Reviews with content warning for Murder - City of Ashes

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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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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onyxem's review against another edition

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adventurous mysterious 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? Yes

4.25

i couldn’t just put this series down after book one!! immediately, i wanted to place myself back into the Shadowhunters universe. i once again see such passion Clare has for building this universe and fleshing it out. i want to learn more and more, and explore even more environments that expand the story!

to begin, i really enjoyed the plot developments that occurred in City of Ashes. my critique of the last book was that some explanations were droning on too long, and i was happy to see that there was none of that for me in this one! everything was well paced, especially at the beginning of the book. there was a point at about the 75% mark where it got a bit slow, but other than that it picked up pace for an action-packed ending.

my favorite part of City of Ashes was the Queen of the Seelie Court. oh my gosh, i haven’t in YEARS ducked my face into a book giggling like a child over a character. i absolutely loved everything about the descriptions of the Seelie Court and that’s honestly the highlight of the book for me.

overall, without making this way too many paragraphs, i think i enjoyed this a bit more than the first one! overall, 4.25 stars! :))

(p.s. Jace is my son)

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