There are few bad things I can say about The Mortal Instruments Series by Cassandra Clare. I think it's moderately dramatic with a very well-rounded fantasy world and convincing, three-dimensional characters. The romantic subplots do however become a bit over-the-top and one might wonder if the series is a love-story first and fantasy second.

The switching from point of view of one character to the next can be difficult to handle but I found in this series it worked wonders. Although I of course had some favourite characters whose heads I would've liked to linger in longer.

The author clearly knows how to toy with readers' emotions, build drama and tension and expertly raises questions of morality, justice, law and righteousness that only fantasy stories are capable of. With the distance that comes with fantasy questions that are too hard to ask in "real-life" become more accessible and it is obvious that the author holds her young readers in high regard - that alone deserves applause since so many YA novels are belittled for the sole fact that they aren't aimed at fully-fledged adults. Children and teens deserve much more respect when it comes to entertainment created specifically for them, as do the creators of that entertainment.

I must admit that I rage-quit reading the novels when it dawned on me that the fifth book wasn't the finale. First I thought it was supposed to be a trilogy, settled on the fifth, and was furious with such a cliffhanger. However, once I'd finally cooled off I re-read the whole series and am grateful I did. It is well worth the journey.

In the last book a new character is introduced and given quite the space, which begs the question if there will be a spin-off series from her point of view. (There very well actually might be by now, since Cassandra Clare seems to exhale a novel every three seconds). I personally did not like this. I felt it was a bit of betrayal to the readers who had followed the story of the main characters for so long to now be thrust into the mind and perspective of a brand new character right at the end.

All in all, the series is one of my favourites, beautifully written (the language is gorgeous), with wonderfully flawed characters the readers can empathise with. The possibilities for interpretation of the story's moral are endless and perfectly suited to its audience who are much more capable of deep understanding than they are often told.

Mortal Instruments Series Cassandra Clare Collection 6 Books Bundle