BOOK REVIEW: CITY OF ASHES BY CASSANDRA CLARE

Alright, here we go.

City of Ashes by Cassandra Clare...I really liked this one.

I greatly enjoy Clare’s writing style; I appreciate the fact that she writes in such a way that you can IMAGINE and SEE what is happening, especially when it comes to action sequences, which I will be discussing further in my I Am Number Four review post, and possibly a post devoted to explaining my thoughts on action in books.

I’m gonna lay it out:

1. Magnus Bane + Alec Lightwood

2. Maia
3. Simon
4. Jocelyn

5. The Inquisitor

6. Valentine

7. Clary

1. Magnus Bane + Alec

Magnus, at one point in the book, is described as “a gay Sonic the Hedgehog.” Sorry, but I couldn’t help laughing.

But EW. Um...Magnus and Alec...I don’t ship that. Plus, I already don’t support gays, so lol, no.

And the fact that Alec denied liking Magnus in front of Jace because he still loves Jace...omygosh stop.

2. Maia

I like her. At first she was kinda annoying but she came around. She was still so minor I was kinda confused by her. Her role finally came to light: Valentine kidnaps her and plans to use her blood to change the Soul Sword. Right.

3. Simon

I really love this guy. He’s so true-blue and amazing and LOYAL. When he became a vampire...I was totally all: WAT.

Let me discuss my thoughts on this:

First off, how the heck can one  become a vampire by simply biting them and getting some of their blood in their system? Apparently Simon became a vampire because, when he was a rat, he bit Raphael and swallowed a bit of his blood...so that made him become a vampire. What the heck? I don’t see how that makes any sense, especially with the fact that vampires don’t even have THEIR own blood? Because when they drink blood, that’s the blood that flows in their system...like...yeah. So...I kinda like it was lame Simon became a vampire for that reason.

 

THIS IS WHY BOOK LOVERS NEED OTHER BOOK LOVERS. THANK YOU JASMINE FOR CLEARING THAT UP LOL LOL

 

Second, it was almost too convenient, that, at the LAST SECOND, Simon is suddenly able to deal with the sun. I mean...what the heck? Okay so he’s a vampire…

    -He becomes a vampire by biting a vampire

    -He’s dead, has no heartbeat, and can’t go into the sun

    -Suddenly, he can go in the sun, even though he was practically…”Gold threads shot through the rosy sky like the gold veining in expensive marble. The water around them blazed with light and Simon went rigid, his head falling back, his open eyes filling with gold as if molten liquid was rising inside of him. Black lines appeared on his skin like cracks in a shattered statue.

“Simon!” Clary screamed. She reached for him…[Jace pulls her back, tells her to look, she’s freaking out, she finally looks] She looked. And heard her own breath whistle harshly in her lungs as she gasped. Simon was sitting up at the back of the truck, in a patch of sunlight, open mouthed and staring down at himself. The sun danced on the water behind him and the edges of his hair glinted like gold. He had not burned away to ash, but sat unscorched in the sunlight, and the pale skin of his face and arms and hands was entirely unmarked.”

I was seriously like: “WHAT!!??”

Then later…

“But everything else is still...still the same?”

“You mean am I still a vampire? Yeah. It looks like it. Still want to drink blood, still no heartbeat. I’ll have to avoid the doctor, but since vampires don’t get sick…” He shrugged.

“And you talked to Raphael? He still has no idea why you can go out into the sun?”

“None. He seems pretty [ticked] about it too.”

WHAT EVEN. HOW DOES THIS MAKE SENSE.

Anyway, I still love him. But what ANNOYS me is that he has spent all of City of Bones and all of City of Ashes proclaiming his love for Clary and even boyfriending her. And then the end. “NOPE, WE’RE FRIENDS NOW, K BABY?”

Simon, what even...I get it, since he says he knows Clary doesn’t love-love him. She loves him, but not the kind of love that he loves her with, which is why he cuts the boyfriending off, but still wants her to be his friend, of course. He knows she loves him, but not with a romantic love. With a family, protective love.

So...yeah.

4. JOCELYN WAKE UP.

The ending. I totally knew that gray-haired lady was important. DUH. It was so obvious. (Lol, the song playing on my iPod right now is called “Obvious” and when I typed ‘obvious’ it said that word XD)

It makes me happy that Valentine isn’t the one who put Jocelyn in the coma. It makes me feel happy she did it to herself to avoid Valentine, which only fuels the rebellion against him, which makes me happy because I hate him lol.

So, the gray-haired lady, Madeleine, says she is the only one who can wake Jocelyn up and she’s gonna do it :D In City of Glass. I assume.

That’s how the book ended…

5. The Inquisitor

I HATE HER UGH. She finally came around and was nice and then died but UGH she was ANNOYING.

6. Valentine.

I hate him lul.

7. Clary

So...lemme get this straight.

Clary is a Shadowhunter, yes? So why does Jace/other people insist on refering to her as a mundane still? Like, NO-ONE treats her like a Shadowhunter.

Clary has the power to draw special runes. Cool.

Clary and Jace needs to stop….I mean, it totally sucks, but you just can’t do incest...and Simon and Clary ;w; But now Simon has killed the relationship (for good reasons...because Clary doesn’t LOVE HIM BACK)....but Jace and Clary just...ugh.

I was so annoyed that Clary gathered up courage to tell Jace how she felt after having that conversation with Luke about him loving Jocelyn and never saying anything….but she totally messed up and didn’t say anything!! Jace just assumes he knows what she’s there to tell him and that’s for him to stay away from her/not like her in that way. AND CLARY WANTS THE OPPOSITE.

Seriously, what the heck…

So, that’s all :) 9.5/10 for City of Ashes!!

~Amanda