HAPPY INDEPENDENCE DAY!!! Hope you have a wonderful 4th of July!!
Flashback Friday is a feature I started here on The Whimsical Mama featuring books I read before I started blogging. Most reviews will come after rereading the book again. This is a biweekly feature. This week’s selection is:
***As always mild spoilers may follow***
Rating: 5 stars
Pub date: 25 March 2008
Publisher: Margaret K McElderry Books, Simon & Schuster
Genre: Young Adult, Fantasy, Urban Fantasy, Paranormal
Format: paperback, personal copy ,audiobook, via library
Status: Book two of The Mortal Instruments series
Summary:
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
My thoughts:
Picking up close to where City of Bones left off, City of Ashes quickly kicks up the action and snark. City of Bones introduced us to the Shadow World and City of Ashes drives us deeper and deeper into the drama. City of Bones also mainly focused on Clary and we get the chance to see other characters have a chance to shine. We also are introduced to a wide variety of characters – Downworlders and Shadowhunters.
While the main focus is thwarting Valentine’s next move, there is a large focus on the realisation that Jace and Clary are siblings – or are they? Clary tries a relationship with Simon. Jace refuses to visit Jocelyn. They’re still attracted to each other. Emotional drama to the extreme and vague hints dropped that you have to be on the look out for or you’ll miss them!
Clary struggles with learning Valentine is her father. She clings to Luck, adamantly proclaiming that he’s always been a father to her. Not that I blame her. Luke did help raise her. He’s always been there for her. Valentine is still – well – a creepy psycho. Luke is also there for her to help her navigate the Shadow World.
Jace is forced to come to terms of the fallout from discovering Valentine, not Michael Wayland is his father. Maryse Lightwood turns against him. The Inquisitor has it out for him. Clary’s his sister. Alec’s hiding something. Simon gets turned into a vampire. All in all, it’s the pits for Jace. He keeps his snarkiness top notch though. Never fear for the snark!
Now in possession of two of the Mortal Instruments, Valentine sinks to a new low raising even more demons and slaughters children. His ego and power know no bounds. An epic battle breaks out between the Shadowhunters of New York and Valentine’s demons. Losses are heavy on both sides, but some good does come out of it.
Valentine disappears, but no one truly believes he’s dead. (The obvious mystery is well done!) The quest to prevent him from getting the third Instrument begins!
The last bomb is dropped as Clary learns there is only one person who knows how to save her mother. Just another piece in the growing puzzle.
Again, I highly recommend City of Ashes and the whole Mortal Instruments series. Onto City of Glass!
About the author:
“Cassandra Clare was born overseas and spent her early years traveling around the world with her family and several trunks of fantasy books. Cassandra worked for several years as an entertainment journalist for the Hollywood Reporter before turning her attention to fiction. She is the author of City of Bones, the first book in the Mortal Instruments trilogy and a New York Times bestseller. Cassandra lives with her fiance and their two cats in Massachusetts.”
You can find me online at
I have a blog:
http://cassandraclare.livejournal.com/
and a Facebook:
http://www.facebook.com/Cassandraclare
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The Whimsical Mama 