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? If Clary left the world of the Shadowhunters behind, it would mean more time with her best friend, Simon, who’s becoming more than a friend. But the Shadowhunting world isn’t ready to 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.
To complicate matters, someone in New York City is murdering Downworlder children. Is Valentine behind the killings — and if he is, what is he trying to do? When the second of the Mortal Instruments, the Soul-Sword, is stolen, the terrifying Inquisitor arrives to investigate and zooms right in on Jace. How can Clary stop Valentine if Jace is willing to betray everything he believes in to help their father?
I didn’t really want to review this one… but here we go.
I fell in love with the entire world of Shadowhunters and demons and vampires and all that in City of Bones but I was, to be totally honest, pretty disappointed with this one.
Have you ever read a book that you wanted to love so much that you convinced yourself that you did? But then you thought about it and thought about it, and the further away from finishing it you got, the more you realized how much you just didn’t like it? That’s what City of Ashes is for me. Right when I finished, I rated it 5/5 on Goodreads, I loved it so much! I think that’s because I love that world so much, actually.
This story though, compared to City of Bones, was dull. I was underwhelmed and annoyed with Clary for the ENTIRE BOOK. I don’t know what it is about her – her naivety or not knowing what she wants or denying how she feels – but whatever it is, it drives me CRAZY. My favorite scenes are always the ones with as little of her as possible.
With ABC Family coming out with a TV series based on these books, I find myself wanting to finish the series asap so I can compare – but at this point, I just can’t handle Clary anymore. I changed my rating to 3/5 on Goodreads and I’m not sure if I’ll pick up the rest of the books. I love this world though, so I think I’ll try some of Clare’s other books and see what I think. Hopefully I’ll have better luck!
lifebetweenreads.com 