City of Ashes (The Mortal Instruments #2) by Cassandra Clare



 

Synopsis:


4 out of 5 stars

In comparison to City of Bones, this book was a little tame for me, action-wise. But I still loved it. This might have been the third, maybe even the fourth time I've read this book. 

I get caught up on the most ridiculous things and here's something I thought of for a minute too long: At the beginning of chapter 16, Clary gets frustrated and throws her phone on the dashboard after a failed attempt at getting a hold of Simon. The exact lines in the book go as follows: "Hot tears splashed down her cheeks and she threw her own phone at the dashboard." Okay, sure the situation called for a gesture of frustration, but why state that Clary threw "her own phone" on the dashboard, instead of just "her phone". As if she would give more consideration to the thought of throwing her phone any more than she would another individual's phone (say, Luke's. who was in the car with her at the time) Again, I stop and analyze the most seemingly unreasonable details, yet there it is.

Another thing I noticed while I was rereading thing this book is that some of the quotes in the book are placed in some of the most inappropriate contexts. By inappropriate, I mean that if read, they may be misinterpreted. For instance, in chapter 15, the one entitled The Serpent's Tooth, Jace says- as he breaks out of a makeshift jail created by the Inquisitor- "I am Valentine's arrow, whether he knows it or not." The placement of this statement seems inappropriate to me because it suggests that Jace is breaking out of jail to aid his father in his mission to cleanse the world of Downworlders. Yes, yes, it might have been one those strategically placed, misleading insinuations authors typically insert to throw off their readers, if not for the fact that when previously asked by Alec if he refused his father's offer, Jace stated that he did. Unless that was also one of those misleading insinuations to which- if that were true- I would have said (if I hadn't known the events that will subsequently occur): Ms. Clare, I'm confused.
I found it absolutely hilarious that when Valentine kidnapped Jocelyn in City of Bones, he had of Jocelyn and Clary's belongings destroyed. Yet when he kidnapped Simon, he went out his way and used magic to straighten up his room so as to not alarm his family. Valentine has been described using a good many adjectives, considerate was never one of them, until now. 

Before reading City of Ashes, I didn't usually like it when new characters were introduced after the first book for fear of their ruining the rest of the series. But, after I was acquainted with Maia Roberts, a young werewolf and a member of Luke's pack, I liked her very much. While City of Ashes is certainly not my favorite book from The Mortal Instruments series, I still thought it was a great installment! 

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