Book Blog #64: City of Ashes by Cassandra Clare

Title: City of Ashes
Author: Cassandra Clare
# of Pages: 453 (paperback)
Genre: YA, Paranormal, Fantasy
Rating: ★★★☆☆
Synopsis: 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? Clary would love to spend more time with her best friend, Simon. But the Shadowhunters won't 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. When the second of the Mortal Instruments is stolen, the terrifying Inquisitor suspects Jace. Could Jace really be willing to betray everything he believes in to help their father?

Review: WARNING! This review will contained uncensored spoilers for Cassandra Clare's City of Bones.

Why must you make this so hard for me to write a review????????? This is crazy. I'm not sure how to convey to y'all my feelings for this book. But, somehow, I'll manage. For your sake.

After watching the City of Bones movie, I have come to like Clary A LOT more. She's not that annoying anymore. BUT she's still not the best protagonist in the world. In contrast, Jace...he seems extra stupid in this book. His stupidity kind of showed through at the end of City of Bones when he was hanging out with Valentine, but this book brought it to a whole new level. My opinion of Alec, Isabelle, and Simon stays the same. But Magnus...I found him to be a lot more interesting in this book. I can see why everyone likes Magnus so much; he's personality is hilarious.

Speaking of hilarious, this book is funny. I'm not sure if it's suppose to be a comedy, but the humor is what makes me like this book. So if anyone out there has a hard time enjoying the series, try laughing at some of the dumb parts. Trust me; it'll improve the quality of the book A LOT.

But, despite all of this, I cannot seem to bring myself to rate the book anything other than three stars, just like City of Bones. It's neither terrible nor over-the-top fantastic. And I'll tell you why:

Here's an excerpt from Chapter 2, Hunter's Moon, in which the story of how Maia becomes a werewolf:

"The emergency room doctor had said the bite looked like a large dog's, but Maia knew better. Before the wolf had turned to race away, she'd heard a hot, familiar whispered voice in her ear, 'You're mine now. You'll always be mine'" (29).

Am I the only one how finds this incredibly cheesy? Lines like these that are too dumb to be even mildly amusing is what drags the quality of the book down. That, and the lack of romance. I get how Jace and Clary are siblings and can't really do anything, and Simon and Clary have Jace wedged in between them. But SOMEONE needs to get in a relationship, like Alec and Magnus. And Isabelle really needs to find someone who's NOT a minor character who's only mentioned in the book once.

I think the book could have been a hundred pages short. The last one hundred seem to drag on forever, and at that point I just wanted it to hurry up and be over. And the epilogue was a little disappointing because there was that whole "I know your mother made herself go into a coma and why" thing going on, yet I already knew that her mother made herself go into a coma from the movie! I'm telling, whoever recreated the storyline for the movie really messed up. Big time.

Jace, Jace, Jace. What the heck is up with him? Sure, your dad's Valentine, but that doesn't change the fact that he's a bad guy! Don't freakin' go over to his ship to talk to him, especially since people are already suspicious of you! But here's one thing I don't get; if everyone knew where Valentine's ship is, why isn't anyone doing anything? From that point of view, I have to applaud Jace's efforts; at least he's doing something, even if it's the wrong kind of something.

So, if you liked the first book, then read the second book. But if you DIDN'T like the first book, then you probably won't like this book very much. And if you haven't even read the first book, then you really, really shouldn't read this book yet. It'll be too confusing.