Ramblings of the Bookish Sort

I don't usually write down my feelings for a book on my blog before the actual review, but I am making a huge exception in this instance. Currently it is 5 till 2 a.m. over here as I start this post where I have just spent the last, oh, 7 minutes or so screaming into a pillow out of frustration. You might be wondering as to why I am spending my time screaming and punching a pillow in the middle of the night. Two words: Clockwork Prince. Yes, the newest book by Cassandra Clare of The Infernal Devices series has finally driven me mad. Before you go thinking that I am completely weird, let me assure you that, this has happened before with a couple of other books . . . but maybe that makes me seem weirder, but I don't care. This book put me to a point that I had to vent my feelings out on my own blog because apparently everyone is asleep at 2 in the morning (which I think is kind of annoying, being a night person myself). I'm not going to go into detail as to way this book specifically drove me crazy, I'm putting all that down in my review! But until then I am just going to let my mind wander, and muse over the concept of how a book can make me feel breathless and a little crazy, even if I will end up talking about something completely different . . . that is why they call it rambling.

You see, it's all about the characters. I've said it before, and I will say it again: the characters make the book. They are everything. If the book doesn't have at least a few good characters that you can latch onto and use as a method of steering through the plot then it is going to be way more difficult to get through a book. They are the soul, the very essence of a story. As cliché as it might be, they really are like actual friends. First, you get to known them. You get to know your favorite parts about them, their weaknesses, what gives them drive. Then they surprise you with their humor, their tenderness, whatever makes them interesting. You learn to LOVE them. Maybe that sounds bad, but, yes, I do love my characters, they are my friends who I share adventures with.

Now here is where the pillow comes in . . . as soon as things start to finally look up for the characters in the type of conflict they are facing, something HUGE pops up and done. This isn't the case with most individual books, what I am mainly talking about is with book series, such as The Infernal Devices. About 5 HUGE things happened in the last 3 chapters of the book, and then BAM!! it's over. Yes, people, it ended and left me in a state of complete shock and a most unsatisfactory feeling in the pit of my stomach. So naturally, after the pillow screaming and misuse of furniture, I went straight to my laptop and found not even a bit of information on the release date of book 3!!!!!! 

This is the kind of book that made me quite literally laugh out loud, gasp, and despair at the end as if all that was happening happened to people I know. It also had much to do with the love triangle featuring Jem, Will, and Tessa. I know love triangles have been over done lately in most YA fiction, but I have never seen one like this. Usually, you know who you're rooting for, even if you change your mind a little while later and go for the other person. In this story, Cassandra Clare made it infuriatingly hard to choose. I honestly can't make up my mind. At one point I had to stop and breathe because the happiness of one and the despair of the other with both their special circumstances, and vice versa, completely broke my heart. And then it's over, to be continued who knows when! It's safe to say that it will be quite some time before I get a chance to see how this will all come out for the good of the story. I know it's not the author's fault, but why can't the books all be out at the same time?? It's absolutely brutal knowing the story will not continue until who knows how many weeks or months!

Anyway, this ramble certainly helped me clear my head and calm my jitters. It's a good thing I have my blog to vent to, even if I don't know who reads this. I can't imagine how much harder it would have been for me to fall asleep with all these thoughts bouncing about in my mind.

My ramblings have now ceased.