Review: City of Ashes by Cassandra Clare

Jen's Review

Having discovered that she is a Shadowhunter, Clary now has to try and adjust to her new life. But then there are mysterious murders occurring and Clary finds herself battling with a great evil once again. 

I ended up really liking this book. It started off slow for me, but then I got to a point where the storyline and the action suddenly picked up. On that note, I liked how the storyline was developed from the first book. Again, there were a few plot twists that made things interesting, but I loved Clary discovering her special ability.  

You may recall that I was not a fan of many of the characters in the first book. In fact, almost all them annoyed me. However, I am happy to say that I did not have that problem this time around. I actually found myself liking most of the characters, even Isabelle, who I just did not like in City of Bones.  

There are definitely some characters I do not like though. Valentine being one of them, the main reason being that he just gives off creepy evil vibes, for obvious reasons. I wasn't too fond of Maryse either, particularly with her treatment of Jace. And Simon. I don’t know what it is about him that makes me hate him. The fact that he and Clary were together (however briefly) did not help matters. 

Overall, I enjoyed this book much more than the first book and gave it a 4/5 rating. I thought it was a great continuation of the series and I am really looking forward to reading the third book! 

Mel's Review

With her mother in a coma and her father hellbent on destroying the world, Clary Fray is dragged deeper into New York City’s terrifying underworld of werewolves, demons and the mysterious Shadowhunters. Discovering the truth about her past was just the beginning. Now the fate of the world rests on Clary’s shoulders, but can she master her new-found powers and control her feelings for a boy who can never be hers? (From book cover)

I like this book for a few reasons. One, being that it’s the second book in the Mortal Instruments series, and I loved the first book so much that I dove right into this one. Two, that I really enjoyed the awkwardness of Clary, Jace and Simon throughout. That might just be the first time I’ve ever been able to say that about a book, but then, it’s probably one of the few books where such a situation has happened. Sure, other books offer awkwardness, but only for a moment or two in the entire novel. The entire of City of Ashes seems to be awkward, awkward, awkward, right through from start to finish, without getting in the way of the actual story. If that makes sense. But really, it takes a good author to do that (or a brave one!). Either way, it worked and even continues into City of Glass.

Unfortunately, this book did introduce one of my least liked characters in the entire series: Maia. Do. Not. Like. I found her to be quite dull and I was annoyed that she appeared more than just the once at the beginning of the book. She never grew on me. Even by the time I finished City of Heavenly Fire (the last book in the Mortal Instruments series), she was still one of my least favourite characters. I shall call her The Annoying One.

I love Clary’s new powers, and while she could have used them every chance she got (I know I would have!), she only really used them whenever she felt that she had no other choice, which in most of those situations, it was do or die. But that also means that this cool ability of hers never gets boring. (I could imagine myself using this ability: who can be bothered walking through the whole house just to go to the backyard? I’ll just draw a rune on the flyscreen of my bedroom window to make a big enough hole to jump out of… I suppose I could just remove the screen from the outside.)

Again, I enjoyed a lot of the characters from the first book, like Magnus and Izzy and gladly Alec was getting more tolerable. It took me a while to get used to Maryse Lightwood (her attitude towards Jace early in the book caused this I guess) but I had to remember that she is a mother looking after her children (the biological ones at least).

If you’re anything like me and have already read TMI and the Infernal Devices (Clockwork Princess really), you’ll re-read the battle at the end of City of Ashes and probably throw the book across the room in frustration. This close! He was this close to finding out…!

(Hehe, no spoilers here!)

Needless to say, I enjoyed this book as much as the first one, and despite The Annoying One, I still give it a rating of 5/5.