City of Glass (The Mortal Instruments #3)
by Cassandra Clare
Summary: To save her mother's life, Clary must travel to the City of Glass, the ancestral home of the Shadowhunters - never mind that entering the city without permission is against the Law, and breaking the Law could mean death. To make things worse, she learns that Jace does not want her there, and Simon has been thrown in prison by the Shadowhunters, who are deeply suspicious of a vampire who can withstand sunlight.
As Clary uncovers more about her family's past, she finds an ally in mysterious Shadowhunter Sebastian. With Valentine mustering the full force of his power to destroy all Shadowhunters forever, their only chance to defeat him is to fight alongside their eternal enemies. But can Downworlders and Shadowhunters put aside their hatred to work together? While Jace realizes exactly how much he's willing to risk for Clary, can she harness her newfound powers to help save the Glass City - whatever the cost?
Love is a mortal sin and the secrets of the past prove deadly as Clary and Jace face down Valentine in the final installment of the New York Times bestselling trilogy The Mortal Instruments.
Review:
I am absolutely in love with this series. I enjoyed every minute of this book, however torturous those minutes were.
Once again, the author has managed to take me on a emotional roller coaster ride. It's quite ridiculous. There were many times I had to shut the book and just back away and process everything for a minute. I was constantly fighting with myself because I had to keep reading to find out what would happen next and I also had to stop reading because it was all just too much to take in. I said in my review of book 2, City of Ashes, that I was deeply invested in the characters and that remained true while reading this book. The story is so complex and the author has weaved all of these events around the characters and it makes each scene crucial to me.
I am glad that the synopsis is incorrect and this isn’t the final book in the series. I’m glad I get to spend more time with the characters for three more books. That being said, there was a lot of closure in this book and it could have been a satisfying ending to a trilogy. The way some things turned out shocked me and other things ended the way I wanted them to.
My favorite thing about this series is how complex it is. I’ve seen so many reviews that complain about the descriptions or the pace of the books, but it’s perfect for me. It’s not just Clary that I’m interested in (or the major issue of romantic interests) – it’s everyone and every small detail matters to me. It’s part of what kept me on my toes. It’s also not a story that’s solely focused on the romantic aspects. There’s a whole world of adventure and villains and family and in those ways, it becomes more of a saga to me and a series I can take seriously. I also felt like each conflict was not just a simple conflict, but one that consisted of many layers, making it hard to figure out how anything would resolve itself and still make sense. The author certainly weaved a good story and one that I didn’t see many flaws with.
This book was not predictable at all. Of course, not realizing this was supposed to be the end of the trilogy helped because for all I knew, the author could have continued to leave conflicts wide open for 3 more books. When I thought maybe I knew what was going to happen, I was also anxious because not a whole lot ever worked out the way I thought it would. Now that I have some closure to certain events, it’s easier to pretend like I knew it would all work out, but that would be lying. I totally didn’t know when I was reading.
One thing I don’t want to forget to mention is the humor. There are tons of scenes that made me gasp or cry out while reading, but there were just as many that made me laugh out loud. Even in the most serious of moments, some of the characters aren’t above light banter that sort of evens out the mood.
I would definitely recommend this book to others. I would recommend the series to others since I'm 3 books into it and it is still amazing. Bottom line: it's a must read series.
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