City of Glass is the third installment of The Mortal Instruments series by Cassandra Clare. This review will not contain spoilers for City of Glass, but it will have significant spoilers for the first two books in the series, City of Bones and City of Ashes.

After the battle on Valentine’s ship, the Clave is demanding answers. Clary is determined to travel with the Lightwoods to the Glass City, Alicante, while Jace is determined to leave her in New York. Shadowhunters respect the Law above all else, but Clary breaks it by entering Alicante with a downworlder at her side. 

Valentine was not so easily discouraged though. When his secrets come to the surface, Clary must find new ally’s in a city where she doesn’t know anyone. Luckily, she meets a new Shadowhunter named Sebastian as Valentine gathers what he needs to destroy the Shadowhunters and Downworlders alike. Can they put aside their difference and fight together or will they destroy all hope before the war even starts? Will Valentine’s secrets cost Jace and Clary everything or will Clary’s mysterious powers be able to save them?

City of Glass was originally supposed to be the end of The Mortal Instruments series and it was everything I wanted. All my questions were answered. It was jam-packed with chaos from beginning to end.

I finally stopped hating Clary and was actually proud of her throughout this book. She seemed to get her head on straight and start acting the way I wanted her to act from the very beginning. She became a strong character and realized what exactly was important and what wasn’t.

Traveling to Idris and Alicante really helped with the worldbuilding. The country and city were spoken of so much throughout the first two books and we even got to see a sneak peek of it in the first one, but I wanted to know more about it. While in the end I still wanted more details, all of the important ones were included.

I had a feeling that I knew where the Mirror was way before my suspicions were confirmed, but it was really nice to realize I was right. Usually, I don’t like being able to guess what is going to happen or important details like that, but this time it didn’t bother me because even though I knew where it was, I didn’t know what was going to happen.

There were plot twists left and right that I did not expect, while they weren’t always that important, I still enjoyed the fact that I was caught off guard by what was happening.

As for the writing in this book, I think the writing style and level improved from the first book, which is not a big surprise since the first book was also Clare’s first book. It was much easier to read than the first one when I paid attention to the writing itself. There were a few sections that I did not feel like they flowed, but it was mostly dialogue.

Overall, I gave this book 4 out of 5 stars and I was really happy with the way it ended. While I know the series continues, I was satisfied when I sat this book down. I stand by my recommendation of this series to anyone who is looking for a YA Urban Fantasy series.

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