Release Date: March 14th, 2009
Genre:  Romance, Fantasy, Paranormal
Publisher: Margaret K. McKelderry
Pages: 541
Rating:
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Series: The Mortal Instruments #3 (Review of #1, Review of #2)
Summary: (Spoilers, highlight to view)

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 Shadow-hunter Sebastian. With Valentine mustering the full force of his power to destroy all Shadow-hunters 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 new found powers to help save the Glass City -- whatever the cost?

Review:  This book was my favorite of the series. I liked it. That's all I'm going to say in terms of this particular book. I'm going to spend the rest of the review talking about the series as a whole. Don't worry, no spoilers.

I needed a little "warming up" to get into this series. I thought the first book was meh. The second book was all right, and the third book was a very interesting story. I never once felt the obsessive (nigh unto cult-ish) love of this series that seems to have infected the minds of many readers.

There were certainly things that bothered me. The whole gay thing got on my nerves a little, but it wasn't preachy, so it didn't bother me very much. I ocassionally found the characters annoying, but they're teenagers so they are inclined to be annoying. They wouldn't have been very realistic characters otherwise.

And even though it's easy for me to think of "negative" things, I realized that it's very hard for me to think of positive things about this series. And when I realized that I had a revelation. I knew exactly why I felt just "meh" about these books. And, being me, my revelation was in the form of an analogy:

These books are zero-gravity.

When I read these books I feel kind of like I'm floating. I'm not being forced down by the gravity of serious situations or action, but I'm not flying along at high speed either. I'm just... there. The pages turn at a steady pace, neither fast nor slow. I wasn't rocked off of my feet by amazing writing, but I wasn't bored out of my mind by the story. I just... liked it.

Because of this, these books were a very calming series for me. Do I love them? No. I wouldn't say that. Do I have any serious complaints? Nope. I am happily ambivalent.

A good series, and I'll definitely be purchasing the next books.



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