City of Glass (2009)

City of Glass is the third novel in the Mortal Instruments series by Cassandra Clare. [Here are my reviews of the other books.]

Plot [with spoilers for the previous books]:
Clary found out that her mother is not in a coma, but under a spell and now her heart is set to go to Alicante, the shadowhunter city, to find the wizard who made the spell and make him revive her. But Jace is not too happy about Clary coming to Alicante, as he fears for her safety because of her abilities. And Valentine is still out and about anyway. But then things get screwed up and Jace ends up in Alicante with Alec, Isabelle and Simon, while Clary goes there on her own illegally, closely followed by Luke. But that is really only the start of the troubles.

There were several things in City of Glass that rubbed me the wrong way. So much so that I needed to take a break after finishing it and haven’t continued with the series since. (Though I probably still will – they didn’t rub me that hard. ;)

Read more on my blog: http://kalafudra.wordpress.com/2013/04/02/city-of-glass-cassandra-clare/ ( )

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Title : City of Glass
Series : Mortal Instruments #1
Pages : 541
Author : Cassandra Clare
Publisher : Margaret K. MacElderry
Format : Hardcover
Source : Bought - Owned




My Opinion :
P.S. : The parentheses are my thoughts as I write this…

P.P.S. : Lot’s of spoilers in this review; couldn’t help myself

City of Glass is the third installment in the loved Mortal Instruments series written by awesome author Cassandra Clare. Also, it was the biggest in the series (Sorry, I felt like I need to add that).


This time, the setting is in the City of Glass (like the book’s title!!), or Idris, the home of the Shadowhunters if you prefer, more precisely in Alicante. Clary and Jace still love each other even though they are brother and sister *BIGGEST SPOILER EVER!*, but yet, they find, near the end, that they aren’t. *alright, now it’s done, you did good not reading it* Almost Everyone is there: from Magnus Bane, to Simon (yep, even though he’s a vampire and they aren’t allowed in Idris, he thought, well I think I prefer going there and getting imprisoned by some crackpot old fool then dying killed by demons; I understand him.), Luke (looks like they decided to break the law, then why not break it as much as they can, right?) and Clary (she’s there illegally; she didn’t get the permission to go there; bad Clary!). Seems like they are all baddies! (Skyscraper!!! Ooops, sorry, I’m listening to Skyscraper by Demi Lovato (covered by Cimorelli)).


The characters evolved a lot in the book; Clary grew up more and was unhappy a lot with Jace, as was Jace with Clary. *little spoiler* Alec and Magnus Bane finally got together and kissed, eeeeeep!!!! I am so Team Malec or something *little spoiler is done*. What pained me the most is that *spoiler* Max, the little guy, died *spoiler’s done*.


The writing also was way better than City of Bones and City of Ashes; I really felt transported to the scenes; as if I were there. It was fast-paced just enough. I hope City of Fallen Angels is going to be as good.


The Mortal Instruments series looks wonderful on my shelves and the covers keep being beautiful. I wonder what’ll be the fifth book’s cover…


5/5 roses ( )

Third book of Cassandra Clare's series, City of Glass, wraps up the Valentine story.

The book works as a good conclusion to the series, if you don't feel like reading the following three books. Most relevant plot lines are explained, and the truth "unravelled".

Like with the previous book, I had issues with the characters. Clare keeps on pushing down our throats how sad Jace's past is. She's trying so hard to make us feel bad for her favourite character, but telling it so many times just makes me annoyed, and makes me stop caring; I had enough of that by the middle of the book, so I started skimming pages whenever someone started talking about it.

Jace basically got two moods: whiny and jerk. If he isn't drowning in his pool of misery because of his past or because he can't have anything with Clary, he's being an ass to everyone.

Our heroine, Clary, is less of a cardboard than in the previous book, but she's more like Jace now, walking over everyone, and doing anything she wants no matter how it affects others. I found both, Clary and Jace, pretty selfish. When the Cherub asked Clary what she wanted, she sacrificed world peace, just so she could have Jace. What?

The only character that I did enjoy was Simon. Specially now that he isn't following Clary around, like a lost puppy. Simon is more of a hero than Jace, which I think Clare wasn't really planning on. Simon isn't whining every chapter about how he got turned, or how he missed being human, or how he got a sad past too (he's father is dead I think), or how Clary doesn't love him. He just dealt with his problems and moved on. Simon was selfless, and thought of how stuff he did would affect others, like the Lightwoods, or the vampires, that he doesn't even like. And he was funny. And Clare isn't constantly describing how hot he is, unlike with Jace; it was mentioned just once I think. So I liked him.

And when Jace was with Simon, I was able to stand him. The boys have a better dynamic. When Jace was with Clary it was always chaotic, and weird.

Another thing I had issues with was how Max's death was dealt with, it was like no one really cared! Jace was making jokes after his funeral! And Isabelle trying to have sex with Simon to "relieve" her pain. There's something wrong with that family.

I found it silly calling the Monteverdes senhor and senhora, like there's no equivalent for the words in English. Mr and Mrs not exotic enough for Clare?

The "plot twists" weren't shocking, everything was pretty predictable. There was nothing mind blowing or anything.

Finally, I wish Clare had explained her world better. It's the third book, and I still don't understand the runes, is there a limit of how many a shadowhunter can have? I don't understand the parabai thing, Jace and Alec never fought like a team or anything, what makes them different from shadowhunters with no parabai? ( )

Yeah, proof that Jocelyn is not the best mom ever, and pretty much a scatterbrain IMO.

Merged review:

This was sweet! Sometimes, deleted scenes are more delightful because they're kind of forbidden!

Merged review:

This was funny, and I am very happy CC decided to share this with her readers!! ( )

I enjoyed reading this series overall, but this was not my favorite of the three books in the trilogy.
I was disapointed because, while the first two books kept me guessing about what would happen next, I was able to predict every "twist" the plot took in this one. ( )