Review: City of Ashes by Cassandra Clare

*This post may contain spoilers*

As I continue by re-reviewing of The Mortal Instruments, I am struck by the amount of details I missed the first couple of times reading. I was so caught up with the shocking, emotional, hysterical, amazing bare bones of the book that I didn't dive deeper into the details painstakingly produced by Cassandra Clare.

For example: In City of Bones, when the portal mirror smashes when Valentine leaves Renwick's, Jace picked up a shard of glass. That small, insignificant piece of glass turns out to be the opposite in City of Ashes, if you paid attention to the details. In City of Ashes, the shard of glass is the reason why Jace is captured by the Inquisitor. It becomes the device that tracks Jace, making him vulnerable to the Clave, and ultimately leading to the Inquisitor's death.

The imagination of Cassandra Clare still manages to astound me. The descriptions of the demons and the intricacy of the story is incredible. As I have said before, she certainly knows how to weave a story. Especially without leaving any loose ends, unless it is one of her infamous cliff-hangers. I think one of those cliff hangers will kill me one day... Waiting to find out if my beloved Jace will be alright or not.

Clary is not my favourite book character to claim the spotlight of protagonist. In City of Ashes, I feel like Clary is a bit too self-involved. "Oh I have this problem...blah di blah". But I did appreciate how much she thought about Jace, and the emotion behind her feelings for him and the fact that they couldn't be together. I also thought that Cassandra Clare created a likable side of her when Simon was becoming a vampire.

Simon. Hmm.....I never loved Simon, just because Jace completely overshadows him with his incredible personality, wit, and looks. That being said, I quite liked that Simon got a bit more of the spotlight shone on him when he became a Downworlder. It created a new dynamic in the story, and made me more susceptible to liking him. I still haven't truly come around to the idea of Simon being a vampire though. I still think of him as "the mundane". However, I do think it's good for him to be more involved in the new part of Clary's life and have a bigger role where he can actually help during battles instead of being a hindrance.

Overall, I loved the second Mortal Instruments the same, if not more, as I did the first time I discovered the series. It will always receive five stars in my mind.