Search - City of Ashes (Mortal Instruments, Bk 2)

It took me a bit to get into this book. (It may have been that I read a historical fiction previous.) Once I got into it though, it was pretty good. Great happy ending. Looking forward to the next one.

Reviewed by coollibrarianchick for TeensReadToo.com

Last week, I received a copy of CITY OF ASHES, book two in THE MORTAL INSTRUMENTS trilogy by Cassandra Clare, for review. I was so excited because I just loved the first book, CITY OF BONES. I wanted to read more about Clary, Jace, Simon, Luke, and the rest of the Shadowhunters and their adventures. This book, as with the first one, thoroughly entertained me. With this series, Cassandra Clare will easily make herself a household name.

The story opens with Valentine summoning a demon to be at his beck and call. This demon plays against a person's worst fears. You would need a protection spell if you wanted to ward off the advances of that kind of demon. How is that for an opener?! Once again, Valentine is up to no good - no surprise there. At the end of the first book, Valentine gained control of the Mortal Cup, which can only mean trouble for....everyone. What is he up to?

The last few weeks of this new seeing and slaying life has both exhausted and exhilarated Clary. Everything was so simple before that fateful night at the club. Clary was an ordinary teenager with an affinity toward drawing and manga. Now she can see werewolves, vampires, and fairies, and sketch her own runes. Plus, her mother is in a coma and Jace, one of the Shadowhunters who annoys and attracts her at the same time, turns out to be her brother. Bad news for Clary but good news for Simon, who used it to his advantage to get even closer to Clary. She has a tough choice to make about her future. Clary can leave the Shadowhunter world behind like her mother did, or she can become one of them and work toward finding out what Valentine's plan is now that he has the Mortal Cup.

Clary is not the only one to go through personal upheaval. Jace is devastated that he is not who he thought he was. Nothing good can come out of being Valentine's son, which he learns when his "mother" returns home full of accusations. Soon he is cast out from the one place he can call home. The Inquisitor, a real peach of a lady, holds Jace's fate in her hands. Believe me, there is no love lost between his adoptive parents, his real father, and her. Needless to say, the meeting between them doesn't go well and he is sentenced to prison in the Silent City. Prison turns out to not be the safest place for Jace, as dear daddy pays him a visit there trying to get him to switch teams.

Will Jace join Valentine or remain true to the Shadowhunter's virtues? And if he stays true to his Shadowhunter's roots, will he and his cohorts be able to stop Valentine before the rest of the mortal instruments are collected?

To find out how these and many other surprises happen, pick up your copy of CITY OF ASHES.

I'm really enjoying this series. I like these books as a nice change of pace from what I normally read yet they aren't "dumbed down" a whole lot. Yes they are for young adults and that's obvious but it's still an engaging story with lots of twists and likable characters. I'm already on the third book and planning to read all 5!

I read this because of the book's massive popularity, despite my somewhat lukewarm feelings about the first installment. That and my interest in seeing how the relationship between Alec and Magnus Bane plays out. The story is generally interesting and the writing is adequate if not inspired.

However, even after the second book, the characters lack depth and any strong appeal. To use a term that you'd find in the books themselves, the characters are kinda "Mundane." I am still interested in seeing how this story plays out and I'll most likely read the third book when I encounter it but I'm not gonna rush out and buy it.

Love everything she writes. Great paranormal fiction for teens and adults.