City of Ashes by Cassandra Clare

City of Ashes (The Mortal Instruments #2) by Cassandra Clare

YA Paranormal/Fantasy

Rating: 5 Stars

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.

My thoughts: I really love this series. Cassandra has a way of surprising me that recent books have not. Lately it has become easier and easier to predict what is coming but not with this series. I was a bit disappointed when the revelation of Jace and Clare being siblings and even now aggravates me. I highly doubt this book is about incest though so I have a feeling Valentine is a filthy liar. Not really a surprise to anyone at this point, I guess. If you are surprised then you are horrible at reading between the lines and catching on to the foreshadowing. Anyway, my favorite party of this whole thing is Simon. Even though the situation sucks for him and everything, his life has changed and it sure was not a bad thing. I love him more than I did in the first one. Before he was the shy, best friend who had a hard time sharing his feelings and now he is much more than that! I won’t give any of the details. I really do hate spoilers. Anyway,

Cover: 4/5

Writing: 5/5

Characters: 5/5

Overall Score:

City of Bones by Cassandra Clare

City of Bones (The Mortal Instruments #1) by Cassandra Clare

YA Paranormal/Fantasy

Rating: 5 Stars

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. . . .

Exotic and gritty, exhilarating and utterly gripping, Cassandra Clare's ferociously entertaining fantasy takes readers on a wild ride that they will never want to end.

My thoughts: What an amazing book! What an amazing world! Cassandra Clare has created this whole new world and has implanted it right in the middle of ours and has made it believable. The amount of research she had to have done astounds me. The characters were all amazing and I fell in love with them all. Especially Simon, I love the whole best friend who secretly loves you thing. You could say that angle is overused but I think it always makes for a great story. I don’t particularly like the covers all that much. They are beautiful but I just felt there were too much flair and shining lights. The runes were beautiful though. I hated that ending though. I wanted to rip the pages out! What a twist!

Cover: 4/5

Writing: 5/5

Characters: 5/5

Overall Score: