Review: City of Glass by Cassandra Clare

City of Glass

Author: Cassandra Clare

Series: The Mortal Instruments Book #3

Goodreads

Summary

To save her mother's life, Clary must travel to the City of Glass, the ancestral home of the Shadowhunters - never mind that entering the city without permission is against the Law, and breaking the Law could mean death. To make things worse, she learns that Jace does not want her there, and Simon has been thrown in prison by the Shadowhunters, who are deeply suspicious of a vampire who can withstand sunlight.

As Clary uncovers more about her family's past, she finds an ally in mysterious Shadowhunter Sebastian. With Valentine mustering the full force of his power to destroy all Shadowhunters forever, their only chance to defeat him is to fight alongside their eternal enemies. But can Downworlders and Shadowhunters put aside their hatred to work together? While Jace realizes exactly how much he's willing to risk for Clary, can she harness her newfound powers to help save the Glass City - whatever the cost?

Love is a mortal sin and the secrets of the past prove deadly as Clary and Jace face down Valentine in the final installment of the New York Times bestselling trilogy The Mortal Instruments.

Review

When I finished City of Ashes, I had never been so thankful that the next book was alrady out, and I had it waiting for me to read on my book shelf. The end of book two left the readership hungry for the next installment - I was more than ready to see how things were going to end for the Shadowhunters and Valentine's corrupt campaign. Cassandra definitley knows how to keep her readers on the hook and waiting to see how thing pan out.

I love that in this book we finally see the famed "City of Glass" or Alicante, the capital city of the Shadowhunter homeland Idris. I had been waiting for two whole books for Cassandra Clare to take us to this place of almost mythical status. The way the Shadowhunters talked about it in the previous books made it seem like a wonderous place, and I knew that something would take the protagonists there at some point.

The characters once again stay true to their nature. Clary doesn't do what Jace tells her to do or what anyone else tells her to do, for that matter. Jace keeps up his role as the defender of all of his loved ones, protective to the point that he bosses others around to keep them out of what he perceives to be harms way. Simon is still always getting into trouble - I don't know why, but that loveable nerd walks into every trap for him imaginable - it's almost endearing at this point. And there is more awkward sexual tension between Jace and Clary - I'm not going to lie, I've rooted for them through the first book and all the way up to and through this book.

A slew of more characters are introduced, a new Inquisitor; parents, cousins, and siblings of the younger and older Shadowhunters; members of Valentine's circle that were somehow able to make amends with the Clave. A city full of nothing but Shaowhunters and their children. Luke's backstory is expanded, to my excitement, along with the history of some of the others members of Valentine's circle. It paints a better picture of what things were like and what he was like as a person when he first developed his questionable ideals.

Learning more about the bad guy(s) has always been one of my favorite parts of book series. (I.E. Voldemort in the Harry Potter series - you hated him, but you HAD to know what made him that way.)

This book has a very satisfying end. It was easy for me to tell that Cassandra initially intended for it to be a trilogy instead of a now up to five book (with another one the way) series. I think she did a good job of wrapping up the main story lines, while leaving others open for use in the next installment(s) of the Mortal Instruments.

Rating