The Mortal Instruments by Cassandra Clare

You inevitably come across a variation of a theme that’s already been explored in some other book. I think its hard to come up with a truly original concept in fantasy fiction. Its unfair to think that one author is copying off another simply because there are similarities. Or is Jace meant to be Harry Potter?Īctually, the further on that the book series progressed, the less I felt like I was reading fanfiction. Physically, okay, he’s also got blond hair but that’s it. I think he’s much more developed as a character. Jace Wayland – I personally find it hard to believe that he’s based on Draco Malfoy. Mundanes – the Nephilim’s term for the human race. The Circle – Valentine’s followers who repented and renounced him when he presumably died is the nephilim equivalent of the Death Eatersģ. Valentine Morgenstern – obsessed with the purity of Nephilim bloodlines is almost a reincarnation of VoldemortĢ. I can see why people would think that The Mortal Instrument series is some kind of fanfiction for Harry Potter.ġ. It still made EL James a household name (and suddenly made it acceptable to be reading about S and M). That started out as Twilight fanfiction didn’t it? The similarities were painfully obvious if you take away the BDSM and add the sparkly vampire element, the basic structure of both series is the same. I am not trying to defend plagiarism, I think there’s nothing worse than an author trying to pass off plagiarised content as original material. I personally don’t understand why she’s being singled out for something that seems like common practice to me (I’m looking at you EL James). I’m not too clear on the details, but allegedly, huge parts of ‘City of Bones’ is lifted off the material in question so people were outraged when it went on to sell millions (plus movie and television adaptations). Apparently, she was involved in some scandal a few years ago because of a Draco Malfoy fanfiction plagiarism accusation which led her to be banned from a fanfiction website. There are a lot of negative things about Cassandra Clare on the internet. Although I sometimes make the decision to read or not read a book based on the community’s rating/s, I try not to be put off by negative reviews, especially if a book’s blurb sounds particularly interesting. I’ve been on Goodreads long enough to know that one of its golden rules is that thou shall never judge a book by another member’s review.

The Mortal Instruments by Cassandra Clare