City of Ashes

City of Ashes by Cassandra Clare

✭✭✭ 1/2 (out of 5 stars)

Well, the second book in this series was much better than the first. The writing and story is much faster paced, and the characters are better developed. It seemed like the author finally found her groove with this installment. I love the snarky comments of her characters, and some of the themes she has, (ie. the gray area in the whole good vs. evil battle) even if some of them do seem like I have heard them once or twice before. Still a bit juvenile, but this time I was able to get past that and enjoy the novel. I am getting quite attached to Clary and her demon hunting pals, and I love the self discovery in novel between the characters.

This book continues where the first left off, with the Clave of Shadowhunters fighting against Valentine to protect the mortal instruments. Clary is fighting her feelings of love for Simon and Jace (still kinda grossed out about that, one of them may be her brother). Simon is undergoing his own ch-ch-changes, and Jace is still trying to come to terms with the abandonment of his father. Add in a gay demon hunter trying to come out to his parents, and you have a nice little teen soap opera... Not too bad.

One thing for sure that has ruined the reading experience for me is all the spoilers online...one of the reasons I never give away too much-if any- of the plot when I do my little sad book reviews...so be careful there if you plan to research it online.