City of Ashes

by Cassandra Clare

Series: The Mortal Instruments

Rating: 4 stars

I’m going to attempt to review this book, and only this book, but I’ve already read City of Glass, and I can barely remember what was in which book… So I’ll probably fail.

I really liked this book. It’s probably my least favourite in the series so far, but it was still really good.

Also, this is my first* attempt at writing a review of a sequel, so I’m not entirely sure how to do it… This post may be a bit of a failure…

(There will be some mild spoilers… I’m bad at reviewing things without spoiling. I’ll try not to spoil anything major though.)

*Okay, fine second, but the first was my third post and it was AWFUL!

Plot

So, I mentioned in my review of City of Bones that I predicted almost every plot twist… This book was a little bit better… I didn’t actually predict most of the plot twists, they simply didn’t surprise me. At all.

Also, at the end,* when Luke admitted he loved Clary’s mom, I was laughing so hard. It was so obvious to me that I hadn’t realized no one else knew… I was like “Wait, Clary didn’t know this? Clary’s mom didn’t know this? Nobody else knew this? What?!”

Anyways, back to the plot.
Honestly I don’t actually remember most of the plot from this book. I remember random snippets, and the ending. THAT ENDING!!! IT WAS A CLIFFHANGER!!!! I DON’T LIKE CLIFFHANGERS!!
It wasn’t really that bad. I can forgive the book for that. It just left me staring at the book in annoyance for about five minutes. And then madly dashing upstairs to grab the next book. Because that ending! Okay, maybe I haven’t quite forgiven it yet.

*This wasn’t actually a plot twist, I just wanted to say it. And I didn’t know where to put it. So it got lumped in with plot.

Characters

I love the characters in this. I feel like I might have already said this… I’m not sure. But if so, I can say it again. Because they’re wonderful.

There wasn’t really many new characters in this book, so I’ll talk about some of the characters who I just didn’t bother to mention when I reviewed City of Bones. And possibly some of the ones I did mention.

Luke – Luke is great, I’m not really sure why I haven’t mentioned him yet. He’s sort of like a father to Clary, and he’s really nice. Also he’s a werewolf.

Magnus – I very much enjoy Magnus. He wasn’t one of my favourites, but I enjoyed reading about him.

Maia – Maia is a werewolf in Luke’s pack, she’s sweet, and also sort of feisty. I really like her. Also she made me realize that I’ve never really read about a female werewolf before. Why are there no female werewolves? Admittedly, I haven’t read much with werewolves, and maybe I’ve just missed all the ones with females… but I feel like I should have read something with a female werewolf before this.

Simon – I know I already talked about Simon in my post about City of Bones, but I’m going to talk about him again. Simon is one of my favourite characters in these. He’s wonderful.
And I just realized I can’t really say what I wanted to say… It’s a sort of large-ish spoiler…

Also, I know someone named Simon. I’ve known him my entire life, and know him very well. Someone mentioned him, and I thought they were talking about the book character. Oops.

Jace – Jace is another one of my favourites. He’s not always very nice, but then he’ll go and do something to make me like him again. Like saving Simon’s life, even though he doesn’t actually like Simon.

I think that the characters are one of the best parts of this book. I think I say that about every book I liked,  characters are an important part of a book to me.

Humour

I don’t really have a lot to say about the humour, I just thought I should talk about it. I think the main reason I like these books is because of the humour.  The banter between the characters is wonderful, and so funny. I was cracking up all through the book.

Over all

I really liked City of Ashes. I’ve already read the next book. Also, this one has a way better cover than the first one. Which is definitely relevant to my feelings about this book. Seriously though, I actually sort of like this cover. Although it is a bit odd. But still, it’s a huge improvement.

Also, I just remembered.

Because my memory is terrible.

I’m going to be busy for the next couple weeks, so I will post, but I probably won’t have time to respond to comments and stuff.* And I’m totally just saying this because it feels sort of official and makes me feel like I have more followers than I really do.

*By which I mean I’ll consider it a waste of time, because my friend is going to be here, and I’d rather spend time with her than bother with comments.

Have you read City of Ashes? How about City of Bones? Do you look for book characters when you hear their names? Even if you know the person who’s really being talked about? Or am I the only one who does that? Have you read anything with a female werewolf in it?