City of Glass (Mortal Instruments) (Hardcover)

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Key Phrases: mortal instruments, glass city, seraph blade, New York, Magnus Bane, Accords Hall (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

Grade 8 Up–In the two previous books, Clary learns that she is a member of a race of demon-hunters and that she has the special ability to create new versions of the runes that give these Shadowhunters their power. Her mother has been hiding the truth from her for years to protect her from her father, Valentine, a cult-leader-turned-villain who is seeking to gain control over the Shadowhunters by obtaining the three Mortal Instruments. Now, Valentine has only one Mortal Instrument left to find, and the Shadowhunters must ally with the despised Downworlders, including vampires, werewolves, and fairies, to prepare their final defense. The question of whether Clary will be able to harness her unique abilities in time to help–and whether they will let her–is sidelined by the question of whether her love interest, Jace, is really her brother. Though the story is hampered by predictability and overblown writing, Clare continues her talent for mixing hip, modern humor with traditional fantasy, and fans eagerly awaiting the series conclusion should come away more than satisfied.–Eliza Langhans, Hatfield Public Library, MA
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From Booklist

In search of a potion for her dying mother, Clary sneaks into the City of Glass and is immediately caught up in a life-and-death battle. As the children of the Moon (werewolves), Night (vampires), and Faerie gather for a war that will rend the heavens, Clary calls upon her untrained powers to control an angel who will save or destroy them all. Readers should be familiar with the first two installments in the Mortal Instruments series, but there is nevertheless plenty of romance, loss, honor, and betrayal to make the journey worthwhile. An experienced storyteller, Clare moves the plot quickly to a satisfying end. Grades 8-11. --Cindy Welch

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Product Details

• Reading level: Young Adult
  
• Hardcover: 560 pages
• Publisher: Margaret K. McElderry (March 24, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1416914307
• ISBN-13: 978-1416914303
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.4 x 1.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.8 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (137 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,001 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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• This is item 3 in The Mortal Instruments Series.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

30 of 35 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A satisfying ending, March 25, 2009

By	A. Reader - See all my reviews

Although my expectations were too high for City of Bones, I have to say that the series has gotten better with every book, leading to a very satisfying City of Glass read. Questions get answered; plot points get tied up, and you're left with a happy fuzzy feeling in the end.

I really enjoyed the characters in the books, especially CoG. Each character has really come a long way, and even when I disagreed with a character, I felt that they were completely within character; their personalities drove the plot, rather than a having series of random events they were just responding to. I also love that - with a few exceptions (Malachi, Sebastian) - they were all so multidimensional, shades of gray in a morally ambiguous world.

On Jace and Clary - I'd give this a 4/5, mainly because I've always felt a little awkward about their relationship, and it's not just the sibling thing. There were some beautiful and heartbreaking moments - again, back to characterization, I was definitely thinking "That's so Jace!" sometimes - but I also got the feeling that their relationship was unnecessarily drawn out. Maybe it's because I never got a good sense of Clary's relationship to the Lightwoods (early on, Clary saying to Isabelle, "But I thought you liked me!" and then later confronting Isabelle about not liking her, for example). But even though I'm happy with how things ended up, I think Clary and Jace really shined brighter when they were apart in this book, than in their scenes together.

On the other hand, some of the "minor" characters were wonderful. Alec and Magnus are a riot ("Your city is under attack...The wards have broken, and the streets are full of demons. And you want to know why I haven't called you?"). Aldertree reminded me of Umbridge. Simon grows up, while still maintaining his nerdiness.

I was not as fond of the thematic progress of the book, possibly because I'm re-reading Harry Potter right now and it seems so familiar, and the same ideas are in almost every fantasy book. You are the sum of your actions, not of your birth. Do what is right, and not what is easy. Villians always end up defeated because they just had to show off, and forgot some key thing. People are never who they say they are, and never trust a death to be final.

So I tend to be an impatient reader, and this might just be my fault, but I also found that skipping pages in the book didn't really make me miss much. You'll get the whole story just from reading Joceyln's talk with Clary and then the last chapter. The middle of the book was great, with some great moments, but I didn't feel the same compunction to read every word, the way I do with some other books.

Overall, even with my negative points, I'm really happy with this book. You'll laugh (Cassie has some great lines, and I'm a fan of anything nerdy). You'll be frustrated with the characters. Sometimes, you'll wonder why you didn't think of it first. In the end, this book delivers a very satisfying read - I'd imagine it sort of tastes like butterbeer.

11 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars I'm torn, April 23, 2009

By	August R - See all my reviews

I enjoyed the first two books in this series, but I had some issues with this one. I FELT all 500+ pages, unfortunately. It seemed to take forever to get to the point of the book and then once we got there it was just okay. I was getting into the book a bit more toward the end, but I found myself thinking, geez, how many more pages do I have to go. I was annoyed with the death in the book. I felt very much that it was a death just to have a death and it didn't really add anything to the story.

I also found myself skimming a lot in this book. Clare really likes describing scenery and that's not a problem but when it seems to go on for pages then it's just too much. I never really connected with Clary either. That has been a constant throughout the series. I felt like she was just there to allow Clare to explain her world and we never really get who she actually is. Simon said she was fiesty or something like that, but I never really saw it that way. She was mostly passive and after a while I lost her completely.

I did think there were some creative things in the book. The world building, the biblical/angel details, all of that was very interesting to me. I am not familiar with alot of the things that people were saying the books resembles so I can't complain about any lack of originality. But with that said, I wasn't really suprised by anything that happened so maybe it did read like something I'd read/seen before.

And was it just me or was the epilogue longer than it needed to be? I Some of the information didn't seem at all needed. The scene with the Faery Queen was totally a waste of a page and a half. So many different pov's that didn't really show us anything we needed closure on.

All the same, I didn't hate the book, and I didn't want to throw it across the room like I did with Eclipse, but I don't see me reading it again. I will probably pick up the next book Clare releases because I do like aspects of her storytelling.

14 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Fell Flat, March 26, 2009

By	Moirne Stark - See all my reviews

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Before I start critiquing, I want to say that I enjoyed this book. I was pretty much glued to it for a day, so it is a page turner. I did have problems with it that prevent me from giving it a higher rating though.

Clare was very repetitive, which I partly attribute to bad editing. I got very annoyed with Clary and Jace because of it. One scene of over angst-y declarations of love would have been quite enough, but I lost count of how many were actually in this book. It was hard for me to believe that two people who have only known each other a month could be so deeply in love. It was more like physical attraction mixed with infatuation. I started disliking Clary's character more than ever because of her rash decisions. She always got herself into trouble and had to be rescued. It's a problem when the main characters of your story are annoying.

There was no surprise factor for me because I figured out the "twist" before it was revealed and the ending was just as predictable. But what really ticked me off was one particular death that was absolutely unnecessary. It made me angry that Clare chose this person to die when she could have easily picked someone else less like-able.

I don't know if I'm being too hard on this book. I guess I expected more and it's frustrating because it could have been a lot better with a bit of tweaking. I would have liked the ending to be less happily ever after and just a little tragic. I may not agree with Clare's decisions, but parts of the story were great and that redeemed it a bit for me.