Customer Reviews

City of Ashes [With Earbuds] (Mortal Instruments)

5 star:		(131)
4 star:		(58)
3 star:		(17)
2 star:		(8)
1 star:		(6)

 

 

The fantasy genre is well known for taking rich, varied, and well known mythology and twisting it up in new ways. Or at least, attempting to twist it up in new ways. Because let's face it, the vampire has already been invented. Now it's all about what you do with him.

So first, the really good- Cassandra Clare does a mighty fine job of taking rich and varied and well known mythologies and giving them a brand new spark of life that has not been written into the ground already. I enjoy that she picks bits of mythology from all over and uses it to create a world full of truths and half-truths and the people who have to deal with it all. This isn't just another fantasy novel. It reminds me of The Dresden Files for young adults.

The other really good thing about this book, is that the characters are a lot less cliched and stereotypical than most books in this genre. The main male character, Jace, might be pretty and the love interest (more on that in a moment) but he is also haughty, cocky, unlikeable and reactionary. She writes him so well that I sometimes find myself irritated with him- a beautiful and well drafted flaw. Who says our heroes need to be perfect anyway? This is also somewhat of a problem for her though too, because she tries so hard not to write predictable characters that they tend to fall out the other side of the extreme.

I'm also delighted by her fight scenes, which are clear and well written but not long and drawn out. Fight scenes have a tendency to be repetitive. She knows when to get on with it.

The bad- some of the prose is a little watered down. Contrite but clearly written with pleasure. Clare has never met a metaphor she didn't like. Still, the book was a page turner- I ferreted away in an empty cubicle at work to devour it during my breaks, flowery language or not.

The weird (and ugly)- The romance is bizarre. It's not even thinly veiled incestuous desire...it's right in your face and deals with it in a way that is going to make a lot of people uncomfortable. It makes me uncomfortable. I was at first horrified by her choice. Why would an author do this? But I am a little impressed with her ballsy choices for romances- a very homosexual blooming romance and a heartbreaking passion between two people who only recently found out their brother and sister. That's gutsy, and I can't say I haven't been craving some gutsy romances lately. But like I said, the incestuous romance is so weird it's not good. It reminds me a lot of the incestuous romance in The Royal Tennenbaums. I'm pretty sure we'll find out they aren't brother and sister, but honestly, the damage has been done.

Finally- I like Clary. She's weak and flawed and easily scared and up until the end of the second book, she's sort of a liability in every dangerous situation she's been in. And that makes sense, up until a very short while ago, she was a normal girl getting dressed up to dance at a goth club. It does surprise me though that no one offers to help her become less of a liability, until her powers manifest over night to make her super uber awesome. This is tragic. I'd rather have a main character who is just ok but brave and smart than one who can bring the world to its knees with no apparent explanation and no hard work.

But in the end, I was still captivated and still enthralled and I devoured it in a couple of days, to the neglect of everything else. In the end, that's what matters most to me.

Less derivative than CITY OF BONES, this sequel suffers from the same purple prose problems, characterisation is sometimes patchy and the internal logic creaks.

Clare works harder to make the material here her own. Valentine is less cliched as a villain, with Clare doing a decent job at showing someone so utterly convinced that he is right that he can't even begin to think that he might be wrong and I could just buy into his being willing to use demons to further those ends. Unfortunately the Inquisitor feels like a rehash of `old' Valentine, a single-minded Shadowhunter who holds Jace responsible for the sins of his father and refuses to listen to any views different to her own.

Jace will appeal to teenagers - moody, handsome and with hints at special powers. His dialogue sometimes doesn't fit his age, but his scenes are confidently handled. I wish I could say the same for Clary. She remains passive and reactive and her own special powers take her too close to Mary-Sue territory. The incestuous feelings between Clary and Jace are the main theme in the book but the subject's handled in a shallow manner as neither character seems interested in the consequences or emotional implications of their feelings and Clare drops anvils as to its resolution, which robs the love triangle between Clary, Jace and Simon of tension.

Simon suffers a great deal in this book and it's a shame that Clare does not set out the scene where he's forced into a terrifying transformation. There have been hints of this since the first book but the main catalyst here happens off page and without any real build-up, which is frustrating as it robs the book of some real drama and shock-value. The dilemma that this transformation causes for Simon is resolved by the end of the book in a way that's too pat and I think it's a missed opportunity.

The prose is purple and repetitive at times and sometimes stunts the action. There are some inner-story logic problems, notably where Jace visits Valentine, finding him easily even though he's managed to evade all of the other Shadowhunters. Best scenes in the book are a dream sequence between Clary and her mother and Valentine's attack on the Silent Brothers. The cliffhanger ending is a cheap device but will leave fans panting for the concluding volume.

City of Ashes in the second book in Cassandra Clare's The Mortal Instruments series. Clare welcomes you back to her world of vampires, werwolves and down-worlders with open arms and a brand new story. But in saying that, City of Ashes certainly reads as unnecessary exposition, ahem, I mean, book two in a planned trilogy.

In this story, Jace and Clary are back to their old antics as they continue their struggle against the infamous crusader, Valentine. Joined by the old gang, Jace and Clary travel from place to place, argue, travel, argue... and that about sums up the story. I'm not saying that City of Ashes was a bad book. In fact, I loved it. I think the premise is intractably constructed and Clare writes with artistic brilliancy. However, the story is really driven (haha) by travel and arguing.

There was also plenty of twists and turns as I have come to expect from Cassandra Clare. The characters are well-developed and believable - though I do question the authenticity of the Inquisitor's motives. The Jace/Clary relationship is slightly disturbing and I felt that it was a bit of a distraction from the overall flow of the story. Other than those small irritants, the story flowed pretty much flawlessly.

In terms of originality, Clare nails it. She does borrow a few of the more overused mythological creatures in popular culture, but it doesn't affect the structure of the story. If you loved book one, then you'll probably love book two. I'll be reading book three, but not any time soon. City of Ashes left me feeling somewhat underwhelmed. That's just of my own opinion.

Story: 6/10
Characters: 9/10
World: 8/10
Impression: 6/10
Overall: 7.5/10

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This book was so much better than the first one in my opinion! At first I was a little bored with it, but once I got into it I couldn't put this book down! In this book Clary and Simon start trying to be girlfriend/boyfriend. I actually enjoyed the interaction between these two...obviously it isn't the same as the interaction betweeen her and Jace, but entertaining nonetheless! Jace became even more appealing, sexy and charming in this book. I loved the tension between him and Clary and hope that in the next book they find out they are not really brother and sister. I think that is where this series is headed!! I am thrilled about Simon becoming a vampire! I was beginning to feel kind of sorry for him because he was so normal...LOL!

This book is one of those books that you really enjoy reading and are caught up in it while you are reading it, but you don't say WOW when you finish it. It is a wonderful book that tells an entertaining story!! I can't wait to read City of Glass!

This series are amazing. I absolutely love them!! They are the best ever, thrilling with a little bit of romance and danger!!! This is amazing!! 5 stars go to Cassandra Clare!!

I thought this series is really good so far. This book did not disappoint. It's nice quick ready and very enjoyable to read.

I'm not sure how this is possible but I liked this book even more than the first one! I should say loved this book.

I think I fall more and more in love with Jace every chapter. I love the insight we have seen into his character through the short scenes in his POV. My only wish is that there were more Jace thoughts. I can't get enough of them.

Clary is an awesome protagonist, I see myself relating to her and I really like her spirit. The scene in the fey court was amazing! :)

Cassandra Clare does an amazing job of making Valentine extra creepy. She manages to describe and create all kind of dangerous and scary demons and yet she still makes Valentine the worst of all. I would rather face down a herd of demons (with Jace by my side of course) than face Valentine.

I did not want to put this book down! There were no slow parts and no boring parts, just amazing parts.
Michelle @ Bookbriefs.blogspot.com

(This review refers to all three books of the Mortal Instruments Trilogy. It was written for a blog, so excuse the hyperlink references.)

Titles: City of Bones, City of Ashes, and City of Glass

Clary lives as normal and uncomplicated a life as anyone can in NYC--bohemian mom, quiet best friend Simon, father-like family friend Luke... There is nothing more to Clary's world than the everyday--until reality comes crashing through the thin veil of her mind late one night in a sketch downtown club. One glimpse and Clary's mundane life becomes utterly complex: mother's missing; Simon's hopelessly in love with her; angels exist, so do demons, werewolves, and vampires (aka "downworlders"); and the only person who seems to know what's going on is the single most arrogant, cold, and freakishly HOT guy Clary has ever seen. His name is Jace, and he calls himself a Nephalim--half human, half angel.

Before she can even remember to object, Clary is thrown headlong into a serious interspecies conflict led by a rogue Nephalim--Valentine--whose very name inspires the shivers. As the whole shadow world struggles to decide whether to combine forces and stop Valentine from claiming the 3 powerful Mortal Instruments or to give in and allow him to fulfill his diabolical plans, it slowly becomes apparent that Clary is the unsuspecting lynchpin.

In order to stop him, she must face a host of challenges--physical, psychological, and romantic--before confronting the ultimate choice to sacrifices what matters to her most, or live with the devastating consequences.

_______________________________________________________________________________________________

**--Spoiler Alert--**

(I won't give away whole storylines, but will hint at things that aren't revealed until bk 3.)

I knew that sooner or later it'd have to come along: my first negative review. However, please bear in mind that I'm not saying not to read these books. Though I got frustrated and sometimes put them down (for the reasons outlined below), I wouldn't have not finished them. Hence the 3 stars (where I was tempted to give 2). I don't think that I will pick up the new *surprise* book 4, City of Fallen Angels though...and I don't really think back on the ones I did read...at all.

That's because this trilogy falls firmly into the group I'd call "cotton candy": look pretty, smell pretty, melt in your mouth and are gone. They are, seemingly without remorse, a very cheap thrill--a la Twilight & Co.--and for that reason, very hard to put down. I found myself alternatively groaning with gusto and sighing with teen fever.

If you're interested to know the details of why I wasn't so keen on them, keep reading. If not, skip to the next set of stars.

* * * * *

In particular, these 4 things bothered me:

1) Simon. Love triangles are common enough that I've devoted an entire category to them here. But, some are achieved more or less annoyingly than others. This was not in that group. Simon, Clary's friend-turned-gaggy-crush, doesn't stand a chance--he's a clear 2nd best to the cold, heroic heartthrob, Jace. Although, there is one "turn off" about Jace that is supposed to make us doubt his destiny to be with Clary, it was so un-deftly played that I never bit. As a result, Simon ended up looking even dorkier than intended, and, well, just grated on my every last nerve.

2) Incessant Foreshadowing. A literary device full of potential, it became something of a dead horse in these books. I knew the answers to the "burning" questions (and was 100% confident about them) some 500 pages before they were answered. This was, in part, because the narrative was a little too transparent, but also partly because the author spent so much energy trying to keep the questions burning that she smoked the answers out. I like a little more cleverness to my mysteries--otherwise, what motivation do you have to keep reading a not-particularly-well-written 1500-page series?

3) Reckless Manslaughter. Like George in HP, a sibling of a supporting character dies in the final book. However, this series wasn't brave about it: the character is so minor to the plot as to be useless; its removal more of a hiccup than heartstop--and the motive for doing such an obvious attempt at evoking pathos that I almost laughed...then got angry (see Tweet proof). The poor kid's role--who, unlike George, we never get to know and love--is reduced to something like a cute puppy who gets bopped on the head to make softhearted girls go "awww!" Truly, this piece of the narrative was ridiculously clumsily pulled off (enough to deserve two -ly adverbs!). If the writing's good, it will evoke tears through its art--not by stabbing the reader in the hand with a fork.

4) Clamoring Clichés...and a lot of familiar motifs. There is a chunkton of rather unoriginal material in this series. I don't necessarily mean the demon/angel/etc lore--but in actual motifs of the storyline. (Those spoilers I told you about hit most here.)

Brother-sister a(ttra)ction (Starwars)
--> Sociopathic, racist villain whose name begins with "V"--every mention of which name strikes fear--whom the adults of the book went to school with and knew as a "less than purely evil young man," and who plans the purification of the world from inferior races by means of 3 magical artifacts...(Need I go on? Of course, I do mean Voldemort.)
--> A triumvirate of mystical objects, which, when combined, achieve world-changing ends. (Harry Potter series; His Dark Materials trilogy)
--> Heroine who has the power to write or read magical runes/glyphs/letters that alter reality. (the Dreamdark series; His Dark Materials trilogy)
--> Protagonist who discovers they have a powerful parent they've never known when they go off to a haven for their "like kind." (Percy Jackson series; His Dark Materials trilogy; Fever Crumb series)
--> Heroine who is small/weak, and needs protecting by the tall, cold, quiet heartthrob. (Twilight series)
--> Tall, cold, quiet heartthrob with burning golden eyes and slightly jealous siblings. (Twilight series)
--> World with a somewhat malevolent group of specially powered rulers, sitting in a remote European corner of the globe, unbeknownst to the rest of society. (Twilight series; Harry Potter Series; Percy Jackson series; Vampire Academy series...)
--> Death of a supporting character's sibling. (Harry Potter series)
--> Etc.

Now, I'm not saying I believe much (if any) of our contemporary literature can claim full originality--it's just not possible, nor would it be much fun. The art of storytelling for the entire history of man has coincided with the art of borrowing. (That was, actually, my masters thesis in a nutshell.) And, J. K. Rowling is a primary example--her work is a virtual collage of borrowed mythic and literary artifacts. However, her story is also extraordinarily complex and subtly original in its own right. The Mortal Instruments books, however, don't have the same complexity by far, and thus their recycling comes across as rather obvious and forced than intriguing, clever, or allusive.

* * * * *

All in all, if you are looking for an easy, fast, rollercoaster ride through romantic conflict and paranormalcy, I do recommend this trilogy. The love story (and hunka-hunka hero) was enough to pull me through. And, pull me it did, I must admit. I was dying to know what happened to Clary and Jace at the end. But, if you find yourself groaning at the obsessive hint-dropping, see-through emotional triggers, and overall mundaneness of style, don't say I didn't warn you.

(Review originally published at [...])

"City of Ashes" is a read so action packed I think I'm still trying to sort through all of the details. Very entertaining with the introduction of a few new characters and some extra Downworlder action which was awesome.

City of Ashes picks up with Jace and Clary, now aware that they are siblings, trying to thwart their father, Valentine, in his efforts to steal a second Mortal Instrument, a sword. Clary is thrust into the Shadowhunter's world and she has to learn quickly that vampires, werewolves, faeries, and daemons all exists.

The wonderful thing about this book is that something is always happening. This is definitely not one of those books that weighs you down with monotonous everyday routine. However, sometimes Cassandra Clare rushed through some pretty interesting events that could have been expounded on. I would have enjoyed more detail with the werewolf, vampire, and faerie characters.

There are so many characters that the story effortlessly bounces between that I really got to know all of the characters well. Everything fit together seamlessly and I thought the point of narration she chose for this book was perfect. Simon really steps out into Clary's life and leaves behind the annoying, immature boy that was constantly begging for her attention.

My largest problem with this novel is the disgusting romantic involvement between Clary and Jace. Ew! I can't even allow myself to feel the romance because I am so disturbed by their lack of repulsion at the thought of dating their sibling. I can only assume that sometime in the series we will discover that Jace is not indeed related to Clary (foreshadowing is heavy enough) and I truly expected Cassandra Clare to give me that in this novel so that I could enjoy the romance. I am repulsed that Cassandra's mind could even go to that place.

The book had a great ending that was a cliff hanger and I can't wait to read the next book in this series. Cassandra has created such an intricate world that is simply magical and amazing! Unfortunately, something tells me she has really shot herself in the foot with the whole brother/sister romance bit.

Knowing that Cassandra Clare previously wrote "Harry Potter" fan fiction made me really appreciate the bit she interjected into the Epilogue, I thought it was very tongue-in-cheek and loved it. I think this is a wonderful and creative fictional world to be able to escape to.

After the horrible experience I had with the City of Bones audio book, I was dreading City of Ashes. As I have said before, the reader didn't do much to enhance the story. But lucky for me, City of Ashes has a different reader, one who does a much better job.

Even with a new reader, I'm still not a huge fan of this series. Clary seems to whinny, she has no idea what she's doing but she always insists on going out and being in the middle of the action. She just seems so stupid to me. If it wasn't for Jace and the other Shadowhunters, she would have died first action scene in the first book.

And don't even get me started on her guilt and how she constantly blames herself for everything that's happened. I just want to scream in her face and shake her until she understands that everything would have happened that way anyway, no matter what she did. I know that she is going to have a certain amount of guilt which is natural, but her's is just blown out of proportion. For some reason, Clary just really annoys me a lot. But I like the other characters in the book, especially Alec, Isabel and Magnus. I would be a lot happier if Isabel was the main character.

After saying all that, the plot of the story still interests me and curiosity makes me still want to know how the series is going to end. It was much better than City of Bones because the story was able to develop more and Cassandra Clare was able to get into the meat of the plot. There's just something fishy about who Jace and Clary are and whether or not they're truly related. There are also many mysterious facets that have yet to be explored that could be very entertaining if done the right way. I can feel that there is some big revelation that is yet to come in the next two books. And because I want to know, I will most likely listen to them, as well.

Fans of the Mortal Instruments series will most likely not enjoy this review. But that's not saying that I'm completely opposed to Cassandra Clare. I very much enjoyed Clockwork Angel and I'm eagerly anticipating Clockwork Prince. I know the stories are somewhat the same, but I just really like the steampunk setting of the Infernal Devices series. So, in my closing statement: to each his own!