Hey, people! Yep, I'm still alive! Sorry I that I haven't updated in a super long time, I wrote 3 reviews and 2.5 of them deleted so I was in denial for the longest time. Caramel was also always on my back to update too so that another reason I have left my denial ages. Anyways, as you know the last book I reviewed was the City of Bones in the Mortal Instruments series. So I'm now doing the review for the second book in the series which is the City of Ashes which is also written by Cassandra Clare. Basically what's going on in this book is that Jace gets in trouble with the Clave because of who his father is. He along with Clary, Simon, Isabelle, and Alec are trying to figure out what Valentine's plans are. Also, Simon goes through some interesting changes. Okay, If you have not read this book then SHIELD YOUR EYES!!!!!
Okay, first subject matter, the cover.
Okay, first subject matter, the cover.
I feel like this cover is a lot better than the City of Bones cover. No shirtless guy to make me feel awkward here! It's pretty obvious to me that the person on the cover is Clary. I can tell because of the red hair and the few marks she has. I think that her hair is awesome. It looks like it's on fire. Like Katniss Everdeen fire. It looks a bit magical and unreal to me, but still awesome.
•Clary- I still feel the same way about Clary as I did in the City of bones. She doesn't seem too special, just another ganstly teenager. But I like how it kind of gives the idea that any regular person can end up being speciall (I'm still crossing my fingers that I'm secretly magical and special). Her relationship with Jace makes me feel really awkward. They are siblings, but they obviously don't love each other like siblings. I mean that kiss in the Seelie court? Did it make anyone else uncomfortable or is it just me? I still don't ship the two together, but they have undeniable feelings for one another. Also, the whole thing that happened between Simon and Clary felt kind of weird. When Simon called Clary his girlfriend in the beginning of the book I thought, 'woah, when did this happen'. I don't really ship them together anymore, ecspecially because Simon turned into a vampire which leads me to my next point.
•Simon- I thought that it was pretty obvious that Simon was a vampire. I mean do you remember in the beginning of the book when he freaked out when 'Dracula' the movie came on? And then Clary found him sitting in front of the mirror? Does that not scream vampire? Vampire or not Simon is still by far my favorite character. He's still his sarcastic funny self even though he's technically dead. I kid you not when I say I thought Simon died three times in the book. Well, technically did die once for real, but he's ok (if you count being a vampire ok). I thought that he'd die when he was on the verge of death right before he was buried to turn into a vampire. Then he was ok and I thought, 'whew, he's good, he's not going to die. But noooooo. Of course he gets captured by Valentine and almost dies again! This time when he 'died' I actually thought that he was 'dead dead'. But then he turned out to be ok because Jace let Simon drink his blood (I could not have loved Jace more in that moment. Thank you for saving him!!!!!). Then I thought he was going to die AGAIN when he was going to be exposed to the sunlight, but it was all good for some random reason. My theory as to why he can be exposed to the sun is because he drank Jace's blood and maybe there's something him because he's Valentine's son?
•Jace- I liked him a lot more in this book. I'm actually glad that he was locked up in the Silent City for a while because I think it taught him a lesson for being so arrogant and self-centered. I must say though, I felt really bad when Maryse kicked him out. I got really mad because Jace can't control who his parents are!!!! And do you really not trust the person that you've raised like your son?!?! I was quite upset. And when Jace saved Simon I was so proud of Jace. Before I would have thought that he would have just left Simon, but now I realize Jace has more going on for him than I expected.
•Alec and Magnus- I ship them together, I really do. I just think that Alec has to suck it up and tell his family about his relationship with Magnus. He can't keep a secret forever. When he had the ruin of 'fearlessness' on him, I was hoping that he'd just spill out the truth. But I suppose it was a good thing that Magnus stopped him. Or else Alec would have been really mad and ashamed at himself. I really do hope that they tell everyone about their feelings soon.
•Maia- Now that I don't ship Simon and Clary together anymore, I'm kind of hoping that Maia and Simon get together. Yes I know, there's that 'vampires and werewolves hate each other' thing, but I feel like they'll be a good couple. Maia seems to be a cool chic that doesn't really care about how anyone else might feel about her. She hits me as a video gamer so maybe her and Simon will really hit it off that way?
Overall, I thought that it was a good book, I'd give it a 95% I would like to see a bit more character growth in Clary, though. And hopefully a romantic relationship between two people.
•Clary- I still feel the same way about Clary as I did in the City of bones. She doesn't seem too special, just another ganstly teenager. But I like how it kind of gives the idea that any regular person can end up being speciall (I'm still crossing my fingers that I'm secretly magical and special). Her relationship with Jace makes me feel really awkward. They are siblings, but they obviously don't love each other like siblings. I mean that kiss in the Seelie court? Did it make anyone else uncomfortable or is it just me? I still don't ship the two together, but they have undeniable feelings for one another. Also, the whole thing that happened between Simon and Clary felt kind of weird. When Simon called Clary his girlfriend in the beginning of the book I thought, 'woah, when did this happen'. I don't really ship them together anymore, ecspecially because Simon turned into a vampire which leads me to my next point.
•Simon- I thought that it was pretty obvious that Simon was a vampire. I mean do you remember in the beginning of the book when he freaked out when 'Dracula' the movie came on? And then Clary found him sitting in front of the mirror? Does that not scream vampire? Vampire or not Simon is still by far my favorite character. He's still his sarcastic funny self even though he's technically dead. I kid you not when I say I thought Simon died three times in the book. Well, technically did die once for real, but he's ok (if you count being a vampire ok). I thought that he'd die when he was on the verge of death right before he was buried to turn into a vampire. Then he was ok and I thought, 'whew, he's good, he's not going to die. But noooooo. Of course he gets captured by Valentine and almost dies again! This time when he 'died' I actually thought that he was 'dead dead'. But then he turned out to be ok because Jace let Simon drink his blood (I could not have loved Jace more in that moment. Thank you for saving him!!!!!). Then I thought he was going to die AGAIN when he was going to be exposed to the sunlight, but it was all good for some random reason. My theory as to why he can be exposed to the sun is because he drank Jace's blood and maybe there's something him because he's Valentine's son?
•Jace- I liked him a lot more in this book. I'm actually glad that he was locked up in the Silent City for a while because I think it taught him a lesson for being so arrogant and self-centered. I must say though, I felt really bad when Maryse kicked him out. I got really mad because Jace can't control who his parents are!!!! And do you really not trust the person that you've raised like your son?!?! I was quite upset. And when Jace saved Simon I was so proud of Jace. Before I would have thought that he would have just left Simon, but now I realize Jace has more going on for him than I expected.
•Alec and Magnus- I ship them together, I really do. I just think that Alec has to suck it up and tell his family about his relationship with Magnus. He can't keep a secret forever. When he had the ruin of 'fearlessness' on him, I was hoping that he'd just spill out the truth. But I suppose it was a good thing that Magnus stopped him. Or else Alec would have been really mad and ashamed at himself. I really do hope that they tell everyone about their feelings soon.
•Maia- Now that I don't ship Simon and Clary together anymore, I'm kind of hoping that Maia and Simon get together. Yes I know, there's that 'vampires and werewolves hate each other' thing, but I feel like they'll be a good couple. Maia seems to be a cool chic that doesn't really care about how anyone else might feel about her. She hits me as a video gamer so maybe her and Simon will really hit it off that way?
Overall, I thought that it was a good book, I'd give it a 95% I would like to see a bit more character growth in Clary, though. And hopefully a romantic relationship between two people.