City of Glass (Mortal Instruments, #3)

by Cassandra Clare

[jesstheaudiobookworm]

Let me start by saying that if you have a deep affinity for this series, you probably won't want to read this review.---
2.5 stars
This was very nearly a DNF (did not finish) for me. I cannot tell you the number of times I stopped listening out of pure agony and frustration, only to pick it up again later out of a compulsory need to finish something I had begun. This book was so far below my maturity level that I actually felt insulted while reading it. As a 27-year-old, I do realize that I am most likely not in the target audience for the majority of YA books. However, skilled authors often have a way of making books appeal to a wider audience than those to which it is marketed (Harry Potter, for example). This series is so annoyingly juvenile that, try as I might, I simply could not stand it. I would guess the target reading age is 11-14. I wish I had known that beforehand. I am so upset with myself for wasting such a large amount of time to get through this. For me, this entire series and author are insanely overhyped. The plot is incredibly predictable, the writing is bland (at best), the protagonist is whiny and immature, and the romance is all kinds of problematic (and icky). But the worst thing is that underneath all of that, the basic premise of the story actually had promise. There were a handful of times that I thought I saw a glimmer of hope, only for it to be extinguished by another disgustingly mushy Clary/Jace moment. I really feel like this series would have been so much better without those two characters. They are so poorly written and I can't help but feel as if the author could not decide what to do with them. With that type of incesty storyline, the author has to really commit to it 100% (a la Game of Thrones). The way this author does it seems totally amateurish and underdeveloped. Basically, I persevered through the first two books based on the hype that this series receives and hoped that it would improve. Unfortunately, it did not and I think I would have to be truly desperate for something to read to ever give the rest of the series any of my time.

As for the audiobook, this narrator's voice had very little inflection or emotion. She sounded about as bored with the book as me. ~The Audiobookworm