City of Ashes by Cassandra Clare

Book: City of Ashes (The Mortal Instruments #2)
Author: Cassandra Clare
# of Pages: 453 (Paperback)
Challenge: 2014 TBR Pile Reading Challenge
Rating: 4 stars

Goodreads Summary:
Clary Fray just wishes that her life would go back to normal. But what's normal when you're a demon-slaying Shadowhunter, your mother is in a magically induced coma, and you can suddenly see Downworlders like werewolves, vampires, and faeries? If Clary left the world of the Shadowhunters behind, it would mean more time with her best friend, Simon, who's becoming more than a friend. But the Shadowhunting world isn't ready to let her go — especially her handsome, infuriating, newfound brother, Jace. And Clary's only chance to help her mother is to track down rogue Shadowhunter Valentine, who is probably insane, certainly evil — and also her father.

To complicate matters, someone in New York City is murdering Downworlder children. Is Valentine behind the killings — and if he is, what is he trying to do? When the second of the Mortal Instruments, the Soul-Sword, is stolen, the terrifying Inquisitor arrives to investigate and zooms right in on Jace. How can Clary stop Valentine if Jace is willing to betray everything he believes in to help their father?

In this breathtaking sequel to City of Bones, Cassandra Clare lures her readers back into the dark grip of New York City's Downworld, where love is never safe and power becomes the deadliest temptation.

My Thoughts:

I really enjoyed City of Bones, so I had high expectations for City of Ashes and it did not disappoint.

City of Ashes picks up a few days after City of Bones ends. In this book, Clary and Jace struggle to figure out who they are and where they belong. And all kinds of chaos is happening in the Shadowhunter world. 

Also, Clary and Jace are told that they have special "talents", but we do not learn exactly what they are. Hopefully, there will be more info about them in the next book.

I felt that Clary was pretty strong throughout the story despite all the stress and pressure she had to deal with. Though the character that impressed me most was Alec. In the first book he was so angry and jealous that I found it very hard to like him. In this book, however, we see just how clever and brave and thoughtful he can be. I really liked getting to see this side of him.

Overall, City of Ashes was full of action, mystery, and romance. And even though I did like City of Bones a bit more, I thought this was a very enjoyable read.