Thoughts on re-reading City of Glass by Cassandra Clare

Spoiler alert!  If you do not want information from this series ruined for you, DO NOT read any further.  Unless you're like me, in which case you like to have surprises ruined a bit for you to completely enjoy them, much to my mother's dismay every Christmas.  I digress.

Image and summary from Goodreads.com:


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?


Of course, just like the other books in this series, I completely loved this one.  The only thing that really bothered me was the fact that I could tell the series was originally conceived as a trilogy.  The story reaches a natural climax in the novel, and a great deal of plot problems reach their resolution.  However, by the end of the book, I was invested enough in the characters' lives to keep reading on.


Finally - the tension between Jace and Clary gets resolved in this novel, but of course not without some seriously weird moments in the lead-up.  However, even when I read this book for the first time, I could sort of see the resolution coming...  This book also has some great new characters introduced, my favorite of which is Maia the werewolf.  Any time an independent female character gets introduced, I get excited.


As I mentioned above, this book is enjoyable to read because much of the plot reaches its resolution.  We get to see every dirty secret Valentine has been concealing, which while disturbing, made for some exciting twists!  I also really enjoy the ending of this novel, where Valentine succeeds in summoning the angel Raziel.  This part is particularly well imagined and written.


Content concerns remain much the same.  As with any book that touches on religious subjects like Heaven and Hell, I would caution folks to recommend this book wholesale.  There might be some who could find it offensive; however, I haven't had any problems with that yet.