City of Glass by Cassandra Clare

To save her mother’s life, Clary must travel to the City of Glass, the ancestral home of the Shadowhunters – never mind that entering the city without permission is against the Law, and breaking the Law could mean death. To make things worse, she learns that Jace does not want her there, and Simon has been thrown in prison by the Shadowhunters, who are deeply suspicious of a vampire who can withstand sunlight.

As Clary uncovers more about her family’s past, she finds an ally in mysterious Shadowhunter Sebastian. With Valentine mustering the full force of his power to destroy all Shadowhunters forever, their only chance to defeat him is to fight alongside their eternal enemies. But can Downworlders and Shadowhunters put aside their hatred to work together? While Jace realizes exactly how much he’s willing to risk for Clary, can she harness her newfound powers to help save the Glass City – whatever the cost?

Love is a mortal sin and the secrets of the past prove deadly as Clary and Jace face down Valentine in the final installment of the New York Timesbestselling trilogy The Mortal Instruments

My thoughts…

This was a bit better then the last book. Seems to be a trend with this series for me. I don’t know why I’m struggling so much with it, perhaps because it’s just not my cup of tea. I will say this…I DIDN’T HATE CLARY IN THIS BOOK! It’s a miracle! There was a whole lot less whining. It was still only a 3.5 out of 5 stars for me. But that’s a step up!  I didn’t have as hard of a time getting into this book as I did the others. It seemed that the action started right off (thank goodness!!) and kept on going.

There was some relationship drama going on, but finally, it did not over shadow the rest of the story like it did the last 2 books. I didn’t quite understand what was up with Sebastian. I was expecting Clary to be more involved with him by what I read in the synopsis. But she really didn’t turn to him as an ally. He helped her once and Clary was done with him. I didn’t like that even though he gave her reservations after he helped her that she still trusted him. But she’s not perfect.  She is only 16 and 16 yr old make stupid mistakes.

Simon…oh Simon. He seems to be adjusting to his new situation but it can’t be easy at all. Then he gets sucked in to Shadowhunter business. I am starting to wonder if Simon will ever NOT be involved in Shadowhunter business. I wish everything with him would have been resolved, but I suppose that is what book 4 is for.

If I don’t pick up the following books, I think I would be content. This was meant to be a trilogy and she wrapped it up nicely. An epilogue of Jocelyn and Luke’s wedding with whomever Simon has for a date would have wrapped it up indefinitely. But….money dictates actions and book 4 and 5 were born.

Fans of Harry Potter would like this series I think. I haven’t picked up that series and I really don’t have a desire to do so. I am a Twilight fanatic. So I’m a bit shocked I didn’t love this series. This is after all the love child of Twilight and Harry Potter.

SPOILER, SPOILER, SPOILER, SPOILER, SPOILER, SPOILER, SPOILER

Finally, we learn that Jace and Clary are NOT brother and sister. Finally, no squick feelings when they touch. I am happy they got their happily ever after. It was sort of gross when Jace made his big declaration of love, truly believing that Clary was his sister.  Thank goodness that we learned later on that they are not related because ugh, if they could make-out and make declarations of love while believing they are siblings….I don’t even want to KNOW where that would have gone.

City of Bones by Cassandra Clare

When fifteen-year-old Clary Fray heads out to the Pandemonium Club in New York City, she hardly expects to witness a murder — much less a murder committed by three teenagers covered with strange tattoos and brandishing bizarre weapons. Then the body disappears into thin air. It’s hard to call the police when the murderers are invisible to everyone else and when there is nothing — not even a smear of blood — to show that a boy has died. Or was he a boy?

This is Clary’s first meeting with the Shadowhunters, warriors dedicated to ridding the earth of demons. It’s also her first encounter with Jace, a Shadowhunter who looks a little like an angel and acts a lot like a jerk. Within twenty-four hours Clary is pulled into Jace’s world with a vengeance, when her mother disappears and Clary herself is attacked by a demon. But why would demons be interested in ordinary mundanes like Clary and her mother? And how did Clary suddenly get the Sight? The Shadowhunters would like to know. . . .
Exotic and gritty, exhilarating and utterly gripping, Cassandra Clare’s ferociously entertaining fantasy takes readers on a wild ride that they will never want to end.

I wasn’t sure if I should start this series or not. On one hand I am glad that I have and on the other I’m not. I liked City of Bones, but when I finished it I just sat there and didn’t know what to feel. Normally when I finish a book there are definite feelings I have towards the characters of the book. This one, just a jumbled mess going on in that heart of mine.  While I don’t hate it, I don’t love it either. I will be reading the rest of the books in the series and I hope that things pick up (because we all know that book 1 of a series isn’t always the best). With this book I did find my brain taking mental walks through the park and I’d have to refocus.

Some Of The Characters:
Clary. Clary, Clary, Clary *shakes my head*. Where do I start? She is frustrating to me, at times infuriating…and I don’t know why!!! I keep thinking the word immature in regards to Clary. But she’s only 16, so of course she is immature. I will give her credit for handling being thrown into the Shadowhunters world and the curve balls that were thrown at her as well as she did.  She does need training if she is going to live in this world that she has been thrust into. Freezing up isn’t going to work for her anymore if she wants to keep moving ahead with this life that has chosen her.

Simon, I believe is one of my favorite characters from this book.  I kept thinking of him as one of Clary’s redeeming qualities as I was reading.  Very witty young man he is.  Even though he’s a “mundie” he brings some skills to the table. I’m really hoping that we see more of him in this series. Even if it’s only to bring strife and frustration to Jace’s life…he’s so funny when it’s teasing that boy.

Now for the other man in Clary’s life, Jace. I’ve read some reviews where people thought he was an asshole. I didn’t think that at all. I found his sense of humor pretty refreshing. And the small part of the book from Jace’s POV…was GREAT! I wish Cassandra Clare would have had more then that 1 snippet. He seems very loyal to those he feels that are under his protection, very quick to throw himself first into danger. Because of that, I got the sense that he was the “leader” of their small group of Shadowhunters. With that said, it was very frustrating that he would be so trusting in the scene with Valentine. That part was driving me batty. I kept saying out loud, “Seriously?! You are NOT that naive!!”  Plus in my opinion he had one of the best lines from the entire book, “The meek may inherit the earth, but at the moment it belongs to the conceited. Like me.” Well, to be honest I think all of the best lines were from Jace 🙂

Overall:

I will continue this series and I’d even recommend it to a friend who enjoys the YA Fantasy genre. Cassandra Clare did a fine job with creating this world that she is sharing with us.

SPOILERS, SPOILERS, SPOILERS, SPOILERS, SPOILERS, SPOILERS, SPOILERS, SPOILERS, SPOILERS, SPOILERS

As the book is moving along and Clary is finding herself drawn to Jace, and Jace to Clary…it’s cute. Young love you know? I was hoping that they would end up together but NOT that way. Finding out that Jace is Clary’s brother was horrible! Very “Star Wars” if you know what I mean. I’m hoping that later on in the series we find that Valentine was lying to win Jace’s loyalty (because he seemed pretty gosh darn loyal to him at the end there!!!) I understand that Clary can’t just shut off those emotions when it comes to Jace, but it still gives me that squicky feeling reading about it.