Mundie Moms

Wednesday, September 19, 2018

THE WICKED ONES by Cassandra Clare and Robin Wasserman / Audio/Book Review #TheWickedOnes #shadowhunters #GOTSM


By: Cassandra Clare and Robin Wasserman
Narrated by: Emily Bett Rickards
Published by: Shadowmarket Enterprises / Simon and Schuster Audio
Released on: September 11, 2018
Series: Ghosts of the Shadow Market #6
Purchase from: Audible | Amazon| B&N | 
Add it to Goodreads
Rating: 5 Stars - LOVED IT!

Celine Montclaire goes to the Shadow Market to escape. She would go anywhere in Paris, or the entire world, to escape the suffering she experiences at the hands of her family. She did not expect to meet Valentine Morgenstern there, or to have him promise her freedom and the heart of the man she secretly loves. On one condition, of course. At the Shadow Market, nothing is for free.

I can't even begin to write a review of this because I just want to shout out loud -- ROBIN! CASSIE! What have you done?!?!?

What they've done is given us the story of Jace's mother, Celine. It was such an unexpected story. I didn't think we'd ever get to hear about her. And what we find out about her is something so very surprising. Her cruel childhood, her crush on a certain person and her dealings with Valentine.

Once again, as in almost all the stories in this anthology, the story tugs at your heart strings. Celine's unrequited (or is it?) crush pulls you into that corner of teenage obsession that only makes sense when you're young and crushing on someone who you idealize. The hopefulness, the dreams of what could be and the slow realization of what you would need to do to get noticed is all entangled with a bigger story of locating a lost Herondale.

Then there is Valentine. Big Bad Daddy (okay not, yet, in this story) Valentine. He is charming, menacing and manipulative. You've got to love a baddy like that.

Somehow in short amount of pages (minutes, because I listened to the audiobook), Cassie and Robin get in a story that could easily be stretched into its own novel. Boy oh boy, am I loving these stories. Yes, Jem is in there, too. Of course, he is. And his lovely, layered, melancholy character breaks my lil' ol' Mundie Mama's heart every time he's on the page.

I, also, want to mention the narrator, Emily Bett Rickards, who does a wonderful job as the naive, hopeful, beaten-down Celine and then turns around and gives us Valentine in all his treacherous glory. That's a 180-degree swing that in the short amount of minutes most actors couldn't do, but she presents them all beautifully.

Are you reading or listening to these stories? I need someone to discuss them with asap!

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