City of Ashes
by Cassandra Clare
Reviewed by Ruby
Jace is in trouble with the Conclave. With it now known that he is Valentine’s son the Inquisitor - a harsh, unyielding woman - has made it her duty to prove him a spy. Things aren't going in his favor either as death seems to be following him around.
Actually, it's more like Valentine is following him around. Valentine has a new plan to bring the Clave to the brink of war and it is up to his children, Jace and Clary to stop him.
I found this book better than the first one. We got introduced to more characters and some others got flesh out a bit, which is what I was hoping for. There was also more humor in this, or at least funny one-liners.
The problems that I had in the first book are still present in this one though. The story, although good and interesting, felt disjointed. It’s like random things happened, which had a point (ish) that really only became clear at the end of the book, so everything is left feeling a little awkward. Not bad, just awkward. The other major issue I had seems to be a constant for me. In various books/TV shows/movies, it’s always the same: I don’t like the characters that the author (or whoever) is expecting us to be cheering for. I really don’t like Clary or Jace. They are both selfish idiots and that annoys me. A lot. I always seem to like the secondary characters, in this case Alec, and I really wish that I would get some scenes (not just one) from his point of view.
Clary’s internal monologue hasn't really changed from the first book and Jace is a douche. Honestly I have no idea what Clary, or Alec for that matter, see in him.
And don’t even get me started on the love triangle. I hate love triangles. They are so overdone. I don’t care that this one has a twist and the Clary and Jace are long lost siblings (but they probably aren't because that’s how things always end up). It doesn't matter. I can’t sand love triangles. Grade: C Coral's Review. I agree with my sister that I enjoyed this book better than the first one. I liked having chapters that were told from the perspective of people who weren’t Clary or Jace, as they continue to be my least favourite characters of the series. I only wish we had gotten more non-Clary and Jace chapters or that the ones we got went a little deeper.
Considering how much relationship drama we get between Clary, Jace and Simon, I wish a little bit more time had been spent on the new relationship between Alec and Magnus. It’s obvious to me that at some point Clary and Jace are going to learn that they aren’t brother and sister (there were a few places here were hints were dropped about it) that I wish the books would just hurry up and get there. Poor decisions continue to be made by so many characters. It's like the only way the author know how to move the plot forward is for someone to make a bad decision and for the story to react to it.
I don’t even understand the whole plot point near the beginning where Jace agreed to be wactched/guarded by Magnus. Considering how often the book found ways around this so Jace could go where he wanted without being bound to his agreement to stay with Magnus there wasn’t even a point to it at all..
Grade: B
