Essays by Kate Milford, Sarah Cross, Diana Peterfreund, Robin Wasserman, Michelle Hodkin, Kami Garcia, Kendare Blake, Gwenda Bond, Rachel Caine, Sara Ryan, Scott Tracy, Kelly Link, Holly Black and Sarah Rees Brennan

I received an advanced copy of this book, courtesy of the publisher through a Goodreads First Reads giveaway.

Okay, I had a tough time with this. I would consider myself a fan of the series. Ive read all of the books. But I am not enough of a fan to have been able to enjoy the most part of these essays. There were some interesting points. I will be somewhat more conscious of Simons Jewishness from now on. Some points were just odd, from page 108: The theory of genetic sexual attraction postulates that we are predisposed to find those individuals with similar genetic material attractive, if this predisposition has not been suppressed by the Westermarck effect. Huh. This is Kendare Blake trying to explain why incest isnt skeevy. (When I read the brother/sister part, I immediately thought, Uh oh plot device, they really arent related, not skeevy - anyone else with me on that?) If you are a rabid fan, you will probably enjoy this more than the average fan. The average fan will find very little that adds to the Mortal Instruments experience.

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Several young adult authors wrote short essays about different characters from Cassandra Clare books. Some of the essays were funny while I enjoyed others for the information provided. Many characters are discussed including Sebastion, Jace, Simon, Clary and more. After reading this collection, readers may find themselves looking at these characters in a different and refreshingly new way. I know I did.

The authors took a look at the plots, characters and tales that Cassandra Clare chose for the series. Personally, I really enjoyed diving deeper into the various plots of The Mortal Instruments and its wide range of characters as well as hearing the comments from other authors, sseveral of whom I have read. It was good to see Clare share how she formed her approach to create the Shadowhunters and Downworlders in her introduction. This is a treasured portion of any book I read.

Rachel Caine's essay about tattoos was interesting because of the historical background she provided about tattoos. Like many others, I just didn't realize how far back in time people chose to tattoo their bodies. Sometimes I thought it would be fun to have a whimsical tattoo such as unicorn but never acted on the thought and never will.

Michelle Hodkin discusses the character, Simon, in depth. In her delightful way I found myself lseeing see more clearly who Simon really was.

Sarah Rees Brennan uses humor and a rather unique approach to discuss the books. She ends her discussion with some positive reasons and identifies messages readers can take aways from the series. I liked that and felt that this may have been the best of the essays.

Would I recommend this book? It's hard to say. If you understand what type of book it is, I'd say yes. For others it may be helpful to read this colection while reading the series or watching visual interpretations..

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