This is yet another post series that I’ve wanted to do for a long time but didn’t know what to call it. I feel like every time I say this, what I should name it is painfully obvious, but it doesn’t always come to me straight away.
I’ve got plans to do more posts dedicated to specific genres and tropes!
City of Bones by Cassandra Clare
I’m pretty sure everyone and their dog has read this series already but if you haven’t, it’s a great place to jump into the world of Shadowhunters. I wouldn’t say it’s my favourite series of Cassandra Clare’s but it is the first one she published in the Shadowhunter Chronicles, so it’s the obvious place to start.
This is the book that made me fall in love with the world of Shadowhunters and it’s also the longest series, so a great one to binge!
Synopsis: When fifteen-year-old Clary Fray heads out to the Pandemonium Club in New York City, she hardly expects to witness a murder― much less a murder committed by three teenagers covered with strange tattoos and brandishing bizarre weapons. Then the body disappears into thin air. It’s hard to call the police when the murderers are invisible to everyone else and when there is nothing―not even a smear of blood―to show that a boy has died. Or was he a boy?
This is Clary’s first meeting with the Shadowhunters, warriors dedicated to ridding the earth of demons. It’s also her first encounter with Jace, a Shadowhunter who looks a little like an angel and acts a lot like a jerk. Within twenty-four hours Clary is pulled into Jace’s world with a vengeance when her mother disappears and Clary herself is attacked by a demon. But why would demons be interested in ordinary mundanes like Clary and her mother? And how did Clary suddenly get the Sight? The Shadowhunters would like to know…
The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern
Apparently, this is quite the marmite book, which I didn’t realise until recently. I personally loved it, but it was another early teen read (I was definitely too young to read it) and my opinion has probably changed a lot since then. I’ve been wanting to re-read it for a long time to see if it is as beautiful as I remember. Maybe I’ll finally get around to that this year.
Synopsis: The circus arrives without warning. No announcements precede it. It is simply there, when yesterday it was not. Within the black-and-white striped canvas tents is an utterly unique experience full of breathtaking amazements. It is called Le Cirque des Rêves, and it is only open at night.
But behind the scenes, a fierce competition is underway—a duel between two young magicians, Celia and Marco, who have been trained since childhood expressly for this purpose by their mercurial instructors. Unbeknownst to them, this is a game in which only one can be left standing, and the circus is but the stage for a remarkable battle of imagination and will. Despite themselves, however, Celia and Marco tumble headfirst into love—a deep, magical love that makes the lights flicker and the room grow warm whenever they so much as brush hands.
True love or not, the game must play out, and the fates of everyone involved, from the cast of extraordinary circus performers to the patrons, hang in the balance, suspended as precariously as the daring acrobats overhead.
Check out Young Creative Press on all socials
You can also check out my StoryGraph here
Like this post? Why not read this one too: To Be Read: April 2024