Features | Changing My Mind

Features | Changing My Mind

• Friday, 9 June 2017

I like to think that I can admit when I have been wrong and that is what I am here to do today. Nearly two years ago now, on this very blog, I spoke about book series I probably would never finish and the very first series on that list was Cassandra Clare's The Mortal Instruments. It's safe to say I hated the first book, City of Bones, and at the time I felt extremely confident in saying that I would probably not ever be picking up the rest of the series. 

Except that I recently finished the third book.

Why did I give the series a second chance if I hated the first book so much? One word: Shadowhunters. I somehow got convinced to watch the TV series based on the books and I enjoyed the show so much that I got curious. I have a lot of friends who really love these books and I clearly enjoyed the world so why not give the second book a go? And then the third one?

I still have my issues with the series. I still can't help but roll my eyes at some of Cassandra Clare's writing choices. But I liked the second book better than the first, and I liked the third book better than both of them, and two years after declaring that I had no interest in finishing this series I am here to say that I was wrong. I now have every intention of finishing this series.

I gave the books a second chance and I can see now what everyone else sees in them. They may not be my favourite books in the whole world (yet. I've been wrong about these books once, I could be again) but it turns out that, first book aside, I do really enjoy reading them. Now I can't help but wonder if there are other series out there that I'm missing out on because I didn't like the first book?

I mean, I still have no intention of giving any of the other series on my first list a second chance but you know, I'll keep this in mind for the future. Maybe.

Have you ever written off a series after the first book only to completely change your mind about it later on? What great series could we all be missing out on because the first book isn't quite up to scratch?