Review: City of Ashes (The Mortal Instruments #2)

Title: City of Ashes (The Mortal Instruments #2)
Author: Cassandra Clare
Genre: Young Adult, Fantasy
Publisher: Margaret K. McElderry Books
Source: Purchased
Format: Paperback
Release Date: March 25, 2008
Rating: ★★★★★

Goodreads 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? 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?
In this breathtaking sequel to City of Bones, Cassandra Clare lures her readers back into the dark grip of New York City’s Downworld, where love is never safe and power becomes the deadliest temptation.

Review:

Clary’s mother is still in the hospital in a magical coma, when the villainous Valentine strikes again. He starts killing members of each magical group in order to get another one of the Mortal Instruments. Clary and Jace are the ones who can figure out how to stop their father, Valentine, from taking over the Shadowhunters Clave.

This story had a faster pace than the first one. Each of the different kinds of magical creatures were introduced in the first one, so this story could jump right into the action. Every time the action started to calm down, something major would happen to disrupt their lives, which made me want to keep reading.

There was a lot of tension, especially with the final fight scenes. It didn’t seem like all of the characters were going to survive the end. There were also some hints as to secrets that will probably be revealed soon, to explain some of the plot points that didn’t make sense. I’m rooting for Clary and Jace’s romance, even though they’re supposedly biological siblings. I hope everything works out for them in the next book.

I love this story! I can’t wait to read the next one.

Other books in the series:

City of Bones
City of Glass
City of Fallen Angels
City of Lost Souls
City of Heavenly Fire

Have you read City of Ashes? What did you think of it?

Author: jilljemmett

Jill lives in Toronto, Canada. She has studied English, Creative Writing, and Publishing. Jill is the creator and content producer of Jill’s Book Blog, where she has published a blog post every day for the last four years, including 5-7 book reviews a week. She can usually be found with her nose in a book. View all posts by jilljemmett

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