Welcome, everyone!! This is the second official discussion post for the #READshadowhunter readathon! Be sure to visit Stephanie at Books in the Skye. If you don’t know what this is that’s alright because I am going to talk a little bit about #READshadowhunter before getting into the discussion.

 

The world is full of people who love the Shadowhunter series written by Cassandra Clare. I even ran into two of her fans at Barnes and Noble yesterday while I was taking a break from writing! We chatted a while about her books among others and it honestly made my day. Stephanie decided that she wanted to reread the series and better yet, she wanted all Shadowhunter fans to join in. Thus, #READshadowhunter was created. This is no ordinary readathon though. Many of you are thinking “There are so many books and I’m crazy busy. How the heck am I going to manage this?!” I’ll tell you… We are only reading one book a month so that everyone can keep up even if their lives are busy with blogging or reading other books. Yep there you go. Even people as busy as myself can manage to keep up with this one. I know the #OWLsreadathon2019 is going on as well so we are all busy this month. As far as OWLs go…I’d rather not talk about it. I gave my writing a front seat for a while.

 

Although these book series’ were published in a specific order, many of us agree they read better in a different order. Therefore we are starting with the Infernal Devices. The first book is Clockwork Angel and although you don’t need to follow along, there is a reading schedule for the entire readathon as well as each book to make it a little easier.

Readathon Schedule

 

 

Clockwork Angel Reading Schedule

 

Isn’t that super easy to follow along with?!?! That is roughly 100 pages a week! My husband does a chapter a night. Sometimes I do one, others I do two. Each Monday there will be a discussion post with two questions provided by Stephanie and then the discussion post host will expand with any further thoughts they might have. So, let’s get to our second #READshadowhunter Discussion Post!

 

There will be spoilers so do not read if you do not want to see them!

 

1. Tessa, Will, and Jem are on their way to meet Camille. On the way there they have a conversation about good vs evil and damnation. Jem states, “I believe in good and evil … And I believe the soul is eternal.” Will states, “I believe we are all dust and shadows.” Which one do you side with?

 

This might be difficult for some to talk about but I know where I stand and I stand there firmly. I’ve always believed more along the lines of what Jem does, that the soul is eternal. I do believe in good and evil, spirits and demons so to speak. I might not necessarily believe in the Christian idea of heaven but I believe in reincarnation. How else could I explain the instant connection I feel between some people I’ve just met? My husband and I, for example, we feel like we’ve known each other forever, we felt that way the first time we met.

 

I had a bad experience in high school where I was on a stair landing in the basement of a friend’s house. Nobody would go in the basement alone because it just felt…evil. I was at their house alone and I heard the sound of metal chains dragging on the cement floor. I thought it might have been the dog but I looked up to see the dog at the top of the stairs looking at me with its tail between its legs. I looked back down to the basement and there was a shadow of a person getting bigger and coming closer to me. You bet I ran up those stairs faster than I ever have in my life and slammed that door shut, locking it. I never went into that basement alone again.

 

My dad passed away when I was 17 and I’ve had experiences with his spirit as well. In my old house, he locked my cat in the closet…he was always a jokester. I saw his shadow at my dorm during my freshmen year of college. I was so scared that I said I was not ready to see him yet. The shadow walked away and I haven’t seen it since. When I was doubting my writing and I didn’t think I’d be able to write this book, I walked upstairs and was shocked by what I saw. There was a single white feather on the floor by my side of the bed. Nobody in this entire house owns anything with white feathers…explain that to me. I took that as a sign that my dad was showing me his support, telling me that he has faith that I can do this.

 

There you have examples of why I believe in both good and evil. My 2-year-old came to me one day and said he saw a ghost. He walked me over to the spot and said it’s grandpa’s ghost. I asked him some questions so that he could describe him and he described him exactly. I know my dad is watching over us and he is for sure not evil but whatever was in that basement was without a doubt evil. I could feel it in my bones, it meant to harm me.

 

2. After the meeting with Camille, Charlotte talks to Tessa about how her life was never truly ordinary. Tessa says, “This is what is real, and the life I had before was the dream.” And Charlotte replies, “That is correct… And now it is time to wake up.” If you were Tessa do you think it would have taken you this long to realize that your old life was truly a lie, or would have it taken them longer to convince you?

 

Well, after what happened with the dark sisters I don’t think it would have taken much to convince me. After all, I’d have found out I was a shape changer and that is not ordinary. I would be a little hesitant because I would have lived an entire life with experiences. It would be hard to think that entire life was a dream when those experiences are real but the truth was just hidden beneath the surface. So it really isn’t a lie just not the full truth.

 

Further Thoughts

I want to share with everyone one of my favorite quotes so far from this.

 

You have a power of incalculable value. You need ask nothing of anyone. You need depend on no one. You are free, and that freedom is a gift.

 

This resonates with me so much reading it this time around. Over the past year, I’ve grown a lot, I’ve grown into the woman I was meant to be a long time ago. I feel like a new person, free and independent. I’ll never take that for granted.

 

Do you have any favorite quotes so far?

 

Let’s talk Magnus…I love him so much. He is such a profound character and no matter how many times I read about him, I can’t get enough. He is not afraid to be who he truly is, he embodies the quote I mentioned above. I really love that despite the times, Magnus is not afraid to let on that he is bisexual. He mentions that De Quincy would like to be more than friends with him and Tessa was confused by this. I love how Cassandra tossed that in but did not reprimand a character for it. She really represents this times but brings topics such as this to light. Althought being LGBTQ is sadly still not accepted by everyone, it is much better now that what it once was.

 

What would you feel like if you lived in a time period where you had to hide a part of who you were because it was hated or looked down upon?

 

I know I would feel lost, empty almost. I am discovering my religious path and I’m happy to openly say I am looking into paganism and witchcraft. When I tell people, I am often met with nasty looks or hateful comments. Many think that being a witch is wearing a pointed hat, making potions and cursing people. It is something they don’t understand, it’s against the status quo or norm so they don’t like it. I feel for those who can’t openly be who they are at heart, it’s awful. I had to hide my interest in paganism my entire life. No longer! I am an adult and I am going to make my own choices and be who I feel I truly am.

 

If you could shape change like Tessa, who would you want to change into? Would it bother you that you knew all of their thoughts and memories?

 

I think there are many people I would like to change into but I wouldn’t want to stay any of them. It would be really cool to change into my kids so I could see how they are thinking at times. I’m not sure I’d be comfortable knowing all of that personal information about someone though. If helping to give closure to a family or solve a murder or even prevent some terrible thing from happening surely…but just for fun, no. I believe in personal boundaries and I would never cross those with people I care about.

 

 

 

Well…there you have it! Week two’s discussion post is officially done. What did you think? I’d love to see your responses below. Are you following along with the books? How are you liking Clockwork Angel so far? Do you have a favorite character?