1/27/2008

City of Ashes

City of Ashes by Cassandra Clare is fast-paced, exciting, hilarious, and heartbreaking.

In City of Bones, the first book, Clary Fray’s world is turned upside-down. She has never thought of herself as being anything other than ordinary, until she sees a group of teenagers kill a demon—and finds that no one else can see them. Soon after that, Clary’s mother mysteriously disappears, and she is plunged into a world in which vampires and werewolves are real. She discovers that she is a Shadowhunter—a race of demon-slayers. To top it all off, she finds herself caught in a nasty love triangle with Simon, her best friend, and Jace, an arrogant, handsome Shadowhunter. Just as she seems to be falling for Jace, she finds out that Valentine, the villainous man who kidnapped her mother* is her father, and Jace is her brother. Oops.


As City of Ashes begins, Clary’s mother is lying in the hospital in a coma, the Clave** suspects that Jace is a spy for his father, and Clary is very romantically confused.

Valentine goes after the second Mortal Instrument, the Soul-Sword, and is more of a jerk than ever. Jace is an angry, angst-ridden teenager.*** Simon seems to be becoming more than a friend to Clary, but she’s still struggling with her feelings for Jace. And—my word! Is our love triangle becoming more of a… love… square? Indeed it is! Speaking of love shapes, Alec gets a boyfriend.****

On top of all the aforementioned drama, Clary and Jace seem to be discovering mysterious powers. And, of course, there is still the lingering question: are they really siblings?*****

City of Ashes is fabulous—at least as good as City of Bones, if not better. Also, there are more flying motorcycles.

I give City of Ashes four and one-half daggers.

*He also stole the Mortal Cup, which is used to make more Shadowhunters, so that he can build an ARMY OF DOOM.
** That’s the big scary Shadowhunter government.
*** But really, he has every right to his emo-ness.
**** No, I’m not telling who it is. I think you can figure it out if you try, though.
***** I’m hoping no.


Riding a flying motorcycle, battling Valentine, and hoping beyond hope that Jace and Clary aren't related,

PS City of Ashes comes out on March 25.


Avery adds:

Here I sit, reveling in the glorious-ness of the Advanced Reader Copy.
Very little is more satisfying than reading a book that is not yet on the shelf. That being said, City of Ashes is a particular type of ARC. Not only is it not yet available for the reading pleasure of the general public...It's really good! Vampires, werewolves, betrayal, corruption, love shapes, and Jace Wayland, all wrapped up in a lovely package of well written awesomeness.

I laughed. I cried. I ranted passionately to Aislinn about the events that transpired. (Which was rather frustrating, I might add, as I couldn't rant to her until she'd finished reading it.)

In short, City of Ashes is an awesome book.

Four and a half seraph blades...er...that is, daggers!

Shadowhunter-wannabe-ly,



19 comments:

Nurin said...

Nice review. I can't wait to read it... *feels jealous*

Anonymous said...

f*** it i hate you!!!!!!!!!
okay, not really. but YOU HAVE CITY OF ASHES! *screams inarticulately* need...book...so...badly...
*more screaming, then soft chanting* 57 days, 57 days, 57 days, 57 days....

Cassie said...

Aw! I'm so glad you guys liked it. I loved your interview with Libba, by the way!

Anonymous said...

Impressive. The book, the review, the fact that you have an Advanced Reader Copy . . . all of it, really.
I eagerly await the book's debut . . . and are you guys going to pose an infamous "13 Questions" to Cassandra Clare? That would be great.

Anonymous said...

ummm...yeah...sorry about that. i get really jumpy when forced to spend extended amounts of time with old people in vintage tearooms blaring Pachabel's Cannon.

glad you liked the book---hope it's as good as you say it is.
can't wait!

Lisa McMann said...

Great review!

Anonymous said...

=0 I want. This review made me want the book more. Rawr.

"Alec gets a boyfriend."

And you're making me think because of that. Rawr again.

Jess/vampiregal16rulz said...

nice review chk out my blog i dont have much but i need some comments i only have 0 but i will be adding funnier things and more pics and stuff hey i think the Mortal Instuments seris should be made into a movie once the third book "City Of Glass" comes out Who agrees?

Anonymous said...

i cannot scream GOD, NO! loud enough to express how little i want a Mortal Instruments movie. they would probably ruin it. movies never get it right. i would spend all my time complaining about changing the plot or appearences of cahraacters or whatever.

Anonymous said...

AHHH! I WANT IT!!!
tear.

Emilie said...

Oh i'm ssssooo jelous of you guys!!
but i actuly like Jace and Clary as siblings and Clary and Simon together, it meshes better.. oh and 46 MORE DAYS TILL IT COMES OUT FOR THE REST OF US MUNDIES!! W00T!!!!

defenestrated pigeon said...

I hate you guys! In a good, in-awe-of-you way, of course. But really-- you get all the good ARCs (while I'm stuck with 'Poseur' and the like), you interview all the good authors...*sends envy rays blasting towards you*
But at least now I'm suitably excited!

Anonymous said...

umm the book alredy came out on thursday cuz i have city of ashes alredy got at barnes and nobles and yes the book is amzing even better than the first and i cant wait till city of glass comes out im pretty sure theres gonna be even more awesome surprises and the only way the movie will turn out to be just as good as the books is if cassandra clare actually writes the screen play herself that way the story doesnt get messed up.

Anonymous said...

NNNNNNNOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!! NO MOVIE!!!! IT ALREADY PISSED ME OFF THAT THEIR MAKING A MOVIE OF TWILIGHT CUZ THEY'LL KILL IT!!!!!!!!!! I SWEAR TO GOD THEY WILL! sorry, had to get that out of my system. i read the book, it's freakin awesome and i say everybody *must* read it!! jk, but seriously, it's my favorite book of all time, followed closely in second place by city of bones.

Jess/vampiregal16rulz said...

i only want them to have a movie so i can see the wepons and tatoos and if u dont want a movie u dont have to go see it u no

Anonymous said...

Cool review! I read the entire book! And it only took me 5 hours! I can't wait for the third book! But i have to say something, Alec doesn't really have a boyfriend officially. It's kinda still one of those 'i don't know what youre talking about' thing. he's still embarrased to do anything about it.

Anonymous said...

A movie would be good but like another commenter said it would kill it! One, the characters will have to be one hundres percent accurate and NOT CHEESY! And if the actor playing Jace isn't cute then my eyes will bleed forever! Ahhh! PLEASE, PLEASE, PEOPLE! IF YOURE GOING TO MAKE IT A MOVIE DO IT RIGHT!!!!!!!!

Anonymous said...

Jace Wayland = love
City of Ashes = Stellar awesomeness

Unknown said...

It's alright. The book isn't amazing, but it was interesting enough. I own both the first and the second books, and I have to say that they don't pull nuthin' on Holly Black. And if Valiant was rated a 4.5 stars, I'd say City of Ashes is most certainly about a 2 or 3. But to each their own, I guess.