City of Glass

Title: City of Glass
Author: Cassandra Clare
Series: The Mortal Instruments #3
Read: June 20, 2014

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 third installment of the New York Times bestselling series The Mortal Instruments. goodreads

Review: All of our favorite characters return for the third installment in the Mortal Instruments series. I really enjoyed the first book in this series and the world building was well done so I've continued on. I accidentally started reading The Infernal Devices series (another one of Clare's set in the same world but completely different time periods) in the middle of this one. This threw me for a major loop and I had a hard time keeping the series and characters separate so I took a step back. Recently, I saw the City of Bones movie and it got me excited about the series again (even if the movie was sub par.) So I quickly reviewed the first two books on Shmoop (what would I do without that website?!?!) and jumped into book number three.

This book takes us to the City of Glass which removes us from the real world and drops us into shadowhunter world. Of course, good ol' Valentine is back with a plan to destroy the world as they know it but the Shadowhunters and the Downworlders have other ideas. I didn't care much for the plot in this book but I absolutely loved learning more of the back stories. We are introduced to some new characters as well who are pivotal parts of these back stories and I thought the character development was expanded upon which I enjoyed.  Some of back stories were predictable but the one thing I had been waiting on finally happened, which made everything right in the world. I won't spoil it but if you know the series you probably know what I'm talking about and you've been ready for that story line to clear up for awhile now. I will definitely finish the series (as well as Infernal Devices) but I hope the next book has a more solid plot that I care about.