Book Review: City of Ashes by Cassandra Clare

City of Ashes by Cassandra Clare

Release Date: February 24, 2009

Publisher: Simon Pulse

Rating: 4 out of 5

Recommended? Yes.

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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?

Warning: This review contains spoilers from City of Bones (book 1). I suggest you read that first before reading this review! :)

The overall plot was just as excellent and intriguing as that of City of Bones but although there was a lot of stuff going on, it just didn’t feel like it. After my reread and thinking about how I was going to review the book, I just kept thinking “What actually happened in this book?”

This is in no way because of Cassandra Clare’s writing skills – nothing wrong there – I think that the pacing of some scenes is just a little slow, or even a little rushed.

I didn’t get that much out of Clary in this book, because she seemed very... preoccupied... with Simon. There didn’t seem to be much character growth there, however I did still love her because she’s badass!

Her relationship with Jace was a very interesting topic. I loved reading about their feelings for each other, and how they were both struggling due to them newly finding out they were siblings.

Overall, I loved this book so much, but it just wasn’t up to par with the first book in the series. I’d definitely recommend reading it if you enjoyed the first one – even if you didn’t particularly like the ending. And if you’ve already read this book, then hurry up and get to the third!