Awkwardness aside from the end of City of Bones, this book starts out on Jace being a sulky teenager. He bothers Luke's pack, lashes out at everyone and generally has a one man pity party. Granted, after the ew factor at the end of the last book, you partially can't blame him. And of course while everyone else is concerned with their own shit, Valentine's traipsing along bad guy trail and killing folks for stage two of his quest, the Mortal Sword. It's the seemingly-but-not-so-random kills that finally alert Clary and crew of Valentine's evil plots so they start paying attention and try to figure out what he's planning.
Downworlder Dilemmas #1: First trip they make to try and figure things out is a magical romp through Fae-land. The Fae Boss Lady ends up giving cryptic statements and pushes Clary and Jace to kiss, even though they're supposed to be sibs. However, this book was all about planting seeds of doubt that they're really siblings. So many plot threads through the book smack you in the face with it, probably to take off some of the ick towards their sibling-y lurve. However Clary kissing another dude, in front of Simon doesn't work so well since...they're dating. Oh, did I forget? I think Clary had too. She seemed so bored with the relationship that it's kind of an afterthought.
Downworlder Dilemmas #2: So disgusted by the sib on sib action, Simon rushes off to the embrace of Raphael. Well, realistically, Simon had been getting compulsions ever since he swallowed some of Raph's blood in the first book, so it was only a matter of time before he went Downworlder-side. Clary's understandably upset since even with all the shenanigans between them, Simon's still her best friend. And the crew helps Raphael bury him so he can turn. Simon, as the witty quipster gets a new level of angst post vampire-ness which begins him drawing in the ladies. But of course, not Clary, who's still smitten with Jace.
Downworlder Dilemmas #3: They figure out why Valentine's killing the Downworlders, as part of a sacrifice involving Valentine's planned assumption of power. However, shit gets real when Maia and Simon are kidnapped. Even though the adults (sans Luke of course) suck at helping them, the kids rally whomever they can. The Inquisitor causes problems of course, trying to lock Jace up, blinded by her hatred of Valentine. But eventually the obvious smacks all of them in the face and the adults join the kids on Valentine's loveboat of sacrificial destiny.
Clary manages to save the day by tapping into her special gift, the same one she used to find the Mortal Cup...her ability to create new runes. Simon's drained as hell so Jace feeds him, which ends up causing later complications. Magnus Bane makes appearances throughout, to everyone's delight. Aaaaand Clary blows a big hole into the gigantic ship they're all on, sinking it into the ocean while everyone scrambles to escape, including the big bad. Oh that pesky Valentine!
Rating: 3
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