you know that feeling when a character does something but you are the one feeling embarrassed, ashamed even? For a strong half of this book that's what I felt. I would close it, take a deep breath and only then open it and continue reading. Questions like ‘seriously?!' and ‘you are not actually doing/saying that, are you?' would not leave me. This book was so hard to read.
And if I was not feeling that I was feeling disgust. All those scenes from Sally's childhood. It was awful. I understand that it is what it is but still. It's so hard to believe, so hard to imagine that people like that can actually exist that you end up either thinking how unnecessary it all was or how disgusting.
Funny thing, her present was not much better. All those conversations about sex, all those graphic descriptions, thoughts... don't get me wrong, I am one of those people who read fanfictions, so I'm quite used to graphic sex descriptions but here it was unnecessarily, I don't know how to put it,.. dirty? It's like her whole life was about sex. How she can or cannot, want or don't want to do it, and why.
And finally, the psychological part... I felt like I was given a lecture and by a boring professor too. You know how in films characters say something that is obviously said only for the viewers? Well, most of the psychological stuff looked a lot like that type of exposition to me. Especially closer to the end.
And I am not talking about all that philosophical/religious crap.
Now, the last thing I want to talk about is how predictable the book was. Just after reading the preview you can tell how it will end. Just think about the most obvious end and this is the one you'll get. Sally's okay and alone, ready to begin her new life. Hooray. How predictable.
Overall, I did not like this book. Not even a little bit.

2022:
okay, it's a 3 star now. i still like the concept and the story itself is fun but i've read things much better now and i don't get this gutwrenching feeling from this anymore

2022:
childhood-friends-to-lovers really isn't my trope after all. it was cute enough, but i'd have more fun if suga and “the senpai” had a more drawn-out plot together

this was so freaking cute 😍

can't lie, i do love how the entire review section feels like trauma bonding and/or HOB survivors not-so-anonymous. because yes. this is exactly how you feel when you read these books. and the worst part is - it's worth it

5/9
ok, here we go, i have a copy and since it's my top priority of the entire year, i'll try and read it ASAP

i don't know how i feel about this
will i read it? well duh, obviously
am i hoping elio and oliver are gonna end up together somehow? you bet i do
do i think this should be happening? well, no, actually, i don't
i hated the ending of CMBYN but it was perfect. it's like titanic. you want jack to not drown at the end but you know it wouldn't have been the same story then

plus i somehow have this feeling it NOT gonna be a happy-ending book and i am so not ready for another heartbreak, especially if it concerns these two

Update 5/9
Oh my god, there's a cover! And it's beautiful

nothing against the book. just not in the mood for middle grade, i guess

Merged review:

nothing against the book. just not in the mood for middle grade, i guess

i'm in the middle of the second chapter and i just can't with this.
like, oh my god, i /got/ it. men suck. fuck patriarchy.
can this girl think about anything other than how scary men are? i got it, she was probably raped or smth, she has trauma, men only ever think about fucking her apparently considering her reaction to one just existing in her vicinity. also! men don't think women are smart enough to study literature. and i mean literature /specifically/. because if there is one thing that is very manly and men would definitely think women are incapable of it's literature, aha. you want to study architecture and design buildings? nah, that's fine. go on. literature though? le gasp! how dare you. but they are still allowed to read? and the best author of all time is somehow considered to be “oh that guy girls like”? make it make sense =_=
this is bullshit and i'm done

lost interest.

it started so good, i couldn't stop smiling. but they got together so quick, it's boring to me. also it goes way too deep and intense into the whole “issue” of it all and that's not what i'm in it for. especially with the daddy issues. like, ugh, no

This is way too boring, i can't do it

this bores and annoys me

dnf
if i finished this it might have got a 2 but i doubt it.
i read the first half on a train cause internet was shit and this was the only book i had that was already downloaded. i think i read up to the point where they get rescued. i was already feeling pretty meh about it but this series had books like this before where i wasn't entirely sold on the premise or relationship but the still wanted to know how they get back together and why and then ended up enjoying it a lot. i can't see this happening here because knowing these two will be together in the end is making me annoyed. i don't mind co-dependence stories or addiction stories or whatever the fuck, but this is bugging me. i don't like it. honestly, it's grossing me out somewhat. i don't want to finish it and i'm not going to. i stopped at the hotel scene if anyone's interested and haven't thought about this book until i saw it on currently reading part of the main page here

god-fucking-dammit. will i read a book today or not?
started reading this, read the introduction, had way too much feels, had to put it down.
i am definitely returning to this later. hopefully later this year

i really liked what i've read but this is smth i need to read more mindfully or purposefully and i can't do this right now. so i'll come back to it after i'm done with my masters

wow, I hate this so much.
there was this book I've read at like 14 or 15 and enjoyed a lot. and for the longest time, I've thought that this is that book. but if it is then I don't even want to think about what the fuck was wrong with me if I liked this. although considering how unfamiliar this has read, I'll just hope I've made a mistake.

this was so boring!!
it read more like a biography than some kind of exploration of romantic comedies as a genre as the title suggests.
I had no interest to pick it back up.
also, the book assumes that you know all these names, and I just don't nor do I feel like I need to. so I just felt bombarded by all these ppl who I don't care about to begin with, and the book does a poor job showing me why I should. most of the names disappear after a few pages which feels very much like when you go to a party and some person tries to show you how important or knowledgeable they are by name-dropping.

‘She's twenty-six,' George confirmed. He didn't look even a little embarrassed to be dating a woman fifteen years younger than him. On the contrary, he looked pretty bloody chipper about it.

yeah, because how could he. a 26-year-old girl is clearly a child incapable of making her own decisions. it's not like a girl can want to date an older man. and all men dating younger girls are obviously perverts and just disgusting human-beings who should be ashamed of themselves. yep, that's definitely the case =___=

at first it gave me a weird biblical feel which was intriguing but after i looked into it a bit, it turned out to not be what it was going for. and i'm a bit over political dystopian horror tales so i think i'll pass. still love ruth ware though. but i think i'm going to stick with her novels for now

i've listened to an hour of this and i cannot do this anymore. i am so annoyed. this is not a book about feminism, as the author doesn't seem to understand what feminism is. this is a book about racism. which is a whole other issue [shocker, i know]. and no, i'm not going to change my tone, since the author used hers.
feminism is about gender equality. it's about making sure women are treated the same as men, and men are treated the same as women. any men or women. the way it is portrayed here suggests, for example, that black women are the only ones facing abuse from their partners. like white women have won some kind of fight and live in a happy bliss in a world where all men are safe to be around and have abandoned black women to continue to deal with it. which is simply not true. and guess what, abuse can happen to men too. abuse is not a black woman problem. it can happen in any relationship regardless of sex and gender, or race, or sexual orientation. no one is immune from it.
and that's only one example of many that annoyed me. which, considering i only listened for an hour, is an achievement on its own.
yes, a lot of ppl are being oppressed because of a number of reasons. smb who is a black gay woman is more oppressed than a white straight woman. i'm not arguing with that. and of course, racism is a big issue and we should fight against it. just as homophobia is. and islamophobia. and a lot of other things you can put on this list. but this particular book presents itself as a feminism book and then goes “hey, feminists, why aren't you fighting racism” like they are the same thing. when they are not. black women aren't the only women fighting sexism and black women aren't the only black ppl fighting racism. but those are two different things. and this book is trying to guilt you into thinking they are the same one and that a “white woman” is doing smth wrong when fighting for equal pay when a ppl won't hire a black woman [or man] because they are a racist piece of shit and don't want to hire black ppl [she specifically says “not hiring because you're black” or smth along those lines, i'm not relistening to this]. and i honestly don't have time for smb who doesn't understand the difference between racism and sexism.

started listening to an audiobook cause it was quite short and i thought it would be a nice way to spend an evening by listening to an audiobook and doing smth else to relax. but this was not possible. the narrator they chose for this is hard to understand. it's not smth you can just put on a background. you need to carefully listen to every word. for example there's a line [i assume] where the author wrote “i have to thank other researchers” but the way the narrator says it sounds like “i have to tank other researchers” and i thought maybe they did smth wrong, like sometimes researchers would assume one narrative for a controversial figure and it's hard to introduce another one. but then i realise that the word was actually thank.
i'm still interested in this book for i am interested in this time period but idk when i will get to it now, cause audiobook is my preferred way to consume non-fiction

read the first half in one sitting, don't really want to pick it back up