City of Glass, by Cassandra Clare, is 3rd in the Mortal Instruments trilogy.
Clary must travel to the City of Glass to find the one person who can revive her mother. And unbeknownst to Clary, the Shadowhunters have captured her best friend and imprisoned him. Meanwhile, her evil, father Valentine has plans to invade the City of Glass, overthrow the Shadowhunters, and destroy all of the Downworlders. With spies in their midst, Clary and her friends face horrible heartache, impending war, and an uncertain future.
Clare has developed the characters so much throughout the trilogy, and I’ve grown to enjoy each one immensely. The story is extremely complex, and best if the novels are read somewhat close together so information is fresh in the mind. Even the character of Valentine is wrought with complexity, as his children both love and hate him.
The author has definitely created a fantastic world of demon-hunting Shadowhunters with intriguing abilities, using runes; along with vampires, werewolves, faeries, and mages. These creatures can live in two worlds but mundanes (as average humans are called) can’t see past the veil of magic.
Written for young teens, the dialog can seem overly dramatic at times and several plot elements extremely predictable to adult readers. But, for me, this did not detract from the overall suspense and excitement of the story. In fact, there was so much going on, I wondered how Clare would be able to wrap everything up by the end of the book. It has plenty of romance, action, mystery, and magic. It’s both gripping and fun. I would highly recommend this trilogy to young urban fantasy readers.