When I mentioned to my YA-loving former roommate that I had started reading The Clockwork Angel by Cassandra Clare, she was surprised. “Uhhh….didn’t those come out in 2005?”
She then recounted to me that she’d read all the Infernal Devices and the Mortal Instruments books in middle and high school and hadn’t thought of them since. She was shocked that I hadn’t read them yet and that me, a college graduate, would be at all interested in the book she’d loved in middle school.
Obviously, I’m a little behind the times.
My old roommate isn’t the only one who was shocked that I hadn’t read them. I worked with teenage girls for years and a handful of them were OBSESSED with Cassandra Clare’s books. I promised at least three different girls that I’d try these books out. And now, years after these promises, I finally got around to trying them out. They were available on my library’s Overdrive, so I figured “Why not?”
And I’m so glad I’m finally getting around to them. I’m slowly (sssssslllllllllllooooooooooowwwwwwwwwwwllllllllllllyyyyyyyyy……..) working my way through them and I’ve been surprised at how interesting they are. While the books are typical YA in a lot of ways, they make me wonder if Cassandra Clare defined this type of YA writing rather than simply following it. Did she help cement some of these tropes? They’re so well done that they can’t be simply copies….right?
Whatever they are, I’m enjoying them immensely. So to anyone who hasn’t gotten around to reading any Cassandra Clare yet, it’s worth a shot (especially if you like YA).
What are some books you haven’t gotten around to reading yet? Have you read any Cassandra Clare?
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