Wednesday, August 7, 2013

The Mortal Instruments, CoB Read-A-Long: Day 7: Chapter 7 Recap + All About Shadowhunters + Giveaway!


Hello everyone! This is the TMI blog tour, hosted by Kayla @ Ramblings of a Book Junkie, counting down to the movie release on August 21st! (Also the first day of school. Bummer. But I'm gonna watch it even if it involves sneaking out.)  Okay, every day, a different blogger will be reviewing each chapter of COB, along with an extra post. And it looks like I've got chapter 7!

City of Bones (The Mortal Instruments, #1)
Picture from Goodreads
Chapter 7
Chapter 7 starts out with Jace and Clary going into Madame Dorothea's place. They sit down, and Madame Dorothea offers them tea, which Jace rudely replies to with "I hate bergamot." HA. And then he goes, "I'm not like other guys." Jace then calls Clary "Fray," which she gets mad at, because it makes her think of Simon. And then, Clary asks Jace about his 'magical powers' which he arrogantly scoffs at, saying that he doesn't have magical powers, the tools he use do. And there goes the explanation of the.. 'tattoos.' (runes -winkwink-) Clary jokes about selling Jace's magical weapons on eBay and he goes, "on what?"
Which is absolutely hilarious. After a bit, when Madame Dorothea comes out, Jace goes, "I hate cucumber." (SO DO I, JACE, SO DO I) And then he says, "I hate liars." Madame Dorothea looks into Jace's cup of tea and tells him she sees violence in his future and that he will fall in love with the wrong person. She then looks into Clary's tea and notices that she can't read it, so she makes Clary pick from a deck of cards (the cards that Jocelyn painted). Clary picks the Ace of Cups, randomly, after she can't find any cup that feels especially warm or tingly, which the Madame told her to pick up. The Ace of Cups is a love card, and Clary goes, "That's a good thing, right?" Dorothea tells Clary that her mother was a Shadowhunter (eek! In the trailer, she went, YOUR MOTHER WAS A SHADOWHUNTER) to which Clary is very dismayed. Or sad. Or scared. She just goes, "No." But yes, Clary, yes.. Finally, this chapter oh so pleasantly ends with Jace asking Clary, "What's this?" to which Clary replies, "A door, Jace." And he goes, "Shut up. It's a Portal." (Which, I have to say, might just be my favorite quote.) Thinking that she could find out where her mom went, Clary mistakenly jumps into the Portal into an empty darkness..
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This re-read of Chapter 7 was really refreshing and reminded me exactly how cocky and mean Jace was. Well, I know Jamie can pull it off! He's an amazing actor. (And singer, not to mention.) What was YOUR favorite part of this?

All About Shadowhunters
**NOTE: ALL INFORMATION BELOW IS FROM SHADOWHUNTERS WIKIA.**
http://shadowhunters.wikia.com/wiki/Shadowhunters

Creation
One thousand years ago, the precise date unknown, the earth was invaded by hordes of demons. A man, Jonathan Shadowhunter, had a warlock summon the angel Raziel. He begged Raziel to help save humanity so the angel mixed his blood with that of Jonathan Shadowhunter, in the Mortal Cup, and gave it to men to drink. These men became known as the Shadowhunters, as did their children, and their children's children. They were given the first Gray Book, listing all of the runes, to use in their fight against demons.

Home
Idris is the homeland of the Shadowhunters and is protected by Demon Towers, forcing demons out and protecting the city, the only way to bring them down is to wipe demon blood on them from the inside—an almost impossible feat. Idris is in Europe. It is a small country between Germany and France, with protective spells and wardings all around, all over the borders, preventing mundanes from entering. When they attempt to cross the border into Idris, they are simply transported into the next border without noticing. Idris is mostly forest, littered with vampire nests and werewolf packs. There are mountains that can only be crossed in high summer without freezing to death. There is a small system of towns throughout Idris. These towns are not very big and are all sort of oriented around the one city, Alicante, which is also known as the Glass City.

Clave
The Clave is the general organization of all Nephilim, particularly, it is the governing body of the world of half-humans, headed by the Council. The Clave has different branches in different areas of the world, with Institutes are the seats of power. Every active Shadowhunter in an area belongs to a certain Clave, such as the Conclave in New York, Enclave in London.

Mission
The goal of the Nephilim is to end the plague of demons on Earth. They are dispatched to every place on Earth to fight against demon hordes. The fight even continues after death. Their bones are used, as the bones of demon hunters are powerful protection, to fortify important buildings.

Combat

Shadowhunters may be trained at a very young age, by their parents or other mentors and guardians. Some Shadowhunters may train at an academy in Alicante, or at Institutes in other parts of the world. There is a variety of weapons used by Shadowhunters. Most of these weapons are made with materials capable of killing demons, some using adamas forged by the Iron Sisters. Most used is the seraph blade, the primary weapons of the Nephilim. They are made of adamas crafted by the Iron Sisters. They call upon the power of an Angel's name to access the blade's power. In addition to seraph blades, Jace also uses a sword, Alec alternatively uses a bow and arrow and a featherstaff, and Isabelle uses a whip in battle. Valentine used a kindjal, a Circassian dagger, in his first encounter with both Clary and Jace. Hodge Starkweather's, and Luke's weapon of choice were chakrams. Maryse Lightwood used a naginata. The Sensor, invented by Henry Branwell, is a weapon that allows Shadowhunters to detect demonic energies. They can be fooled by Greater Demons, as Abbadon was able to keep his ethereal form just outside a portal before he attacked Jace and the others. Shadowhunters are known to hide weapons in churches for their use in case of emergencies, since some forms of demons can only be killed and fought through a certain method of a belief systems. As long as Shadowhunters cleave to no single religion, all religions will assist in their battle. The weapons are usually hidden by a church's altar, with the Nephilim rune drawn over its hiding place. In London, monarchies through the ages have tithed to the Shadowhunters in secret to keep their kingdoms safe. In USA, the Department of War and the Department of Justice have both affiliated with Shadowhunters, according to Will Herondale. Each species is weak to a certain element. Blessed iron is effective against fairies, silver powder and bullets against lycanthropes, holy water and other religious symbols against vampires, etc.

Runes
Shadowhunters were given runes by the Angel Raziel, all contained in the Book of the Covenant and copied into the Gray Book. Then runes, or marks, are applied on the Shadowhunters' skin and gives different effects. In The Mortal Instruments, Clary Fray finds herself able to create new runes.

Marriage
The color of marriage is gold. Shadowhunter women generally wear gold dresses and men black ceremonial gear, marked with gold runes. Marriages are often done in The Accords Hall in Alicante. The Shadowhunters mark each other with permanent runes of love and commitment over their heart and arm, signifying their love and devotion toward one another.

Mundanes
Relationships with mundane, and any other species other than fellow Nephilim, are generally looked down upon by the Clave. However, a Shadowhunter may marry a mundane if one chooses to, but they must leave the Clave and are stripped of their Marks. In the old days, another choice was for their lover to ascend, which meant drinking from the mortal cup to become a Shadowhunter if approved by the Clave. This was soon outlawed because it did not always work and sometimes ended with the mundane becoming Forsaken, suffering a lot of pain, or going mad. Since Nephilim blood is dominant, if a Shadowhunter has children with a mundane, their children will still be Nephilim. There are three rules for those who leave the Clave. First, the Shadowhunter must sever contact with any and all Shadowhunters they have ever known, even their own family. Second, they cannot call upon the Clave for help. And third, the Clave can still lay claim to their children.

Ascension
Long before it was outlawed and discovered to be dangerous, Shadowhunter who wish to marry mundandes may appeal to the Clave to have their lover turned into a Shadowhunter through a process called Ascension. After the Shadowhunter applies to the Clave for an Ascension for their partner, the Clave is required to consider it for at least three months, and the mundane will be studying to learn about Shadowhunter culture. Mundanes who Ascend to become a Shadowhunter may then choose their own Shadowhunter last name, and may pick from one of the old Nephilim names. Ascension, which involves making the mundane drink from the Mortal Cup, was still allowed during The Infernal Devices, but has since then been disallowed because the dangers of letting adult mundanes drink from the Mortal Cup has since then been recognized.

Deaths
Shadowhunters often die young. The fight against demons kills off many of them. Therefore, when a Shadowhunter dies in battle, the words Ave Atque Vale and their name are spoken. This means "hail and farewell" in Latin. Their bodies are burned to ashes and laid in the tombs. The color of funerals is white. They do not use black because that is the color of fighting and it isn't appropriate. They also wear red runes for mourning.

Friendships
Parabatai is the term for two Shadowhunters who fight alongside each other. These Shadowhunters are partners and are particularly close to each other. Shadowhunters must choose their parabatai before they turn 18. The runes drawn by one's parabatai are stronger than those used by another. Also, there are some runes that can only be used by parabatai. It is forbidden for two parabatai to fall in love with each other. If this happens, they will be separated. Most Shadowhunters don't have a parabatai, so they are not very common. In a Shadowhunters life, they can only have one parabatai, even if their partner dies.

Colors
Black for hunting through the night
 For death and mourning, the color’s white.
 Gold for a bride in her wedding gown,
And red to call enchantment down.
White silk when our bodies burn,
Blue banners when the lost return.
Flame for the birth of a Nephilim,
And to wash away our sins.
Gray for knowledge best untold,
Bone for those who don't grow old.
Saffron lights the victory march,
Green will mend our broken hearts.
 Silver for the demon towers,
And bronze to summon wicked powers.
Shadowhunter children's rhyme, Cassie on Tumblr
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GIVEAWAY GIVEAWAY GIVEAWAY!
Choose the e-book you'd like to win and enter the giveaway through the rafflecopter below. The giveaway is sponsored by FLY HIGH, Maria Grazia's blog. It is open internationally and will end on August 22ndThere will be two winners.  Good luck, everyone! 
a Rafflecopter giveaway
Thanks guys for checking out the read-a-long post for today! Make sure to stop by at InfoJunkie http://411junkie.com/ for day 8 of the read along and the international covers!

4 comments:

  1. Great post Liana! Thanks for being apart of the tour!

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  2. Brilliant recap, Liana! I also love Clary and Jace's bickering in this chapter :-)
    Thanks for sharing the giveaway on your blog.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks for stopping by! (: And no problem!

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