Book:  City Of Ashes (Mortal Instruments #2)
Author:  Cassandra Clare
Published:  March 25, 2008 from Margaret K. McElderry
My edition/number of pages:  PB/453

Age group:  Young adult
Source:  Bookstore
Series?:  Yes.  Second book.

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?

SPOILERS:  If you haven’t read the first book, City Of Bones, don’t read this review.

Right now, I am very glad that I bought all the Mortal Instruments books at once.  That way, I don’t have to rush out to try and find a copy after I finish one.  And let me tell you, that is what I would be doing if I didn’t already have them.  They are just that good.

Clary Fray has a lot to worry about.  Her mom still hasn’t woken up, Jace is still her brother, Simon is starting to act odd, and Downworlders are being murdered.  It doesn’t seem like anything worse could happen but it does.  The Inquisitor is called in from Idris to investigate and she targets Jace out of everybody.  Like it’s not hard enough to figure out why Valentine is murdering Downworlders.  Now they have to do it with Jace under house arrest.  Is there anything else that could possibly go wrong?

Not only are the old characters back, there are some new ones.  Maia, Maryse, Robert, the Inquisitor, and the Seelie Queen. Most of the new characters were very likable people.  All except the Inquisitor and the Seelie Queen.  The Inquisitor was the worst though.  She was just plain evil.  Maia was my favorite out of the new people and I look forward to seeing more of her in City Of Glass.  She seems to have a troubled past and I would love to know more about it.

I actually liked City Of Ashes even better than City Of Bones.  I liked that the POV changed every now and then and we got to see Jace’s side of things.  I really like him and I liked being able to see what was going through his head, not just Clary’s.  We even got to see a little about what Simon was going through and believe me, he was going through a lot in this book.  They all were.

Overall, City Of Ashes is just as good, if not better than City Of Bones.  I am going to start City Of Glass now and I probably won’t be able to put it down until I’m done.  Oh well, it’s not like I have anything better to do today and even if I did I would work around that.  I can’t wait to see how this is going to play out in the next book!

First line:  The formidable glass-and-steel structure rose from its position on Front Street like a glittering needle threading the sky.

Writing:  5

Characters:  5

Plot:  5

Ending:  5

Originality:  5

Overall: 25=A++

Cover:  5=A++