Greetings Rad Readers!! This (no surprise) was a banger. It has by far been the best Mortal Instruments book so far in my opinion. It takes off right where City of Ashes leaves off.
Clary is still trying to get her mom back. To do that she needs to get to the City of Glass which is basically the Mecca for Shadowhunters. Entering the city without permission from the Clave is illegal and could lead to major repercussions... we are talking death right now ladies and gentlemen. However the only way that she can enter the City of Glass is without permission of course because Jace is doing everything in his power to prevent her from going. To make matters worse, and to make Clary want to get to Alicante even more, Simon gets pushed through the portal... A vampire in sacred Shadowhunter ground? Beyond a no-go. Simon immediately gets thrown in prison by the new Inquisitor and the rest of the Clave is very suspicious of a vampire that is not effected by sunlight.
Valentine is still a mad bad lad trying to destroy all the Shadowhunters. When Clary gets to the City of Glass she learns more about her family's past, also meeting Sebastian, a Shadowhunter that she knows very little about. His mysterious nature leads to a little suspicion, but he becomes her ally along the way while she is struggling with issues regarding fighting Valentine, getting her mother back, and dealing with the matters of Jace and Simon.
As you can tell by that tiny little synopsis that is not in fact tiny at all, this book is crazy action packed from the very first pages all the way to the end of the book. It is so engaging and exciting and really just epic as a whole. The world, I feel like, has really been expanded on and where it may have been confusing at parts in City of Ashes and City of Bones, everything is very well explained and established now. There are all sorts of things happening at once which is really cool. We get to see even more of the other characters which I think was one of the strongest points of this book, being able to get a better sense of especially Simon and Isabelle. They are even more firmly established in my mind as my favorite characters in this series. Everything thus far in the series is finally explained which is so relieving. I know that this was initially intended to be a trilogy only and this was going to be the last book. The next three weren't originally planned to be written so that is why in the end it has a feeling of finality.
Us readers have been guessing so much along the way and really nothing is totally answered until the end of this book! I really really enjoyed it but unfortunately there is not much to say without revealing spoilers, sooooooo if you have not read City of Glass yet, READ IT! It is the best in TMI series up to this point and if you are like me and didn't love City of Ashes that much, DONT STOP READING THIS SERIES!! IT GETS SO MUCH BETTER!! The twists are still crazy but this time they are awesome and don't make you want to throw your book at a wall (well only sometimes but in a good way this time, not like in the way we threw out books at the end of City of Bones...) trusttt meeee you are going to want to read it! And hint hint... I called it... ;)
Okay, helloooo spoiler gang!
So, I think we can all agree that leaving Clary behind initially was just about the dumbest thing they could have chosen to do. Clary was obviously going to find a way to get there and obviously it was going to be a stupid idea and obviously she is still going to go through with it. OF COURSE the woman is going to get to Alicante! This is Clary Fray we are talking about here! I was really on the edge of my seat during the *seriously* very beginning. When the forsaken came and Simon ended up going through the portal, I knew immediately that this was going to be a good one. Where City of Ashes started out really slow and then started picking up speed, I felt like the pacing of this book was crazy fast the entire time and I really enjoyed that (I know I said it before, but it was just such a strong point throughout the entirety of this book)!
Okay, now onto Sebastian... I knewwwwww from like the very first time we met him that this was a badddd dudeeee. I was low-key disappointed in Clary for not realizing that either. She constantly shows that she is a little tentative and unsure of him, yet she is still so open with him, telling him so much about her life and her situation and trusting him and I was like girllll there is nooooo wayyyyyy this is a good idea... and I was right of course. I knew the whole time that Jace and Clary weren't related, and praise the freaking lord that it was finally actually revealed. I knew it the whole time and I was soooo tired of reading about characters that didn't know what I already knew. It made reading about parts like that feel so forced and slow and I was just nottt here for it. I just didn't know how we were going to find out, and I must say, this was the craziest most amazing way we could have. OF COURSE Sebastian is her evil long lost brother, like, duh, how did I not realize that immediately. OF COURSE he is the one with the demon blood and Jace with the angel blood. UGH how did I not know this right when I read it. There was no way the Jace was evil and had demon in him, and I can't believe I believed that for a little bit right there.
I feel so bad for Simon this entire book! I feel like he is always dragged into everything. He didn't want to be a vampire, he didn't want to be in this Shadowhunter drama. He certainly didn't want to wind up in Alicante and the inquisitor is acting like he has this big evil plot when he literally just accidentally became a vampire and was dragged through a portal by Shadowhunters... That poor guy. Still, I did appreciate this story line becuase we got to spend more time focused on Simon, and he really is one of my favorite characters in this story. His dialogue is always the funniest and same with his thoughts. I thought this aspect really made the book that much better! Like I said, we could have just kept up with the regular old "Defeat Valentine! Oh no!" story line and it would have just been kind of good, but there was so much else going on that made this book always exciting and I LOVED IT!
The whole Hodge story line... crazy... so mad that Sebastian killed him. I know he was a traitor but he was trying to apologize! He was trying to help them and explain himself! However, what I'm even more mad about, nay, infuriated about, would be that Max was killed. I felt soooo bad for Alec and Isabelle and Jace and really all of them. It was so so so heartbreaking. Cassandra Clare why did you have to do us like that!!
Clary finally started doing something helpful! She has been a really frustrating character since the end of City of Bones. Throughout most of City of Bones she was great, then at the end she was lame and in City of Ashes she was lame too. She is strong and smart and has so much to say and so much potential. It is so frustrating to watch a character like that act so weak and stupid and rash at times! I do like Clary a lot though, and I know that a lot of people kind of hate her, and I get that as you can probably tell from what I just said, but I don't hate her. There are times where she redeems herself big time. Chiefly in this book would be when she convinces the Clave and the other Shadowhunters not to surrender and that the way that they could defeat Valentine would be if they went up against him with the Downworlders as their allies. It was a genius idea and also a step in the right direction for that world. It reminded me a lot of S.P.E.W. in Harry Potter actually! Super sick idea and genius world building and crazy crazy crazy stuff going on!
Sick, fantastical, crazy ending. I thought Jace was a goner. He literally died and because I knew that this was supposed to be the last book in the series I thought that it was o-v-e-r over for him, but then when Raziel killed Valentine and brought him back I was like wow... wow... this is just the greatest series ever. I hate Valentine. He isn't even a good evil villain. He had been planning this for years, faked his death and then planned his return for years and this was the most he could amount to? Sacrificing his teenage daughter and then failing at that so then sacrificing Jace? Comeee onnn. Raziel didn't even accept his sacrifice. He was like... dog... you're insane we don't want dead children in exchange for creating a pure breed of Shadowhunters you psychopath. Big ups to Raziel for killing Valentine and putting an end to all that by the way. You know what, while we are on that topic, I can't believe that Valentine was about to sacrifice Clary and then did kill Jace... imagine being the worst ever... I could never. Thankfully Valentine is over and done with but now Sebastian... oh boy, that mad lad is on the move and we know that he is coming back worse than ever in City of Fallen Angels and I cannot wait!!
Okay rad readers, there's my hot take on City of Glass! I have it 5/5 stars on GoodReads and I would have given it 6/5 if I had the option!
Read on! Ave Atque Vale!! (Shadowhunter jokes am I rightttt)
-C8 ;)
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