City Of Ashes (The Mortal Instruments #2)

---

City Of Ashes was written by Cassandra Clare.

“Haunted by her past, Clary is dragged deeper into New York City’s terrifying underworld of demons and Shadowhunters – but can she control her feelings for a boy who can never be hers?”

She can’t control her fucking feelings and that’s my problem with this book.
It might just be me because I’m not straight and for that I feel pretty indifferent towards Clary and Jace as a couple and that’s probably why I seem to be THE ONLY ONE who thinks it’s disgusting that they still love each other even though they believe they’re siblings? Like, I get it that you can’t just un-love someone in a matter of seconds but hear me out: They’ve been told at the end of City Of Bones that they’re actually siblings. Now, mind that this is just my personal opinion, but if I was in love with a person and than someone told me “Oh, they are actually your sibling” I would be so fucking disgusted by myself and I couldn’t look at that person without being ashamed as fuck. And Clary and Jace are trying to find a way to still be together like wtf? What the actual fucking hell is wrong with you? To be fair, we all know that they’re not actual siblings and Valentine has a weird sense of humor but still, during the events of City Of Ashes EVERYONE strongly believes that they are siblings.
And at one point in the book Clary and Jace talked about their feelings for each other and Clary said that it was kind of disgusting and Jace just completely freaked out and was like “my feelings for you are disgusting?”. Boy, I really don’t want to be mean but this is a case of serious incest so yeah, your feelings are disgusting.

Don’t get me wrong, I understand people think their lovestory is cute and stuff because they love each other no matter what. But does no one think about what the fuck they just read?

Besides that, the reason why I gave the Shadowhunter world another try, Magnus Bane, was amazing and sassy and badass and gay and that’s literally all I need to continue with these books.

And btw: don’t take my opinion personal, please.

Why I´m not the biggest fan of the Shadowhunter books /RANT

OK, first of all, before I even get into this, I`ve only read the first three books of the Mortal Instruments series and I don`t hate them but there are some reasons why I stopped reading any of the Shadowhunter books after City of Glass. I do plan on reading all of them some day because, again, I don`t hate them and I don`t think that they are bad. There is just some stuff that I don`t like and where I don`t understand that people don`t talk about this or don`t talk about this in a critical way even though it`spretty problematic. So if you like these books: cool, there`s nothing wrong with that, this is just my personal opinion.
(While I`m writing this I realized, that I`m super pissed at certain things so, yeah, I`m pissed)
Also: Spoilers!

• First of all, Clary Fray. I mean, ok, I get it, she`s new to the whole shadowhunter world but in City of Bones she literally does nothing to help her friends when it comes to a fight. She just stands in the next corner and everyone has to defend her and I mean, hello? self defense? that`s a thing? And yes, she learns how to defend herself later on but I`ve read books where someone was confronted with a new situation an was attacked by some shit but did at least some sort of self defense. Without Jace, Isabelle, Alec and even Simon, she would have been so dead in the first, like, 50 pages.
• She´s also a cliché YA main character and you can literally find a character that is exactly  like Clary Fray in most YA books. This bitch is replaceable. 
• Something else about lovely Clary Fray (is that even her last name?): Everyone is so mean to her, especially Alec and Isabelle. They just hate her so much, when in reality, Isabelle gave Clary her clothes, Isabelle got her ready for Magnus`s party? Where’s that mean? And Alec is literally just pissed because that`s his fucking personality??? He’s pissed the whole fucking time so stop pretending he`s pissed because of you. Also, stop thinking everyone has to love you from the first second on.
• Talking about Alec and Clary: Clary finding out that Alec is gay and then in a moment when she’s like fighting or some shit with him she`s like: You`re just doing that because you`re in love with Jace. Honestly, I hate her for saying that. I mean, are you fucking kidding me? In what world is it okay to out someone? In what world is it okay to force someone out of the closet even though this person isn`t sure about their sexuality or gender identity or whatever? I mean, obviously, at that point in the story, Alec isn`t even out to himself and he`s in the middle of the whole struggle that comes with figuring out that you`re not straight etc. But she, as a straight person, thinks it`s super helpful to tell him that it`s super obvious that he`s gay and this is not okay. She probably thought she was the reason why he eventually came out as gay but Bitch, he literally denied being gay while making out with Magnus so, no, you did not help at all. Because you don`t force someone to come out, you don`t assume someone´s sexuality or gender identity unless they tell you, and you don`t help someone in their coming out process. Someone should have said this to Clary Fray before she opened her fucking mouth.
• Jace Wayland in one word: cliché. Again. Ok, let me explain: super hot dude that is super mean and sarcastic to EVERYONE except for the main girl of the story. He`s super cool and everyone looks up to him but at the end everyone has more character than him. And god do I hope that this changes in the later books.
• Next one: Simon whatever his last name is. I get it, he`s suuper in love with Clary and heartbroken because she lusts hardcore after Jace I-have-no-character Wayland and, I mean, that seems like stuff that happens in real life, I wouldn`t know. BUT, and that`s the part where he starts being annoying as fuck, the instance Clary and Jace can`t be together anymore (next point) he`s all over her and tries to become her boyfriend. Are you fucking kidding me? Who does shit like that? 
• And last but not least: the plot twist at the end of City of Bones. There are multiple things I need to talk about:

1. Was that even important for the story? Besides their tragic lovestory? I mean, honestly, why should Valentine be like: “I want them both on my side and I can tell that they like each other. You know what would be funny? To tell them that they`re actually siblings. Hilarious. They`re so gonna laugh about this when I eventually tell them that they`re not related.” What was the fucking point? Despite pretending that straight couples have these huge problems and that so many people don`t want them to be together. There are so many people who hate them together and question their relationship because it seems wrong. Clary and Jace are straight, white and cis gender. No one, I repeat, no one, is going to question they`re relationship, like ever. You’ve ever heard someone being bullied for being straight? A couple getting bad looks for holding hands while being straight? No? Because that shit doesn`t happen. So I hate it, when authors make the most privileged relationships the most problematic. Because you know who get´s bullied, attacked, insulted and sometimes even killed? People of color, people who are a part of the lgbt+ community, literally everyone in a minority. Obviously, this has nothing directly to do with City of Bones, but Clary and Jace are portrayed as this couple that everyone hates and everyone wants them to break up. And this just doesn`t happen to straight people. Trust me, if you`re straight, you can be so happy that no one hates you for that.
2. They think that they`re siblings and they still lust after each other for the whole time until they realize, that they`re not actually siblings? That`s literally just so fucked up and disgusting? And this is also the only time where I really don`t understand people`s opinion on this book: how are/were you able to still ship them? As siblings? This is honestly just so wrong and I still don´t understand how Cassandra Clare thought this was a good idea to write.

 

Again, I don’t hate these books, I don’t hate you for loving them, these are just things I wish people would talk about, especially  Clary outing Alec and the plot twist, both in City of Bones. So please, leave me a comment so that we can talk about this.