Monday, April 25, 2011

City of Glass by Cassandra Clare

This is the THIRD book in a series. The book description contains SPOILERS. Do not read this review (yet) if you plan on reading City of Bones and City of Ashes (The Mortal Instruments series).

To save her mother’s life, Clary must travel to the City of Glass, the ancestral home of the Shadowhunters—never mind that by doing so she is breaking the Law which could mean death. Even worse, Jace does not want her there, and Simon has been thrown in prison by Shadowhunters who are deeply suspicious of a vampire who can withstand sunlight.

Luckily, Clary finds an ally in mysterious Sebastian, who holds a strange attraction for her. As Valentine musters a demon army, can Downworlders and Shadowhunters put aside their ancient hatred to work together? And can Clary harness her newfound powers to help save them all—whatever the cost?


I was talking to my friend Chaleese the other day about this series and she told me that this was only supposed to be a trilogy, but the author signed an additional three-book contract, so now there will be SIX books total. Holy mother of pearl--that's a lot of writing.

I have to say, I am so glad there will be more books. If this was the final book, I would have burned my copies of them. Or fed them to my dog. No, seriously. Any way you look at it, they would have died a horrible death.  My feelings on the matter are that you just can't make certain revelations and then tie it up with a pretty bow, tuck it away, and be done with it. Not if you want the entire (or my entire, at least) literary world to hate your guts. Forever. So I'm really happy to report that there are more books. The fourth book in this series, City of Fallen Angels, was actually released a few weeks ago. I'm curious though--where does it go from here? I have my ideas of what's going to happen as this series continues, but it's pure speculation. And I hope I'm wrong. My imagination tends to run away with me sometimes.

I also want to point out that I love Cassandra Clare. Why, you ask? I love authors that aren't afraid to kill off characters in their books. I think it would be really hard to develop a character and know them and then make them die. I applaud any writer who has the guts to do it. Cassandra Clare falls into this category. That said, killing people off doesn't work in every instance, obviously. I hate when I read a book about war though, and no one dies. C'mon. How realistic is that??

I know I was a bit dramatic at the start of this review about destroying books and all,  but I really did love this book. It had all the essential elements of a really fantastic book. It mad me laugh and it made me cry. I felt love, hatred, anger, joy, sorrow....and relief. There were revelations left and right in this book. It was like a roller coaster ride of discovery, for the characters and the reader.

This is a series you definitely don't want to miss. I am going to take a mini break before I read book four. Rest and recharge and all that. I need a new storyline and new characters for a minute. Watch for it the review though. It is coming!

Happy Reading!

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