Review: City of Ashes

City of Ashes (Mortal Instruments #2)
Cassandra Clare
Margaret K. McElderry
July 7th 2008

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 her readers back into the dark grip of New York City's Downworld, where love is never safe and power becomes the deadliest temptation.

It was a little more boring compared to the first book. It was still very good, however. There were lot more surprises than the last book had and those surprises seemed to change the dynamic of everything.

Cons: Clary didn't change. She was still mean. She's really mean to Isabelle because she is jealous of her, she evens says so. "'Let him die, you mean.' Clary jerked her arm out of Isabelle's grip. 'Of course that's what you think. You think everyone who isn't just like you is better off dead anyway.'" That is one example among many others. So many times did I want to tell her off! Someone offered her a tissue on a train when she was crying and she yelled at him, "What do you think you're looking at, jerk?!"


Also, with my experience with editing, I'm seeing more mistakes than I used to. Every book has a few mistakes, I know, but I noticed sentences that could've been worded better and sentences that didn't need to be in there at all. It just goes to show that even a professional editor misses a lot of things and that even the best selling books aren't written as well as they could be.


4 Stars


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