This review is more like a rant. Normally I want books to be longer, but this book was too long, which is never something I thought I'd say. I was not a huge fan of the series from the start mainly because the plot was almost non-existent, but I stayed for Jem and Will. They have such a beautiful bond, and I wish they had never met Tessa, that Jem and Will had both become Silent Brothers, and then left the Brotherhood to live healthy mortal lives together. I also came to love Magnus, Sophie, Bridget, the Lightwood brothers, Charlotte and Henry, and Jessamine. I think there were so many great characters introduced in this series, and so many cute relationships that were formed.
However, despite all of that, Tessa managed to ruin it for me. I do not like Tessa, I don't understand what the boys saw in her. She annoyed me, and she supposedly was special because she has a really rare shape shifting power that is rarely used in the trilogy. She likes to read and quote books, but I've already stated how it seems forced. One of my personal favorite books is Pride and Prejudice, but that doesn't mean I memorized it or run around comparing people to its characters like Tessa compares Will to Sydney Carton. Tessa says her heart is divided between Jem and Will equally, which is just not possible. It means she doesn't truly love either of them. She proves she didn't love Will when she says she can't remember the exact color of his eyes or his laugh. Sophie put flowers in her hair that were the same color as his eyes, all she has to do is go find those flowers. When she's with Jem she lusts after Will, and when she's with Will she wants Jem. That's ridiculous and disrespectful to the man she's currently with. Also, what she and Will did after thinking Jem dies is inexcusable. Period. Will at least loves her, but she doesn't. Tessa got between Jem and Will, if it weren't for her, they would have tried to cure Jem, or both become vampires or Silent Bros or something. I think that the epilogue that shows Jem and her reuniting with Jem as a mortal is terrible. There's no way Tessa loves Jem, in fact, I would argue that she's heartless. How can she love Jem and want to spend his lifetime with him and probably have kids, if she's just going to leave her kids and grandkids like she did after Will died? Why would she even want to be with Jem just to forget him like she forgot Will's eye color? There's no point to her being ageless, she should've been mortal. Will and Jem, Jem and Will deserved better.
Like I said, the other relationships and characters in the book were very cute. Sophie and Gideon, Cecily and Gabriel, Charlotte and Henry, were all amazing. Gideon's proposal to Sophie was so romantic, and Gabriel throwing the guy out the window and into the river was funny. One of the Lightwood boys says that Will is a better brother to Jem than he is to his own brother, which I thought was sweet. Will's relationship with Gabriel is hilarious, I wonder that palyed out when Cecily married him.
Sophie is one of the strongest female characters in my opinion, she was scarred unfairly, but she managed to be gentle, kind, and to find love despite everything. She learned to fight and she deserves all the happiness.
Jessamine deserves better. I don't understand why her character got the end it got. She could be mean, it's true, but she was punished for not wanting to be a Shadowhunter by haunting the Institute "while it needs protecting", so forever. All she wanted was to marry and live a normal life. Also, why were the Silent Brothers so cruel to her? She came back all weak and without hair, half mad, and mistreated. I thought Silent Brothers were supposed to help, and how will Jem behave then as a Silent Brother? Will he treat people like that too? I can't see Jem being like that. Jessamine should have been brought back to the Institute, met a mundane, married, and left to live happily ever after.
I think Jem should have either died or become a Silent Brother along with Will. If he had died, he and Will would be reunited on the other side of the river, and they would be together again. If both of them had become Silent Brothers, then the epilogue would have been them becoming mortal again and living their lives together in the modern world. Will says Silent Brothers do everything alone, and that there's no music. I can't imagine Jem going through that alone, or Will being fine letting him be alone. They both deserved a better love. Will was never first in Tessa's heart like he wanted to be (because she doesn't have a heart), and Jem was stuck with her despite her having lived an entire life without him, and knowing that once he dies she'll abandon the family they formed together. Tessa should have been like Magnus, with no kids.
I ended up liking the ends of all the side characters except Jessamine. Jem and Will should have been reunited somehow without Tessa, and Tessa should either be alone forever or find another ageless person to be with. I don't know if I'll read the other Shadowhunter books Clare has written, especially if there's another love triangle. I don't think I can read about the Shadowhunter world without Jem and Will, or if I'll be able to put up with Tessa making guest appearances in other books. I wish the trilogy had been about Jem and Will and finding a cure.
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