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*Young adult, urban contemporary fantasy
*Teenage girl as main character
*Rating: City of Ashes, the sequel to City Of Bones, is a page-turner. You won’t want to stop until you read every last word of the Clary-Simon-Jace saga.

Short, short summary:

It’s hard to summarize this plot without giving anything away. But I’ll try my best. Since this is book two, if you, your teen, or your students haven’t read book one of The Mortal Instruments series by Cassandra Clare, I highly recommend you do. Otherwise, you’ll be, well, just really confused. At the end of book one, we find out that Jace and Clary are brother and sister, and their father is Valentine. At the beginning of book two, both are trying to deal with this–Jace and Clary hate Valentine since he is the most evil and disturbed Shadowhunter in the world. In spite of being brother and sister, they still find themselves attracted to each other. Simon, Clary’s best friend, is doing his best to try to make Clary attracted to him instead of Jace, even calling her “his girlfriend” and engaging in some make-out sessions. Alec is still dealing with being comfortable in his sexuality, and we even get a glimpse into Isabelle’s dating life when the characters have to visit the Seelie Court (help me with the spelling, folks–I listened to this book on audio, and it turns out there are several ways to spell it?). Basically, someone is killing downworlders and making it look like the vampires are running crazy in the city, but Jace and the other Shadowhunters don’t believe the vampires are doing it. (Hmmm? Who could it be?) The Lightwoods are not so sure about Jace because of whom his father is–can they trust him anymore? The Inquisitor, a very powerful lady in the Clave, also seems to have it out for Jace. I won’t go on, but as you can see, this book is a good mix between the personal lives of the characters and an action-filled fantasy story.

So, what do I do with this book?

1. Teens will probably read City of Ashes as part of their independent reading, home school curriculum, or in a book club. So, these activities will focus on those types of readings. First, teens (or adult readers) can find out more about the series and the author (I love her website–very straightforward, direct, and talking to teens) on the author’s website and the series website. Let teens explore these two resources.

2. Exploring and discussing the characters in City of Ashes is a must as character-development is one of Clare’s strengths. Ask teens which character in the novel is their favorite and/or which character they relate to the best. What do they think about Clary and Jace or Clary and Simon? Do they think Jace and Clary are really brother and sister? What are the special “powers” that Valentine has given his children? What about the Inquisitor? What is her motivation? What is the significance of the Inquisitor’s last action? These are all questions that can be discussed or written about in reading response journals. (Some of these answers will not be revealed until book 3, but teens can predict!)

3. The setting of City of Ashes is “an alternative present-day Manhattan.” What makes this an “alternative” setting? Discuss with students if the world that Clare has built is believable and realistic in the context of the book? How does Clare do this? Is the setting like another character in City of Ashes? <

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We are happy to present to you an interview with Cassandra Clare, author of City of Bones and the upcoming City of Ashes (you can read our review here) Enjoy! (That was obnoxious, wasn't it? Enjoy? Since when do any of us say things like enjoy?)

Interviewingly yours,

PS City of Ashes comes out on March 25! Read it, it's good! Also, Cassandra Clare is going on tour soon-- look here for dates. And now, for our feature presentation...

1. What made you want to write urban fantasy/YA?

It is quite simply the best genre there is. Okay, maybe that's entirely subjective, but urban fantasy is my favorite genre. I like the incursion of magic and the supernatural into the world we know. Urban fantasy incorporates a lot of my favorite fictional tropes: the Secret World, the Secret Society, the Alternate History, even the Creepy Town or Creepy Neighborhood.

2. Zombies or unicorns?

Team Zombie.

3. You were a popular fan fiction author before you became a popular non-fan-fiction author. What's the biggest difference, for you, between writing fan fiction and writing original fiction?

Well, fanfiction is in large part a community experience — it's an act of fanship, of appreciation for a particular canon or media property. It's a dialogue, in a way, and the readers and writers of it are by and large the same people (I'm generalizing here.) Writing original fiction is not a community experience, not in the same way. It's not about sharing a world, but creating your own world. It requires you to exercise a different writing skillset than fanfiction does — worldbuilding, character creation, etc.

4. Who would win in a fight: Optimus Prime, or Sailor Moon?

Optimus Prime would crush Sailor Moon like a bug. Also I used to have a roommate who was in love with Optimus Prime. She used to claim that he was so good-looking. I was really disappointed when I found out he looked like a truck. I mean, EXACTLY like a truck.

5. Do you have any advice for aspiring authors?

A lot of people think "learning to write" is about acquiring this one monolithic skill, but it's actually about the acquisition (and hopefully mastery) of an interlocking set of skills. So you don't have to burst out of the gate perfect at everything. Maybe you're great at dialogue, but your pacing needs work, so work on that separately.

6. What was your favorite book as a teenager?

I would like to say it was something really awesome like Jane Eyre, and I did absolutely love Jane Eyre, but when I was thirteen it was totally Flowers in the Attic. Oh, what a bad book that was.

7. What was your favorite YA novel of 2007?

I'm going to answer the question "What was your favorite YA novel of 2007 that was not written by someone you know?" instead. In which case it was probably Skin Hunger by Kathleen Duey. A better title for it might have been 'You Are So Owned, Hogwarts' except I think that would infringe copyright. It's all about the most brutal magic school in history, where the professors basically murder the students.

8. What book-to-be-released-in-2008 are you most looking forward to?

The sequel to Octavian Nothing by MT Anderson is due out this year. Also Paper Towns by John Green.

9. Create your own question! And answer it, of course.

"Do you have a demon hand?"
"Yes."

10. If you were to take over the world, how would you do so?

I'm a big fan of slipping hallucinogenic drugs into the world's water supply and then taking advantage of the resulting confusion. And then I want to rule from one of those island strongholds that's shaped like a head, except I don't want it to be my head. I want it to be someone else's head.

11. Would you prefer to travel via magic carpet or flying motorcycle? Explicate.

Carpet, so I could nap while I fly. I'm all about those fully reclining airplane seats on overnight flights.

12. If you could spend a day with anybody (living/dead/fictional, etc.) who would it be and why?

My grandfather. He died right before I sold The Mortal Instruments and I'd like to be able to tell him how great everything's been going with it. That's why I dedicated the first book to him.

13. What is your favorite kind of cookie?

Snickerdoodles all the way.

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City of Ashes by Cassandra Clare is fast-paced, exciting, hilarious, and heartbreaking.

In City of Bones, the first book, Clary Fray’s world is turned upside-down. She has never thought of herself as being anything other than ordinary, until she sees a group of teenagers kill a demon—and finds that no one else can see them. Soon after that, Clary’s mother mysteriously disappears, and she is plunged into a world in which vampires and werewolves are real. She discovers that she is a Shadowhunter—a race of demon-slayers. To top it all off, she finds herself caught in a nasty love triangle with Simon, her best friend, and Jace, an arrogant, handsome Shadowhunter. Just as she seems to be falling for Jace, she finds out that Valentine, the villainous man who kidnapped her mother* is her father, and Jace is her brother. Oops.


As City of Ashes begins, Clary’s mother is lying in the hospital in a coma, the Clave** suspects that Jace is a spy for his father, and Clary is very romantically confused.

Valentine goes after the second Mortal Instrument, the Soul-Sword, and is more of a jerk than ever. Jace is an angry, angst-ridden teenager.*** Simon seems to be becoming more than a friend to Clary, but she’s still struggling with her feelings for Jace. And—my word! Is our love triangle becoming more of a… love… square? Indeed it is! Speaking of love shapes, Alec gets a boyfriend.****

On top of all the aforementioned drama, Clary and Jace seem to be discovering mysterious powers. And, of course, there is still the lingering question: are they really siblings?*****

City of Ashes is fabulous—at least as good as City of Bones, if not better. Also, there are more flying motorcycles.

I give City of Ashes four and one-half daggers.

*He also stole the Mortal Cup, which is used to make more Shadowhunters, so that he can build an ARMY OF DOOM.
** That’s the big scary Shadowhunter government.
*** But really, he has every right to his emo-ness.
**** No, I’m not telling who it is. I think you can figure it out if you try, though.
***** I’m hoping no.

Riding a flying motorcycle, battling Valentine, and hoping beyond hope that Jace and Clary aren't related,

PS City of Ashes comes out on March 25.


Avery adds:

Here I sit, reveling in the glorious-ness of the Advanced Reader Copy.
Very little is more satisfying than reading a book that is not yet on the shelf. That being said, City of Ashes is a particular type of ARC. Not only is it not yet available for the reading pleasure of the general public...It's really good! Vampires, werewolves, betrayal, corruption, love shapes, and Jace Wayland, all wrapped up in a lovely package of well written awesomeness.

I laughed. I cried. I ranted passionately to Aislinn about the events that transpired. (Which was rather frustrating, I might add, as I couldn't rant to her until she'd finished reading it.)

In short, City of Ashes is an awesome book.

Four and a half seraph blades...er...that is, daggers!

Shadowhunter-wannabe-ly,

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