City of Glass (Cassandra Clare)

Title: City of Glass

Author: Cassandra Clare

Publisher: Simon & Schuster

Length: 541 pages

Rating: 4/5

In the third book of the Mortal Instruments series, things are heating up. Clary is still determined to save her mother, even if it means illegally entering the City of Glass, the ancient home and heart of all Shadowhunters. And despite her herculean effort to get there, no one seems happy to see her, especially not Jace, who is determined to defeat Valentine without putting Clary in danger. Valentine’s threat to destroy the world they know looms closer, but it seems as unlikely that Downworlders and Shadowhunters will team up to fight him as it does that Clary and Jace will ever resolve their issues. Saving the world is always harder than it seems…

Even though very little time has passed since Clary first discovered she was a Shadowhunter, she’s grown a lot. All of the characters have grown a lot since the first book, which is partially why it’s so rewarding to keep reading. That and you know, the conflicts in the story: the conflict between Valentine and his children/the world, and the conflict between Jace and Clary. My mind spent a good majority of its reading time trying to decipher ways to solve these conflicts.

This book also introduces a few new characters to feast your eyes upon, namely Sebastian, the good-looking but seemingly-too-suave-to-be-true Shadowhunter. I also became more attached to old characters like the always-loyal Simon and I-want-him-as-my-own-uncle-Luke.

Occasionally, it seems the more inept the adult characters in a book, the more I like the teenage characters (maybe because they’re forced to take things into their own hands). This is one of those books. Adults are always tied down by the past. Kids look past this and see the future. Here they see a world where Downworlders and Shadowhunters can live in harmony, a world without corrupt laws and evil guys like Valentine. So of course, the kids are the ones actually getting stuff done, rather than just talking about maybe, possibly, something happening.

As to the angst expressed in my last two reviews, FINALLY, it is resolved. The series could end here quite happily, but of course it doesn’t. There are more books to come, and yes, I will be reading them!

Movie?! Movie?! Movie?! Not soon enough!