I wonder if I'm falling out of love with Cassandra Clare. I remember being okay with The Mortal Instruments, and being head-over-heels with this series. But now that I've finally finished it, it seemed a bit underwhelming. Maybe I've read better books, or I just hyped it up to myself a bit too much. Luckily I still I have one more Clare book at my library to read and find out if I'm just underwhelmed or disenchanted with Shadowhunters.

3.5

I really enjoyed this much more than I was expecting too. I never liked Bane in the books all that much and the idea about a whole book about him was off putting, but I liked the extra this adds to the whole Shadowhunter world. It's a nice touch, telling stories we know and want to know more about as well as others. I look at this more as a book about the little stories instead of Bane's life.

3.75

3.5 I found this one a lot more boring than the prior. There were a few things I didn't care for and I wish everything happened faster. While the stakes were higher, I found that there wasn't as much action an I would have preferred more of the Red Queen or just staying in the Tearling longer. While Lily's perspective answered some questions, I didn't care for it most of the time. If I wasn't already invested in the series, I might have skimmed or skipped them. I read this in one day though, so I guess that means it's quite good still.

4.5

I have very, very mixed feelings on this. At first, it was great, because I thought I'd be getting a more inside look on VFD, but instead, I got a very wired mystery that I didn't care for at all, with annoying characters. I kept reading because I loved the small references to A Series of Unfortunate Events. In the end, it went back to talking about VFD., but it was irritatingly vaguer than in the original series.

You should definitely read ASOUE before this because many things will go over your head if you don't, but be prepared for mysteries and not a lot of VFD.

Great finale to a great series. Marie Lu brought a nice voice and tone to the end of this series and her amazing writing style was gorgeous as always. It was a nice way to get her writing without her plot, as I've found it very predictable in the past.