City of Glass
The Mortal Instruments, Book #3
By Cassandra Clare
ISBN# The Mortal Instruments #3
Author’s Website: cassandraclare.com
Brought to you by OBS reviewer Heidi
Review
So much of Clary’s life has changed over the last few weeks. She fell in love with a boy only to discover he’s actually her brother. Jace and her are both still fighting their attraction to one another.
“You’re my sister,” he said finally. “My sister, my blood, my family. I should want to protect you”—he laughed soundlessly without any humor—”to protect you from the sort of boys who want to do with you exactly what I want to do.”
Clary’s breath caught. “You said you just wanted to be my brother from now on.”
“I lied,” he said. “Demons lie, Clary.”
She found out that instead of being a dead hero, her dad is a villain who is alive and well. Oh, and he now has possession of two of the mortal instruments. Who knows what evil he has planned. And, her best friend has turned into a vampire.
What hasn’t changed is that her mom is still in a coma. Ragnor Fell created the potion she took to put her in the coma. And, Clary now needs to travel to Idris, the city of glass, to find him to get the antidote.
Jace is fully against Clary going to Idris. He’s worried it isn’t safe there for her. Especially if the Clave discovers she can create runes. And, he’s willing to lie to her and his entire family to keep her from going with them. However, when Jace and the Lightwoods are getting ready to portal there, they are attacked by Forsaken and Jace takes Simon through the portal to keep him from getting killed. Now an unwanted Downworlder must face the ire of the Clave and hope he can survive it.
Meanwhile, Clary shows up minutes too late and has to find her own way to Idris, whether Jace approves or not. Can she save her mom before it’s too late?
I found that I rather enjoyed this book. It’s not without its flaws, but overall, it was a decent read.
I know that these characters are teenagers who can be a bit bratty, at times. And, Clary definitely had her moments in this one. She did seem to throw a tantrum whenever she didn’t get her way and just do what she wanted anyway. I’m actually glad to see that both Luke and Jace called her out on it. Although Jace wasn’t actually being that mature, at the time, either. Teen angst, definitely one of the downsides of books like these.
There were a lot of things that happened in this book. I would say it was quite the rollercoaster, except I predicted most of it. It didn’t stop me from enjoying the ride, though.
We do discover a lot about Jace and Clary’s past and get a resolution on Valentine as well. We get more of the angel element in this book, too, which was interesting.
“You and Jace – you’re not quite normal, are you? I mean, not normal Shadowhunters. There’s something special about you both. Like the Seelie Queen said. You were experiments.” He smiled at her startled look. “I’m not stupid. I can put these things together. You with your rune powers, and Jace, well…no one could be that annoying without some kind of supernatural assistance.”
And, Clary hasn’t really matured yet, but it’s good to see that Simon appears to be. And thank goodness they aren’t trying to force a relationship anymore! It made no sense to try when she was obviously still hung up on Jace. I’m glad to see that both Clary and Simon seem to be moving on from each other as I never really liked them together.
I really enjoyed this book and it seemed like everything was tied up nicely. There seemed to be a lot of good lessons woven into this one. Be yourself, love makes you stronger, working together with people who are different can help solve your problems. I’ll be curious to see what happens next. Their world can’t stay perfect forever, after all.
