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Title: City of Ashes (#2 The Mortal Instruments)
Author: Cassandra Clare
Published: 25th of March 2008 β Margaret K. McElderry Books
Format: Hardcover β 453 pages
βAs long as there was coffee in the world, how bad could things be?β β City of Ashes
Hello Hello! How are you?
Itβs Saturday, and that means itβs time for the second instalment of Shadowhunter Saturday that Fiona and I have created. We are endeavouring to read the entire Shadowhunter collection by Cassandra Clare, and today Iβm back with my mini-review of City of Ashes, and the spoilery discussion with Fionaβs answers! Just like last time, keep reading for my mini-review and Fionaβs thoughts on this book, and donβt forget to head over to Fionaβs blog to read her own mini-review along with my thoughts!
The first part of this post is a non-spoilery review of the second book in The Mortal Instruments series, and the second part contains many spoilers, plot points and all of Fionaβs point on them.
GOODREADS SYNOPSIS
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 β 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 β and also her father.
To complicate matters, someone in New York City is murdering Downworlder children. Is Valentine behind the killings β 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?
MY REVIEW
City of Ashes by Cassandra Clare is the second book in The Mortal Instruments series, a young adult paranormal series. If you havenβt read the first book yet, you can read my mini-review of it here (but watch out for the spoilers at the end of the post).
In this second book, we follow Clary, Jace, Simon, Alec, Isabelle, Luke and more characters after the events of City of Bones. My first impression of this book was that it was different to the first one. Now that we already know what Shadowhunters are, we know all about Valentine, it felt a lot more real in a way and I was able to just jump into it and be engrossed by the story again. There wasnβt the same kind of building up, so anything that did happen in this book felt more shocking and surprising to me as I already knew all about most of the characters and the world.
Again, itβs really hard to put all my thoughts in order after having just finished it and writing all my thoughts on the various plotlines, but I did enjoy this one more than the previous one, thatβs for sure. Iβm growing to like Clary more, Jace is still insufferable, Simon is constantly getting shit thrown at him, Alec is still weird in my opinion, but Magnus Iβm loving! I find Magnus quite funny, snarky, and a really great character, I still didnβt think we got that much from him in this book, and I really hope that in next books there will be more of him, because Iβm loving him so far.
I donβt want to give too much away as itβs the second book in the series, but I was shocked multiple times. The yucky plot-line is still ongoing to some extent, and I hope that this is the end of it because Iβm struggling to understand why it is being pushed as much as it is, but I will say that Clare definitely gives us the shock factor. Again, most of the shocking, omg, what the heck moments happened at the end of this book and it kept me reading. Iβm really enjoying this mission Fiona and I have taken on, and I think that each book will get better, Iβm still however unsure about the immense amount of hype. I get these books, I understand how addictive they are, but Iβm still not getting amazing-ness from them.
MY THOUGHTS AND RATING
Book 2 of the Shadowhunter mission was much better than book 1. There wasnβt a long build-up and I wasnβt bored at the start of it. I found some things a bit underwhelming and others quite frustrating (as you will see in Fionaβs post), but overall, I am quite enjoying this series so far.
I gave this book 3.5 stars, again, just like the first one, I enjoyed it but am not getting the hype, itβs a great book, but there are still a few things that annoy me, and I think that as the story goes on and we learn more things, it will get better. If you havenβt read this series yet, I would recommend, but maybe keep in mind that it has some yucky elements. I was definitely frustrated when it ended with so much left unsaid and new things only just revealed, so I canβt wait to jump into City of Glass to see what happens next!


Now Iβm going to pass the reigns over to Fiona so we can hear all her thoughts on the plot elements and spoilery events of this book! We have both answered the same questions, if you have not read these books and do want to read them, I would advise you against continuing reading this post as there are SPOILERS!!

Here are Fionaβs answers for the more generic questions about the book!
What was your favourite moment?
βFor me, itβs all the shit that happened to Simon. I feel so sorry for him. He isnβt even my favourite character but this book just keeps slapping him in the face. His second(?) death really did shock me. I donβt think I was really completely invested until that happened. I would have even said I was somewhat bored till that point so Simonβs plot was the saving grace of this book.β
What do you think is going to happen next?
βHonestly, its anyone’s guess. We know that more than likely we will wake Jocelyn up than is probably a given and then reunite Jocelyn with Jace, how she feels about Clary being part of the Shadowhunter world. We have to explore Clary and Jaceβs powers. We have hopefully put the whole incest thing behind us now? Also, we havenβt really solved the whole Valentine thing.
I really do want more of Magnus and Alec! Also, I am hoping we see more of Luke too. Then there is Simon and how he fits in with the other vampires now that he can go out in the day. We need to know why he can do that? Ahhhh no wonder there are 6 books in this series!β
Have your thoughts about the series changed?
βI definitely enjoyed this one more than the first. Again mostly due to the last quarter of the book. I still think there are a lot of eye-roll moments and I donβt think I will ever be ranting and raving about this being a favourite but I am enjoying it more than I thought I would. I am finding myself getting drawn in and I am ok with that.
I agree with you Ellie, about the whole Jace/Clary plotline it just seems a bit heavy-handed. It was fun for the shock moment, the fact it continued as a romantic plotline with so many asides about how they felt about each other was just a bit too icky. I am beginning to think that there is a lot more to it than we are being told. Surely there would be a lot more omg incest on the blogging community which makes me suspect that maybe we are being misled in this case and that it will turn out that they are not related.β

And now for more spoilery, in-depth discussions about some of the plotlines!!
Jace falling out with Maryse:
βFor me, while I expected some kind of consequence from the Lightwoods about the events of City of Bones. But as the adult in the situation I expected more from Maryse. I get that she was ultimately doing it all to protect Jace (most likely from the Inquisitor) but launching straight to ruffling Jaceβs feathers when she is essentially his adopted mother and knows how hot-headed he is she should have dealt with it a lot better. But then again we wouldnβt have a book if the Adults acted like adults.β
The Inquisitor arresting Jace:
βAgain this was the adults acting irresponsibly. This just seemed so extreme. Especially with how much the Silent City was sold as a terrible fate in the first book. Also why treat a child like that. They keep insisting he is a child but then they are punishing him for finding out his father isnβt who they thought he was? Honestly some of the adults in this series *eye roll*.β
The death of the Silent Brothers:
βThis was the first moment where I was like βOh Clare isnβt pulling her punchesβ. She had spent so long setting up the lore behind the silent city in City of Bones then she just burnt it all down. It was really unexpected. I like it when authors are not afraid to topple the dominos. I really thought the descriptions of how they died were really dark and that really set the tone a lot better than the first book. This book was definitely a lot less cheerful.β
Kissing at the Fairy court:
βHonestly, the whole brother/sister attraction thing is a huge WTF plotline for me. Like I donβt get it. I am still like WTF why are we pushing this so hard? Why does Clare want to focus so much time to an incest plotline!?!?!? I am beginning to wonder? Also, this is another poor Simon moment but also a little bit of a disappointment too. Simon had started to grow a backbone in the beginning of this book, and finally just putting Jace in his place. But instead of calling out the ickiness that was Jace and Clary kissing, he just had a bit of a sulk instead. And I was like βNo Simon!ββ
Simon is a Vampire:
βPoor Simon, he keeps getting the shit thrown at him. The whole death/resurrection scene was really kinda emotional. I like that Clare isnβt afraid to go a little dark. I also wish we could have followed a little more of him coming to terms with it. He seems to just accept it. He doesn’t really have a big WHAT THE HELL moment. So while I was having a βwhat the hell just happened to Simonβ moment he didn’t and the story just moved passed it with like an βoh yeah Simonβs a vampire nowβ kind of attitude which is why I think I reeled from the reveal a little.β
Jace visits Valentine/arrested again:
βI am still confused by Valentineβs motivations really. I get the whole take over the world part, itβs more the playing with Jaceβs emotions I donβt get. Why is he suddenly so interested in Jace joining him? Why is he not as interested in Clary? I kept wondering if Jace was going to double-cross one or the other. I understand Jaceβs motivation to seek out Valentine. To think your father is dead and then to find out he wasnβt who you thought he was, I can see why Jace would want to seek out answers. I just donβt know why Valentine was entertaining him so much.β
Clary and Jace have special powers:
βThis was really out of the blue. Itβs really intriguing to find out why they are so different from the other too and what exactly Valentine did to them. Did he know what powers he was handing them? Or was he just experimenting? I am sure once Jocelyn wakes up we will get more about this. I suspect this will most likely be the major plot of book 3. It will be interesting to see how much they can do. Is Jaceβs powers just physical strength and Claryβs more artistic? Or is that just because thatβs how they express themselves (that might be too deep thinking for these novels)?β
Simon captured by Valentine:
βI half expected Simon to be the vampire that Valentine went after, it was too convenient that we happened to have a 15-year-old werewolf and a newly turned 16-year-old Vampire with links to Valentine just waiting in the wings so I saw the kidnap coming. What I didnβt see coming is Valentine killing Simon. I audibly gasped. That just leaving us hanging for chapters about Simon’s fate was what really made me sit up and pay attention to this book. The pace was kinda slow till Simon became a Vampire then it picked up but once we hit this point the pace just escalated and I could no longer put the book down.β
The fight against Valentine:
βThis was a mixed bag. I was kind of sad we didnβt get more description of Magnus and Lukeβs involvement. Magnus just seems like such an awesome character. I really want more of him ( and his cat). I really like Luke too. Also, we didnβt really get to see much of the fully-fledged grown-up Shadowhunters fight. The focus being all on Jace made this a little boring as we know what Jace can do. We have seen him fight demons before. I did like the stand-off between Clary and Valentine. I really liked the explosion of her power. It also leaves Valentine at large and itβs interesting to see if he will surface in the next book.β
Simon and the sun:
βIts like you said Ellie βBy this point, Simon had died, become a Vampire, got kidnapped by Valentine, been drained of his blood and sort of died again (or died more should I say), and then was revived by Jaceβs bloodβ, So what the hell is in Jaceβs Blood. Like I said before I am kind of sad we didnβt get more of Simonβs experience of becoming a Vampire as now he is this strange Day walking Vampire. Itβs another poor Simon moment as now he doesnβt really fit anywhere. The boy has just been through so much he kind of needed a break.β
Epilogue – break up/ Jace+Clary/ Jocelyn:
βOh this Epilogue. Why did Clare save half the plot points for the Epilogue? Simon and Clary breaking up, Simon liking Maia, Luke and Jocelynβs back story, Clary deciding to be like β you may be my brother but I think your hotβ, Jace deciding to be like βI like you as a sisterβ, Maryse being all like βJace, I have always loved you as a son just was a bit secret about itβ but that suddenly repairs their relationship. And the whole mic drop of βoh Clary, your mum put herself in this coma and I have known this whole freaking time!!!β honestly it was exhausting! Almost like Clare has a third book to sell. I will say the last sections of the book really did grip my attention and this did too.β

I love these posts!! And I love Fionaβs answers. Iβve had so much fun reading this series with her so far, and reacting to everything, chatting about the various plotlines and how yucky Jace and Clary are together aha!
I definitely enjoyed City of Ashes more than City of Bones, and Iβm expecting each book to get a little better as they go on, I still think there is a lot to know about Valentine, and Iβm excited to start City of Glass. Donβt forget to head over to Fionaβs post for her review and my thoughts on these elements!
Thatβs all for now, I hope you enjoyed this post, see you soon, stay safe,
Ellie xx
If you would like to purchase this book, you can find it here: Amazon UK (affiliate link) β Amazon FR (affiliate link) β AbeBooks (affiliate link) β The Book Depository (affiliate link) β Audible FR (affiliate link) β Amazon US β Waterstones β Barnes and Noble β Audible UK β Scrib’d β Kobo
[…] The first section is my spoiler free mini review of what I thought of the book followed by my interview of Ellie and her Thoughts. If you would like to see my answers to the interview questions and Ellie’s mini review you can find it one her blog Here. […]
Once again great post! I love how you two do these π.
Thank you so much Candyce! π
[…] had a fun time talking about it and writing our posts though, if you are interested, you can read my mini-review along with Fionaβs answers to our questions, and donβt forget to check out Fionaβs post with her mini-review and my answers to the […]