Review: City of Glass by Cassandra Clare

City of Glass by Cassandra Clare 
Published: March 24th, 2009 (Margaret K. McElderry)
Pages: 541
Source: bought
Challenge: none
Series: The Mortal Instruments, #3
Buy the book: Bookdepository
Rating: ★★☆☆☆ ½

Note: this is not the first book in a series, and can therefore contain (minor) spoilers for the previous book(s) in the series. Reading of this review is at your own risk.

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?

I had been holding out on this one for well over a year because I didn't like the direction the series took after that Stupid Twist in book one. It's all been downhill from there. Where City of Bones started off brilliantly and set the base for what could have been an amazing series, Clare used predictable twists and forseeable turns to spice up the story. City of Glass was a very unsatisfying ending to the original trilogy.

First up, I loved the first book and enjoyed the second book. The writing style reads very easily and I loved the vivid discriptions in Clare's writing, and that's not different in this third book in the series. I read the book in one day, determined to find out what would happen. And I found myself annoyed all the way. There was no way the Plot Twist from book one was real, so I was waiting for that to unravel. What happens to Simon was predictable, as well as the whole Sebastian debacle and the happily ever after idea I got from the last couple of pages.

Which is what annoys me so much. I read it quickly, which means it was interesting enough to keep me going, to say the least. But at times I was just forcing myself to read on because it was all so utterly ridiculous and everything worked out just the way it was supposed to in the end. Both Clary and Jace annoyed the hell out of me with their so-called protectiveness and everyone with half a braincell could see that everything they tried to prevent, would happen anyway.

What I don't understand is why Clare didn't pick a less predictable path. This sure was the way to end the trilogy if you wanted to keep most of the readers happy, but it just left me very unsatisfied in the end. Why was it so difficult to create some elements of surprise in this book? She left me speechless with several scenes in City of Bones, so I know she's capable of doing just that.

I seem to be one of the few who isn't in love with The Mortal Instruments. Everyone is raving about the series and I just can't see what makes this series so amazing. It's bland, the plot predictable and the characters annoying. There's no element of surprise in this book, nothing that will make you go "OMG I can't believe that just happened!" and no emotional moments. Instead, I found myself wondering about real twists that would have made this book more interesting. For one, it had no incest in it.

The reason I gave the book a not-terrible rating is because of the writing style. It's addictive and kept me flipping the pages. Unfortunately, pretty much everything else bothered the hell out of me and because of that, I don't think I'll be reading the rest of the series. There are enough books that are worth my money.