I recently read City of Glass by Cassandra Clare. This story was great. I bought this book used off of Amazon.com when I realized that I was #5 on the waiting list at the library, and all the books after this on the waiting list were going to become available sooner. So I spent a few dollars for my own copy rather than waiting for this one to become available, and then waiting several more months for this story to conclude.
While this review doesn’t contain spoilers for City of Glass, it may contain spoilers for the first two books.
My experience was probably different than someone reading it in 2009, when this book first came out, because I had the benefit of being able to look up online what was going to happen between Clary and Jace. I won’t say here what happens because I don’t want to include spoilers, but the whole incest issue between the two of them does resolve itself. In this book. So if you’re thinking “eeew” as you read this book, don’t worry about it. It will get fixed. In about 400 pages.
When we last left these characters, Clary had discovered that there was a way to cure her mother, but it required her to travel to Idris. Jace doesn’t want her to go, however, thinking it’s too dangerous. Fortunately, Clary has a mind of her own and isn’t about to let her brother tell her what to do.
Due to a few things that happen, both Luke and Simon end up in Idris as well, and they’re not supposed to be there.
There are bigger things to worry about than that, however. Valentine still has the Mortal Cup and Mortal Sword, and he still wants to use them to root out what he sees as corruption in the Clave. At least, that’s how he puts it. Part of him just wants to take over the world.
By the time you get to the end of this book, secrets will be revealed and people will die. We also meet new characters. Even though I did look up spoilers to find out what was up with the whole Jace/Clary thing, reading the books up to this point clarified quite a few things.
One of the things that I appreciate about these books, that I haven’t mentioned before, is that there is a lot of Bible and historical literature in these books. For example, Clary wrote Mene Mene Tekel Upharsin at one point, without realizing what that meant. I recognized it as what “the handwriting on the wall” was in the book of Daniel. We also see lines from Milton and some Latin. These certainly aren’t theological books, but I find the references to be clever.
I also love it when books have themes to them. The Mortal Instruments books seem to speak about corruption. How people use power wrongly. How people take advantage of laws to benefit themselves, even if by doing so they are acting immorally. Through the character of Valentine, we even see how evil can package itself in an attractive manner. These details make me enjoy the books more.
I absolutely could not put this book down, and read it in two days, despite having to work and do other things. If you haven’t read City of Glass yet, you should continue with this story.