A review by theoriginalbookdragon
City of Ashes by Cassandra Clare
3.0
“For the first time, Maryse looked at him with more sadness than anger. ‘You are an arrow shot directly into the heart of the Clave, Jace. You are Valentine’s arrow. Whether you know it or not.’”
City of Ashes by Cassandra Clare was, in a certain way, a bit of an (underwhelming) rollercoaster ride for me.
On the one hand, I think that I struggled with this book more than I really should’ve. I started reading the novel in July; I finished it in October. Now, to be fair, I did have some personal setbacks and priority changes that got in the way, but…I don’t know. Maybe that’s a bad sign, maybe not. You decide.
On the other hand, I did enjoy seeing Cassandra Clare’s enthralling characters come back to life. I loved reading about the Simon/Clary drama; witnessing Alec’s daredevil move under the influence of the Fearless rune; and watching Magnus’ character bit by bit become more than just a healer (although, I would’ve appreciated some more development than what was given—but that’s just a personal opinion).
But what’s up with the lack of strong female main characters? I mean, take Clary for example: I can understand a little helplessness in the first book, and maybe even in the beginning of the sequel; she did find out she was of Shadowhunter blood, after all. But seriously! Now you know who you are—do something about it!
I think I got especially annoyed at this towards the climax—all the stuff that happened on Valentine’s ship of doom. Come on! You can’t expect that the others are going to come and save you at the snap of a finger; you have to learn to save yourself! I also felt this frustration deeply in the first book, when (spoiler) they were fighting the Greater Demon, and all Clary did was basically scream and run around, reporting the danger that they were all in yet doing nothing whatsoever about it.
I was also really disappointed in this same aspect with the newer character, Maia. In the beginning, I got the impression that she was going to be a strong, sassy character that could stand up for herself; but by the time she and Simon were locked up on the ship of doom she crumbled. I wish that she would have stayed vigilant and been the leader in that situation and others; but no such luck. Even Isabel, who has an independent, feisty persona, had her moments.
Although, as a disclaimer, I’d like to point out to everyone that I’m not stressing the fact that every character needs a rock-hard emotional wall and can’t be vulnerable or upset; I just mean that I would’ve been happy with more characters like Reyna and Annabeth (The Heroes of Olympus), Christina (Divergent), or Bluestar (Warriors—and yes, I know she’s a cat, but my point still stands), who were strong leaders/fighters and were like steel and didn’t show pain in front of their comrades/subjects/etcetera and…well, I think you get the idea.
I hate to be so critical; yet these are my feelings! I really wish that there had been better representation of women and girls, even if the idea in a dystopian/fantasy book is a little stereotypical.
Okay, done with the empowerment rant—onto the writing. Although some may appreciate the generous descriptions the author gives us about the setting, what a character is wearing, etcetera (including me, but sparingly), ironically it made getting a mental image of the said item that much harder at times. My theory is that these detailed accounts stunt the reader’s imagination, causing the indicated result. But in an overall sense, I believe that the writing was good; at least, besides what I’ve stated above, there wasn’t anything notable about it. Just good ol’ ordinary prose.
I really did enjoy this book; the hilarious situation(s) with Malec (Magnus and Alec) was a highlight for me. I also found myself feeling a bit frustrated at the whole “will they, won’t they” situation concerning Clary and Jace (I’m still a little skeptical on the whole them being siblings thing. But what do I know?)
Overall, I think a 2.5/3 star rating is in order. It was really a “good enough” read, something that I probably wouldn’t count as my favorite book of the year but wasn’t completely horrible. I’m not sure if I’m going to read the next book; however, if I do, let’s hope for both your sake and mine that it features some amazing female leads!
“‘You were wrong that I never sang it to you,’ she said. ‘It’s just that you never heard me.’
“Jace said nothing, but he reached out and yanked the zipper open on the duffle bag, letting his belongings spill out onto the bed.”
City of Ashes by Cassandra Clare was, in a certain way, a bit of an (underwhelming) rollercoaster ride for me.
On the one hand, I think that I struggled with this book more than I really should’ve. I started reading the novel in July; I finished it in October. Now, to be fair, I did have some personal setbacks and priority changes that got in the way, but…I don’t know. Maybe that’s a bad sign, maybe not. You decide.
On the other hand, I did enjoy seeing Cassandra Clare’s enthralling characters come back to life. I loved reading about the Simon/Clary drama; witnessing Alec’s daredevil move under the influence of the Fearless rune; and watching Magnus’ character bit by bit become more than just a healer (although, I would’ve appreciated some more development than what was given—but that’s just a personal opinion).
But what’s up with the lack of strong female main characters? I mean, take Clary for example: I can understand a little helplessness in the first book, and maybe even in the beginning of the sequel; she did find out she was of Shadowhunter blood, after all. But seriously! Now you know who you are—do something about it!
I think I got especially annoyed at this towards the climax—all the stuff that happened on Valentine’s ship of doom. Come on! You can’t expect that the others are going to come and save you at the snap of a finger; you have to learn to save yourself! I also felt this frustration deeply in the first book, when (spoiler) they were fighting the Greater Demon, and all Clary did was basically scream and run around, reporting the danger that they were all in yet doing nothing whatsoever about it.
I was also really disappointed in this same aspect with the newer character, Maia. In the beginning, I got the impression that she was going to be a strong, sassy character that could stand up for herself; but by the time she and Simon were locked up on the ship of doom she crumbled. I wish that she would have stayed vigilant and been the leader in that situation and others; but no such luck. Even Isabel, who has an independent, feisty persona, had her moments.
Although, as a disclaimer, I’d like to point out to everyone that I’m not stressing the fact that every character needs a rock-hard emotional wall and can’t be vulnerable or upset; I just mean that I would’ve been happy with more characters like Reyna and Annabeth (The Heroes of Olympus), Christina (Divergent), or Bluestar (Warriors—and yes, I know she’s a cat, but my point still stands), who were strong leaders/fighters and were like steel and didn’t show pain in front of their comrades/subjects/etcetera and…well, I think you get the idea.
I hate to be so critical; yet these are my feelings! I really wish that there had been better representation of women and girls, even if the idea in a dystopian/fantasy book is a little stereotypical.
Okay, done with the empowerment rant—onto the writing. Although some may appreciate the generous descriptions the author gives us about the setting, what a character is wearing, etcetera (including me, but sparingly), ironically it made getting a mental image of the said item that much harder at times. My theory is that these detailed accounts stunt the reader’s imagination, causing the indicated result. But in an overall sense, I believe that the writing was good; at least, besides what I’ve stated above, there wasn’t anything notable about it. Just good ol’ ordinary prose.
I really did enjoy this book; the hilarious situation(s) with Malec (Magnus and Alec) was a highlight for me. I also found myself feeling a bit frustrated at the whole “will they, won’t they” situation concerning Clary and Jace (I’m still a little skeptical on the whole them being siblings thing. But what do I know?)
Overall, I think a 2.5/3 star rating is in order. It was really a “good enough” read, something that I probably wouldn’t count as my favorite book of the year but wasn’t completely horrible. I’m not sure if I’m going to read the next book; however, if I do, let’s hope for both your sake and mine that it features some amazing female leads!
“‘You were wrong that I never sang it to you,’ she said. ‘It’s just that you never heard me.’
“Jace said nothing, but he reached out and yanked the zipper open on the duffle bag, letting his belongings spill out onto the bed.”