Book Recommendation: City of Glass

I recently finished reading Cassandra Clare's third installment of the Mortal Instruments series, City of Glass and needless to say, I was blown away! I recommend this book to anyone who enjoys a MAJOR climax to knock you off your feet! (FYI, just don't read my previous post before you read the book; it WILL ruin the book, so DON'T READ IT!)

Obviously you should read Books 1 and 2 of the series before City of Glass!

 

This book showcases the time spent in Idris for the crew; including an accidental Simon. Meanwhile, Valentine is plotting to summon the Angel, Raziel and to destroy the current non-Circle Shadowhunters. He summons an army of demons to distract the Calve while he heads for the third and final of the Mortal Instruments; the Mirror. I think anyone who enjoys the excitement of fantasy with the comedic irony of realistic fiction is sure to love the City of Glass by Cassandra Clare.

WARNING***MAJOR SPOIERS!!!

 

WARNING!

Do NOT read this post if you plan to/are currently reading the Mortal Instruments series by Cassandra Clare, unless you want the ENTIRE plot twist revealed to you!!!

Last night while I was reading, if nearly fell out of bed when I got to the MAJOR climax... Jace ISN'T Clary's biological brother! I think it's safe to say that my reaction and Clary's paralleled each other pretty well;

     "Clary." ... "There's more that I have to tell you..."
     "Jace is Valentine's son. I mean, who else could he be?"
     Jocelyn looked straight into her daughter's eyes. "The night Celine Herondale had died, she was eight months pregnant. Valentine had been giving her potions, powders- he was trying on her what he'd tried on himself, with Ithurial's blood, hoping that Stephen's child would be as strong and powerful as he suspected Jonathan would be, but without Jonathan's worse qualities. He couldn't bear that his experiment would go to waste, so with Hodge's help he cut the baby out of Celine's stomach. She'd only been dead a short time-"

This means that Clary will now likely be in search of Jace before he does something that they'll all regret. He's in the mindset that he's a monster, and therefore has nothing to lose; now with this new revelation, it's clear that he does. This just goes to show how well-planned twists and climaxes really can make a HUGE difference for the reader!

City of Glass

     I recently began reading Cassandra Clare's City of Glass. It is the third installment in the Clare's series about the Shadowhunters. From what I have read so far, the book seems to be taking off in an interesting direction; not only has Clary broken the Law by coming to Alicante, but she did so by creating her OWN Portal; which is definitely likely to raise some questions amongst members of the Clave. But, as it is, they have more pressing issues to deal with at the moment; the fact that Valentine has uncovered a way to shatter the Demon Towers' abilities to ward off all Downworlders from entering the City.

     Will the group be able to stop Valentine from achieving the third and final Mortal Instrument? Will Clary  be able to awaken her mother from the coma-like spell that keeps her only barely alive? Will Clary and Jace find more answers pertaining to their mysterious births? I guess I'll let you know... 

House of Hades Book Review

I recently finnished The House of Hades(Rick Riordan)and it was AMAZING! The story continues for the Seven demigods refered to in the Next Great Prophecy (or, as it is known to the Romans, the Prophecy of Seven). Each of the half-bloods face new challenges that they never would have thought they would ever have to face. From dealing with bitter goddesses to defeating an army of foreign cows, the Seven have quite an interesting journey to face.

The book parallels the journies of Percy and Annabeth in Tarturus, with the others are aboard the Argo II. The book is told through multiple points of view, by awarding different chapters different ones of the Seven demigods. While Percy and Annabeth fight for their lives and journey toward the Underworld entrance to the Doors of Death, their friends are attempting to find the other entrance to the Doors, that are located in Greece.

I don't want to give too much away about the book, because then whats the point of reading it!? But, I will say that if you think that you do want to read this book, you DEFINATELY have to read the Prequels in the series, or else the book won't make much sense.

(Books 1-3: The Lost Hero, The Son of Neptune, & The Mark of Athena)

Seven half-bloods shall answer the call
To storm or fire, the world must fall
An oath to keep with a final breath,
And foes bear arms to the Doors of Death

-The Next Great Prophecy/Prophecy of Seven

 

Reading Skills for The House of Hades

 

"Seven half-bloods shall answer the call.

To storm or fire, the world must fall.

An oath to keep with a final breath,

And foes bear arms to the Doors of Death"

 

     Known as the Next Great Prophecy to the Greeks, and the Prophecy if Seven to the Romans, this prophecy plays a key role in the entire Heroes of Olympus series, by Rick Riordan. I want to, for my purposes, focus on the third line;

    

"An oath to keep with a final breath,"

 

 

     In the book, one the Seven half-bloods, Leo Valdez is blasted from their flying ship, Argo II, and winds up on the island of Ogygia, the home of Calypso. Calypso is the daughter of the Titan Atlas, and her punishment for assisting hi in the last war is that she must remain on this island. Part of the island's curse is that she always falls in love with the men who wash up onto her island, and once they leave the island, they can never find it, or her again.

 

     "'You can't come back,' Calypso insisted.

     Leo's heart went clunk. "'Because I'm not welcome?'

     'Because you can't. It's impossible. No man finds Ogygia twice. That is the rule.'

     Leo rolled his eyes. 'Yeah, well you might've noticed I'm not good at following rules. I'm coming back here with my dragon, and we'll spring you. Take you wherever you want to go. It's only fair.'

     'Fair...' Calypso's voice was barely audible."

 

     Throughout Leo's visit to Ogygia, Calypso, as always inevitably fell for him; only this time her love was finally matched by her island's guest.

 

     "As his raft skimmed over the water, taking him back to the mortal world, he understood a line from the Prophecy better- an oath to keep with a final breath.

He understood how dangerous oaths could be. But Leo didn't care.

'I'm coming back for you, Calypso,' he said to the night wind. 'I swear it on the River Styx.'"

 

     In their world, swearing on the River Styx is a binding oath, that I can't hardly think of any demigods breaking throughout the entire series. It's much like The Unbreakable Vow, for all my fellow Harry Potter fans!

     This conversation between Ron and Harry takes place in J.K. Rowling's book Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. It shows the extremity of the Vow, as does the third line of the Prophecy imply about the vow it is referring to. I honestly think that Leo's vow to come back for Calypso is indeed the "oath to keep with final breath" that the Prophecy is referring to. I feel like this could be compared to the ULTIMATE of all promises, pinky-swears, and the likes, yet it doesn't even come CLOSE. The fact that there is some form of power surrounding these vows and oaths (and not just our own human consciences)  makes them all the more intimidating.

     It is not unheard of for people in our society today to give "promise rings" as a symbol of exactly what the name implies; a promise. Well, in my opinion, a promise ring would have been much more simple in this case; but then, where's the adventure in that?

     Hopefully, this oath is indeed completed and is not broken, thus resulting in whatever terrible consequences that would befall Leo.

Still Hanging in There!

     I recently began the fourth installment of Rick Riordan's The Heroes of Olympus series, The House of Hades. I know, I know,and YES I am a freshman and I am STILL reading this series... but hey, I have soon QUITE a few copies of this book floating around the halls of MHS, so I know I'm not alone. Iguess ever since I started his Percy Jackson and the Olympians series, I have just been hooked! EVERY year is the same; you finnish his new book that just came oiut, and then you have to wait a whole more year to get the next one! I nearly died when I looked at the back cover of the bookto see if there was another "Coming Soon.." message. I definitely felt wabi-sabi (wow, I think I actually found a really good way to use that word in context!) because on one side, I'm thinking "YAY! It's not over yet! I still have one more book to read!" and yet I'm thinking "ARE YOU KIDDING ME!? I have to wait ANOTHER year; AGAIN!?" Oh well, something to look forward to.

     I'm also really looking forward to the "last cliff-hanger" Riordan mentions in his dedication.

"To my wonderful readers:

Sorry about that last cliff-hanger.

WEll, no, not really. HAHAHAHA

But seriously, I love you guys."

     Liz, my wonderful book lender, assures me that the ending is sure to be as infuriating as the author makes it seem. Great... I guess myself and my fellow Rick Riordan fans will all just have to be still hanging in there.

Bet you didn't see THAT coming...

     I started reading City of Ashes a couple days ago, and I haven't been able to stop! Cassandra Clare keeps the reader on their toes at all times and always has something COMPLETELY unexpected coming around the corner. For example, she took a seemingly INSIGNIFICANT piece of information, from the previous book in this series (City of Bones) and used it as a MAJOR plot twist in the book.

     "'He broke in?'" Clary said in disbelief. 'Simon would never do anything that stupid and crazy,'

     'But he did," said Raphael, with the faintest trace of a smile, 'because he was afraid he was becoming one of us, and he wanted to know if the process could be reversed. You might remember that when he was in the form of  a rat, and you came to fetch him from us, he bit me,'... 'In any case, he took some of my blood into his mouth when he did it. You know that is how we pass our powers to each other,'"

     In the previous book, Simon drank a potion that had turned him into a rat. One thing led to another, and he ended up accidently being taken home with a clan of vampires...yay:( Later on, he was rescued by Clary and Jace, and nobody would have ever thought that he would have any "side effects" from hid accidental trip. But, what few he WAS having, prompted him to return to the vampires' hotel. Unfortunately, he was attacked because he was viewed as an intruder. So, know he is has died and come back as a vampire. This makes life all the more complicated for Clary, as she struggles with her own newfound family, and the secrets of their world.

Theme and Summary of City of Bones (WARNING: *SPOILERS!)

     A theme that lies throughout the book City of Bones is the idea that revenge is not always satisfying.
   
     To set the scene, and do better understand the conflict between Valentine and Clary, you first have to understand what sparked Valentine's own hatred towards Downworlders. In the book, Luke explainins to Clary how Valentine eventually steped over the line of just "charismatic" to "crazy-obsessed". Valentine's father was killed by a werewolf, therefore he lumped all Downworld creatures to be murederous and untrusttworthy.

     "Then came the night that Valentine's father was killed in a routine raid on a werewolf encampment,"

     Luke goes on to explain how Valentine was never really the same after his  father's death. This incident was the main fueling behind Valentine's hatred towards Downworlders. His wife, Jocelyn soon realized just how crazy he truly was, and attempted to stage a sort of coup with the help of her friend Luke, and his pack of werewolves (Luke was attacked by a werewolf, who was the pack's leader; according to their tradition, whoever kills the pack leader, can become the new leader, and that is how Luke acquired this pack). To get revenge on his wife, Valentine burned down Jocelyn's family estate, and with it her parents. She also found what she thought to be her baby son's bones in the ruins of the estate, as well.

     This is why Clary hates Valentine so much. Not only was he seemingly crazy, but he had burned her mother's family alive. When she was presented with the idea of finding Valentine, she promptly requested that he not be spared; even though he IS her own father.

     However, in the end of the book, all the characters who had their own personal scores to settle with Valentine (whose actions were in part fueled by hate and their seeking revenge) were unable to become satisfied, seeing as he escaped. Perhaps had they planned more carefully, and not caused their own vendettas and quests for revenge to blind them, they would have completed their mission successfully.