City of Glass

City of Glass by Cassandra Clare (Walker Books, 2009) is the third installment of the young adult urban fantasy Mortal Instruments series and chronicles an epic Shadowhunter battle against an old foe’s return. City of Glass was a finalist for the Teen Choice Book of the Year and for the 2009 Goodreads Choice Awards. Clare was born in Iran to American parents. She spent several years traveling before she settled in the United States, where she attended school and worked for several magazines, including The Hollywood Reporter. Before her debut novel, City of Bones, was published, she wrote Harry Potter and Lord of the Rings fanfiction and published it online. Currently, she resides in Massachusetts with her husband.

This guide follows the 2010 Margaret K. McElderry Books edition of City of Glass.

Plot Summary

City of Glass picks up one week after the end of City of Ashes, the previous installment in the series. Clary Fray prepares for her first visit to Idris, the Shadowhunter homeland, to search for a way to wake her mother from an enchanted sleep and defeat Valentine—her father and Shadowhunter-turned-villain who’s allied himself with a demon army. Valentine seeks the Mortal Glass, the third of the Mortal Instruments, to summon the angel Raziel and “purify” the Shadowhunter race, installing him as the new ruler of the Shadowhunters, able to kill anyone who doesn’t align with his standards.