Shadowhunters and Downworlders (ARC review)

Contributing authors:
Cassandra Clare, Holly Black, Kate Milford, Diana Peterfreund, Sara Ryan, Scott Tracey, Robin Wasserman, Kendare Blake, Gwenda Bond, Sarah Rees Brennan, Rachel Caine, Sarah Cross, Kami Garcia, Michelle Hodkin, Kelly Link 

Release date: January 29 2013

Publisher: Smartpop

Number of pages: 256

My rating: 2/5

NOTE: I did not finish this book. This review and my rating are based on the first 55% of this book ONLY.
This book just really wasn't for me.

Let's get one thing straight: I am not a fan of the series. I did read the first three books in The Mortal Instruments, and I enjoyed the third one mildly.

You don't really have to be a fan of the series to read this book though. This book offers a lot of insight to the finer points of the series.

The articles were very detailed, but I didn't really enjoy reading them. They weren't very interesting to me at all. I think only someone who is very, very interested in digging deeper in TMI series should read this. A non fan, like me would not be interested in a book like this.

There was one contreversial article in this, and that was Kendare Blake's take on incest.

"Jace Wayland and Clary Fray overcome the taboo of sibling incest, and they do it without ever crossing the grossout line."

No. For me, the romance did cross over the grossout line. Even if I didn't have a strong dislike for both Clary and Jace, I would still be grossed out.

"Why are we so much more desperate for Jace and Clary to be together simply because they can't be?"

No, no not really. After finding out that they were siblings, I didn't really want them to be together.

Also, this book doesn't really have much to do with Cassandra Clare. It's mostly other authors talking about her book. The book is edited by her, and she provides a little paragraph on the start of each essay. Honestly, the notes in the start of each essay annoyed me. This is just a group of authors discussing your book. So why do you just pop up randomly? An actual appearance of the author in this book does not make me like it more or find it more appealing.

A great in depth book for people who want to find out more about TMI, but not great for people who don't particulary care about the incest, why Simon never had a chance with Clary, the art used by Clary, and etc.

I received a free copy from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.