Title: City of GlassAuthor: Cassandra Clare
Genre: YA fantasy
Page Count: 541
Why I read it: third in a series
Grade: A-
Synopsis:
To save her mother's life, Clary must travel to the City of Glass, the ancestral home of the Shadowhunters -- never mind that entering the city without permission is against the Law, and breaking the Law could mean death. To make things worse, she learns that Jace does not want her there, and Simon has been thrown in prison by the Shadowhunters, who are deeply suspicious of a vampire who can withstand sunlight.
As Clary uncovers more about her family's past, she finds an ally in mysterious Shadow-hunter Sebastian. With Valentine mustering the full force of his power to destroy all Shadow-hunters forever, their only chance to defeat him is to fight alongside their eternal enemies. But can Downworlders and Shadowhunters put aside their hatred to work together? While Jace realizes exactly how much he's willing to risk for Clary, can she harness her new found powers to help save the Glass City -- whatever the cost?
My review:
I thought the first book of this series, City of Bones, was just okay. The second one was better, and now I think Cassandra Clare must have just found her groove, because this one was great.
The story is very intense, and although there are times in the plot where things slow down a bit, it never gets boring because the characters were so great. There were even times when they were downright funny, and I laughed out loud, and I don't remember that in the previous books. Either the author has really grown as a writer, or I'm just relaxing my standards as a reader. Whatever the case, I had a hard time putting City of Glass down.
There is a lot going on in this book, and the POV switches back and forth between characters quite often, which is a great tool for creating suspense. It seems that all the foreshadowing in the previous book comes to a head here, and we are given all the answers (or so it would appear, but since I see there is another book forthcoming, who knows?). The ending was quite the happily ever after type, which isn't a bad thing.
I would recommend this one to fans of YA fantasy. As I've said, I really didn't care much for the first one, so if you don't like that one, don't give up. I truly think the series gets better as it progresses.
Series Reading order:
City of Bones
City of Ashes
City of Glass
City of Fallen Angels (out in 2011)
5 comments:
I love this series Brenda! Can't wait for the next one this fall :)
Glad to see you enjoyed it and didn't give up!
Huh. Well now I'm all confused. I did not at all like the first book, but you're saying they get better? Now I'm wondering if I should go get them...
Wendy--I was surprised there was another one, since I kept reading that it was a trilogy. I'm interested to see where it goes; sometimes I think authors carry series too far.
Michelle--I really didn't care for the first one either. I didn't care about any of the characters, or the story for that matter. But I think it definitely gets better. The second one was an improvement, and the third is even better.
Can one start with this book?
I don't think you'd want to. There is a lot of build up and foreshadowing in the previous books, and if you missed out on that, this one wouldn't be as exciting. I think you would also be pretty lost---it wouldn't stand on it's own very well.
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