Reviews with content warning for Injury/Injury detail - City of Ashes

My review of this book is basically a copy paste of what I said about City of Bones:
I have loved this series since I was thirteen and I will always love it, but the problems are very evident now that I am an adult.
The main characters, Clary and Jace, are the personification of the problem with early 2000s YA protagonists/love interests, the "not like other girls" girl and her boyfriend the rude asshat with a dark past.
The dialogue is still very exposition heavy, but this one had less pointless scenes then the first book, so points for that I guess.
In the end I have so much fun reading this books, could never give any book in this series less than 3 stars, and I think that is exactly the rating this book deserves.

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kal517's review against another edition

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adventurous medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

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lawbooks600's review against another edition

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adventurous medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.0

Representation: Side biracial character
Score: Six points out of ten.

First, let me tell you something before I begin. It's been months since I read the first book, City of Bones, which I thought was only okay, so a few months later, I picked up the second instalment in the series. When I finished it, I found it slow-paced (that's not always bad. However, sometimes, that's an issue), and couldn't fully connect to the narrative and characters. I could pick up the third novel, but I don't have high hopes anymore. There was a map showing all the locations the book would go over; that was a nice touch. I would be better off if I read another series instead. It starts (or continues) with the main character, Clary Fray, or Clary for short, and I know this novel picks up right off from the first but I barely remember that. In the first half, almost nothing happens, but that let me explore all the characters and their dynamics, e.g., Jace, Clary and so many others I forgot due to the character soup. Out of all of them, the romance was the most significant, but it wasn't the best part. When you think about it, it's messed up. Wow. Now with that out of the way, the second half was a little faster paced than the first, and the final few pages were a rollercoaster to read through, it's has so much action. However, that didn't save the book in the end, considering that I only enjoyed 10% of it. Shame.

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bookthief's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.25

This book was soo much better than city of bones. It had multiple perspectives of the characters making the story line more interesting and allowing me to understand and connect with the characters more.
I felt really bad for Jace throughout this book because he had the right intentions the whole way through he just didn’t know how to express them. Especially with the Inquisitor. I thought he was quite blunt and could have tried harder to prove he was innocent. I thought it was really cool how he could jump really high and fall from high places and land perfectly.
When they went to the Seelie Court I thought it was really cool for them to be in a different environment and I loved how visual it was and cool the entrance was. I did think it was a bit strange and weird how the Queen made Jace and Clary kiss but I guess they aren’t actually siblings so it’s okay.
I was shocked when Simon was actually a vampire!! Like I thought it was completely unexpected but quite cool to find out how people became vampires. Also it was shocking at the end how he can be in sunlight which is really strange but I’m sure there is some sort of reasoning behind it that will be explained later.
Clary’s ability to create new runes is super cool! And she was extremely powerful and talented when she managed to destroy Valentines boat with a single rune. I loved her and Luke’s relationship!
The epilogue was really interesting with Madeline. I thought her character may return again after Clary and seen her at the Silent City. I am really curious to what the spell was!
And finally Magnus is such a great character I wish we could see more of him and his relationship with Alec!
Overall, this book is more intense and intriguing than the first book. I can’t wait to read the next one !

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sup3r_xn0va_maya's review against another edition

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dark tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.5

Okay, wow. This was a thing. I know Cassandra Clare used to write Harry Potter fanfic in her LiveJournal days (and she used to bully teens on LJ as well), and in her some of her HP fanfics she would write Ron and Ginny as being in a romantic relationship, even though they're siblings. So she obviously has an interest in incest because this whole incest plotline is just a replay of her Ron/Ginny fanfics. I can't stand it, it makes my skin crawl.

Ignoring the incest issue, this book was really boring for about 60% of the way through and then after that point the action started to pick up. When the action picked up I just remember thinking "why should I care about these characters?" Most of the characters, like Alec and Isabell, are one dimensional characters and I have no interest in them.

Isn't Magnus a 1,000 year old Warlock? Why is he dating a 17 year old Alec? Why is he interested in dating a teen, he's old as hell. He's way too old to be dating Alec, that's worst than some Bella and Edward, Twilight shit.

I might continue this series because I recently found 20 Clare books at a thrift store and this series was among the books I found.

I want to see what happens when Jocelynn wakes up and I want to know what it means now that Simon can go into the light despite being a Vampire, after he drank Jace's blood.

I don't know if it's worth it to read the rest of the series to find out or if it would be better to just look up spoilers.

This book was a miss for me.

I'm giving it 2.5 (rounded up to 3) stars out of 5 stars
⭐️⭐️⭐️

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gen_wolfhailstorm's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional hopeful lighthearted mysterious tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

The Details:
Narrated by Natalie Moore
Unabridged

Despite going pretty much straight into the sequel, the inital scene threw me off and had me discombobulated on how much time had passed

(especially with how Jace was acting and the relationship developing with Simon and Clary)

Simon has been through shit - to me, he is the star of the show and I want everything good for him. Honestly, I just want to protect him with everything I have. I hope the situations he's been through doesn't fester over this endless time and create a villan out of him.

The angst was real in this installment. Particularly with the trio of Clary, Jace and Simon and now Mia? I feel really weird about certain dynamics continue to unfold and I really hope the direction of romance changes cause... eww.

I'm really hoping that it turns out Jace and Clary aren't siblings because that forced kiss in the fae court wasn't really forced and that made me feel icky... and also, poor Simon, my heart hurts for him!!

I still really enjoyed City of Ashes and found it incredibly high action, great entertainment and fast paced, but I definitely would say I preferred City of Bones just that little bit more.

Looking forward to seeing how I feel about book 3.

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breedawnwriter's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional funny mysterious sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes

5.0

Cassandra Clare has done it again. I literally could NOT put this book down—I read it in like two days.

The tension between Jace and Clary in this book was entirely unhinged, and I loved every single freaking moment of it.

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lifeofchrstnlvly's review against another edition

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adventurous funny slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

1.5

Mundane humans create distinctions between themselves, distinctions that seem ridiculous to any Shadowhunter. Their distinctions are based on race, religion, national identity, any of a dozen minor and irrelevant markers. To mundanes these seem logical, for though mundanes cannot see, understand, or acknowledge the demon worlds, still somewhere buried in their ancient memories, they know that there are those that walk this earth that are other. That do not belong, that mean only harm and destruction. Since the demon threat is invisible to mundanes, they must assign the threat to others of their own kind. They place the face of their enemy onto the face of their neighbor, and thus are generations of misery assured.

To be honest, not much really happened in this book.

Although Simon turned into a vampire, we saw Robert and Maryse, and there was a battle between the Shadowhunters and Valentine, the plot felt lacking.

In my opinion, the events of City of Ashes could have easily been combined with either City of Bones or City of Glass. I don't believe there was enough substance to justify an entire book dedicated to these events.

I did find City of Ashes to be funnier than City of Bones, but Clary's character was quite irritating!

And yes, the incest thing bothered me more in this book because of Clary.

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