Cassandra Clare

[wildpurplechild]

Cassandra Clare writes the Mortal Instrument series and the prequel series, the Infernal Devices. They are both fantasies (the first series is set in modern day Newyork, the second is victorian England I think) that center around "shadowhunters", a group of angel-blood infused people ( ) who hunt demons. This is not a Christian series by any means, but it's really interesting. She also has some short stories, such as her tale in Steampunk! an anthology. I really enjoy her work! Any other fans here?

[invaderv93]

I'm somewhat of a fan - I used to be really into the Mortal Instruments a few years ago, but I haven't really kept up with her other work. They were fun books though. She was one of the few paranormal/fantasy writers during Twilight's peak in popularity that knew how to incorporate humor/adventure and not just drum out overly serious banal love stories (I don't mind a good romance, but is it really to much to ask for an interesting one?). I'm thinking of picking her back up again. Where should I start?

[Lynna]

That was a bit of a gravedig, but maybe the mods will let it pass on the account that no one seemed to notice it when it was first made. Maybe? Possibly? (If I'm wrong, it'll just get locked, I guess)
I've never read Cassandra Clare, however, I have read reviews of her work. They sound ok, however...

“For our purposes you can consider it a small country between Germany and France."

"But there isn't anything between Germany and France. Except Switzerland."

"Precisely," said Jace.”

...I'm not sure I'd care to read a book where the author didn't even make a simple geography check before making a completely incorrect statement. Belgium? The Netherlands? Luxemburg? Sorry! They were apparently wiped off the map. And I wouldn't really say Switzerland is "between" Germany and France...It just shares borders with both. I understand that not everybody cares very much about geography, and hey, it's pretty easy to make mistakes, but it doesn't give me the impression that the author did very much research.

[Atria35]

I enjoyed the prequel series first because I didn't know it was written after the original series (confusing statement, yes? XD) but when I went back to read the original series, I thought it was disturbingly similar. I mean, if you renamed the characters from the original series and placed it in the Victorian era, and kept the same plot... I dunno. I read them back to back to boot, so I don't think it was a memory thing.

But I'm wondering how she managed to sell the rights to make a movie since she was convicted of plagiarism.

[GeneD]

But I'm wondering how she managed to sell the rights to make a movie since she was convicted of plagiarism.

I haven't read any of her books but this caught my interest, making me go look for more information. It raises the interesting question of whether accusing someone of plagiarism in fan-fiction isn't a little counterproductive/hypocritical. I guess copying something verbatim and taking someone's world/characters/concepts but doing the writing yourself are not the same thing, but I'm sure there are people who wouldn't agree.

Anyway, I'm sure she sold the rights because the people buying saw the books were making money and a movie might do the same for them, which is probably the only thing that really matters to them. *shrug*

[Lynna]

I'm not sure she was convicted of plagerism...just accused of it. And accusations can easily be swept under the rug when there's money to be made.

[invaderv93]

Did some research on the plagiarism thing. Apparently people agree that her published books are not plagiarized, but there was a big spat about how many things in her fanfiction were lifted from other works that were not related to the fandom she was writing for. Claire and her camp claimed they were merely easter eggs and homages, others said it went too far to be considered as such. Things got heated, and Claire either voluntarily left or was kicked off fanfiction.net.

[yukoxholic]

I love both The Mortal Instruments and The Infernal Devices! Like most Teen Paranormal Romance it warrants the same love triangle focus as well as brooding male characters. I have to say though things became rather repetitive in The Mortal Instruments around books #4 - #5. It was kind of like she lost sight of the entire plot and went a different direction that made no sense which left me uninterested in characters I had grown to love. That being said though I'm still a fan and I have high hopes for the last installment to redeem the series as a whole. The Infernal Devices however, I adored until the last book. I wanted a different kind of ending but all and all at least it was a 'happy' one.