To Be a Reader

How do I begin this? I guess I’ll just start. I am an author, but I am also a reader, a reader who gets into books more than anyone I have ever known. A book that stays with me because of the story, is great, but what about a book series that is so great it makes me not want to finish it??  Everyone is screaming at me right now, I can hear it. But here is the deal. I just finished the third book in the series The Mortal Instruments,  which means I have read, City of Bones, City of Ashes, and City of Glass. 

                            

 

Let me just say this and get it off my chest. If she had stopped at book three–City of Glass. I would have been happy. I am satisfied with the (spoiler alert) beautiful, wonderful, ending. However, something happens in this book that should have never happened. There are three more to go. I am fear-stricken to read the next book–City of Fallen Angels. I am content to live in my happily ever after, not have it snatched out from under me. I can only conclude that is what will happen, because of the thing that should have never happened in the third book.

The first three books were amazingly written and although each wasn’t exactly what I wanted, it was something I could be happy with. The first three books were like an enormous, choreographed musical. That is how they felt to me. I could hear the singing in the background as I read the words, pulling all-nighters to finish it so I could get to the next. I finished the last one this morning about 4:15. I only went to sleep after that. I was happy with the ending, not exactly satisfied, but happy. That is the way I want to come away from a series that is probably one of the best I have read since The Twilght Saga. 

Now as I read the titles of the fourth, fifth, and sixth books. I am afraid. No one lives forever, and there are so many wonderful and amazing characters that have touched my heart. There is not one I could live without. So there the book will sit until I can either lose my fear of the unknown or just cannot stand to leave the series unfinished. Happy Reading!

~Bethanie

The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones Movie and Book–Review

So I am one of those who when a movie has been said to be horrible because it did not follow the book, I am one of the first ones to go and torture myself through a bad movie just to see what everyone was talking about. Normally what I would do is to read the book first and then watch the movie second. Well I have swapped it around this time, as I do with most paranormal type books. I did it with Twilight and now am doing it with Mortal Instruments: City of Bones. I saw the movie before I read the book.

                    

 

 

Despite what everyone said about the movie being so bad, I will have to argue that it wasn’t. The cast was phenomenal. The movie story, although swayed away from the book in parts, was still outstanding and I’ll be honest, I’m hooked  on the movie and the books.  I cannot wait for the next movie to come out and I am reading my way through the books. I am on book three of the series.

As for the book, it is outstanding! The author, Cassandra Clare, has done a most amazing job of weaving into the mundane New York an intricate city of mundanes, shadowhunters, and downworlders. I have wanted to scream and cry, be overjoyed, and within the next moment the carpet has been jerked out from under me and I am honestly wondering, what next? In the next page or two that is answered and I am on my way to happiness once more. It is a roller-coaster ride from beginning to end, and although the end is somewhat satisfying, I always want the next book. Must see what will happen next. There is so much in these books and I can honestly see why the director of the movie swayed from parts.

The comparison between movie and book, as far as what I watched and what I read, I could see why the readers might have been a little upset. However, not enough to call it a bad movie. The movie actually begins in part two of Cassandra Clare’s first book. Part one of the book was left out, but honestly it was not as exciting as the rest of the book, so I see why that occurred. Part two of the book is where the action begins, and it looks like the director saw that too. When comparing movie and book or book and movie the reader and eventually watcher have to walk a fine line. The reader has to understand that there is only so much time allotted for a movie or you lose your audience. So, don’t give the director and author such a hard time about it. I think they did a fantastic job.

The movie, of course had less background info, so you have to read the book to find out most of that. But that is what a book to movie should be like. The books shed much more light on the movie. Once you read them, you’ll suddenly start developing your own reasoning behind the happenings of the main story and that is what a good book to movie is all about.

There were parts of the movie I liked better than what was written in the book, and parts of the book that I liked better than what I saw in the movie. It levels out what was not put in the movie and what was not written in the book. Pull the two together and you have absolute perfection, in my opinion. But of course, that is what a review is, a personal opinion. Enjoy the book and the movie, both were excellent!

~Bethanie

P.S.  By the way, this was a fave!!