Wednesday, March 2, 2011

A Book Review: City of Ashes

Title: City of Ashes
Author: Cassandra Clare
Genre: Urban Fantasy (YA)
Length: 453

Quality Rating: 9
Content Rating: PG-13

Read First: City of Bones

This second book in The Mortal Instruments is not a disappointment. I don't want to release any spoilers, but let's just say that the romantic plot twist from the first book is a present problem in this second book.

It's really hard to say anything about this book without completely spoiling the first book, because this book deals with the repercussions and revelations of the first book. And what I love about this particular set of YA books, as opposed to YA books in general, is how it deals family relationships. It seems to be a general rule that YA books deal only with friendship and romantic relationships, while familial relationships are the domain of MG relationships--as if family problems disappear when you hit 14. But that's not true, and Cassandra Clare deals with that. She deals with how if anything familiar relationships get more complicated when you become a teenager. How you're striving for approval and love--not just from the opposite sex (or the same as the case may be) but from your parents. And family relations are definitely a theme hidden within the awesome action of this book.

If you loved City of Bones, you'll love City of Ashes.

This book is PG-13 for the same reasons as the first: violence, sexual situations, comas, demons, and death.

2 comments:

  1. How do you read so quickly? I get through like five books a year. I think it's amazing that you plow through that number in like...a day. :/

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  2. Michael, I think there are a couple of answers to this question:

    1) I do read fast. Last time my mother tested me, I was in the 8th grade and I read 500 words a minute. Since I'm now in 18th grade (2nd year grad school) I presume I read faster than that.

    2) I have no life. My life pretty much consists of three things: research/homework, writing, watching TV, and reading. I do research/ homework from eight am to seven pm every day. I write while watching TV in the evening. I read before I go to bed and during my breakfast, lunch, and dinner breaks.

    But I've never read five books in a day. Not unless you count chapter books, which I don't. Generally I read a book a week. It just seems like I read more here because I took a really long road trip and January that allowed me to get way ahead in my reading.

    And you'll notice most of these books aren't that thick. It took me a solid semester to reread the Wheel of Time. That's way less than a book a week. That's like a third of a book a week.

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