Title: City of Glass
Author: Cassandra Clare
Type: Fiction
Page Count/Review Word Count: 512
Rating: 4*/5
Cassandra Clare – City of Glass
This is the third book in Cassandra Clare’s Mortal Instruments series, and I’ve been reading through her books in order with a couple of YouTube friends. I don’t think she’s the most amazing author on the planet, but her stories have been enjoyable enough so far, and this was possibly the best one I’ve read to date. There were actually a couple of plot points that genuinely took me by surprise and which I didn’t see coming, which was a nice bonus.
Sure, there are a few things that I didn’t like, but nothing so bad that it stopped me from enjoying the book. And a few things were just downright weird, like the fact that Jace kept breaking windows. On the other hand, I also felt as though Clare had finished establishing the world and the characters and was able to focus on just having fun in this one. We get to see some of the legends as they develop – and we also get to see certain relationships developing too, which is good news if you’re into that sort of thing.
One thing that I will say is that I’m getting kind of sick of characters getting killed off and then randomly wheeled back out again. I don’t know, I’ve just never been a fan of authors bringing characters back from the grave. I think it destabilises the story itself and then makes any other deaths kind of irrelevant. Death should be final, even in fantasy novels. But I suppose that’s personal preference.
Cassandra Clare
Because this book is the third in the series, it means that Clare has had some time to develop as a writer, and she does feel a little more skilled in this book than in the first two. Still, there are flaws and it’s not perfect, but at the same time it keeps you turning the pages. This is especially true for the last 200 pages or so, because that’s when the story really starts to take off. But unlike the first two books which have both had parts that felt like nothing was happening, this one had better pacing and there was always something going on. Even if that was just Jace breaking another window.
We also get to find out more about the relationships between different characters, from the key players to more minor characters like the former inquisitor from the earlier books. It’s interesting to see how Cassandra Clare approached the task of worldbuilding and how she adapts legends that we all know about and then puts them to work for the world of shadowhunters. I’m sure there’s stuff I can pick up from her and apply to my own writing to score a series of bestsellers. I just haven’t figured out what it is yet.
If you haven’t read this already then the chances are that you never will. But if you do get round to it then it’s not too bad at all.
Cassandra Clare Quote
