Post #25: City of Glass

City of Glass (Mortal Instruments)

Cassandra Clare

Post number twenty-five is for Cassandra Clare's City of Glass, which is the third and final book in her Mortal Instruments trilogy. This was a book I was highly anticipating, as I wanted to see how she would wrap things up and wanted to finally see the answers to all my questions. This book did that nicely, so I definitely recommend it, although you definitely should not read this one until you read the first two.

Seeing as this was a fairly anticipated book, I'm a little leery of putting spoilers on here. However, I *am* warning you, so please make use of your back button OR scroll down really quickly. :-P

Remember, you had fair warning! :D

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Ready? Okay....

Things I Really Liked:

*The ending. Happily ever after, with Simon in a bit of a love triangle between Maia and Isabelle, and Jace and Clary together forever. <333
*Alec and Magnus' conversation while they were battling the demons. "Tell you what. We live through this, and I promise I'll introduce you to my whole family." :))
*The fact that Luke and Clary's mom finally got together, seeing as they had been in love with each other for twenty years and were just being stupid about the whole thing.
*Alec choosing Magnus as his partner for the Alliance rune. And then kissing him in front of everyone. :D
*Isabelle taking Sebastian's hand off with her whip. She's so kickass I can't even stand it!
*The way Clary messed up Valentine's summoning of Raziel by putting her own name over his. LOVE IT! Talk about the perfect revenge; she is SO her mother's daughter. I especially liked the flare of writing "Mene Mene Tekel Upharsin" when he asked her what she'd done, and how quickly Raziel disposed of him.

I also really liked that we got to see some chapters from Jace's point of view. That's something I felt was lacking in the first two books. Jace is so fascinating that I love to see what he's thinking, and his reasons for what he's doing. Same with Simon - I was glad we got to see a couple things from his pov as well. I loved Isabelle and Alec in this book; Isabelle saying she liked Clary, but also hated her for what she did to Jace. What Isabelle couldn't see is that Clary was struggling with the same feelings as Jace, and they were tearing her apart just as steadily as they were him.

I would be very interested to see what the Mark of Cain will do to Simon in the long run. I hope it's nothing, but you can't help wondering, and I wonder if it's something Cassie (the author) has thought about and if we'll see it ourselves, maybe in the form of a short story or a post on her website or something. I also want to know what the Seelie Queen wanted from Clary - the way Jace tensed up when she told him, it probably wouldn't have been good.

I knew, just KNEW that Jace and Clary were not related. There were too many signs in the previous book, like when Valentine said, "I wasn't talking about Jace" when Clary said something about her brother, and the Inquisitor's reaction to Jace's scar and her stumbling words to him. (Not to mention my certainty that Cassie would separate two people who loved each other so much. Call it naive readership, or something. :-P) I liked that Amatis talked to Jace about his father, and that she gave him Stephen's things (which must have been precious to her). I liked the rune that showed everyone the person they loved the most and when Clary's mom told her that she just saw Clary, because I am kind of a sucker for that whole mother's love thing. Really, Clary's ability in and of itself was pretty spectacular, and the fact that she never thought to use it for her own gain.

I liked Jace and Clary's talk on the way to Wayland Manor to retrieve the book, and the fact that he always had unlimited faith in her (Simon, too), and how she really did help him be a better person. That's such a clichéd thing nowadays that someone's love can change you, but in the case of Jace I really think it did (and he said as much to her at the end, when he told her he could never - and would never - stop loving her. I really just wanted to draw hearts around Jace in this book, to be honest. <333). I also liked that she said yes when he asked to stay the night with her, because he was so afraid that she wouldn't, because it simply didn't cross his mind that she loved him as much as he loved her, whether it was right or wrong.

And I rather like the idea of him being Jace Lightwood, don't you? Seems fitting, seeing as it was the Lightwoods that showed him love and affection. And I liked what Luke told Jace, about how Valentine was trying to do right by him, which is why he sent them to the Lightwoods. As much as Valentine did wrong, he definitely did right in that one small way, which, in the end, didn't turn out all that small after all.

One little note: did anyone else notice the conversation at the end of the book between Jace and Clary about Jace not really having a name? He mentions that he started thinking of himself as Jonathan Christopher because of the journal he found in Valentine's library. But earlier in the book, when Jace and Clary were in the library, he said that he hadn't even known that his middle name was Christopher. So something slipped through the cracks there. :-P

Most of all I'm just glad that this book answered all my questions, and tied up the loose ends. I'm also glad that she didn't introduce anything utterly new in this volume, and that the story continued to flow. All in all, I thought it was a fabulous end to a fabulous series. I'm very much looking forward to the new series she's working on about the beginning of the Shadowhunters, but also wouldn't mind seeing something from Jace, Clary, and all the rest a little down the line. As long as it doesn't mess up the "happily ever after" aspect, of course. :D

(Btw, Cassie's done a Q&A session of sorts here, if you're interested!)

Comments

[Nut]

[this is good]

[Panda.ink]

[this is good] it was an awesome read wasnt it? i still wonder what will happen to the two of them... 

[Merin]

She said that she is going to write a book about Simon, which will feature the rest of the characters from this trilogy, too, so we will probably find out, at least a little. I am really looking forward to the Infernal Devices (I think?) series, which is going to prominently feature Magnus Bane, because I really rather <3 him. :)

[Panda.ink]

Yeah, i'm really looking forward to Infernal Devices. i wonder how she's going to make the transition from NY to London O_o but if it had Magnus in it i'm in for the long run ^_^ I loved it when Alec kissed him IN FRONT OF EVERY BODY! it was a cute touch <3 

Simon's thing will make so much money just because everyone would want to read up on Clary and Jace, i've never really liked Simon, i got bored with his bits real easy when it wasnt about Jace -_-;;but i read some sip's on her site that made it seem very interesting. 

[Merin]

Well, Infernal Devices is like the prequel to Mortal Instruments, so it takes place much earlier in the Shadowhunter timeline. As such, Magnus is most likely going to be the only character we know.

I like Simon, and I am very intrigued to see which girl he's going to choose: Maia or Isabelle. Should be entertaining, at any rate!