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?
City of Ashes is the second book of The Mortal Instruments series
written by Cassandra Clare, taking place after the event that happened
in City of Bones.
When I started in City of Ashes I found out that City of Bones has been
made into a major motion picture and will be in theatres come August
2013. It is always hard to review a series since you are prone to have
to reveal something of the plotline but I will do my best not to reveal
too much.
In the previous review of City of Bones I mentioned that the story
could go either way. There was no cliff-hanger moment and having been
introduced into a rich New York, everything was possible. City of Ashes
takes off pretty interesting and not with a totally random event but
rather with an event that shaped the book very neatly from start to
finish. The world that was created in The Mortal Instruments is a
present day New York where there are also vampires, werewolves, fairies
(the Fair Folk) and the “Law”, Shadowhunters. Having dedicated a great
amount of pages to building this world fully paid off in City of Ashes, I
still had a world picture in the back of my mind and Cassandra Clare
managed to utilize this to the fullest, continuing with telling an
enchanted story, that is both dark and humorous on occasions.
The characters in City of Ashes are more or less the same as in its
prequel. The main protagonists are still Clary and Jace. Clary’s
introduction in City of Ashes was for me somewhat strange. In the first
book she was thrown in the league of Shadowhunters, she has some power
for herself as well. But what I expected was that she would now also be
prepped to join the ranks of her fellow Shadowhunters, this was not the
case. Instead she is somewhat back trying to lead a normal life with her
friend Simon, and with her mother in the hospital, she is just as
caring as she was in City of Bones. She undergoes a small personality
change really for the better, she becomes more confident which was good
to see, because she really is destined to do some great things in the
book to follow ( I hope). As for Jace, when I first encountered him in
the series, he was just – and I do not know how to put it nicely – an
asshole. And my opinion of his character is not changing at all. I
actually grew to resent him even more. I really do not know what his
problem is with people who have authority over him and that he just goes
blindly against everything. Especially with the paragraphs of the
Inquisitor, clearly respect your elders and peers does not count for
him. He remains a cocky one-man-show-know-it-all. There was only one
event that changed my opinion of him but even that did not hold.
Although his character did not totally ruin the reading experience for
me, I do think that if this continues along the way it just might for
me.
Some of the secondary characters that you see reappearing are the
other Shadowhunters and friends of Clary: Isabelle and Alec also Luke
the werewolf, the Warlock of Brooklyn, Magnus, and Clary’s mundane
friend Simon make a reappearance. As for Isabelle she stays more or less
in the background and has some input where necessary. There is a great
revealing between Alec and Magnus, that was for me a bit too much. And
Luke, being like a father for Clary makes a solid reappearance and plays
a key part just like in City of Bones. Simon undergoes a great change
in City of Ashes that makes his sort of nerdy personality change
completely and now his is not that mundane anymore, but this also shows a
tension on between him and Clary. In the end I must say that besides
Jace I was very pleased with how the characters interacted and did what
they were good at.
The plotline of City of Ashes takes off better than its prequel,
probably owing to the already designed world. In City of Bones,
Valentine, the villain of the story, had stolen one of the Mortal
Instruments from the Shadowhunters. This is where it ended. Now in City
of Ashes there was no slack in picking up the storyline and enlarging it
by introducing another of the sacred Mortal Instruments relics.
Valentine also makes a stronger than ever reappearance and shows his
full intentions to Jace. In the way that Valentine acts in City of Ashes
feels very natural but very evil, he is very persuasive, maybe a bit
too much in getting people to do his bidding. The ending of the plotline
read away very fast. In this you do see the more confident Clary facing
of against Valentine. The action that finally led up to the
confrontation between the two, the fighting of the Shadowhunters against
a horde of demons, was described in full colours but this caused the
final confrontation between Clary and Valentine to be a bit less
spectacular for me, Clary does manages to pull of some neat stuff
however!
City of Ashes is a great sequel and addition to the The Mortal
Instruments series where Cassandra Clare manages to use the previously
created world to the fullest. For me there was not a slack moment in the
whole storyline, some chapters read away easier than others. As for the
characters, they do continue to develop and as the plot moves, the
destinies of both Jace and Clary are slowly revealed – what are they
truly and how did they come to be special? But more over, City of Ashes
ends with a very cool cliff-hanger, of which I am eager to find out what
will happen in City of Glass…