Tess is still agonising over her choice to marry Jem –
while deeply in love with him, she cannot forget Will, nor can Will who is torn
between his love for Tessa and his great loyalty for his friend, brother and
companion.
And Mortmain isn’t going to leave them alone to deal with
their angst – his plan to horde all of London’s supply of yin fen the only drug that can keep Jem alive has finally hit them,
especially since Jem has been taking extra, shortening his life so he can be
more fully around and active for Tessa. His life span is measured in weeks, no
longer in years.
And then there’s Mortmain’s attempts to claim Tessa and his final revelation of
his grand master plan against the Shadow Hunters once and for all. A plan that
is only harder to thwart with the head of the Clave gunning for Charlotte,
stooping to any means he can to find sufficient excuse to remove her as head of
the London Institute and deny her any help in facing this threat.
The main problem I have with this book is the same
problem I have with the whole series – it’s slow. The actual plot of this book
doesn’t kick in until we’re 30% in; before that we’re mired in love triangle
angst that basically runs round and round in circles as Will, Jem and Tessa
circle each other with their angst and love and worry. We have Jem’s shortage
of yin fen but no-one really does
anything about it accept continue to circle round and round and worry and angst
and worry some more.
The story does pick up at 30% but it’s still less of a
plot and more of a desperate flail, which always frustrates me, especially
since it’s a theme in this series and leaves me having problem rooting for
characters that, ultimately, flail their way to a solution. They knew yin fen was being bought up, but only
now considered it an issue. Will goes riding off to Wales without any real
plan, Charlotte and co follow with no real plan, Tessa hangs around being
helpless and desperate with no real plan (which is past annoying now –she’s
supposed to be training how to fight so can she actually do that occasionally –
and not insist on attending emergencies in her wedding dress!), everyone kind
of flails around, hoping their mere presence will somehow fix everything. I
know, to a degree we’re looking at people in situations where they have few
options, but this turn up and hope approach to a story doesn’t engage me –
especially when the situation is resolved almost by Tessa pulling out a new
super-power.
There are a number of side plots or tangential plots in
this book – and one I really like; Charlotte and the Consul. It’s nicely done,
it’s directly connected to the main plot line it adds considerable
characterisation, world building and wider explanation of both Shadowhunter
society as well as what is actually happening in the plot and support from the
wider Shadowhunter forces as well as having an excellent portrayal of both sexism
and having it challenged.
