City of Ashes by Cassandra Clare is fast-paced, exciting, hilarious, and heartbreaking.
In City of Bones, the first book, Clary Fray’s world is turned upside-down. She has never thought of herself as being anything other than ordinary, until she sees a group of teenagers kill a demon—and finds that no one else can see them. Soon after that, Clary’s mother mysteriously disappears, and she is plunged into a world in which vampires and werewolves are real. She discovers that she is a Shadowhunter—a race of demon-slayers. To top it all off, she finds herself caught in a nasty love triangle with Simon, her best friend, and Jace, an arrogant, handsome Shadowhunter. Just as she seems to be falling for Jace, she finds out that Valentine, the villainous man who kidnapped her mother* is her father, and Jace is her brother. Oops.
As City of Ashes begins, Clary’s mother is lying in the hospital in a coma, the Clave** suspects that Jace is a spy for his father, and Clary is very romantically confused.
Valentine goes after the second Mortal Instrument, the Soul-Sword, and is more of a jerk than ever. Jace is an angry, angst-ridden teenager.*** Simon seems to be becoming more than a friend to Clary, but she’s still struggling with her feelings for Jace. And—my word! Is our love triangle becoming more of a… love… square? Indeed it is! Speaking of love shapes, Alec gets a boyfriend.****
On top of all the aforementioned drama, Clary and Jace seem to be discovering mysterious powers. And, of course, there is still the lingering question: are they really siblings?*****
City of Ashes is fabulous—at least as good as City of Bones, if not better. Also, there are more flying motorcycles.
I give City of Ashes four and one-half daggers.
*He also stole the Mortal Cup, which is used to make more Shadowhunters, so that he can build an ARMY OF DOOM.
** That’s the big scary Shadowhunter government.
*** But really, he has every right to his emo-ness.
**** No, I’m not telling who it is. I think you can figure it out if you try, though.
***** I’m hoping no.
Riding a flying motorcycle, battling Valentine, and hoping beyond hope that Jace and Clary aren't related,
PS City of Ashes comes out on March 25.
Avery adds:
Here I sit, reveling in the glorious-ness of the Advanced Reader Copy.
Very little is more satisfying than reading a book that is not yet on the shelf. That being said, City of Ashes is a particular type of ARC. Not only is it not yet available for the reading pleasure of the general public...It's really good! Vampires, werewolves, betrayal, corruption, love shapes, and Jace Wayland, all wrapped up in a lovely package of well written awesomeness.
I laughed. I cried. I ranted passionately to Aislinn about the events that transpired. (Which was rather frustrating, I might add, as I couldn't rant to her until she'd finished reading it.)
In short, City of Ashes is an awesome book.
Four and a half seraph blades...er...that is, daggers!
Shadowhunter-wannabe-ly,
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Blog: 3 Evil Cousins (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: Curse of the Headless Torso, City of Ashes, Luke I Am Your Father, The Mortal Instruments, Cassandra Clare, Magic, Vampires, Werewolves, Hot Guys, Curse of the Headless Torso, ARC, City of Ashes, Cassandra Clare, ARC, Luke I Am Your Father, The Mortal Instruments, Add a tag
Blog: Chris Rettstatt (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: poetry friday, children's literature, ARC, kaimira, kaimira: the sky village, sky village, kaimira, ARC, kaimira: the sky village, sky village, kidlit, young adult literature, Add a tag
We have a winner. Teenbookreview killed the poem with the final line, “Alone and buried in the snow.” I’ll be sending her the grand prize very shortly.
Update: it looks like I declared a winner a tad too early (I was having trouble converting from Greenwich time). Charlotte swooped in like a ninja at the last minute with a final line. The solution: Charlotte and Teenbookreview will each receive a copy of the book.
Here is the collaborative poem:
Kill This Poem
The name of this poem is its fate.
How quickly will it meet its death
Pushing forward to the end date
And quickly losing all its breathIt sheds its words onto the ground
Discarded there to rot
And ever more shall we discern
That our words are worth naughtBut is the poem an empty shell?
Or does it have deep meaning that is sought?
My words may ring the final bell
Then deathly silence is their lot.Alone and buried in the snow
The pages, blank, tell tales of woe.
And a big thank you to all the runner-up poets:
Blog: Chris Rettstatt (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: kaimira, ARC, kaimira: the sky village, advanced reading copy, kidlit, young adult literature, blogging, poetry friday, children's literature, poem, kidlitosphere, ARC, kaimira, advanced reading copy, kaimira: the sky village, Add a tag
Ok, so I don’t have many advanced reading copies of my book. And I want to contribute a post for Poetry Friday. So I thought to myself, “Self: mash it up,” and the result is: Kill This Poem.
I will post the first line of a collaborative poem, and the person who adds the final line in the comments “kills” the poem. And wins a signed copy of Kaimira: The Sky Village.
A line is judged as “final” when 48 hours passes without anyone else adding a new line.
I’m going to start out with the assumption of ABAB CDCD EFEF and so on, but breaking out of that won’t disqualify anyone.
This should go pretty quickly, because I don’t have a large readership.
Kill This Poem
The name of this poem is its fate.
So, who is the brave soul willing to add the second line? Thanks, Kelly!
Blog: 3 Evil Cousins (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: Curse of the Headless Torso, City of Ashes, Cassandra Clare, Squee-ing, Happiness, ARC, Happiness, Curse of the Headless Torso, ARC, City of Ashes, Squee-ing, Cassandra Clare, Add a tag
No, none of us won the contest. I entered, though, and Cassandra Clare* emailed me... to ask whether the Evil Cousins wanted an ARC!
After I finished squee-ing** I said that we most certainly did.
And here it sits, right next to me. Jealous?***
She even signed it for us:
I die of happiness.
*Who is definitely my hero. Right now, anyway. Well, her and Buffy.
** And jumping up and down, and fainting.
*** Insert maniacal laughter here.
Fainting, squee-ing, reading City of Ashes, and yours,
PS A review is, of course, forthcoming.