I knew it! There’s something more than the obvious between Jace and Clary in Cassandra Clare’s ‘The Mortal Instruments‘ trilogy. You find yourself heaving one huge sigh of relief when the long hidden facts are divulged. Early on in the story The City of Glass), there have been a few instances where the truth were almost spilled out, even as early as the second book (City of Ashes) in this trilogy, but Cassandra Clare kept it from the readers until the last.
After reading the first two books, I was also hoping that Valentine would turn out to be someone not as monstrous in the end as he is painted out to be. I thought the third book would somehow justify Valentine’s action; that there’s actually someone more evil behind him; that his purposes are really noble and not that selfish altogether.
In an earlier post where I gave my reaction to Cassandra Clare’s ‘The City of Ashes’, I enumerated a couple of questions that were left unanswered in that book. I expected these to be answered in ‘The City of Glass’, and sure enough, I found closure there.
- What ‘experiments’ was the Queen of the Seelie Court referring to that Valentine did on Jace and Clary?
- What did the Inquisitor (Imogen Herondale) whisper to Jace at her final breath?
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The experiments were responsible for the exceptional abilities of Jace and Clary. It is these experiments which made Jocelyn, Valentine’s wife, when she accidentally discovered his secret ‘laboratory’, to finally see beyond the facade that Valentine was displaying to her and to everyone.
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Jace did not give it another thought, as at the time, he misinterpreted it as an insult. Had the Inquisitor lived through that battle, Jace’s identity would have been settled early on. But that would mean one less surprise to anticipate in the final book. Cassandra thought it best to hold on to it a little longer.
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You will find the answers in ‘The City of Glass’.
Personally, the book is indeed enthralling as the reviews point out. Cassandra Clare masterfully weaved the story such that the readers are never disappointed in anticipating for a climactic finale in the trilogy.
Sometimes I think Clary is not using her abilities the best way she can. Anyone who can effectively replicate the biblical ‘writing on the wall’ and ‘the mark (on Cain’s forehead)’, to me would be like God himself. She could conquer any obstacle, solve any problem, etc. But I think Cassandra Clare gave her just enough warrior intelligence and more of innocence and other human weaknesses to keep the story less predictable.
Vampires in Clare’s world are given less stature than those in Meyer’s Twilight world. With the exception of Simon, werewolves are more interesting and less disgusting than vampires*. And I think I’ll need to re-read the part of the story where Valentine tortured Simon for his blood. I still can’t see where in that ritual did Simon get his daywalker (daylighter) power. I still think it’s Jaces’ blood somehow, because Jace, after all, is not an ordinary shadowhunter. He’s got purer angel blood circulating in there, like Clary’s.
Fight scenes? Gosh, again, I’d say a movie battle choreographer would find free reign in this story. It would be violence at it purest. The lucky team of movie artists and designers would be competing for the ugliest, scariest, most gross looking demon they could imagine. There would be no empty space on the big screen as the sky, the ground, and underground would be filled with shadowhunters, downworlders and demons spilling each others’ guts and blood. It would be like Buffy the Vampire Slayer many times over. And it must be fun watching long-time arch-enemies fighting side by side (with their abilities shared equally) against a common enemy instead of against each other. Whew!
* If given only two options, becoming a vampire or a werewolf in Clare’s world, I’d probably choose to become a werewolf. I only wish it doesn’t come with the dog smell though.
UPDATE:
The Mortal Instruments is not a trilogy after all, as I earlier thought it to be. Cassandra Clare is set to release 3 more books under the mortal instruments series this year.
