Review: City Of Heavenly Fire by Cassandra Clare

City of Heavenly Fire, the sixth and final book in The Mortal Instruments series, signifies the end of another era in the world of YA novels. With the teaser question of "who will survive" and the promise author Cassandra Clare had hinted, that 6 familiar names would die, I'm going to be honest, I braced myself for the worst. However, everything turned out pretty happy. So that's nice.

In this book, in order to defeat Valentine's psycho son Sebastian, Clary, Jace and the gang head on down to Edom, a demon realm, all the while fighting off Endarkened (Sebastian's army of demon Shadowhunters) and going through constant angst about the status of their relationships.

Cassie also weaves in storylines about 12-year-olds Emma Carstairs and Julian Blackthorn, who will be the protagonists for her next series, establishing their relationship and their decision to become parabatai. City Of Heavenly Fire also takes place right before the epilogue of Clockwork Princess, so we finally find out how Brother Zachariah turns back into Jem. Also he kept saying "The Carstairs owe the Herondales" and you know that made me cry.

The Final Showdown (you can imagine it, there always is one) ends with less important people dead than I thought there was going to be, but also a surprising twist that actually made me say "oh my GOD" out loud.

As always, Cassie's dialogue is on point. The thing I love most about these books is how funny they are. The characters are all so snarky and sarcastic, throwing out one liners left right and centre, and they get me every time. They feel so real in their interactions with each other, and while their fluffing about with "are we dating? are we boyfriend and girlfriend? are we nothing?" got kind of whiny after a while, these kids are only sixteen and thats what sixteen year olds do. 

These books have been a huge part of my life, since they came out right at the conclusion of Harry Potter, so they were with me throughout my high school years. While I hold them very dear, and I love them, I do, the quality has somewhat declined since City of Glass (book three). The series was only initially meant to be a trilogy, after all, and the three extra books sometimes feel like just random additions, or fanfiction or something. That's not to say I don't still enjoy them, though, because I love the world and I love Jace, but really, if he'd been possessed one more time....

Also, since The Infernal Devices trilogy, I've come to realise that apart from Jace, who's my favourite character ever, I care much more about Jem, Will and Tessa than the raggedy collection of characters in the Mortal Instruments. When I finished Clockwork Princess, about six hours after I started it, I cried for another four, probably. At the end of this book, there were no tears and I only really felt moved with extreme emotion when there was any reference to The Infernal Devices. I was just relieved everyone got out reasonably OK. I really do want to read the next series though (parabatai falling in forbidden love? Um, yes), and I think both TMI and TID characters will be mentioned there, so we'll see how I hold up when Lady Midnight comes out.

I'm going to say this definitely isn't the best book in the series and everything was more happily-ever-after than going-out-with-a-bloodbath-and-or-a-bang, but I'm okay with that. After all, these characters have suffered well enough. I still loved this book, and so will fans of the series (who else is going to read it? I mean, it's the last one), and it's the finale we all hoped for, but were convinced we wouldn't get.

It feels weird that I've spent seven years of my life hooked on reading about a series of events that actually only happen across the span of about six months in 2007 and a bunch of characters that have been 16 for that long, but it's been seven years well spent. I'm definitely going to miss them.

★★★★☆

Youtube "Celebrity Culture"

For a few weeks now there's been a discussion going round Youtube about the apparent celebrity culture that has sprung from an increasing divide between fans and "creators" of content on the site. There's been videos about it from Louise SprinkleofGlitter, Charlie Charlieissocoollike and others of varying fame across the platform.

The gap between "fans" and "creators" is exemplified in the terms used to describe the parties. When did we become "fans" of Youtube and not subscribers? Fans is a word to describe followers of celebrities, which Youtubers continue to claim they are not. So??? What gives? If we're now being called fans by the Youtube personalities we follow, then that's a self created divide and a whole other discussion of high horsery altogether.

I subscribe to about 30 different Youtube personalities, as well as many of their second "vlog" channels, gaming channels, webshows and group channels. Many of the people who run these channels have millions upon millions of subscribers and thus would probably be categorised as the Youtube "celebrities."

I am quite obviously a fan of Youtube. And that's what I am. A fan of Youtube. I like to watch Youtube. I am a fan of all of these people, but that does not make me less of a person than they are. That does not make me a brainless, childish idiot who mindlessly idolises a Youtube "star" and thinks that everything they do, everything they say and everything they are is perfect.

And frankly, it seems that some of the stars themselves are increasingly thinking of their subscribers as people like this, and that's super offensive, and it makes me feel bad. When it gets to a point after watching all these videos that I'm scared to say "Oh, I love suchandsuchyoutuber" because I don't want to seem like the type of fan they don't want, do you see where the problem is?

I can't speak for everyone, but I'm sure the majority of Youtube subscribers are sensible, reasonable people who understand that the people who run their favourite channels are just that: people who run their favourite channels. We understand that the Youtubers are content creators, who specifically pick and choose which aspects of themselves to show to the public. We understand that while we may look to these personalities as celebrities, or role models, or idols, they are not showing us their whole self.

But what's wrong with that? People look for inspiration in everything. If the parts they are showing us are good qualities, why can't we take that on board and say hey, I like that you do that? I personally see Louise SprinkleofGlitter as a positive role model for girls, like me, who might be struggling with their weight, to look to and say "look at that, she's owning it." I know Zoe Zoella has anxiety and so do I, and I watch her videos about it and read her posts about it and it helps me. Is that a bad thing? I know what their videos portray is not their whole life, but if they choosing to present a positive side of themselves and are actively trying to promote that over whatever they may not be showing us, I see that as role modelling. If I can understand that their online image is specifically crafted, where is the harm in enjoying it and actually taking on board what they say?

Obviously, there are some who overstep boundaries, and that's the same in any group of fans for any public figure anywhere. Unfortunately, the rest of the group always gets categorised behind these extremities, and when the personality can't differentiate between them because the "crazy" group are so vocal, that's when it becomes an issue. Very difficult for them, very sad for us. The divide widens, the distance is created.

An example of this in the Youtube "fandom" is the "Zalfie" business of 2013. A lot of people saw their collabs, saw their vlogs with their friends and thought to themselves, "hey, they could be cute together." It's fine to think these things, but the problem arises when Zoe and Alfie are incessantly being tweeted about it and having comments saying simply "ZALFIE" left on all their videos, collab or not. I can't imagine what it must be like to receive such ignorant comments left on the product of their week's hard work. Then, when a picture of them was accidentally seen in their friend's vlog, they were hounded and treated so despicably by much of the fandom that they were forced to do something they didn't want to do, at least not for a while yet.

We do not know these people. It is not up to us to run their lives. Zoe's blog post on the subject is one of the earliest of this wave of discussions on Youtube celebrity culture and outlines how her relationship with Alfie and her other friends has been affected by the way fans see them. When I first read it, it saddened me, and when I read it again for this post, it saddened me once more.

I'm sad that they see us this way, but I'm also sad about the behaviour that causes them to see us this way.

There's a lot of talk going round about the way Youtube "used to be", when today's personalities were just lonely kids talking to a camera instead of real people in their lives. And really, I think this kind of talk is kind of elitist and really annoying. It's like when One Direction fans say "I've been here since the beginning, you haven't therefore you're a fake fan." By choosing to place videos of yourselves on the internet, you are putting yourself on a world stage. Maybe at first, in like 2005 when Youtube was first starting, nobody was watching, but as the internet continued to grow, and social media began to take over, other people discovered you, decided they liked you and subscribed. It was up to you to keep making videos, and you did.

These people, especially the super "famous" ones, make increasing amounts of money off the followers they have and the content they produce. They don't show their whole selves, they craft their videos and tweets and blog posts to please and to entertain. To me, this is no different to just regular celebrity culture, which most people seem to be okay with. Youtube is increasingly becoming a mainstream form of media and communication and the people that become famous off it are seen as celebrities because they are.

At this point, some of the big Youtube celebrities are just "normal" celebrities. They regularly attend film premieres. Zoe Zoella has been featured on the cover of Company Magazine. Tyler Oakley hosts red carpet coverage. Jim Chapman is on a TV show now, for God's sake.

I mean. These people choose to let us in to (some part) of their lives, and we're thankful for that. I think the reason people are such fans of Youtube is because it seems quite personal, and the people who speak to us on there through their cameras seem just like normal people to us, and they are. There's sort of a paradox in that we idolise these people for being...normal? And that turns them into celebrities. Celebrities who are normal. God. It's confusing.

But you know. Actors don't show us their true selves. Musicians don't show us their true selves. We, as fans of anything, are never getting anyone's true selves and that's okay because we are NOT ENTITLED TO THEM. We do not own them and they do not owe us anything. However, I do think that if you are in the public eye and you are producing content that you are sharing to millions of people around the globe, whether you be an actor, a singer, an artist, a Youtuber or a bloody Kardashian, people are going to take the bits they see of you that they like and like them, maybe try to emulate them. If you are up on your high horse looking down on the people that have interacted with your content and liked it in some way shape or form, you probably don't deserve the position you are in. Sometimes, some of the things said by the Youtubers are kind of condescending and also a bit arrogant, as if they see themselves as bigger celebrities as they are, or higher above us than they are. But this is the minority.

The truth is, we understand where you are coming from. You've been thrust into the spotlight and as Louise says, it's overwhelming. I can imagine fans screaming in your face must be extremely confronting (I've been to a One Direction concert), especially when you feel that the content you create, or you yourself, aren't worthy of the attention. But the fact is, you are. The stuff you make is just as important to us as the stuff singers make, as the stuff actors make. You may not think it is, but you have to understand that with Youtube as a growing platform, your videos, and what you choose to share with us is helping people, inspiring people and entertaining people. Wasn't that your goal in the first place?

Here is a playlist of Youtubers talking about the topic, compiled by charlieissocoollike

Here is Zoella's blog post on the matter

(P.S I haven't mentioned the sexual abuse scandal because I think we all know those guys are fucking dicks for what they did, and abuse of that celebrity position is a completely different matter entirely.)