Cecilie

I LOVED THIS! Magnus and Alec are just the best people to follow because of how they are such opposites in many ways but so damn good together! The story was a bit slow in the beginning, but kicks off rather well when we get out of Paris. Overall, the story feels smaller than what we're used to seeing from Cassandra Clare, which simultaneously makes it more intimate but also a little less engrossing. Don't get me wrong, I loved it!
There was SO MUCH name dropping and call-backs to other books in this. Like, A LOT. And it becomes especially apparent when you've read all the Shadowhunter books because we meet characters in this that, chronologically in the books that came out before this, you wouldn't know until much later. So it's like a call-back to the future? Idk, it's kind of a mind-cluster if you try to go too deep in to it. But as someone who HAS read all the books, I loved the mentions and call-backs. But I do wonder if the end of this books would ruin a spoiler (albeit not humongous but still pretty big) in a much later (time-wise) book. Idk, it's hard for me to say since I've only ever read these in one kind of way and that is publication order. Anyway, I'm rambling at this point.
I loved it. I love Magnus. I love Aline. I love Helen. I love Raphael. I loved it.

Overall, a lovely look into Magnus's life through the years. It was nice seeing how his view of things changed, particularly in regards to relationships, as he got older. I really liked the vivid decriptions of his outfits and his love for fashion ever steady. It is particularly fun in serious situations, where Magnus explains the shock in people's faces as not of him in particularly but his hot pink outfit. That situation alone is enough to make me love Magnus.

My individual ratings are:

What Really Happened in Peru - 2 stars
Was missing the entire point of why I wanted to read it. It started off very slow, then became a little more interesting, but in the end there was no climax and I was left feeling very disappointed.
The Runaway Queen - 3 stars
I found the Paris vampire clan really interesting, and even though I thought the Marie Antoinette/Axel plot-line would go somewhere else, it was still enjoyable.
Vampires, Scones and Edmund Herondale - 5 stars
Meeting Will's parents. Honestly, it just made me understand very easily why Will turned out the way he did. Loved it. It was really fucking sad.
The Midnight Heir - 5 stars
Meeting James Herondale. Seriously, it absolutely frightened me and I now think The Last Hours will be scary as hell. Loved it. It was really fucking scary AND sad.
The Rise of the Hotel Dumort - 2.5 stars
Idk, it was just kinda boring. The New York setting was nice but... yeah.
Saving Raphael Santiage - 4 Stars
I enjoyed this one so much! Raphael is a whiny little shit and I adore him to pieces. The way he is with Magnus, and what he actually thinks of their relationship with each other, really makes me feel for him when in CoLS Simon was yelling at Raphael being like “FRIENDS??? You think we're FRIENDS???” A scene, in which I originally was very understanding of Simon's reaction (and still am, but now I get Raphael).
The Fall of the Hotel Dumort - 3.5 stars
Much more interesting than the rise, definitely, but I found myself unable to really get into it, so. You get no more.
What To Buy the Shadowhunter Who Has Everything (And Who You're Not Officially Dating Anyway) - 4 stars
Magnus being cute and in love. That's literally it.
The Last Stand of the New York Institute - 5 stars
TESSA. TES-SA! I mean, shortly, but still. I really like seeing the real tragedy of what The Circle did, and how even as a young adult, Valentine was a psychotic bastard. And seeing Magnus's faith in shadowhunters rise just a tiny little bit from nothing was great.
The Course of True Love (And First Dates) - 4.5 stars
Malec being adorable. That's literally it. Loved it.
The voicemail of Magnus Bane - 3.5 stars
A bit too on the nose after having JUST read City of Lost Souls, which has to be read in order to understand the gravity of this one. It's not exactly a story, but still interesting although unkind to the heart, which is already hurting.

I always find the stories, where characters we know have a prominent role, are more interesting than the ones where they don't, particularly if it's characters I'm fond of. Generally though, I seemed to like the stories with Sarah Rees Brennan more than the ones with Maureen Johnson.
I've also learned by now that when I begin a collection of short stories set in shadowhunter world, it is simply impossible to really get a feel for it until you're several stories in. That's been my experiene every single time, and it is often much easier to know your own thoughts once everything has been read. This one is probably on the lower side of 4 stars but I don't really want to knock it down to a 3.5. Overall, I really enjoyed it. These novella collections always add so much context, which I love.

2nd read Feb 2020This book is big and so epic. Like, it is epic at a level that Clare has not reached before, and I assume it will only become bigger as we move on to The Wicked Powers in a few years time. However, this is also the main reason why it has half a star knocked off its rating because it is not a finale. Yet it is marketed as such. So, okay, rant:
I get the reason; Clare writes her stories in trilogies and the only reason why TMI is a six books series is because the last three were not part of the original plan when the first was published. I love TMI and I think it makes sense for that series to be one single series, but could of course easily be read as two seperate ones. TID works easily on its own as a trilogy and it makes sense to me already that TLH will also be its own trilogy (I've yet to read TLH though, but I highly suspect). The Wicked Powers, however, is a direct continuation of the plotline in TDA, this is obvious not only because of where the plot goes and will continue to go, but because we will be dealing with the characters we already know well from this series (not the same mains, but we know them well enough and in LoS and QoAaD they even have their own storylines). I believe TWP will be two or three years into the future but it will undoubtedly be a continuation of the fallout from TDA, and because of that QoAaA is not a finale, which makes it somewhat unsatisfying with two many strings still to be tied up, so I had to knock of half a star. ¯_(ツ)_/¯
Okay, rant over, let's continue.
I loved Ty and Kit working on scary shit that you know is going to go wrong. Like, it's a recipe for disaster yet I still think it works.
The book is so long that I feel like it's hard to distinguish where it began from where LoS ended, which I think speaks miles about the journey we go on throughout and the epicness of it all that I've already mentioned. We go beyond in this one, and it's awesome (and also the reason why the ending is not satisfying enough). Although, I do think towards the end we get a little too much magic. It might sound weird to say, but you know, to the point where you sort of lose sight of where the limit is, you know what I mean? And that's a bit of a problem, but I do think Cassie will put a lid on it somewhat in the future. There were also a few times where it suffered from being just a tad too convenient for my taste. And by now I've mentionend several things to take down the rating of the book, and yet I still only knocked off half a star, but guys. Guys. THE BOOK IS MORE THAN 900 PAGES LONG. I mention the problems because they stand out among all the greatness of the book!
It was hilarious how they tried to play off Julian's ruthlessness as less than, because we all know he would kill any bitch to protect his family. Like, he has no quamls about it whatsoever. And that's why we like him! (at least I do.)
I loved loved loved seeing more of Diego and Jaime in this one, and I especially loved seeing Diego and Kieran spending time together. Though it was brief, it was chef's kiss. Kieran in general, actually, he has my heart. Seriously, Kieran, you want it? You can have it, here. It's yours.
Drusilla is also an absolute darling, and I can't wait to have more of her in TWP and I'm even more excited about her storyline in regards to Ash and how all that will go down. I'm sure Jaime will be part of it somehow but I very much hope he will be a side character, who just pops up occasionally because otherwise... yeah, we don't want that. Ash, yes. More Ash, please, and thank you.
I'm super excited for more of Kit in TWP too (and obviously Kitty), but also because I just want to see how comfortable he becomes in the life he's chosen, I really want that domesticity.
Honestly, me talking about everything I'm looking forward to, really just drives in the point that this is not a finale, IT IS A MIDDLE BOOK.
Diana was amazing, Christina was amazing, Jia Penhallow was fucking great, and HELEN AND ALINE. OH MY GOD, DID I GO THIS ENTIRE REVIEW WITHOUT TALKING ABOUT HELEN AND ALINE???? Queens, my badass lady wives, I loved seeing their relationship, it was open in an entirely different way than Magnus and Alec (because we know how Alec is), and I just had such heart eyes for them. such queens, the both of them.
I love the family moments, though they are few and far between in this one, but whenever we get them it's amazing. The family dynamics have always been one of this series' key selling points, and I think it's so wonderful.
The more I know of faerie, the more intrigued I am (which is actually the opposite reaction of the first time I read TDA, where I was always hesitant about the parts in faerie. I've come to appreaciate it so much more). Everytime we visit, there are new things to discover about the place, things that are entirely unknown to at least the reader and often also the characters.
Anyway, this has gotten really long, I think it's time to close up my thoughts.
It's a fantastic book. I love all of the charcaters. I adore the last 50 pages. I'm so excited about what comes next. It was not a finale.
Fin.

I've put my first review of the book as spoilers because, while I don't think it reveals major plot points, it does mention a few things that I feel could be easily classified as spoilers, so... read at your own discretion.

1st read5 stars
Spoiler
Oh my god, Jace and Clary at the end. Clary is always so weirdly worried that Jace doesn't love her, and it's just like.... dude. he literally went to hell for you. what more does he need to say????

as for everything else:
oh my god. oh my god. holy shit. i can't even. the marriage, it was so beautiful, like i can't even. this was so good, it literally doesn't even feel like a finally finale, like i mean it does because of how it ends but also THERE ARE SO MANY NEW QUESTIONS! i can't even believe it's over. these will never be main characters anymore. i'll have to wait like a bajillion years to get the next part of ty and kit's story. of ash's story. dru's story. oh my god. like i just can't, i'm so done but i'm also so NOT done, like holy shit, i need another book continuing this story line ASAP! Thule Jace is so scary and he gives me the creeps, i just, shit man, why is cassie so good?? i had really hoped for things to go differantly with ty and kit, but i'll have to wait for new books for that to happen and it's literally going to take like six fucking years I CAN'T. At least there's The Last Hours to keep me company along the way from like november 2019.... I'll just cry myself to sleep, thanks. 
But wow, man. That was so good. It's just so good. I love Cassie's world, her characters, I love them so much.

2nd read Feb 2020
This one kills you. It just kills you.
First of all, it's fantastic.
Ty's absolute honesty, and Kieran's as well, is very welcome against Emma and Julian's bullshit. Those two... I mean, they get their shit together eventually, but like GUYS. CMON.
The amount of traveling happening in this one book seriously makes me feel like I've read three books. I'm not even joking, THERE IS SO MUCH GOING ON AT ALL TIMES. AND I'M NOT EVEN MAD ABOUT IT! Because it's so. good.
Fuck, if I could just... Like, the last 100 pages is just me in a constant state of heart arrest, everything just keeps happening and I'm constantly worried, and the fighting and the plans and aaaaahhhhhh. It's a lot.
And Julian, with every book just gets scarier. Like, he has moments in LM where he makes you slightly uncomfortable because he doesn't seem to have a STOP button. In LoS, he's scary. He is frighteningly smart, like, boy just comes up with a new plan in like 0.5 seconds, nothing fucking surprises him, he's able to manipulate literally anyone, is the biggest (and best) liar in the entire world, and I just love him.
Lastly, we get so much more of Kieran in this book, and I just- yes. Yes, please. Keep it coming, I want it, I need it.
Oh, and also THE KITTY. By the Angel, it's so obvious.

1st read Feb 2018
I feel... broken.
sobs in a corner

Oh my god, I fucking adore this book.
It's so freaking cute and adorable and Lara Jean is so wonderful and Peter is great and Kitty is the cutest thing in the entire world.
I didn't like Chris at all in the beginning but I warmed up to her so much by the end, and with Margot I felt the complete opposite and oh my god, I can't deal with the cuteness, it was sp fluffy and amazing and heart eyes

That was FANTASTIC.
HOLY MOTHER OF JESUS CHRIST
I LITERALLY FEEL BLESSED TO HAVE READ THIS BOOK
I MEAN
HOLY SHIT
I WAS EXPECTING SOMETHING GOOD
IT BLEW MY MIND
I CAN'T EVEN MAKE REAL SENTENCES
HOLY MOTHERFUCKING SHIT FUCK CRAP
SO INTENSE
I LOVED EVERY MINUTE
GIVE ME THE NEXT ONE IMMEDIATELY

Spoiler HOW IN THE HELL IS JUDE STILL ALIVE WHAT THE FUCK DID ANYONE SEE THAT COMING BECAUSE I SURE AS HELL DIDN'T.

All these amazing - amazing books that I've been reading lately. It's hard to deal with the love.
This book was wonderful. Just so wonderful. I couldn't help but just relate SO MUCH to the main character, his line of thought, his personality, his way of dealing with things and not doing things even when he wanted to because he thought it'd be better to not do it, basically his whole being.
I absolutely adored the family aspect. These parents are just amazing people and they make mistakes and don't always act like “adults”, and all of the characters are basically just so real and wow wow wow wow I really just loved every single thing about this book.

I had forgotten how infuriating this ending was. How I had to go through illegal means to get a hold of CoLS when I first read the series. And then proceeded to not finish CoLS for more than a year after I read like the first chapter.
Anyway, I actually remembered a lot of this book. Like, not everything, but enough for me to be pretty certain of what I was going into. Simon was more annoying than I remembered but I think that has to do with the fact that he continues to just make dumb decisions about girls. Otherwise he's fun as always. His humor is welcome any day of the week.
My love for Isabelle has solidified even more during this book. Like, Isabelle was not someone I focused on much when I first read these books because the boys had my attention. I know better now. Girls are way more awesome. And Isabelle just has my heart in everything she does, she's so awesome I wanna get her name written on my heart, like girl can fucking get it that's for sure.
Jace's self-loathing continues to drag him into stupid situations because he doesn't tell people shit and then he thinks no one notices he's not eating or sleeping and looks like he's on the brink of death, and when someone asks him what's wrong he's like “I'm fine we're fine everything's fine”, BRO. GET OFF YOUR HIGH HORSE AND CONSIDER THE FACT THAT YOU WERE CONDITIONED TO HATE YOURSELF FROM THE DAY YOU WERE BORN AND REALIZE THAT YOU MIGHT NOT BE FUCKING OKAY AND SHOULD PROBABLY TALK TO SOMEONE. Can't believe it took Clary the entire book to finally be like “hey dude, can you please just like, talk to me” and then when he doesn't, she yells at him, like yes please tell him what a douche he is being.
On the bright side, because Jace spent this entire book avoiding Clary at all times, this is how we finally get a Jace and Simon buddy relationship. For the first time their conversations aren't rooted in who's more jealous of who, which is very nice for a change. And friendly banter is much more fun than jealous banter, and I had forgotten that this was the reason they even started to kind of sort of hang out together (neither will admit but it is true).
The indecisiveness and recklessness of stupid teenagers knocks off a star and leaves it at four, but as always this was a great adventure with great amounts of fun and heart. Always a pleasure to visit these characters, and Isabelle being the only level-headed person ever definitely leaves her as my favorite of the entire book. She takes the cake in this one and I kind of have a feeling she will in the next as well. But we'll see. I remember like next to nothing but the opening chapter of CoLS because I did read that chapter twice before.

WHAT AN ABSOLUTELY PHENOMENAL ENDING.
Like, don't get me wrong, this isn't the best book in the series imo. But if you've read any series of books published within like the past eight years or so, then you know damn well that the ending is often a hassle and sometimes disappointing too.
THIS WAS NOT THAT.
It did not beat House of Hades for me, but I think I can honestly say that it's probably only because of the lack of Percy and Annabeth chapters.
Don't get me wrong, Jason and Piper are GREAT characters, BUT their chaptors just aren't as good as any of the other characters. Like don't even get me started on Reyna and Nico who absolutely delivered the best chapters of them all in this book, like they had me hooked from the first word every single time a new chapter with them started. Their plotline was just the greatest, and I really finally started to appreciate Coach's presence during those chapters. And Leo did his part well too, like Leo is just such a good character to come from these books, and everybody knows it. But the absence of Percy and Annabeth chapters, like idk they're just more fun to read from than Jason and Piper.
BUT THE BOOK WAS SUPER DUPER WUPER LUPER GOOD, OKAY, PLEASE GO READ THIS SERIES, IT'S LITERALLY SO GOOD

Really really enjoyed this, but I was expecting a really cute story, because everyone keeps saying that it's totally cute, so I was a bit disappointed in that sense. It was a lot more serious and sad than what I thought it would be, and I was really wanting that cutesy contemporary.
It was still cute though, albeit not as much as I wanted it to be, and I really did enjoy it.

This is my third re-read of the series, so I feel like at this point, I should know when to expect the worm. AND YET, I continue to expect it in the wrong book. Like continuously thinking it would be in the first book. Wasn't. Then thinking it would be in the second. Wasn't. Literally, at this point I'm convinced I only skim books instead of actually reading because my memory just sucks ASSSSSSSS.
Anyway, in regards to the quality of this book, I loved it, obviously. It is soul-crushingly heart-breaking when certain events happen after page 400 but I powered through yet again and here we are.
Immense amounts of love for Sophie, who is just wonderful in all ways, and Gideon too, who kinda just reminds me of a really big Golden Retriever.
Charlotte is just the most wonderful woman ever and I love her and like omg mom i love you??????
Magnus is just so soft in this book????? very unexpected honestly????? like can he not???? soft boy stan in the house right here???
Also, I had completely blocked Woolsey Scott from my memory, what a ride that was (literally).
Will not comment on Will, Jem, and Tessa because IT HURTS.

So so so so so so so so good. Like, so good. It's so beyond TMI even though I love TMI. But this is just so good. So so so so good. I cannot stress this enough. It's such a good book, such a fantastic introduction to the characters, the world, the setting. It's just all done so well, I can give nothing but praise to this book, I love it so much.
I forgot how old fashioned Tessa was during almost all of this book, like I was shocked, sometimes she sounded like Jessamine! And oh my god, I love Jessamine so much! It's hard to describe why exactly because most of the time she's such an ass to all of them, but she's good when it matters. She knows when to do shit when it matters and that's what's important about her character. I just- MMGHGMHGFDHMGDM THIS WAS SO GOOOOOOOD i absolutely adored this reread.

This is honestly such a fantastic end to a trilogy. Like it was great even when it was only three books, and then it just got better. It has such great character building in this one, we really start to see our supporting characters shine much brighter. It was already miles better in Ashes, but I loved seeing them all in this book and becoming the characters I actually remember them as from later books. Really just a wonderful conclusion to this storyline.
For some reason, this book has always been the one that I remembered least of. I don't know why, but that was always how it was. I could only remember a character death and the fact that there was a battle. But then when I started this book, it was like everything just rushed in and I found out that I remembered a lot more than I realized. And that was a weird and awesome experience!
This book is incredible, and definitely the best of these first three books (although all three are great). There's so much at stake, and things are settled so well, yet given the right clues to fuel the next three books. I can't wait to get to them, although I think I will read The Infernal Devices after this trilogy, and then pick up the second half after I finish TID. That seems about right. Also I miss Will Herondale! I'll be going into it with so many clues this time. I've reread TID before, but never with these books so fresh in my mind. Can't wait for all that fun stuff.

4.5 stars
how the rating has changed with this reread! this was better than i remembered and i just love that fact.
oh it was SO CLOSE to being 5 stars! seriously, this is a great book, i mean there's so much angst and you're just like almost screaming at the characters to just not be so terrified of hurting each other's feelings. but also you don't hate it, and it makes sense, and there was more magnus in this book which made me sooooo happy, but i wanted more of isabelle and more of clary and isabelle together and i just
idfk
what pulled this down a little was probably jace being a very angry teenager. that's it. like, that's literally it.
it was really good, man, this is real good shit.