City of Glass by Cassandra Clare

Title: City of Glass

Author: Cassandra Clare

Type: Young Adult Novel
Genre: Fantasy

Series: The Mortal Instruments Book Three

Copyright: 2009
Publisher: Simon Pulse

Rating: 4 out of 5

Summary: from Good Reads
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?

Love is a mortal sin and the secrets of the past prove deadly as Clary and Jace face down Valentine in the third installment of bestselling series the Mortal Instruments.

Feelings:
I liked this book maybe more than the other books because Clary is more independent and she seems like stronger character. For a large part of the other two books Clary seemed helpless and in this she seems to be coming into herself and harnessing her individual power.

Many readers will be happy to see a resolution to the Clary Jace romance issue. Saying more would give away parts of the other books but I saw this as a moral problem that was a struggle for the characters all of them, and not something that was going to be easily resolved. If a reader was going to be grossed out and not read because of that then my guess is that you will not make it to this book but it is resolved in a satisfying way.

A new character Sebastian is introduced. There are many hits about him in here and anyone can pretty much guess who he is. This is how Clary describes seeing him for the first time.

She'd felt as if she'd walked around a corner in a strange city and suddenly seen her own brownstone looming up in front of her. A surprising and not entirely pleasant recognition, almost: How can this be here? (p. 175)

I'm not sure there is much more that can be said about Sebastian with out spoilers.

Valentine is at his best in this book although is isn't the biggest character and is discussed more than we actually see him in sense in the book.

 This book I feel like was stronger than the other two books maybe because this could have been the end of the series.

City of Ashes by Cassandra Clare

Title: City of Ashes
Author: Cassandra Clare 
Type: Young Adult Novel
Genre: Fantasy 
Series: The Mortal Instruments Book Two 
Copyright: 2008 
Publisher: Simon Pulse 
Rating: 3.5 out of 5

Summary: from Good Reads
Clary Fray just wishes that her life would go back to normal. But what's normal when you're a demon-slaying Shadowhunter, your mother is in a magically induced coma, and you can suddenly see Downworlders like werewolves, vampires, and faeries? If Clary left the world of the Shadowhunters behind, it would mean more time with her best friend, Simon, who's becoming more than a friend. But the Shadowhunting world isn't ready to let her go — especially her handsome, infuriating, newfound brother, Jace. And Clary's only chance to help her mother is to track down rogue Shadowhunter Valentine, who is probably insane, certainly evil — and also her father.

To complicate matters, someone in New York City is murdering Downworlder children. Is Valentine behind the killings — and if he is, what is he trying to do? When the second of the Mortal Instruments, the Soul-Sword, is stolen, the terrifying Inquisitor arrives to investigate and zooms right in on Jace. How can Clary stop Valentine if Jace is willing to betray everything he believes in to help their father?

Feelings:
This book much like the first feels a little reminiscent of Harry Potter. Characters grow a little bit and they go up against the bad guy, Valentine, whose name starts with a V. Just a question but do all bad guy's names start with V? Voldermort (Harry Potter), Volturi (Twighlight), Darth Vader (Star Wars, only sort of counts) alright so I can't think of any others. However, I do feel like this book has connections to both Twightlight and Harry Potter. Vampires play a big part in here so do werewolves, remind you of anything? If you can look beyond the comparisons for which there are many...the story is different and I like that.

The urban setting is what really makes this story so good. The characters are interesting and becoming more developed as are their relationships. The plot is much the same as the first book but I didn't mind that as much as I thought I would.

If you have not read the first book stop reading here. SPOILERS for book one

Moral challenges are a big part of this story, the relationship between Clary and Jace. Isabelle and her rebellion against tradition. Alec and his feelings about being attracted to men, and hiding it. I like that Alec and Mangus have a relationship and that it is excepted by those that know about it.

Mangus, warlock, becomes a bigger character in this book and I think that he is the most interesting of the new characters.

Dreams become a new theme in this book which is carried into the next books as well.

Jocelyn moved the driftwood over her skin. The touch stung like the burning of a stele, and left the same think black line behind. The rune Jocelyn drew was a shape Clary had never seen before, but she found it instinctively soothing to her eye. "What does this do?" "It should protect you." Clary's mother released her. "Against what?" (p. 132)

Protection is another theme in this book. Who is responsible for protecting who, and have they failed or not? This is a question that is answered to most of the main characters and in some cases it is yes and some no. I also think we see how independence plays into responsibility and protecting someone besides yourself.

In many ways the first book is more like a prologue to this and this is where the real story starts. We are introduced to Valentine in the last book but he doesn't really play that big a part in it. He is just the bad guy and not much of a character. In this book that is developed and he becomes a very horrible person. I think that was a necessary thing because otherwise I didn't really care that much about getting ride of Valentine he just was.

I liked all the action in this book and the fast pass of much of it. Some of it was a little bit predictable but I think every book has some predictability.

I will be continuing with the series and I am glad I gave it a chance.

City of Bones by Cassandra Clare

Title: City of Bones

Author: Cassandra Clare

Type: Young Adult Novel
Genre: Fantasy 
Series: The Mortal Instruments Book One 
Copyright: 2007 
Publisher: Simon Pulse 
Rating: 3.5 out of 5

Summary: from Good Reads
When fifteen-year-old Clary Fray heads out to the Pandemonium Club in New York City, she hardly expects to witness a murder -- much less a murder committed by three teenagers covered with strange tattoos and brandishing bizarre weapons. Then the body disappears into thin air. It's hard to call the police when the murderers are invisible to everyone else and when there is nothing -- not even a smear of blood -- to show that a boy has died. Or was he a boy?

This is Clary's first meeting with the Shadowhunters, warriors dedicated to ridding the earth of demons. It's also her first encounter with Jace, a Shadowhunter who looks a little like an angel and acts a lot like a jerk. Within twenty-four hours Clary is pulled into Jace's world with a vengeance, when her mother disappears and Clary herself is attacked by a demon. But why would demons be interested in ordinary mundanes like Clary and her mother? And how did Clary suddenly get the Sight? The Shadowhunters would like to know. . . . 

Feelings:
So I have to admit that I only started reading this because of the the movie trailer that I saw. I felt a little bit of hesitation when the copy I picked up had a quote from none other than Stephenie Meyer, "The Mortal Instruments series is a story world that I love to live in. Beautiful!" I had been looking at reading the infernal devices series because I really liked the covers. I have been hearing about Cassandra Clare for a while and did wonder if she was another Stephenie Meyer, who I believe to be one of the worst writers, but had decided to give her books a try upon seeing the movie trailer. I have a feeling the movie is going to be very very different from the book and I'm not sure it will be in a good way. I am glad that I did give the book a chance.

This is not to say that I feel like her writing is very original. I wouldn't say that it is I can see aspects of Harry Potter, and yes I am aware she used to write Harry Potter fan fiction but I never read any of it. However, even I can see the connections. Mundie=Muggle. Then there are the similarities between Harry Potter himself and Clary, they both grow up not really knowing about the world they are really from and then things start happening to them that they don't understand. Okay so, seeing as I am not the biggest Harry Potter fan this did bother me a bit. I do think most authors to borrow from those that come before them but this was even a bit much for me. 

I do like the Urban setting of the story and how the world is our world yet there are things we do not see. It makes a city most are familiar with seem dark and foreboding yet tantalizing. The stories and myths told are all true which again I liked. There were times when I had a hard time keeping up with all the different downworlders, those that are not demons but that are not human, that were being introduced. Demons are in simplified terms aliens, not from earth. 

'No way are we bringing her to the Institute,' said Isabelle. 'She's a mundie.' 'Or is she?' said Jace softly. His quiet tone was worse than Isabelle's snapping or Alec's anger. 'Have you had dealings with demons, little girl? Walked with warlocks, talked with Night Children? Have you--' 'My name is not 'little girl,'' Clary interrupted. 'And I have no idea what you're talking about.' (p. 15)

This is the first time Clary meets the Shadowhunters and the first time she really sees something that others can't see. Simon her best friend can't see the Shadowhunters though and she lets it go. This is just the beginning of her being drawn into the shadow world.

 I maintained an interest in the story because there were twists in the plot. I saw most of them coming and, yes, I liked being right.

Cassandra Clare has an interesting writing style and it wasn't exactly what I would have liked but I did like her descriptions of Clary's drawings.

The wings looked so real she imagined that if she brushed her fingers across them, they'd be soft. She let her hand trail across the page, her mind wandering...

And jerked her hand back, staring. Her fingers had touched not dry paper but soft down of feathers. Her eyes flashed up to the runes she'd scrawled in the corner of the page. They were shining, the way she'd seen the runes Jace drew with his stele shine. (p. 322)

 I don't want to give anything away in the story because I really don't like it when I find out things before having read the book myself, discovery is part of the fun. This book is not for everyone the main character is female and I do think that limits the audience a bit even though their are major male characters as well. The movie I have a feeling will have a bit of a Twilight feel to it and I'm not sure that is a good thing. The book however, was not like Twilight.

I will be reading the next books and hope they are better than this one and become more original. I do like the shadow world that is New York City.

The Audacity of Hope by Barack Obama

Title: The Audacity of Hope: Thoughts on Reclaiming the American Dream 
Author: Barack Obama
Type: Audio Book (abridged)
Narrator: Barack Obama
Genre: Non-Fiction/Politics

Series: No
Copyright: 2007
Publisher: RH Audio
Rating: 3 out of 5

Summary: from Good Reads

The Audacity of Hope is Barack Obama's call for a new kind of politics—a politics that builds upon those shared understandings that pull us together as Americans. Lucid in his vision of America's place in the world, refreshingly candid about his family life and his time in the Senate, Obama here sets out his political convictions and inspires us to trust in the dogged optimism that has long defined us and that is our best hope going forward.

Feelings:
I liked the book but I ended up wishing it wasn't abridged. There isn't an unabridged version of this audiobook available. I mostly listened to it while I was driving in the car and it took me a while. I think I might have listened to the third CD three times as a reminder of where I was in the book.

In 2007 when this book was published the national debt was $9 trillion and growing, this is a very small number compared to our debt now $16 trillion. Within the five year period of time the debt grew by $7 trillion. In 2009 when Obama took office the debt was already at $11 trillion dollars so yes the debt did increase under Obama but not as fast as it did in the last 2 years of the Bush presidency. I don't want to appear to be supportive of one side or the other but it does look like something needs to happen to try and cut spending and reduce the debt. Obama put forward ideas for this but it will be hard to implement any spending cuts.

There are many things included in this book that are interesting and useful for those interested in politics. I'm not sure I would go so far as to say that this book offers a solution to our problems but I do think it gives you a little bit of an incite into how Obama began the political journey that lead to his becoming president.

I would recommend this book to those who are interested in seeing the differences in facts and the changing perspectives over time.