“The descent into Hell is Easy.”
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For those wanting to better understand the stories, worldviews, and messages shaping today's youth, I offer my latest review of trending books, films, and TV shows effecting a Young Adult audience. My goal is not to critique the art form as much as to analyze how the story reflects and shapes the readers' worldview. There will be spoilers.
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Cassandra Clare’s City
of Bones (Book One in the Mortal Instruments Series) introduces us to Clary, a child of Shadowhunters. Shadowhunters trace their lineage back to
the Nephilim of Genesis – well, if Genesis included humans drinking angel blood
from the Mortal Cup so they could fight demons. And fight demons they do, as well as faeries (the offspring
of demons and angels) and the once-human vampires and werewolves infected by
demonic diseases.
Most ordinary
people (Mundanes) can’t see this reality; even if they could, they would not
believe it. But when Clary sees, she believes. It’s in her blood. She and her close friend Simon meet Jace, Alec, and Isabelle, three Shadowhunters who are young, beatuiful and strong. Who wouldn't want to live this life? And what teenager doesn’t want to find out she really is special all along?
Unfortunately,
she also finds out that her father is Valentine, a former Shadowhunter gone rogue. He wants the Mortal Cup to raise an army to overthrow the entire Shadowhunter regime, which may not
be the noble enterprise it claims to be.
