A review by erin0999
City of Ashes by Cassandra Clare

4.0

This book has been my own white whale for about six or seven years now. I have tried to read it at least five times and failed, but this time, with the emotional support of my friends Cat and Clare and the understanding that Cassie Clare is low key a good writer from TID series, I have conquered my whale. It was pretty decent and actually a very quick read! I’ve mentioned this in my TID reviews that I really like her character writing and her dialogue but am less of a fan of her action scenes and female characters. Overall, MOST of the issues I have with this book are outweighed by the good and i already have a library copy of City of Glass which I plan to read basically immediately... HOWEVER. I feel this has to come up.
Jace and Clary create some of the cringiest scenes I have ever read in my life. I am privy to some later series revelations but it still feels so icky to read them pining after each other, especially some of Jace’s “romantic speeches”. I feel like a lot of this book tried to portray those scenes as genuinely romantic and maybe Cassandra Clare kind of missed the Tone Train because she knows the truth about her own characters’ backstories but I just feel that the scenes were uncomfortable for the reader but not portrayed as uncomfortable in the book. Which makes it more uncomfortable. But. I am powering through. Because I know the truth. But I hope I am put out of my misery reading about their fucking feelings for each other pretty early on in book three or I may simply melt away.