City of Glass

Title ~ City of Glass (The Mortal Instruments, Book Three)
Author ~ Cassandra Clare
Release Date ~ March 23, 2009
Publisher ~ Margret K. McElderry Books
Source ~ Bought from Amazon
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 her best friend, 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 The Mortal Instruments.

    My review: Cassandra Clare's novels are like pizza, even during the worst part, it's still really good. And City of Glass is her best novel yet. 

I have a high standards for Clare's novels, because every one of them have been so good. Yet, every book she goes above my expectations of what I thought is humanly possible in a novel!

First, let's explore one of the things I love most about Cassie's novels: The characters. Her characters are all brilliantly thought-out and they come alive! It doesn't matter if she's writing about our selfless and brave heroine, Clary, the villain, Valentine, or the moody but awesome Jace. They are all greatly crafted!  

    But this novel drags. A bit too much for my liking. It's 500+ pages, and I felt like it could have been kept to 350- 400 pages. They're was too much talking and it felt the characters were chasing their tails, and nothing was progressing. I know people are going to say I'm crazy for wanting less length in Cassie's epic novels, but I think it needs to be said! 

    The best thing about these novels though is the villain. Valentine is awesome in a very freaky way. He's a bit mad, but also a genius when you think about it. He had parallels with Hitler, as he was trying to make a "pure" race of Shadowhunters that don't mingle with Downworlders. He's the kind of guy that you love to hate! 

    The "final" battle of this series should definitely not go unmentioned, because it was the best climax I could imagine in a novel! I think it's on the same scale as Harry Potter and god, that was an awesome battle! 

    The settings in this book are beautifully done, and each detail is like a miniature Mona Lisa! I enjoyed hearing about Iris and the rest of the shadow world! 

    City of Glass is the kind of book I would kill to read. A well-deserved five stars.

 5/5

Cover Comments: I don't really like these covers, though the city (Iris) is nicely depicted. 

“Waiting On” Wednesday is a weekly meme, hosted by Jill at Break the Spine, that spotlights upcoming releases I'm eagerly anticipating.

Title: Clockwork Prince

Author: Cassandra Clare

Release Date: Dec 6

My thoughts: I just started Clockwork Angel and I already love it! I must get my hands on this books.

Teaser Tuesday 8/9

Teaser Tuesday is weekly meme hosted by Mizb at Should be Reading

• Grab your current read
• Open to a random page
• Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
• BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS!

Make sure what you share doesn't give too much away, you don't want to spoil the book for others!

This week's Teaser is from:

City of Glass by Cassandra Clare

And the teasers are:

1. "Does blood still taste like blood to you? Or does it taste like something else now, like orange juice or something? Because I think the taste of the blood would- "

"It takes like chicken", Simon said just to shut her up.

2. "Did you ever think that in a past life Simon was an old women with ninety cats that was always yelling at the neighborhood kids to get off her lawn?"

City of Ashes

A month or so ago I read City of Bones, the first book in The Mortal Instruments series by Cassandra Clare and loved it. I just had to read the second book!

Summary: 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.

Okay, I'm not sure if this is possible, but I liked City of Ashes more then City of Bones. Maybe it's because I was already in love with the characters or maybe it's just because Cassandra Clare's writing has gotten better since her first book.

I especially loved the character of Simon, who started off to the side but grew more and more important as the series went on. He's nice, loyal, and always hilarious! I liked him in the first book but he wasn't involved too much till the end of it. In this one he's always involved more or less.

I think villains are a very important part of any story and this one had a great one. Valentine is ruthless, corrupting and very charming, like saying to Jace, join me or everyone you love will get hurt. And also it helped the suspense a great deal knowing he is Clary and Jace's father.

Cassandra Clare has a dreamlike and emotional narrative style that is very descriptive.The book flows along very nicely. Something I didn't like from the first book was how confusing the plot was. This one was still very mixed-up, but Clare has gotten a tad better at keeping everything in line.

This book was a very enjoyable fantasy, that sometimes reminded me a bit of Star Wars (you know, father of main characters is the villain, new-found sibling, and father is set on destroying everything). A rare sequel that's maybe even better the first.

5/5

Book Battle Update: This is my third book read in the book battle, but Maddz has read four! Have to read, read, read. But I am halfway into another book so I should have no problem catching up (I hope).

Teaser Tuesday 6/28

Teaser Tuesday is weekly meme hosted by Mizb at Should be Reading

• Grab your current read
• Open to a random page
• Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
• BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS!
• Make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!

This week's teaser is from:

City of Ashes by Cassandra Clare

And the teasers are:

1. That you freed a possible criminal by trading away your brother to a warlock who looks like a gay Sonice the Hedgehog and dresses like the child catcher from Chitty Chitty Bang Bang?

2. I'm undead. Now, I know you may preconceived notions about the undead. I know you may not be comfortable with the idea of me being undead. But I'm here to tell you that the undead are just like you and me. Simon paused. Well, okay. Possibly more me than you.

The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones

Unless you've been living under a rock for the past three years then you know about the Mortal Instruments series by runaway author Cassandra Clare. I've heard a ton about these books and how great they are, so I finally decided to buy it from Barnes and Noble.

Summary:When fifteen-year-old Clary Fray heads out to the Pandemonium Club in New York City, she hardly expects to witness a murder—much less a murder committed by three teenagers covered with strange tattoos and brandishing bizarre weapons. Then the body disappears into thin air. It’s hard to call the police when the murderers are invisible to everyone else and when there is nothing—not even a smear of blood—to show that a boy has died. Or was he a boy?

This is Clary’s first meeting with the Shadowhunters, warriors dedicated to ridding the earth of demons. It’s also her first encounter with Jace, a Shadowhunter who looks a little like an angel and acts a lot like a jerk. Within twenty-four hours Clary is pulled into Jace’s world with a vengeance, when her mother disappears and Clary herself is attacked by a demon. But why would demons be interested in ordinary mundanes like Clary and her mother? And how did Clary suddenly get the Sight? The Shadowhunters would like to know. . . .

Okay so, where do I begin? This book was amazing. Clary's character is so easy to connect with as a reader and really makes you care about her. The writing style is so beautiful and flows along wonderfully. The only thing I didn't like about this book was the plot. It was a good plot, don't get me wrong. But it was very hard to follow and easy to get confused. But aside from that, this book was an awesome, epic start to the series that will leave readers longing for more.

5/5