City of Glass

by  Cassandra Clare

Series: The Mortal Instruments

Rating: 5 Stars

This is my favourite in the series so far. I really, really liked it. I now desperately want to read the rest of the books, but I don’t have them right now. Grrrrr.
At least this one didn’t end in a cliffhanger, thank goodness. Otherwise I would probably be complaining very loudly to everybody who would listen. And people who wouldn’t. And possibly my bookshelf.

Setting

This book mostly takes place in… Um… Uh… hahaha, I forget what it’s called. Come here Google.
Oh yeah… Idris.*

Anyways, the book takes place mostly in Idris. As much as I think New York is a wonderful setting for these books, I really liked reading about Idris as well, because it developed the world a lot.

However, I didn’t feel Idris was actually that well developed. Parts of it were, but I couldn’t really picture a lot of it… It wasn’t too bad, I just felt it could have been done better.

*I really feel like I shouldn’t have forgotten that, seeing as I spent the ENTIRE book thinking how similar it was to my name. And, um, reading it as my name. Idris, Iris, same thing right?

Plot

The plot was, once again, very predictable.

I predicted most of the plot twists ahead of time, and nothing really surprised me.
Near the end, they finally figured something out that I’d been 90% sure of since part way through book two. I actually suspected it since the end of book one, and had almost all the details worked out by halfway through this book.
Seriously, my reaction to what I’m pretty sure was supposed to be a shocking plot twist, was just to very calmly think “Huh, that little detail that I couldn’t quite figure out makes sense, I should have guessed.”

Basically, I’m NOT impressed. But I was happy that they’d finally figured it out, so that I could stop complaining that it was SO OBVIOUS!!!* So, SO obvious. Ugh.

*Actually, I think I LIKE complaining about books.

Characters

I don’t have all that much to say about the characters that I haven’t already said. I love Jace and Isabelle and Simon. I’m liking Alec more and more. I guess there’s a couple of new* characters I can talk about

Amatis – I like Amatis, she’s nice. There’s a couple scenes that make me really like her, but she doesn’t really do much.

Aline – Same as Amatis, I like Aline, there’s a couple of scenes where she’s great, but she doesn’t do much. I do think you get to know her a bit better, but… not very well.

Maryse – Maryse is Alec and Isabelle’s mom. She was in the second book as well, but I feel like we got to know her better in this book.** When she first came in I didn’t really like her, I thought she was a bit of a jerk. However, I actually quite like her now.

Max – Max is Alec and Isabelle’s little brother. He’s very serious, and sort of adorable.

*My definition of new being ‘Characters I haven’t already talked about’ not necessarily characters who are ACTUALLY new.

**Although I’m not entirely sure… I read this book IMMEDIATELY after finishing City of Ashes, so I can’t really keep them straight.

Over All

I really, really liked this book. I think I’m now mildly obsessed with this series. I’d really like to read the rest of the series. Really badly. Ideally RIGHT NOW! Humph, apparently that isn’t possible. I. Am. Not. Happy.

Also I think I’m bad at reviewing sequels. I just slowly run out of things to say. At least things that I haven’t already said.* I have lots to say, I just don’t want to repeat myself too much.

Also,** this book is very big. Why did I think it was smart to put it in my purse and carry it around for a few hours?! WHY?!?! It was over five hundred pages, and a HARDCOVER!! What. Was. I. Thinking?!
Why couldn’t I have brought a two hundred and something page book with me instead? I was even in the middle of one… That just wasn’t very smart. My bag is already pretty heavy. Without a book in it at all. Ugh.

*I just put read, instead of said. Oops.

**Also, I say also way too much.

Have you read City of Glass? What did you think of it? Do you have a hard time reviewing sequels? Does anyone else have trouble remembering what was in which book? Do you enjoy complaining about things that annoy you in books?