Book Review - City of Ashes
BOOK REVIEW
CITY OF ASHES - CASSANDRA CLARE
I give the book a whopping 5 out of 5 seraph blade stars!
This book answered a lot of questions I had at the end of the first book, but left me with even MORE questions at the end and I am DYING to find out about them all. So many things changed in this book. There were new characters, old characters that re-appeared and changed everything, and the characters that I love so much just keep driving me mad! I honestly believe this particular book was meant to torture everyone who only wants Clary to be happy.
The first thing that wrenched my heart the most was the extremely forbidden attraction that Clary and Jace feel toward each other even though they're brother and sister. It just seems right whenever they're together, like it shouldn't be wrong even though they're related. It doesn't make any sense that they're related yet they feel so many intense emotions whenever they touch, kiss or hell even look at each other! There's something that doesn't add up and I think it has something to do with the fact that Jace and Clary have these strange abilities because of whatever Valentine did to them when they were little. The Inquisitor says something to Jace about her relvelation but unfortunately in this book, it's never said aloud...so we're left guessing! Of course
I couldn't believe that Simon gets turned into a vampire! I thought for sure he would be fighting along with the other shadowhunters as a mundie and earn the right at the end of the war against Valentine to drink from the mortal cup and become a shadowhunter himself...but as it turns out that little bite he gave Raphael in the first book put vampire blood in his system and compelled him to come back to the hotel and be fed on and turned. What was even more strange was his ability to be in the sunlight without burning up. Of course I have my own theory on how this phenomena happened even though the characters have no clue. I think it was because Jace gave him is own blood, which is part-angel blood, and it must have some sort of magical properties that give him protection against the sun. It's the only thing I can think of that might be possible. But I might be wrong.
I loved the new character Maia. She was awesome. I hope she'll become a love interest for Simon now that he's not guilting Clary into having feelings for him. In a way I'm actually happy he became a vampire. It matured him in a way that would have probably taken years otherwise. I think him meeting Maia also helped because he thinks there could be some sort of feeling on his part towards her even if there's more feelings on her side. I hope this time he's right because I think the whole idea of a vampire and a werewolf going against their nature to fight and instead fall in love...is so perfect! I'ma sucker for the forbidden love stories.
Honestly there were a lot of characters that really got on my nerves during this book. Obviously Valentine is a given considering he's the bad guy but I wanted to take the time of this paragraph to highlight the good guys that really got under my skin the majority of the time. First and foremost, The Inquisitor was a pain in the behind! She couldn't see past her own revenge to see the bigger picture; that Jace wasn't lying and she was making the hugest mistake of her life! It was only when her plan fell apart and things got really dire that she made amends with Jace. I still wish I had known what she said to him before she died. So frustrating. Another character I belive deserves the WHAT THE HELL WERE YOU THINKING award, was Maryse, his foster mom in a sense. She was so afraid when she found out that he was Valentine's son that she believed he would side with him over her and kicked Jace out of the home he had come to know and love for years! She destroyed him and it only took some severe coaching on Clary, Alec, Luke, and Isabelle's part to keep Jace from turning to his father anyway. The only mother he'd ever known and she spurns him!?
I really liked the introduction of the faerie folk to the plotline. It was intersting to see the Downworld version of a faerie and how different they are from the traditional image one would have of a faerie. I actually like this version better than the goody two shoes type of most fairytales. Atleast with this series, a faerie's beauty can mean death to any human ensnared in their glamor. They're tricksters and I LOVE IT. Even what they did to Clary was worthy of praise in my opinion. It was indeed clever and it did lead to a very heated kiss between Clary and Jace that I think was truly in need of happening. So thanks faeries for being the only ones that have the sense to put Clary and Jace in a situation they can't weasel their way out of! I wish there were more of you!
I was a little upset at the beginning to find out that Clary's plan to wake her mother up by having Jace come talk to her didn't work. I thought for sure it would, but I guess nothing's ever that easy in a longer series like this one. Though the whole time Clary was finding out that she had this weird ablity to create new runes that had never been made before made me think that maybe she could wake her mother up using a rune...as it turns out the woman she had kept seeing actually knows how to wake Clary's mother up and why she was that way in the first place. Jocelyn did it to herself. I was shocked a little at first because I honestly thought Valentine had been responsible but it does make sense. She didn't want him to find out her secrets so she put herself in a coma that only she and her best friend new how to get out of. Genius!
I cannot wait to read City of Glass because there's so many questions I have left unanswered. Where'd Valentine go? How are they gonna wake up Jocelyn? Why in the world do Jace and Clary have these strange powers? Will Simon and Maia develop true feelings for each other? And one that has been driving me NUTS for the past two books...Will Jace and Clary EVER able to be able to be happy together? I have so many questions. Even more than I have already stated but hopefully they'll all be answered in the next book. I reccomend this series despite all the torturous cliffhangers and I again give this particular book a 5/5 thumbs up!
A QUIZ-->http://www.goodreads.com/quizzes/25982-city-of-ashes
BOOK INFO-->http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1582996.City_of_Ashes?ac=1
ABOUT THE AUTHOR-->http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/150038.Cassandra_Clare