tea. books. love.: [REVIEW] City of Ashes by Cassandra Clare

Published: March 2008
Publisher: Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing
Age Group: Young Adult
Series: The Mortal Instruments #2

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. (From Goodreads)

City of Ashes is the second book in the Mortal Instruments series. If you want to read the review on the first book, City of Bones, i've written one for that too.

In City of Ashes, the "Valentine" plot, as I like to call it, becomes more prominent as well as Clary's relationships and Simon himself. To sum up what happens in City of Ashes, basically, Clary and Jace are having issues about Jace being her brother and Valentine's son, Valentine starts killing more people (no shocker there), Simon finally gets the guts to tell Clary about his love then he ends up having to dig himself out of a grave, a female wolf named Maia gets introduced, a huge battle happens and more secrets are revealed.

I feel Cassandra Clare does that quite often. Simon is a major part of the book and he undergoes much, shall we say pain, throughout the book. Many of the major events revolve around him and I'm glad to see that, Simon needed some limelight.

Alot of questions and answers surface and many foreshadows are apparent. Cassandra Clare seems to do that often too. Put subtle hints.

The second book is sort of the middle book. It has many explanations on character's history that comes in to play later on in the series. Although the major focus of the book was on relationships, this book was also different from any other "middle" book that i've read. The words about a chracter's relationships were so deep that i really felt like i could feel the tension or happiness going on between chracters. it felt real although it wasn't. That's pretty amazing in my opinon. Many middle books that i have read are often very dull and although new characters appear, they don't make a big enough impact for me to fully engross myself in the book. I've often hated that "middle" book but City of Ashes is quite different. I read this book so quickly and it wasn't because i wanted to get it over with, it was because i loved every single page that i was reading.

The book was truly engrossing for me and that's what i love about the Mortal Instruments. Every book of the series, no matter my doubts, can always make me just forget about everything and enjoy a great book. City of Ashes was wonderfully written and I'm sure you'll enjoy this book and the Mortal Instruments series if you haven't already begun reading it or have read it.