Some mornings she awakes with a contagious smile on her face and meaningful laughter in her voice. Other mornings her eyes are as red as a cluster of roses blossoming to perfection. One thing is clear and evident, Sabriel’s dreams are bursting and bustling with the stuff, the delights, and the perils of her daily novels. She is loss in worlds beyond her own. Somedays, there is no return to real world and she teeters on the edge of reality and fictions fully aware of the risk to her mundane life. But truly, at this moment, fiction is more alluring than everything else that exist.

I have spent nine weeks re-reading some of my favorite books – and reading new books. Specifically, I re-visited The Mortal Instruments and The Infernal Devices Series by Cassandra Clare. I also read the first book in The Last Hours Series, Chain of Gold. The clutches of the pandemic situated me in a position where I am home more. But I am also in the company of my favorite room, in my home. My favorite space has four bookshelves from the floor to the ceiling. Hence, there is no place I would rather be.  Well, I would love to be inside the stories of my favorite books. But that conversation is for another blog post or place in time. Urban Fantasy is an acquired taste and irresistible. Besides, the more I intake, the more I want to devour and feast on the stories.

Also, Urban Fantasy offers the reality of actual places / locations that once existed or currently exist. It makes for thrilling foot tours, if you visit the locales that are in some of your favorite works.

 Lastly, because I am a true Urban Fantasy fan that means down the rabbit hole I go!

Discovery of Stories Revisited

“If one cannot enjoy reading a book over and over again, there is no use in reading it at all.” ― Oscar Wilde

There is value in engaging in good literature. And, there is value in reading a great book or book series twice. Before this year, there is no book series, book, or author’s work that I have ever read twice, except for Dr. Maya Angelou. This year I am adding another author’s series to my list of books I enjoy reading repeatedly – and that is Cassandra Clare’s Shadowhunters Series. There are many lessons throughout the different Shadowhunters Series.

The friendships, love affairs, and battle against evil feels so much like real life. The sentiment that exist between characters are relatable. The confusion of feelings and losses are heartfelt. I simply appreciate that despite each character’s similar blood inheritance, Nephilim, that they could not be more different.

A Great Read Lures Us Toward What We Need

“A great book should leave you with many experiences, and slightly exhausted at the end. You live several lives while reading.“

― William Styron, Conversations with William Styron

I am convinced that the universe offers us a push toward storytelling and if we do not acknowledge the push then we miss sharing in great stories. I believe life lures us toward the stories we need to hear or read the most at certain times in life. As a result, I was able to focus more intently while reading the Shadowhunters series the second time. I was able to sympathize and be the proper amount of disappointed in certain characters. Moreover, I understood the choices that many of them made.

The true essence of fiction stories is that even though they may not be true, the story’s lesson is invaluable to the human capacity. It provides the opportunity to often see oneself in that character. The stories are portal into oneself.

It is okay to cry with a character or cry over a character’s pain, especially when it is familiar. I am learning we share some of the similar experiences we see in characters and understand the secrets they keep, the fears they experience, loss of self-control they may exhibit, and steely determination they put forth. Urban Fantasy books has a way of mirroring reality.

I appreciate the window into myself, by sharing in the characters’ experiences.

On to The Dark Artifices, another Shadowhunters Series