World Famous Comics: City of Ashes (Mortal Instruments)
City of Ashes (Mortal Instruments)
By: Cassandra Clare Publisher: Margaret K. McElderry Average Rating: Binding: Hardcover Label: Margaret K. McElderry Number of Items: 1 Number of Pages: 464 Publication Date: March 25, 2008 Reading Level: Young Adult
Product Description: Clary Fray just wishes that her life would go back to normal. But what's normal when you're a demon-slaying Shadowhunter, your mother is in a magically induced coma, and you can suddenly see Downworlders like werewolves, vampires, and faeries? If Clary left the world of the Shadowhunters behind, it would mean more time with her best friend, Simon, who's becoming more than a friend. But the Shadowhunting world isn't ready to let her go -- especially her handsome, infuriating, newfound brother, Jace. And Clary's only chance to help her mother is to track down rogue Shadowhunter Valentine, who is probably insane, certainly evil -- and also her father.
To complicate matters, someone in New York City is murdering Downworlder children. Is Valentine behind the killings -- and if he is, what is he trying to do? When the second of the Mortal Instruments, the Soul-Sword, is stolen, the terrifying Inquisitor arrives to investigate and zooms right in on Jace. How can Clary stop Valentine if Jace is willing to betray everything he believes in to help their father?
In this breathtaking sequel to City of Bones, Cassandra Clare lures her readers back into the dark grip of New York City's Downworld, where love is never safe and power becomes the deadliest temptation.
Beyond fabulous... This is one of my current favorite books. It is absolutely fabulous; beyond fabulous as the title indicates. I love the characters. I love the story. I love the style of writing the author uses. I love the twists and turns and I'm very antsy to hear the rest of the story when the next book comes out in a month or so.
Thoroughly enjoyed it! I'm not sure what every one's problem is. I thought the book was great, with a lot of action and suspense. There's even a tease at the end to get readers wanting more. ***SPOILER ALERT**** Okay all you goobers out there that don't read and comprehend at the same time. Don't you get it? They are not brother and sister! The novel is chock full of hints...Jace does not look anything like Clary, her mother, or Valentine. Valentine tells Clary his blood travels through her, but tells Jace he has the blood of angels. The fae queen tells them she knows a secret about them, then tells Jace to ask his father about his parentage. The Inquisitor looses her son and his wife (who is seven months pregnant)yet their bodies are missing. Hmmm...I wonder what happened to that unborn child? Gee, I don't know? Perhaps if I wasn't a moron I could figure it out. Then the Inquisitor dies saving Jace's life. ***end of spoiler**** Okay, sorry for my tyrant...uncomprehending complainers seem to be a pet peeve of mine.
LOVE! love love love love. Alright. So let me point this out to everyone: Yes, there is incest in this book. No, I don't mind it. Yes, there is homosexuality in this book. Again, I don't mind it.
For all of those people who are like: 'Omg! it's terrible because of what's going on with the characters!'Please, keep in mind that the author started out writing fanfiction. Incest and Homosexuality are seen in Fanfictions.Honestly though, I really like this book because it's so different then other books that I've read because the characters ARE so different. Really, I have never really read a book with a homosexual character, or have the main hero and heroine be in love yet are siblings. It's unique, in a mildly creepy way. I am a huge fan of the books, not only because the characters are often times witty and sarcastic, but because many of the aspects are unique.
I don't know how many times when I've read about 'orphan tries to find place in world, and saves the world!' books, or 'girl wants to break mold and runs off to join the army!', or 'destiny has chosen [characternamehere] to save the world!' type of books. The plot lines are over used, dull, and really repetitive. This book though totally broke the mold for me. And when I mean 'break the mold' I mean, seriously, breaking the mold.
I went onto about a two year reading hiatus (because no books really interested me) and I just picked up the first book in the series and could not put it down. It's not about a little orphan, or a princess running away from an arranged marriage. It is truly, truly an amazing book that I really do adore. I can't wait to see how the series ends honestly. The books, as far as I'm concerned, are very consistent so far. It's not like the Twilight series, where the first one was just amazing, then drops off in quality after that, or really the Harry Potter series where it gets better and better. These books are amazing, and I really don't know how else she could improve them, so they're consistent in the whole 'amazing' factor.
There was only one thing that had a tendnecy of bugging me in the series. That was the author had a tendency of repeating about certain physical qualities in a character (simon's long eyelashes, Jace's hair, etc), that or else she sometimes goes out on tangents describing things that aren't really relevant to the plot. However, the book is filled with the same banter, same characters, and same character's personalities as the previous book. It's nice to see that the characters don't magically change with little, or no, background information as to why they changed between the two books (Granted, it helps that there's not long time gap between the books since the two of them take place only in a few days each). -De
Even Better than Bones When I first picked up City of Bones, I wasn't sure what to make of it. As I was reading, I fell in love. No, it's definitely not heavy reading, and yes, there is better quality prose, but the book was just so fun and made me laugh out loud (which is rare), and the writing, while not amazingly spectacular, works perfectly for the story and is far from bad.
City of Ashes was even better. The characters are the kind of people you wish you knew, but don't; yet they're also just the kids next door. They bridge the gap between the ordinary and extraordinary, and you love them all for their weaknesses and strengths.
If you love fantasy, if you love sarcastic, witty conversations, if you love star-crossed lovers...READ THIS BOOK!
inconsistent timing This book seemed like much less of a mush of other books than the first one in the series did, which was a relief. It picks up shortly after the first book left off, with all the main characters just recovering from the wounds they sustained in the big fight against Valentine's Forsaken. Which brings me to my only major problem with this book: the timeline. Although we're told that it was August during the events of City of Bones, in this book it seems to be late fall (there's always a chill in the air). Clary wakes up and eats a doughnut on her way to meet Simon, and then suddenly it's late afternoon. And a few more occasions of missing time...
If you can ignore those inconsistencies, though, this is a good read. Plenty of twists and turns, and unexpected action. A few characters wind up not being dead a few too many times (an author can only pull that trick so many times before all the tension leaks away). And, although the book dragged in a few scenes (ok, Inquisitor, we get your point), I'll be waiting with a fair degree of anticipation of the (hopefully, since I don't think this story-line can last for more than one more book) last book in the trilogy.
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