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Well this is surprisingly wholesome so far.

That was two chapters of Freudian jargon that made my head hurt.

Dr. Becker says he is attempting to synthesize the work of Otto Rank, but I'm getting some serious Joseph Campbell vibes off of this

Why did it take Grady Hendrix to set horror novels against The Satanic Panic?

The prospect of death, Dr. Johnson said, wonderfully concentrates the mind. The main thesis of this book is that it does much more than that: the idea of death, the fear of it, haunts the human animal like nothing else; it is a mainspring of human activity- activity designed largely to avoid the fatality of death, to overcome it by denying in some way that it is the final destiny for man.

This'll be fun.

All right, that was a solid climax.

So Valentine's reveal in this is much more impactful than in the show, bit I will definitely keep seeing Alan Van Sprang every time Valentine's name is mentioned.

I'm trying to figure out if show Luke or book Luke is cooler. Book Luke gets major points for owning a bookstore though.

I do appreciate runes doing fun things.

Simon is kind of making me think of Jon Cryer in Pretty in Pink for some reason. Also, awkward teenage love triangles are awkward.

When the werewolves show up.

"They do the mash
It was a monster mash!"

I might have to start blaming either autocorrect or a clueless editor for the lousy Latin in this. It's "Deus vult," not "Deus volt." Also, I understand that you're doing a very modern urban fantasy, but your metaphysics are embarrassing.

Clarissa's encounter with The Silent Brothers does make a lot more sense here than it did in the show. Also, I think Isabelle is better developed as a character here, she seems pretty two dimensional on TV. The converse of that is that, at this stage, Alec seems like a cardboard cutout. Hopefully that changes soon.

+points: Quoting The Æneid in Latin
-points: Goofing up your own Latin, badly.

What it should say: Facilis descendens inferno "Descending to hell is easy"

What it does say: Facilis descensus averni "It is easy turning downwards."

While I enjoyed broody Jace from the show, sarcastic Jace makes me chuckle.

I am seeing moments of talent in between the clichés, so I can only hope it keeps improving. Also, at this stage, Clarissa is kind of a badass and I am here for it.

Trying to spin this in the conclusions section is not helping your case, sorry Father.

As much as I enjoy reading good scholarship, there is a lot of shoddy scholarship out there to wade through. This doesn't even reach that level, I feel like I pulled a drawer out of a card catalogue and am reading each individual card. And yes, I am that old.

Assuming this book takes place the year it was published, 2007 for anyone keeping score, it's giving me flashbacks to the golden age of emo.

I cannot fathom how you get from Clarissa to Clary and not Clare, unless her childhood nickname was "Clary Fairy." I will channel my inner curmudgeon and refer to her solely as Clarissa from here on out since that is her actual name.

"The previous missal assigned complete seasonal daily readings only to Lent. Early on, Study Group 11 wanted Lent to retain its proper daily readings 'by improving the current lectionary'... By the final draft, twenty-one readings remained in place, seventeen moved to other days."

Wait, what?

I am reading this because I stumbled across the TV show, don't @ me.

I know I mentioned this earlier in this read, but for the love of all that is holy, this is about a very important part of the Sacred Liturgy and reading it makes me want to slam my head against the wall instead of meditating on the Sacred Scriptures.

I was not expecting space poetry.

"Quantum Diamond" was not only a fun Rumplestiltskin retelling, but also reminded me of the Star Trek episode "The Squire of Gothos." "Iceheart" kind of reminds me of a novel I once read called Far Seer which features saurian instead of avian aliens, but either way playing around with non humanoid races is fun.

One of the greatest feats of Disney animation is the fight with the dragon in Sleeping Beauty. Seeing that recreated here, along with a clockwork menagerie reminiscent of E. T. A. Hoffman, almost had me jumping up and down with excitement. And if Miss Campbell has not seen Les Contes d'Hoffman she should find act 1 with the automaton.