When the Blackthorn great-aunt dies, to the surprise of everyone she leaves her house in England to Julian, with the proviso he has five years to fix it up before ownership reverts to the Clave. So off Julian and Emma go to merry old England, to deal with large spiders, piles of dust, gnome contractors, and the ghost that is apparently tethered to the house. Can they solve the mystery and free the ghost, or will they be buried around all the secrets that lurk in the house (and the several million sheaves of wheat the contractors want to be paid in)?
The story is told in epistolary form, through a series of letters, texts, and diary entries sent between vast swathes of the Blackthorn family (and two or three friends thereof.) Also, after being part of a Kickstarter campaign, it seems to be not be available in the US; I had to buy my copy from England.
Well, as usual for a Shadowhunters book I ran hot and cold with this. Julian was (surprisingly) a lot more likable here than he was in his own series. Emma, on the other hand, came across more like an immature tween than a woman pushing twenty who’s in a serious relationship. (If she used the word “like” one more time I was going to go through the pages and throw hands.) Never mind the fact that Emma seems to have a lovely habit of every time that Julian attempts to have a serious conversation about their relationship or their futures together, she takes advantage of the fact that Julian Blackthorn is another Xander Harris:
Add onto that her love affair with saying “Pip, pip Cheerio!” to every one in London, and her complaining that unlike California, England has weather. (So now I know: earthquakes, wildfires, storms, fog, and seasons at large do not happen in Cassandra Clare-land.)
I truly felt for Jem and Tessa; between the ghosts that had to be resurrected with everything that happened, Emma thinking Tatiana Blackthorn was super cool and they would have been BFFS, Emma wondering if Tessa’s children, daughter-in-law, or any of their friends actually matter (newsflash, Emma! You are not the only Carstairs to ever wield Cortana, and at least one other actually was important; far more important than you in the scheme of things, as dirty as Cassie did her character), and what Mother Hawthorn (why is that bi woman back?) does with Kit and Mina, they get the short end of the stick throughout this plot.
Would love to know how several plot points that come up in this book mesh with what Clare wrote in The Lost Hours trilogy. (I really don’t think they do, however I’m not the author.) But then again, I’m also not the one that apparently decided to have Tatiana’s husband go from being named Rupert to apparently being named Ragnor; it had to, because I can not believe that both Clare and her editor missed that large of an error. That is far more egregious than the several dropped or misspelled words that also peppered this book. I am really starting to get the feeling that publishing companies no longer employ editors.
Also, several of the included illustrations seemed to be put out of order; pictures that should have gone with one set of messages showed up several messages later. I read this story when Cassie originally published it on Tumblr, and I could swear she’s edited a few entries out now; I distinctly remember Alec responded to Magnus with a text message that truly had me come to the conclusion that their marriage is continuing solely for the children, because Alec Lightwood has officially checked out. However, it’s not on Tumblr either, so maybe I’m just misremembering (or Cassie has truly covered her tracks to fit the new narrative.) Because she has made Magnus seems like a far less uninvolved husband and father.
And speaking of Tatiana; boy, can you just see the descent from insanity at the age of eleven to outright and utter unhinged madness in her late teens. The never changing out of the dress covered in her husband’s blood was bad; the breaking the mirrors and never picking up the shards even with a small child in the house, never mind aligning with the Greater Demon to kill people is just worse. (And Emma still thinks she would be a great shopping and boy-talk buddy?) Cersei Lannister would tell Tatiana she has an unhealthy jealousy for her brothers’ usefulness to their father, and a disturbing fixation with said man. Cersei Lannister, Tatiana Blackthorn, and Charlotte Fairchild; three women who don’t see how toxic their fathers are, or how much those don’t really see use in them because they don’t piss standing up. Tatiana, the only reason Benedict trusts you with his evil plans (and the kinky demon sex you seem to immaturely ignore) is because Gideon has left and Gabriel already has one foot out the door, so you’re the only thing he has left to work with. Don’t know how much I honestly care about Dru (which is a shame because I liked her previously), don’t know how much I care about Kit or Ty (and I liked them previously), I know I don’t care about “not so perfect’ Jamie, and I know I don’t care about Manuel, or Zara, or the Cohort. Am glad we had The Wild Hunt as a Deus ex Machina ploy device. (seriously; I think the Persian soldier who decapitated Astinos in 300 had more screen time.) Clare just writes all children as far too cute for words; Mina, as adorable as she is, made me feel like Dorothy Parker about Winnie the Pooh; “Tonstant Weader Fwowed up”. (Aside: who spells Craig with a K?)
It bothers me that I’ve invested in over twenty-five books so far, and have four or five books to go before the series is complete, and I am just so pathetic about the series as a whole. After all that time, money, and emotional investments, shouldn’t I care more about how this will all end? If you like Shadowhunters you should read this book, I suppose. If you haven’t read any of the books, I don’t know if I would start now. And yet this book was probably in some ways more enjoyable than Better in Black, even with the fact that I wanted to slap Emma throughout the entire book. At least Julian was more likable here.
(I will say this picture is adorable though.)
