A Book Review: City of Glass

Title: City of Glass
Author: Cassandra Clare
Genre: Urban Fantasy (YA)
Length: 541

Quality Rating: 9
Content Rating: PG-13

Read First: City of Bones, City of Ashes

I thought this was the conclusion to a trilogy, and it both is and isn't. It's sort of like the Wayfarer Redemption Series where there are two distinct trilogies that are very closely tied. At least, that's my understand. Regardless, after finishing this book, I can't wait for the next book to come out this April. I'm dying to read it.

This book simply continued the awesomeness of the first two, bringing together all the hinted at subplots and problems into an epic finale. And let's add a double twist to the love story. My my. I have to say I didn't see this double twist coming at all! (It's not often that happens).

But since I don't want to give away spoilers but I do want to talk about how awesome this book is, I'm going to talk about something a little vague that I think Ms. Clare did an awesome job with: background romantic subplots.

In most books you have your POV characters who fall in love. You get that romance up close and personal, so you get invested in it. But Ms. Clare went above and beyond that. She made me invested in the romantic story lines of background non-POV characters. I longed for the background hints of Alec's romance (I won't say with who so that there are no spoilers). Every time his name was mentioned in conjunction with his love interest, I perked and read voraciously. When his love interest resolved in the end, I was happier than I could imagine--especially considering its a secondary subplot.

I can think of few other authors who managed to convey a deep and real relationship without using those characters POV. David Eddings comes to mind. In his series, he usually only has one or two POV characters and yet all of his characters seem to have romances going on in the background--romances that you can follow without their POV. I love that. It shows a mastery of story telling that I'm not sure I've come close to mastering.

So read The Mortal Instruments and become invested in all of the characters, not just the POV ones.

This book is also rated PG-13 for violence, death, demons, vampires, and sexual situations.