City of Ashes (2) (The Mortal Instruments)
Is love worth betraying everything? Plunge into the second adventure in the internationally bestselling Mortal Instruments series and “prepare to be hooked” (Entertainment Weekly)—now with a gorgeous new cover, a map, a new foreword, and exclusive bonus content! City of Ashes is a Shadowhunters novel.
Clary Fray just wishes that her life would go back to normal. But what’s normal when you’re a demon-slaying Shadowhunter, your mother is in a magically induced coma, and you can suddenly see Downworlders like werewolves, vampires, and faeries? If Clary left the world of the Shadowhunters behind, it would mean more time with her best friend, Simon, who’s becoming more than a friend. But the Shadowhunting world isn’t ready to let her go—especially her handsome, infuriating, newfound brother, Jace. And Clary’s only chance to help her mother is to track down rogue Shadowhunter Valentine, who is probably insane, certainly evil—and also her father.
To complicate matters, someone in New York City is murdering Downworlder children. Is Valentine behind the killings—and if he is, what is he trying to do? When the second of the Mortal Instruments, the Soul-Sword, is stolen, the terrifying Inquisitor arrives to investigate and zooms right in on Jace. How can Clary stop Valentine if Jace is willing to betray everything he believes in to help their father?
In this breathtaking sequel to City of Bones, Cassandra Clare lures readers back into the dark grip of New York City’s Downworld, where love is never safe and power becomes the deadliest temptation.
Clary Fray just wishes that her life would go back to normal. But what’s normal when you’re a demon-slaying Shadowhunter, your mother is in a magically induced coma, and you can suddenly see Downworlders like werewolves, vampires, and faeries? If Clary left the world of the Shadowhunters behind, it would mean more time with her best friend, Simon, who’s becoming more than a friend. But the Shadowhunting world isn’t ready to let her go—especially her handsome, infuriating, newfound brother, Jace. And Clary’s only chance to help her mother is to track down rogue Shadowhunter Valentine, who is probably insane, certainly evil—and also her father.
To complicate matters, someone in New York City is murdering Downworlder children. Is Valentine behind the killings—and if he is, what is he trying to do? When the second of the Mortal Instruments, the Soul-Sword, is stolen, the terrifying Inquisitor arrives to investigate and zooms right in on Jace. How can Clary stop Valentine if Jace is willing to betray everything he believes in to help their father?
In this breathtaking sequel to City of Bones, Cassandra Clare lures readers back into the dark grip of New York City’s Downworld, where love is never safe and power becomes the deadliest temptation.
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Community Reviews
OH THE FEELS
The feels are real guys. You will with hate and love it all at the same time. Just warning you right now.
The feels are real guys. You will with hate and love it all at the same time. Just warning you right now.
Man, this was brutal. Every character is annoying as all get out, whiny and stupid. Even the adults. All the "poor me. It's my fault" stuff got old real quick, and if I wasn't listening to the audiobook while doing other things, I probably wouldn't have finished.
Honestly, I don't feel like this book offered anything to the story from the first book. The characters didn't grow. The plot didn't move. Absolutely nothing of consequence changed, and dang are there certain things - people - who I wished had.
The only redeemable qualities of this book are Magnus Bane and the Seelie Queen. Not sure how those two characters can exist in a sea of so much blah. Hopefully this means there is potential for better things.
Honestly, I don't feel like this book offered anything to the story from the first book. The characters didn't grow. The plot didn't move. Absolutely nothing of consequence changed, and dang are there certain things - people - who I wished had.
The only redeemable qualities of this book are Magnus Bane and the Seelie Queen. Not sure how those two characters can exist in a sea of so much blah. Hopefully this means there is potential for better things.
The first book might have been fine (it wasn't) because it had at least potential. This sequel absolutely shatters every hope I had that it could become anything worth reading. The characters are so annoying that I'm rooting for Valentine, Cassandra can't do subtle foreshadowing to save her life, Clarissa and Jace are Mary Sue's and that makes them detestable and the fact that they all always miraculously survive is histerical. The most bothering thing that makes this book such a hard read is the relationship between Clary and Jace. I don't care if it ends up they're not actually siblings, Cassandra decided that for the entire book the reader had to hold back vomit anytime these two were in the same room and I'll never forgive her for that.
+ Clarissa insults a cat, I hate her the most
This book seemed like much less of a mush of other books than the first one in the series did, which was a relief. It picks up shortly after the first book left off, with all the main characters just recovering from the wounds they sustained in the big fight against Valentine's Forsaken. Which brings me to my only major problem with this book: the timeline. Although we're told that it was August during the events of City of Bones, in this book it seems to be late fall (there's always a chill in the air). Clary wakes up and eats a doughnut on her way to meet Simon, and then suddenly it's late afternoon. And a few more occasions of missing time...
If you can ignore those inconsistencies, though, this is a good read. Plenty of twists and turns, and unexpected action. A few characters wind up not being dead a few too many times (an author can only pull that trick so many times before all the tension leaks away). And, although the book dragged in a few scenes (ok, Inquisitor, we get your point), I'll be waiting with a fair degree of anticipation for the last (hopefully, since I don't think this story-line can last for more than one more book) book in the trilogy.
If you can ignore those inconsistencies, though, this is a good read. Plenty of twists and turns, and unexpected action. A few characters wind up not being dead a few too many times (an author can only pull that trick so many times before all the tension leaks away). And, although the book dragged in a few scenes (ok, Inquisitor, we get your point), I'll be waiting with a fair degree of anticipation for the last (hopefully, since I don't think this story-line can last for more than one more book) book in the trilogy.
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