City of Ashes Review

SPOILERS FOR PEOPLE WHO HAVEN'T READ CITY OF BONES

Release Date: March 25, 2008
Publisher: Margaret K. McElderry
Age Group: 14+
Pages: 453 (Hardcover)

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?

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It's official, I love this series.

It's an extremely original plot, with unexpected twists constantly being thrown your way. It's definitely something that's hard to put down. I love/hate the forbidden romance with Jace and Clary. But there were, literally, times where I yelled at the book.

The characters are unpredictable, lovable, and at times extremely frustrating. Unlike some characters, their not level-headed and put together, and at times it makes them seem easier to relate to and real.

The writing is unreal. The descriptions and emotions in this book couldn't be possible without Cassandra Clare's amazing writing. It's one of the main things that makes this book great.

It was missing a little bit of City of Bone's mystery, but was still great. I can't wait until I have a chance to get started on City of Glass, and will be very sad to see the enthralling series end.

Teaser Tuesdays (July 21st, '09)

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly meme, hosted by MizB of Should

Be Reading.

Anyone can play along, do the following:

• Grab your current read
• Open to a random page
• Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
• BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
• Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

Here's mine:
"Alec moved toward the Brother's impaled corpse. Smeared marks led away from the blood pool on the floor. "Footprints," he said. "Someone running." Alec indicated with a curled hand that the girls should follow him. They did, Isabelle pausing only to wipe her bloody hands off on her soft leather leg guards."

From page 111 of City of Ashes by Casandra Clare.

Book News

OK, first of all, is anyone else having trouble getting to Lauren Barnholdt's website? I'm trying to enter her Catching Fire giveaway, but no matter what link, or where it comes from, I can't get to it. Is it just my slow Internet connection? It's making me really mad.


I also got another award! This one is from Meggin from Serendipity Book Reviews! Thanks Meggin!


I'm not sure what this award is exactly for, so I'll just give it to 5 of some of my favorite blogs (but not necessarily my top ones, and in no order). Sorry if you have it.


1. Bloody Bookaholic

2. GreenBeanTeenQueen

3. FANTASTIC BOOK REVIEW

4. Library Lounge Lizard

5. Pop Culture Junkie

Thanks again to Meggin!


Oh, and if you won't mind a rare fan-girl moment (not about Rob Pattinson, mind you): I got City of Ashes! When my dad brought it home from the library, I sware I could've jumped up and down and screamed. Unfourtunatelty, I need to read other library books before their due date...great.


Alright, so that's it for my book news.