What I’m Reading Now: Lady Midnight by Cassandra Clare
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What do you do about alleged Plagiarism?
This Tuesday Cassandra Clare is set to release the next book in her Shadowhunters Novels. Her series is highly popular and is now on it’s third series inside this world. The previous The Mortal Instruments and The Infernal Devices were highly successful. The former has already inspired a movie (a really bad one) and a TV show (from what I’m told is actually not bad and is doing well in the ratings but I personally couldn’t get past the first 2 episodes). Unfortunately the release of Lady Midnight, the first book in The Dark Artifices series is under a little bit of a cloud. Sherrilyn Kenyon, the author of the Dark-Hunters series, is suing Clare for copying her ideas. Kenyon’s series was first published in 1998 and Clare’s in 2007. They both center around an elite set of supernatural warriors that defend the world against demons and other supernatural beings. Clare has of course denied it by saying she wasn’t influenced by Kenyon’s work. I have read all of Clare’s books but I haven’t read any of Kenyon’s Dark-Hunters books. I’ve read the Chronicles of Nick, which I love. Seriously, I can’t recommend it enough. The series is a YA spin-off of the Dark-Hunters series and has overlaps with her original series, with characters appearing in both. Are there similarities? Sure? Probably? I don’t think the idea of elite warriors who fight demons is new or original. So I’m not sure what the outcome is going to be but does it matter? Should I be concerned that Clare might have taken some ideas from Kenyon? It hasn’t changed my opinions of her books. They may have similarities but they are both very different in tone and style that they don’t feel the same. Actually, until this lawsuit I didn’t even occur to me that they were similar. Not the same way that drew comparisons between Julie Kagawa’s Talon series to Sophie Jordan’s Firelight series. I wouldn’t say that one copied another but they definitely pulled from the same ideas. I think this gets a little murkier is the fact that Clare has been accused for plagiarism before. During her fan fiction days, she was accused of adding quotes from TV shows and whole passages from an out-of-print book. There are whole debates about the ethics of fan-fiction. Some would argue that fan-fiction itself is a form of plagiarism. Needless to say this doesn’t help Clare’s cause but I don’t think it necessarily proves anything either because again, I think there is some ethical murkiness when it comes to fan-fiction. From what I’ve read, Fifty Shades of Grey is far closer to Twilight then Clare’s The Draco Trilogy was to Harry Potter but I can’t say for certain. So where does this leave me? I had already bought my copy of Lady Midnight before this came out so I will read it but my excitement towards it has lessened. As readers do we have a responsibility here or not? If so, what exactly is it? I’m kinda I’m curious to hear what others have think about this.
What I Can’t Wait to Read in 2016
It’s 2016! Happy New Years!! A new year means new books! And we love new books even if they just add to our TBR pile. So here a 10 books that I’m super excited to read in 2016!
- The Raven King by Maggie Stiefvater- The final book in the Raven Cycle and I couldn’t be more excited and dreading at the same time. It is well documented about how much I love the series and Maggie as an author. I can’t wait to see what will happen to Blue and the Boys but at the same time not ready to say goodbye.
- The Hidden Oracle by Rick Riordan – The first book in Rick’s new series The Trials of Apollo is going to be good. I just know it. For one thing Percy is back! That’s really all I need to know. I also hope it means that Leo is also back and happy and in love with Calypso. That would be the best.
- Untitled by Sarah J. Maas – So the next book in the Throne of Glass series doesn’t have a title but hasn’t dampened my excitement for it. Aelin has all but declared her intentions and now heading for home. The real fight for Erilea is abou to get real.
- A Torch Against the Night by Sabaa Tahir – An Ember in the Ashes was one of the books that I loved the most last year. A mixture of historical fiction, dystopian and fantasy it was truly something refreshing. I can’t wait to see what happens next.
- The Last Star by Rick Yancey – The final book in the 5th Wave series should be interesting. The 5th Wave was full and real but the The Infinite Sea was a intriguing but not as entertaining. Now that we know that who the aliens are and not things are really going to go down. Not to mention the movie for the first book comes out soon and I’m quite interested to see how it transitions from page to screen.
- Glass Sword by Victoria Aveyard – The Red Queen was the other book by a new author in 2015 that I really loved. The other was Ember in the Ashes. It was quite a debut. I can’t wait to see what Mare will do now.
- Lady Midnight by Cassandra Clare – It’s been over a year since Cassandra’s last series ended. She has filled the void with her novella series Tales from Shadowhunter Academy it hasn’t been the same. Now we are moving from New York City to LA with Emma Carstairs and Julian Blackthorne five years after the end of The Mortal Instruments so of course the world is once again in peril and it’s mostly the Clave’s fault. I do hope it’s better then the last 3.
- A Court of Mist and Fury by Sarah J. Maas – I’ll admit that I was only so so on the first book but I think this series has real potential and I’m willing to give it a go.
- The Hammer of Thor by Rick Riordan – Magnus and friends stopped Ragarnok from happening at least for now and now he’s going to have help from his cousin Annabeth. (Annabeth is going to be very busy this year) We know from the last book that Thor lost his hammer and judging by the title that is going to be a major part of this book but he won’t be the only God as we also know that Loki has been pulling strings for a long time. Things should get interesting.
- The Song Rising by Samantha Shannon – Now I’m not sure if this book is really going to come out this year or not but according to Goodreads, it’s scheduled for 11/3 so *crosses fingers* Paige has taken over the syndicate only to be betrayed by her former boss. It’s time to start a revolution against Scion but I have a feeling they won’t go down without a fight.
And so many more books I want to read and not to mention try to complete our reading challenges. It’s going to be a busy reading year. How about you? What books are you looking forward to reading this year?
Review: Tales from the Shadowhunter Academy by Cassandra Clare, Sarah Rees Brennan, Maureen Johnson and Robin Wasserman
For the last 10 months, Cassandra Clare, Robin Wasserman, Maureen Johnson and Sarah Rees Brennan have been treating us with Tales from the Shadowhunter Academy. A set of short stories that follows one of Clare’s heroes, Simon Lewis, as he tries to learn how to be a Shadowhunter. I wrote about it a little but after the first book, Welcome to Shadowhunter Academy, came out. This week marked the release of the tenth and final story in the series. For those who are not familiar with Simon or Clare’s Mortal Instruments series, let me catch you up. *Spoilers* When we first met Simon in City of Bones he was just a normal teenage boy in love with his best friend Clary. Throughout the series, he goes from normal boy to normal boy among supernaturals beings to becoming a supernatural being himself, a Vampire, saving the world and then returning to a normal teenage boy with no memory of the supernatural world or his friends. That is where we are now. Simon, has been once again become aware that vampire, werewolves, warlocks, fairies and Shadowhunters exist. After the wars of the two Mortal Instruments books are over, the Shadowhunters are depleted in numbers so they have reopened their academy and invited children of Shadowhunters as well as a few Mundanes to Ascend and join their ranks. That is what Tales from the Shadowhunter Academy is about. In 10 shorts stories, we follow Simon and his fellow students as they learn how to fight like a Shadowhunter and how to be like a Shadowhunter. Special appearances from other characters from the Mortal Instruments as well as Clare’s other series, The Infernal Devices and upcoming series’ The Dark Artifaces and The Last hours, we learn more about the history of the Shadowhunters but also clues into what to expect in her new series. It’s really just a good excuse to fill in a few gaps between the end of The Mortal Instruments and beginning of The Dark Artifaces. Also to give Clare’s readers something to read since the last book, City of Heavenly Fire came out last year and Lady Midnight doesn’t come out until Spring of next year. However, I don’t think you are going to hear much complaining from fans. They were fun, quick reads that give more insights to how the Clave, who govern Shadowhunters work, also gave us more time to hang out with one my favorite characters, Simon. As expected with a collection like this not all the stories were good. I felt some they didn’t know what to they put together a quick story with a couple of fan favorites and call it a day but others I felt were worth it. One story I liked a lot was Bitter of Tongue. In it, Simon is kidnapped by fairies and is saved by Mark Blackthorn, who has been stuck with faries since the last book. Mark, who is half Shadowhunter and half fairy and because of this and what happened in the last war, the Shadowhunters have left him there and banished his sister, Helen to exile. When Simon comes back he goes to Helen’s wedding. It’s a heartbreaking story as they are being punished for no other reason then an accident of both. Truly relevant to what is going on in the world. It also gives Simon more motivation to become a Shadowhunter and make a change from the inside. You can buy all 10 stories individually as ebooks or you can wait until next year where they will be combined together but for fans for Clare’s work it’s a must.
Quick Review: The Copper Gauntlet by Holly Black and Cassandra Clare
I often forget about how dark children’s literature can be. Take for instance, Matilda or any Roald Dahl. Harry Potter, The Series of Unfortunate Events and Alice in Wonderland to name a few. Black’s and Clare’s Magisterium series is no exception. It started with the ending of the first book where *Spoiler Alert* one of heroes turns out to be the bad guy and just continues from there. Call, Aaron and Tamara are thrown into situations that are really well beyond their ages but do it anyway. They all young and just coming into their own, discovering who they are and learning to control their powers. They are trying to learn who they can trust because even the adults are a bit sketchy. After the big reveal at the end of the last book I had big expectations for this one and for the most part it lived up to it. I still felt that it started off slow, much like the first one did but once it got to the mission it was a fast read. If only the whole book was like that. I like the debate of nature vs. nurture that is being played out with both Callum and Aaron’s characters. I have a feeling that we are about to see a little role reversal with those too. It’s a solid second book and I look forward to see what happens next.
What I’m Reading Now: The Copper Gauntlet by Holly Black and Cassandra Clare
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There are just so many good books coming out!!!
I was looking at all the new books coming out in the next couple of months and THERE ARE SO MANY BOOKS THAT I WANT TO READ!! I’m already behind because The Copper Gauntlet by Holly Black and Cassandra Clare came out earlier this month. I have to get myself in gear. Here are just a few titles that I can’t wait to read this fall.
Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo, 9/29/15
Sword of Summer (Magnus Chase and the Gods of Asgard #1) by Rick Riordan, 10/6/15
Carry On by Rainbow Rowell, 10/6/15
The Rose Society (Young Elites #2) by Marie Lu, 10/13/15
Dark Tide (Waterfire Saga #3) by Jennifer Donnelly, 10/13/15
The Death and Life of Zebulon Finch, Volume One by Daniel Kraus, 10/27/15
The Iron Warrior (Iron Fey #7) by Julie Kagawa, 10/27/15
Manners and Mutiny(Finishing School #4) by Gail Carriger, 11/3/15
Winter (Lunar Chronicles #4) by Marissa Meyer, 11/10/15
Frozen Tides (Fallen Kingdoms #4) by Morgan Rhodes,12/15/15
Endure (Defy #3) by Sara B. Larson, 12/29/15
I’m sure I’ve missed a few but one thing for sure, I’m going to be busy! What books are your excited to read this fall? Let me know in the comments if they are any I need to add.
Highs and Lows of Fandoms by Cassandra Clare and Maggie Stiefvater
I’ve actually never really been apart of a fandom per se. There are a lot of books, movies, TV shows that I love and care about. Despite my love for Harry Potter, Percy Jackson, Magnus Bane, Katniss Everdeen and more, I’ve never signed up to any message boards or read fan fictions. I may have time to time read other fans blogs and theories about why a certain character did this or what they think will happen next but never really participated in it personally. Once upon a time, I was very involved in a i guess you could call a fandom for tennis player, Andy Roddick. Do athletes have fandoms? I started posting on a fan site called Roddickrocks.com. Soon, I was a board moderator and then I started writing recaps of Andy’s matches and got more involved from there. I spent a lot of time on Roddickrocks. It was the first site I checked in the morning and the last before I went to bed. It was almost a job, keeping up with the demands. After a year though, the site splintered. I have forgotten the exact details but some of us wanted to take the site in one direction and others wanted to keep as is. Feelings were hurt and relationships severed. A few of us started a new fan site but it didn’t last very long. I think the official reason in most of our minds was that we all got too busy. Most of us were in school or had real jobs and that started to take priority but really, as much as we tried, we could never recreate what we used to have.
Now that I think about it, this might be why I’m not much of a joiner online but really just a lurker. It’s not how I want to spend majority of my time online, these days but also it can get rather negative pretty quickly. I follow many authors on twitter and tumblr and there I get the gist of what is going on in the fandoms they created. I can see the other creative things my fellow readers are making and read thoughts and theories without have to truly have to participate. I’m not sure what that says about me but I do think it has lessens some of my online stress . Fandoms are great at uniting people from all over the world with like interests but it can also be toxic. I don’t regret the time I spent on Roddickrocks because it introduced me to some of the best people in the world that I still am friends with but I definitely do miss the negativity that surrounded the ending.
So why am I bringing this up? An author I follow, Cassandra Clare, decided to take a break from social media after the fandom she inspired sort of turned on her. Her books, The Mortal Instruments have been turned into a movie and now is being turned into a show. There was apparently a rift between fans who loved the old cast and fans who love the new cast. Clare decided not to take sides and was threatened by fans for it. Recently, she with another favorite author of mine, Maggie Stiefvater did an interview about the good and bad of fandoms and it’s a great read. They talk about how fandoms have changed. How twitter and tumblr help and hamper them. How they both want to accessible to fans but being too assessable comes with a price. How they are now treated by fans. They also talk about how that women in general are treated. It’s a well thought out discussion that I think is very valuable to read.
So please read it here and leave comment below about what you think? What are experiences in being apart of a fandom? Are like me and just lurk on the outside or do you actively participate? Sound off below.
What would you like to see?
Cassandra Clare’s Mortal Instruments series has already been made into a movie. You may have forgotten it existed since it came out and was gone just as quickly in 2013. I’ll admit, I have a copy of it, given to me by a friend and I still haven’t seen it. From what I hear it wasn’t good. Well, it looks like Clary, Jace, Simon, Isabelle and Magnus will have another chance to live off the page but this time on TV. ABC Family has ordered the series Shadowhunters to premiere sometime next year. Honestly, I think it will be better TV show then movie. It has so many subplots and characters, that a more serialized form would be a better fit to get all of it in. And for me at least, the casting is more in line with how the characters are in my head then the movie. Though, that is not the case for everyone. Some fans have express their “concerns” over the fact that some of the actors are not the ethnicity as the characters in the book. For instance, the actress cast as Isabelle, Emeraude Toubia, is hispanic. I don’t see this as a problem because a) She’s beautiful, tall with long dark hair like Isabelle and b) we are never really given her nationality beyond the fact she is a Shadowhunter because in the shadowhunter world, that comes first, nationality comes a distant second. Props to the producers and ABC Family for casting based on who they thought was the best fit for the role. I hope it’s good. I do have some reservations about this series but I really did enjoy reading them as a whole and I will see the movie eventually. It got me thinking though. What other book that has already been made into a movie would I like to see made into a TV Show? I have two on the top of my head.
First, hands down, Percy Jackson and the Olympians. The first two books were made into a movies and well they were bad. OK, they were fine but anyone who read the book, knew they were lacking. Percy, Annabeth and Grover were too old and the prophecy that was the center of the whole series was left out! It was just a mess. With 10 books, if you include the Heroes of Olympus there are plenty of material to work with for several seasons.
Second, Harry Potter may seem like a strange one because the movies were really good. As far as adaptations go, they were faithful to the source material but also have their own identity but think of all that was left out? The beauty of TV shows is that you more time to tell the story depending on how many episodes. Movies are about 2 to 2 1/2 hours long. Shows are 30 minutes to an hour long from anywhere to 12 episodes to 24. That’s a lot more time! Maybe then we would get to see more of Dobby and the house elves. More of Neville’s back story and well more of the other characters in general. Just think of the possibilities!
Those are two I can think of right now? What other movies based on books would you like to see go the TV route? Sound off in the comments below.
Review: The Iron Trial by Holly Black and Cassandra Clare
Magisterium: The Iron Trial is basically Holly Black and Cassandra Clare’s Harry Potter. It might be unfair to say so but let’s face facts. It’s about a boy, Callum or Call as he likes to be called. Who gets into a mysteries school, the Magisterium, for young Mages. He becomes friends with Aaron and Tamara that will help him on this journey. Oh and there is a mask wearing villian that is out to destory death. Sort of sound familiar? Similiarities in literature is nothing new and may not be surprising considering that Cassandra Clare wrote Harry Potter fanfiction before she started writing about Shadowhunters but for everything that is the same they are enough differences to make it worth reading. There is going to be a lot of spoilers after the cut. Continue reading
2 Women, So Many Books 