Shadow Hunter Mayhem

Cassandra Clare’s “City of Ashes” begins on a note higher than ever reached. As the sequel of “City of Bones”, “City of Ashes” begins with an eerie preface, leaving the reader stunned and looking for more. It leads to the introduction of Jace Wayland and Clary Fray, newly found siblings who are both trying to return to their normal lives. Jace is a Shadowhunter, a trained slayer of demons, and Clary is a teenage girl whose mother is in a coma, and whose father (for all intents and purposes) is a werewolf.

Despite their best efforts to have things return to normal, their biological father, Valentine, is there to create a kink. He is an evil and malicious Shadowhunter whose goal is to destroy the Clave and rid the earthly world of demons. To reach his goal, Valentine sets out to steal the Soul Sword. With the unraveling of his plot, Clary, Jace and the other Shadowhunters have to race to save the downworlder children, the victims of Valentine’s objectives.

On top of Valentine’s schemes, Clary has to deal with the fact that her best friend Simon is a vampire, her father experimented on her when she was a child and now she has a special unknown power, and she has to face the fact that she has more than brotherly-love feelings towards Jace.

Cassandra Clare has written the most complex, spiraling novel series ever, and even when you think that the events have to end, they continue in the next book, “City of Glass.” Clare’s novels are so easy to follow, and it doesn’t even feel as confusing as it really is. She uses simple, yet at the same time gripping, vocabulary that keeps you drawn in.

When reading the plot, as a reader, you feel like you’re living with the characters, experiencing what they feel. It’s interesting to be able to feel like you’re apart of the characters life because it makes it easier to relate to their situations (not all their situations, but some of them). There is no disappointment to be had when traveling with Clary and Jace through their Shadowhunter adventures.