print versus screen: the mortal instruments

so on a friend's recommendation i picked up the mortal instruments series by cassandra clare. this is a six-novel series we're talking about here, and it has a wealth of entertainment that includes all the teen angst i love plus vampires, warlocks, angels and demons. it's amazing! also incredibly soapy and cheesy, but it's still my jam. the great thing about this series is that it keeps going--there are at least five spin-off series that either tie into the world or directly involve characters from the original series.

and then, even better, i found out freeform had adapted the books to a series called shadowhunters. there was an ill-fated attempt to launch a movie franchise similar to the twilight books, but it didn't take. from clips i've seen i think it was probably mis-cast. plus i think that given the amount of source material, these books were always going to function better as a television series. so far most of city of bones is covered by the series, though a few things have been rearranged from future novels to allow for more context or provide additional character development.

staying true to the books for the most part, shadowhunters is totally my new obsession. i watched most of season 1 in two days. mainly because the last episode hadn't aired yet when i finished binge-watching. so, so good. like the cw, freeform excels at casting young, pretty stars for it's shows. and there is plenty eye candy to enjoy.

the one slightly weird thing about the books and the tv series, is that for a while there you are hoping the lead characters commit incest. having grown up without knowing the truth about either of their pasts, or even knowing each other, at one point in the series the villain, valentine, claims to be both their biological father. this is only the truth for one of them, but at the time neither of them has any reason to doubt that this is true. and this causes much drama and angst and whatnot.

and i mean, as an obstacle i guess it worked in the book series. and it seems to be working on the tv show too. but it's still really weird. because the two leads have already had scenes like this:

so hot right? and like two episodes later, maybe three, the sibling truth bomb lie is dropped. and i guess i understand why for the drama, but a big part of me is like, nooooo! they are already good together.

anyway, i can't wait to see how they adapt some of my favorite scenes from future novels. there's one between jace and clary at the seelie court that will be very interesting to watch on screen. i mean, there was so much tension i felt just reading it on the page, can you imagine it being acted? especially since the two leads playing jace and clary on the show have amazing chemistry? i can't wait.