DNF at 40%
I'm sorry Ms. Clare, I just don't like your writing. I
tried to like your books. I
wanted to like your books. I was disappointed in
City of Bones , but it was intriguing enough that I was willing to give
City of Ashes a chance. I was hoping that this one would be better than the first one.
I don't like giving negative reviews, because as an aspiring writer, I know how difficult it is to write a novel. I haven't even gotten to the more difficult steps of finding an agent, a publisher and continued success like
Cassandra Clare has. That's still an amazing achievement even if I personally don't like her novels. I just wanted to preface my review by stating that before I start complaining.
So, here are my issues with the writing.
One, I didn't think there was a real sense of setting. It sounds like a vague place where they live and work without much else going on. It's more of a placeholder than a well-developed world.
Two, the characters are two-dimensional at best. I didn't think their personalities had enough individuality or emotion. The dialogue makes them all sound the same and it didn't matter if I read the book or listened to the audiobook. All characters have a motive and that's partly what keeps the story going, but these characters didn't have enough motive to keep my interest. I didn't feel the emotions that the characters should have been feeling in different situations.
Three, I lost interest in the story. It felt like it wasn't going anywhere and since I didn't like the characters, I really didn't care what happened to them.
And four, I thought it had pacing issues.
City of Ashes started slower than
City of Bones. By the time I reached the 40% mark, it still felt like nothing was going on, so I gave up.
We all have unique preferences in novels and gravitate toward certain writing styles.
Cassandra Clare novels just aren't for me.