Life of Bry

I finished City of Ashes and wanted to give some “quick” thoughts on the book.

My heart broke for Jace when Maryse kicked him out. Jace puts on a tough guy facade, but you can tell this hits him hard. The Lightwoods are his family, blood or not, and his adoptive mom telling him she doesn’t trust him is a blow to the gut.

“Do you remember that song you used to sing to Isabelle and Alec—when they were little and afraid of the dark—to get them to fall asleep?”

Maryse appeared taken aback. “What are you talking about?”

“I used to hear you through the walls,” he said. “Alec’s bedroom was next to mine then.”

She said nothing.

“It was in French,” Jace said. “The song.”

“I don’t know why you’d remember something like that.” She looked at him as if he’d accused her of something.

“You never sang to me.”

There was a barely perceptible pause. Then, “Oh, you,” she said. “You were never afraid of the dark.”

“What kind of ten-year-old is never afraid of the dark?”

The massacre of the Silent Brothers is gruesome and terrifying. Once again, my heart hurt knowing Jace had to sit there and listen to that, see Brother Jeremiah die and then have his father taunt him.

Clary is finally useful. Her open rune blows the door to Jace’s cell in the Silent City right off the hinges. It turns out that she can create runes that don’t exist — something that Jace says is impossible. Damn girl, you’ve been holding out on us! She’s still incredibly clumsy and awful in combat. Can somebody please take like two days to teach her the basics?

We get an attempt at a Simon/Clary relationship which is super cringe and uncomfortable for all parties involved. But it can’t be worse than Clary and Jace’s way-too-passionate kiss in the Seelie Court to appease the Queen. 🤢

Speaking of Simon, he’s now a Vamp Boy — wait I think I just came up with his new band name … Simon just can’t catch a break, he goes from mundane to bloodsucker and everyone is trying to kill him (over and over again).

The Queen said that Jace and Clary have special powers. Clary can create runes, but is Jace’s power just doing whatever the hell he wants? He can jump 30 feet in the air out of the Inquisitor’s cage and he can jump off the Institute’s roof and land lightly on his feet. If he wants to do something, he just does it, even when it should be impossible.

The only information that readers get about the Clave up to this point are from stories told by the Lightwoods or Luke. The Inquisitor is our initial first-hand experience with the Clave and honestly she’s awful. She’s clearly taking out the distress of losing her family — including her son — on Jace because he’s Valentine’s son. If the whole Clave operates as the Inquisitor did, then I can see why some rogue Shadowhunters would see the need for change.

On the topic of the Inquisitor, she clearly recognized Jace’s scar. But, in true suspense, she died before she could have the chance to explain why she was so shocked to see it. My personal guess is that maybe Jace isn’t Valentine’s son after all … could Jace be Stephen Herondale’s son?

Another stab in the heart is when the Inquisitor tells Jace her plan to trade him to Valentine for the Soul Sword, and Jace immediately knows that his father won’t take the deal. Valentine would sacrifice his son’s life for power and control, and it’s such an absurd thought that the Inquisitor doesn’t even believe Jace until it becomes reality. “The love a parent has for a child, there is nothing else like it.” The Inquisitor tells Jace, but that doesn’t apply to Valentine. Is this more foreshadowing that Jace isn’t Valentine’s biological son or just further proof that Valentine is a heartless asshole?

Jace will really do anything for Clary. When he finds Simon bleeding out on Valentine’s ship, Jace let’s our Vamp Boy drink his blood. Later we find out that because of this “transfusion”, Simon can be out in daylight without dying. More signs pointing to Jace being even more otherworldly than initially expected.

Magnus Bane and Alec are super cute. That’s all.

The way Clary completely dismantles Valentine’s ship is incredibly badass. She’s way more powerful than anybody thought, and I honestly would probably keep her away from Valentine and the Clave. Both sides are too extreme in their beliefs, and, if they knew what Clary could do, they’d definitely abuse it.

Maryse apologizes, as she damn well should. She tells Jace that she did sing to him as a child, he just didn’t hear her. My heart really took a beating this book.

Finally, that cliffhanger ending is *chef’s kisses*.

 “I can show you how to wake your mother up.” OK, mysterious Madeleine, we’re listening.

Imagine reading these books as they were being published, reading that sentence and then having to wait a whole year to read what happens next. I would go crazy. 

Overall, I actually enjoyed City of Ashes more than City of Bones, particularly because it showed how the battle between good and evil isn’t always black and white.

In book one, it’s pretty straightforward that Valentine is the bad guy and the Clave are the good guys. Demons = evil. Shadowhunters = good.

But City of Ashes really hits home that it’s not that simple. Jace won’t say he hates Valentine because, despite the abuse he endured as a child and the atrocities that Valentine is committing, that’s still his father. Any small amount of affection that Valentine showed his son, clearly stuck with Jace. You can still love someone who is evil.

However, we also see how corrupt the Clave can be. The Inquisitor was acting unjustly by using Jace as a pawn. Jace loyally served the Clave his entire young life, but he was shackled, imprisoned and nearly killed for simply being Valentine’s son — which he didn’t even know until recently.

It definitely makes you wonder if Valentine isn’t right for wanting the Clave to be dismantled. Though it’s hard to agree with the way he’s going about it.

I’d give City of Ashes 4 out of 5 stars. It was fast paced, action packed and broke my heart.

Now onto City of Glass …