Review: City of Ashes by Cassandra Clare

Title: City of Ashes
Author: Cassandra Clare
Publisher: Simon Pulse
Publish Date: January 1, 2008
Genre: YA, fantasy
Pages: 453
Series: The Mortal Instruments
1. City of Bones (review)
2. City of Ashes
3. City of Glass (March 24, 2009)
4. City of Fallen Angels (April 5, 2011)
5. City of Lost Souls (expected pub May 2012)
6. City of Heavenly Fire (expected pub Sept 2013)

Synopsis:
A murderer is loose in New York City ...

... and the victims are Downworlder children. Clary Fray and her fellow Shadowhunters have a strong suspicion that Valentine, Clary's father, may be behind the killings. But if he is the murderer, then what's his true motive? To make matters worse, the second of the Mortal Instruments, the Soul-Sword, has been stolen, and the mysterious Inquisitor has arrived to investigate, with his eyes vigilantly targeted on Clary's brother, Jace.

Clary will need to face some terrifying demons and even more terrifying family decisions. No one said that the life of a Shadowhunter would be easy.

From Goodreads

***WARNING: Spoilers if you haven’t read Book 1: City of Bones***

CITY OF ASHES takes continues with the confusion that we were left in at the end of City of Bones. Clary and Luke are trying to deal with Jocelyn being in the hospital in a coma, Jace and the Lightwood children are having problems with the Lightwood adults returning to the Institute, and Simon has his own personal demons to battle.

This continuation of The Mortal Instruments series was just as good as the first. I thought the beginning was better than the first because we just jumped right in rather than having to take so much time to explain about the world of the Shadowhunters and Downworlders. It was also really great to see all the same characters we grew to love come back for this book. It was also great to see some new characters, so nothing became too monotonous.

The emotions in this book are so raw and so easy to feel through the pages, that it is clear Cassandra Clare has a way with words. I don’t want to give spoilers to those of you who haven’t read it, but the chapter in the Seelie Court is a really great example of the raw emotions. It’s my favourite scene from this book, and I wouldn’t be surprised if others felt the same way about it.

There are a lot of new challenges and hurdles that the characters have to face in CITY OF ASHES. And even though they have to deal with these tough things, they still seem like teenagers, and not adults. Clare really wrote the characters well.

If you haven’t picked up The Mortal Instruments yet, or you’ve started but haven’t continued, pick them up. I went about 7 months between City of Bones and City of Ashes and now I don’t know why. It’s really great getting back to Cassandra Clare’s world and seeing what kind of adventure she’s going to take us on next. Trust me, you don’t want to miss this series.