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onyxem's review against another edition
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)
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)
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Murder and Gaslighting
tiana_king's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Confinement, Death, Blood, Gaslighting, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Murder
Minor: Child abuse, Incest, and Kidnapping
booking_along's review against another edition
adventurous
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
reread 2023:
not a lot actually happens in this book. it’s very much an extension and a filler kind of book to bridge different plot points together. to expect what happened in book one with the valentine plot and the clary/jace trope.
there are some small things happening -different developments that are not what everyone expected to happen that might be explored in other books later or some small thing was learned that might turn into something later on but nothing came out it in this book.
mostly this books was filled with the horrendous tropes
1. of two people that are supposedly in love with each other (but on reality don’t really know each other well enough to even know that or try to actually get to know each other to see if it’s true either -but who needs that if you can really ride that incestual train trope as long as possible?)
2. adults being incapable of behaving as if they are NOT two years old and throwing a tamper tandrum because not everything is happening as they want it to.
3. people on power misusing that power and abusing other with it and adult just watching as if it’s fun.
4. bickering and fighting o of all kinds. because who needs to talk if you can behave childishly?
and okay look.
i get that most of the characters we follow are 15-17 and that’s fine.
some of their behavior i can excuse because of that but most adults in this are horrible and for no reason other than page fillers and added drama.
and even how most things happen in this book. tween the teens is just to dramatize the moments instead trying to write an actual individual plot for this book.
the big fight scene in this is the one that was missing from the first book so really it all was just a prolonged and stretched out addition to the first book and i dislike that.
while i didn’t mind the first book from this as much, i do have to say that this second book was a huge disappointment and i can now see why i would have no motivation to try and continue on because this just felt like a book that was published for money instead of a good story.
let’s hope the third book actually has a bit of something more than this and actually takes this story somewhere!
first read review:
This book series....
I just have a hard time with it, and honestly mostly because the rather icky factor of the whole Clary and Jace thing. i mean really.
The first book was okay, nothing world changing for me and nothing i would rave about as everyone else seems to be doing. But still it was okay.
This book, it was just... I mean the actual parts that didn't have the really icky sister-brother "lets make out or talk about how much i want to make out with you or think about how much i would love to make out with you" scenes were okay. They were pretty good. I enjoy the action moments and the overall world seems interesting and the writing that Clare has is fast paced and pretty easy to get through....
But that icky factor of brother-sister love that goes into the sexual aspect instead of the family thing? That is just.... ICK! Sorry, but how come so many people seem to completely overread those many, many moments?
I don't get it.
I mean i will read the rest of the series. Just so see if it finally get better and i can't stop until i actually completely finished reading a series, i kind of suck like that but its just...
I really hope that this whole sibling-love stuff finally is over with because that is just the biggest ICK factor for me and i can't get over it long enough to actually enjoy the rest of the book as much as i might if that would not be included in the books!
Okay enough ranting about that...
the overall book -other then Clary and Jace ICK factor (sorry couldn't resist that is just sooooo wrong for me i can't even....)- was pretty good. I felt like its as a bit better then City of Bones, in the way that the characters had more depth -but maybe that was just because it is a second book and we already knew the characters and didn't just meet them. I don't know, maybe the second book is just a bit better then the first one.
I liked the power and fight moments, i did enjoy the big end fight scene and how that turned out.
I love Luke and Clary's relationship and how they just seem to work so perfectly in the parent/child relationship.
I kind of love Simon -and its just horrible what is happening with him in this book!
And i could have gone totally on board with Simon and Clary -is that a spoiler? If so sorry.
So all in all, this book is not bad. I still don't get the hype. Really don't. I mean its not bad, the writing is okay. But really? What is so special about this other then the incest?
3 to 3.5 stars and i will see how i feel about this series after the next book.
not a lot actually happens in this book. it’s very much an extension and a filler kind of book to bridge different plot points together. to expect what happened in book one with the valentine plot and the clary/jace trope.
there are some small things happening -different developments that are not what everyone expected to happen that might be explored in other books later or some small thing was learned that might turn into something later on but nothing came out it in this book.
mostly this books was filled with the horrendous tropes
1. of two people that are supposedly in love with each other (but on reality don’t really know each other well enough to even know that or try to actually get to know each other to see if it’s true either -but who needs that if you can really ride that incestual train trope as long as possible?)
2. adults being incapable of behaving as if they are NOT two years old and throwing a tamper tandrum because not everything is happening as they want it to.
3. people on power misusing that power and abusing other with it and adult just watching as if it’s fun.
4. bickering and fighting o of all kinds. because who needs to talk if you can behave childishly?
and okay look.
i get that most of the characters we follow are 15-17 and that’s fine.
some of their behavior i can excuse because of that but most adults in this are horrible and for no reason other than page fillers and added drama.
and even how most things happen in this book. tween the teens is just to dramatize the moments instead trying to write an actual individual plot for this book.
the big fight scene in this is the one that was missing from the first book so really it all was just a prolonged and stretched out addition to the first book and i dislike that.
while i didn’t mind the first book from this as much, i do have to say that this second book was a huge disappointment and i can now see why i would have no motivation to try and continue on because this just felt like a book that was published for money instead of a good story.
let’s hope the third book actually has a bit of something more than this and actually takes this story somewhere!
first read review:
This book series....
I just have a hard time with it, and honestly mostly because the rather icky factor of the whole Clary and Jace thing. i mean really.
The first book was okay, nothing world changing for me and nothing i would rave about as everyone else seems to be doing. But still it was okay.
This book, it was just... I mean the actual parts that didn't have the really icky sister-brother "lets make out or talk about how much i want to make out with you or think about how much i would love to make out with you" scenes were okay. They were pretty good. I enjoy the action moments and the overall world seems interesting and the writing that Clare has is fast paced and pretty easy to get through....
But that icky factor of brother-sister love that goes into the sexual aspect instead of the family thing? That is just.... ICK! Sorry, but how come so many people seem to completely overread those many, many moments?
I don't get it.
I mean i will read the rest of the series. Just so see if it finally get better and i can't stop until i actually completely finished reading a series, i kind of suck like that but its just...
I really hope that this whole sibling-love stuff finally is over with because that is just the biggest ICK factor for me and i can't get over it long enough to actually enjoy the rest of the book as much as i might if that would not be included in the books!
Okay enough ranting about that...
the overall book -other then Clary and Jace ICK factor (sorry couldn't resist that is just sooooo wrong for me i can't even....)- was pretty good. I felt like its as a bit better then City of Bones, in the way that the characters had more depth -but maybe that was just because it is a second book and we already knew the characters and didn't just meet them. I don't know, maybe the second book is just a bit better then the first one.
I liked the power and fight moments, i did enjoy the big end fight scene and how that turned out.
I love Luke and Clary's relationship and how they just seem to work so perfectly in the parent/child relationship.
I kind of love Simon -and its just horrible what is happening with him in this book!
And i could have gone totally on board with Simon and Clary -is that a spoiler? If so sorry.
So all in all, this book is not bad. I still don't get the hype. Really don't. I mean its not bad, the writing is okay. But really? What is so special about this other then the incest?
3 to 3.5 stars and i will see how i feel about this series after the next book.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Incest, Violence, Grief, Gaslighting, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Child death