Hey all, and welcome back. As I’m writing this, my place of work has shut down for the next two weeks in the hopes of stemming the spread of the coronavirus. So how better to cope with the social isolation in the face of a pandemic than to rip into a bad YA novel? I mean, now I have even less of an excuse to avoid this than normal.
But enough about that. Let’s get to it.
The final chapter of City of Glass.
Hit it.
I could include a recap of everything that’s happened up to this point, but if you don’t know what’s going on, why are you even here?
Go back and start from the beginning.
What’s wrong with you.
This chapter’s title is “Weighed in the Balance”, which is a nice reference/call back to the ending of the previous book. For those who need their memory jogged, as Valentine’s ship started sinking, he referenced the story of Belshazzar’s feast from the Book of Daniel, which is where we get the idiom of “the writing on the wall.” In that case, part of the eponymous writing was interpreted to mean something along the lines of “you have been weighed, and found wanting”, thus justifying the Babylonians being conquered by the Persians.
Of course, a more skeptical person might interpret this story as one of two things:
The formerly enslaved Hebrews throwing shit at their former masters, and/or
Said formerly enslaved Hebrews sucking up to the new powers that be, the Persians
But that’s beside the point, because it has no relevance to this stuff at all.
Getting back to the book, we pick up with Clary falling into the lake.
This feels very familiar.
She somehow ends up lying on the shore, and after coughing up some water, realizes that her wrists are tied. Of course, being Clary, she has no interest in figuring out why her hands are bound, or who bound them, and instead takes the opportunity to stare at her surroundings, finally realizing that she’s next to the same lake that she initially fell into way back in chapter two.
Blah, blah, lengthy description of her surroundings, blah.
Seriously, though, she takes all this time to stare at her surroundings, but doesn’t even wonder about why her hands are tied up. This girl, I swear…
Hey, something vaguely relevant: nearby, someone has set up a makeshift table from some rocks. The fact that the other two MacGuffins are sitting on said table should reveal who did it, but this is Clary Fray we’re talking about. Part of me wonders why Valentine didn’t bother splurging on a folding table or something just in case, but I guess that would ruin the visual he’s going for.
Also, in the table are a bunch of runes “carved into the sand.”
Now I don’t know about you, but I don’t think it really qualifies as “carving” when you can do it with your finger.
You Keep Using That Word: 1
And as Clary tries to make sense of what she’s seeing – the runes, not how they’ve been “carved” into sand – Valentine notices she’s awake and comes over.
Was he just standing off to one side or something? Weird.
Also, we get this line when Clary recognizes him:
The shock of seeing him was so enormous that it was almost no shock at all.
The fuck does that even mean?
Anyway, Valentine is all decked out with weapons, though apparently some of them must be pretty small, since they’re dangling off a harness he’s wearing.
Valentine then explains what an astute reader has probably already figured out: he saw Clary fall out of her Portal
You Keep Using That Word: 2
and into the lake. So he dived in and saved her, because as we’ve long since figured out, Clary is utterly helpless.
Also, Valentine cast “Silence”:https://5e.tools/spells.html#silence_phb on her. I’m not complaining, though I do wish I wasn’t stuck in Clary’s POV, because I’m still getting her thoughts. Oh well. I’ll take what I can get.
Although I do question his decision to use magic to bind her arms and legs rather than, say, rope. It just feels unnecessarily complicated.
Unfortunately, Valentine has gone full cliche villain, and so has decided to take this opportunity to get in some Villainous Monologuing.
I guess that’s where Sebastian/Jonathan picked that up.
Also, Valentine is clearly not that busy. Which should really be the biggest indicator that his plan is going to fail – a smart villain would just get on with their plan instead of wasting their time giving a lengthy speech.
Also, given that the MacGuffin Sword was supposed to originally belong to an angel, the description of it sure is sinister. Like, how else am I supposed to interpret a description like “sucking the illumination from the air around it”?
Anyway, Valentine says he didn’t intend to experiment on Clary while in-utero, and Clary kinda believes him – at least, insofar as he didn’t mean to experiment on one of his own children.
Of course, I do question his judgement, given that he thought slipping his wife powdered angel blood would somehow cure her depression or whatever.
Valentine proceeds to give his own abbreviated take on events post-Putsch. He spent a lot of time trying to track Jocelyn down, supposedly because he loved her, but she did also have one of the MacGuffins. Also, he thought Clary might be Luke’s kid, because he’s a paranoid psycho.
And he also manages to slip in some Mundie-bashing, though it’s hardly any different from what we’ve gotten from every other Shadowhunter so far.
Also, Valentine is now blaming Clary for Jocelyn not coming back to him. Because I guess he doesn’t think “I secretly performed experiments on you while pregnant” is reason enough for her to hate him.
And then we get some of the creepy “Clary looks just like her mom” stuff. I mean, I’m reasonably sure he doesn’t intend it in a rape-y way, but it’s hard to tell with this series.
But no, Valentine just wants her to watch as he does his whole ceremony thing. This leads to some weird projecting from Clary, namely that what Valentine really wants is for her mom to be there instead, and that he’s so obsessed with Jocelyn because he thought he controlled Jocelyn, and got mad when he found out he didn’t.
And I say “projecting” because there’s really not a lot pointing to that as far as I can see.
Anyway, Valentine has gone completely off the deep end. Seems his ritual requires some blood, and he had intended to use his own, but interpreted Clary’s sudden arrival as a divine signal to use Clary instead.
Again, there’s some more very sinister description of a weapon that belonged to an angel:
The Sword had fed itself on enough blood by now; it probably had a taste for it, just like Valentine himself.
But then, just as Valentine is about to make the killing blow, the sword gets knocked out of his hand. Because Valentine spent too much time monologuing, so Jace could show up to save the fucking day.
Both Hands, Ma’am: 1
And of course we have to be told (via Clary, natch) that Valentine totally didn’t hear Jace coming, because Jace is just so sneaky or something. Totally couldn’t be from Valentine being so absorbed in his own nonsens. Nope.
Both Hands, Ma’am: 2
Jace finds out that Valentine has magically silenced Clary, so of course he starts threatening Valentine. But Valentine raised Jace, so he doesn’t feel all that threatened. And of course, Clary is even more worried, because Valentine is totally going to kill both her and Jace, because Valentine is just such a dangerous enemy.
This tension totally isn’t forced at all.
Also, Clary takes this chance to catalog all of Jace’s injuries, because of course she does.
Both Hands, Ma’am: 3
Honestly, I’m not that surprised that Clary has been both silenced and bound for this scene. It provides an excuse for her to do what she always does – sit on the sidelines while someone else does all the actual work, only for her to swoop in at the last possible moment to save the day and take most/all of the credit.
You know I’m right.
Valentine thinks that Jace has come to join him. And while I can’t entirely blame him for coming to that conclusion – Jace has sent some pretty mixed signals regarding his loyalties this whole time – but given the fact that he both disarmed and is threatening Valentine, I don’t think “ah, you’ve come to join me!” is a reasonable conclusion.
Jace stares at Valentine for a minute with “cold disdain.” Personally, I think that’s just Jace’s natural Resting Bitch Face.
Anyway, Jace came to stop Valentine, and sent Isabelle off to warn everyone else. Not really sure how warning anyone about Valentine’s plan would help, exactly. So I’m kinda wondering why you wouldn’t want to come with as much help as possible.
But then, I guess that would mean sharing the credit, and we can’t have that.
Speaking of not sharing credit, Jace takes all the credit for beating Jonathan. Because of course he does.
Our “Heroes”: 1
And this isn’t just me making assumptions – Valentine insists that there’s no way Jace could have beaten Jonathan, because he’s just such a great warrior, and at no point does Jace mention getting help from Isabelle.
I honestly don’t see why he’d do that, other than to take all the credit.
Whatever. Jace moves on to asking about his real parents. Of course, he only asks about how his father died, because that’s maybe kind of unclear. Honestly, I don’t see why he’d care, except that it might give him some slight justification for killing Valentine; not that he’d need much justification at this point.
Valentine talks about Jace’s mom’s suicide, and how he saved foetal Jace. But this just gets Jace even more upset, and fuck if I know why. And then we get this:
“Tell me the truth,” Jace said. “No more lies about how we’re the same flesh and blood. Parents lie to their children, but you – you’re not my father. And I want the truth.”
I’m struggling to see the logic here. Parents lie to their kids, and that’s somehow okay, but Jace isn’t Valentine’s kid, so he should get the truth? Because you’re only supposed to lie to people you’re related to?
Also, again, I have to point this out: in every way except biologically, Valentine is Jace’s father. Sorry, CC, but in the “nature vs nurture” debate, I’m generally on the side of nurture. Sure, there are some people who are just born bad, but you haven’t really put in the work to show that Jace has in any way overcome the beliefs he was raised on.
Moving on. Valentine justifies his actions RE: saving Jace as needing “a soldier.” Apparently Jonathan was just “too savage” and “not subtle enough.” So, why did you send him off to be a spy? Because that kinda requires a certain degree of subtlety. Who wasn’t paying enough attention to Jonathan – Valentine, or every other character? Is CC trying to retcon his character?
Either way, Valentine figured Jonathan would never be able to take over after him, so he decided to try again, this time with Jace.
Oh, but there were problems with Jace, too. Seems he was “too gentle” and “too empathetic.” He “felt others’ pain as if it [was his] own.” Again, is CC trying to retcon Jace’s character? Because I’ve read these books, and at no point did I conclude that Jace was “too gentle” or “too empathetic,” or that he “felt others’ pain” too much. If anything, he has the opposite problem.
CC, you can’t just go retconing one of your main character’s personality, especially after three books.
Oh, and despite him just shitting on those exact traits, Valentine insists that he loved Jace for those exact traits. Because everyone must love Jace, no matter what.
This leads to several paragraphs of posturing from both Valentine and Jace, which basically go like this:
Jace: I’m totally going to kill you!
Valentine: No you’re not.
Jace: Yes I am!
Valentine: No, you’re not.
Jace: I totally will!
Valentine: No, you won’t.
And of course there’s stuff in there with Jace trying to be “noble”, talking about how he “doesn’t want_” to kill Valentine, but he _totally will, because Needs of the Many or whatever.
All of which is completely undermined by the fact that he doesn’t do it. I guess Jonathan wasn’t the only one who picked up the bad monologuing habit.
God, it’s moments like these where I wish Jace was even one tenth the angsty anti-hero he pretends to be.
There’s also a bit describing Jace looking like “an angel dispatching divine justice,” because of course there is.
Both Hands, Ma’am: 4
And just like with every other example of someone spending far too much time talking instead of acting, this comes to bite Jace in the ass.
How so? Valentine somehow Force-pulls the MacGuffin sword to his hand, and proceeds to stab Jace through the heart.
I should really not be this happy to watch one of the ostensible heroes of a series die. Yet here we are.
And of course it takes a whole, lengthy paragraph for Jace to fall down dead. Which is then followed by two more paragraphs of Valentine mourning Jace’s death, before getting the hell on with this whole ceremony nonsense. Because everyone must love Jace.
Meanwhile, Clary has done what she does best – sit there, watching other people advance the plot. But now we’re back with her, and her thoughts.
She’s thinking about… stuff. How she wants to lie down next to Jace so they can die together or whatever, and how sad it is that Jace maybe kinda never had a name of his own or something.
Honestly, I really don’t care. We’re so close to the end, and I just want this to be over with.
Clary notices that Valentine’s magic circle has started to glow, not that she really cares. No, instead she thinks about Jace telling her how strong she is, in complete contradiction of what we’ve actually seen.
Oh, and there’s a nice little jab at Simon for not believing that, nevermind that he’s known Clary for a hell of a lot longer than Jace, and can more accurately judge what Clary is and is not capable of handling.
Valentine continues to go ahead with his Evil Plan ™, not that Clary really seems to care.
And then something finally gets Clary to start moving? What is it, you ask? Imagining how disappointed Jace would be if he could see her now.
There’s your “strong” female protagonist for you – only capable of being proactive when faced with disappointing a male character.
Whatever. Clary manages to crawl over to Valentine magic circle, at a painfully slow rate. Not that it matters, because Valentine’s vision is apparently based on the needs of the plot.
Clary manages to get her hands around to pull a not-wand out of her belt. Seems it’s been there the whole time. Why didn’t she do this sooner? Why didn’t Valentine take it away while she was unconscious? And was it actually there this whole time, or did it just conveniently appear there now?
Plot Hole: 1
Clary then uses her not-wand to alter one of the runes in Valentine’s circle – specifically, the one representing Valentine’s name. Don’t ask me how she knows which rune it was, or how she knew to alter it. Clary’s powers have always worked on a purely instinctual level, requiring no actual effort on her part to master them, let alone use them.
Plot Hole: 2
But even that bit of being proactive is enough to exhaust Clary.
Meanwhile, Valentine’s been doing his little ritual. Apparently part of it has involved chucking the other two MacGuffins into the lake. He finishes up, chucks the sword, and shit gets crazy, and the angel Raziel pops out of the lake.
The description of Raziel is… a bit iffy for my tastes. It mostly sticks to the standard Renaissance-style “hot dude with wings” look, but there’s just a touch of the Biblical, pants-shittingly terrifying to throw it off. I’m a bit disappointed, really. Pick one, CC, you can’t do both.
Then Raziel and Valentine have a conversation, and I’m going to script it, because I think it’d be more amusing that way.
Raziel: Dude, why’d you summon me?
Valentine: It’s been a thousand years, and we’re still fighting demons.
Raziel: Yeah, and?
Valentine: Well, the Shadowhunters used to be pretty great…
Raziel: Careful now. Don’t get too big a head.
Valentine: But now they’re working with Downworlders and stuff.
Raziel: So? Don’t be fucking racist, dude. I mean, are you seriously going to try and question the will of God?
Valentine: Well, no. I was just hoping we could work together…
Raziel: Dude, I’m an angel. Helping you with your petty bullshit isn’t in my job description.
Valentine: Well, why’d you leave your contact info here if you didn’t want people asking you for advice?
Raziel: Dude, you didn’t bring me here to ask for my advice. You just want to be king shit.
Valentine: Hey, I ruined my marriage and killed my son for this!
Raziel: Yeah, nobody asked you to kill your kid. That’s on you, man.
Valentine: I can make you do what I want. But I’d prefer you go along willingly.
Raziel: Dude, after what you did to the last angel you summoned, you honestly think I’d work with you by choice? Fuck that noise. Besides, your daughter messed with your circle, so I’m taking orders from her.
Again, the actual text is far more flowery and pretentious, but you get the gist. Also, I want to make note of a few things:
First, Raziel goes super pretentious when naming all the Downworlders, because of course he does.
You Keep Using That Word: 6 (one for each “Children of”)
Second, I’m not quite sure, but I’m fairly certain this might be the first time anyone has mentioned the existence of capital-G God. At the very lest, it’s not someone who can be brushed off as being a crazed fanatic.
Third, in regards to Valentine killing his son, Raziel brings up the story of Abraham from the Bible, which is… not the best story to bring up, in my opinion. Kind of a prime example of “Old Testament God was kind of a dick.”
But it was nice to see someone finally call out Valentine for his racist bullshit. And given that it’s basically the highest possible authority in this series, that’s very encouraging.
I also have mixed feelings about Clary’s solution. On the one hand, I love it when heroes win by being clever, rather than simply overpowering the villain. But on the other hand, I feel that said cleverness needs to be set up to some extent. And that doesn’t happen here.
Let me give an example, the 1988 fantasy film “Willow,”:https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0096446/?ref_=nv_sr_srsg_0 (be warned, spoilers ahead):
WARNING! WARNING! SPOILERS!
In the movie goal of the protagonist (the eponymous Willow) is to protect a baby girl who is prophesied to bring the downfall of the film’s villain, Queen Bavmorda. Through a series of events, Bavmorda manages to get said baby, and the film’s climax Willow and his allies confront Bavmorda, and eventually just Willow.
Now, in addition to being a queen, Bavmorda is also a powerful sorceress. Willow, on the other hand, isn’t. He’s more of the “Inept Mage”:https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/IneptMage; at this point in the movie, he’s managed to bungle almost every spell he’s cast, only getting it right shortly before the climax. And yet, despite the vast disparity in their magical ability, Willow manages to save the day.
How?
Well, while Willow isn’t all that skilled with real magic, he’s quite the accomplished stage magician (fun fact: Warwick Davis, the actor who played Willow, actually learned some real stage magic for the part). One of his best tricks – which we see him demonstrate early on in the film – is making a pig seem to disappear. While it doesn’t quite work with the pig, it works just fine with the baby, and the day is saved when Bavmorda freaks out.
SPOILERS CONCLUDED
Now, what’s my point here? This stuff needs to be set up. It’s “Chekhov’s Gun.”:https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/ChekhovsGun You can’t pull a solution like this out of your butt because you’re written yourself into a corner. At least not by the time the book gets to the publication stage.
It also comes back to Clary’s powers working largely as a plot device. She never has to put any actual effort into using them, or understanding them. It’s one (annoying) thing to have her be able to basically make up a rune to do whatever she needs, but it’s another to understand how a series of them – like those of Valentine’s magic circle – work, and what each means.
It’s one thing for someone to have, say, a natural gift for math, allowing them to solve complex equations in their head. It’s another to show them an equation and ask them to find a problem in it.
But enough ranting, at least for now. Valentine finally looks over at Clary, and is all confused. And in the sand, Clary has written out the same words Valentine said at the end of the last book.
Except they’re in English, not Hebrew, so I feel the effect is somewhat diminished.
Well, it’s at least kinda badass. Decent action-movie one-liner type thing, at least.
Valentine starts to beg or something, but Raziel spits fire at Valentine, and burns a hole through his chest.
I mean, that’s cool and all, but also a bit anticlimactic.
Now, given that, you’d think that Raziel would just peace out. I mean, Clary got to have him do some task, and he just offed the Big Bad.
But no. Killing Valentine was “the justice of heaven,” so Clary still has her one wish or whatever.
And not to get side-tracked again, but I can’t help but think of a much better example of a character being both clever and utilizing a magical favor – Harry Dresden. (“Likest thou jelly within thine doughnut?”)
Anyway, Raziel undoes all the magic on Clary, so she’s free to do whatever. And he also informs her that, with Valentine dead, all the demons have lost whatever cohesion they had, so the Great Off-screen Battle will be finished pretty soon. So that’s two things Clary might have asked for that have oh so conveniently been resolved.
So of course there’s only one thing Clary wants now.
Can you guess?
If you said “bring Jace back to life,” congratulations, you know exactly what kind of book this is.
There’s a long description of Clary closing her eyes and picturing every detail of Jace’s appearance, because of course she’s memorized that.
Both Hands, Ma’am: 5
And poof, Jace is alive again. He does the “I was dead, and you brought me back” schtick. Clary points out that Raziel (who peaced out somewhere in there, not that I blame him) did that, to which Jace of course points out that it only happened because Clary asked him to.
Both Hands, Ma’am: 6
Jace also points out that Clary could have asked for anything, but of course the only thing Clary really wants is Jace.
I’d like to pause here to point out that Clary could have wished all the Shadowhunters back to life.
Like, all of them.
All the ones who’ve died over the past few days.
Including Max.
I mean, it’s not like Raziel set down any limits or anything.
But nope. Just Jace.
Our “Heroes”: 2
So they get all affectionate, and the chapter wraps up with them pointing out yet again that they’re not siblings. And thus it is totally permissible for them to bone.
And that’s the end of that.
That was honestly a lot more tiring than it probably should have been. Then again, part of that might be due to the chapter being one very long scene, rather than several, so there were no good places for me to stop.
And looking back at my notes, I can certainly tell just how little I really cared by this point. Most of the chapters have probably around 2 pages of notes. This one? Maybe one page. It’s also pretty obvious that I really started skimming, because I just wanted to be done with the damn book.
Not that doing so was all that detrimental to the reading experience. I mean, do we really need a whole page or so of back-and-forth between Jace and Valentine discussing whether or not Jace had the balls to just stab Valentine and get it over with?
But we’re still not done.
Yes, there is an epilogue, and my notes for that are several times longer than my notes for this chapter.
So, until then, be safe, avoid crowds, wash your hands, etc. Shit’s getting crazy in the real world, and we all have to look out for each other.
Counts
Both Hands Ma’am: 6 (Total: 74)
Entirely Pointless: 0 (Total: 17)
Our “Heroes”: 2 (Total: 81)
Plot Hole: 2 (Total: 16)
Rapier Twit: 0 (Total: 9)
You Keep Using That Word: 2 (Total: 154)
Shoddy World Building: 0 (Total: 33)
No Shit Sherlock: 0 ( Total: 5)
A Word From Our Sponsors: 0 (Total: 10)
Sling on 26 March 2020, 04:40 said:
I think I’ve been reading ever since you posted the sporkings of the first three books, and boy, it’s been a wild ride. I love plot holes in the climax of my trilogy. All of these have been such a delight to read, thank you so much for going through the trouble and validating me for always (… mostly) being on Simon’s side. He deserves much more.
Can’t wait for the epilogue. If there’s that many notes left, it’s gonna get nasty. (>:])
Take it easy!
Aikaterini on 26 March 2020, 09:44 said:
But isn’t Jonathan meant to be the way he is because Valentine fed Jocelyn demon blood?
Because he is secretly five years old. I see where Jace gets his immaturity from.
All she does is project on him. But, yes, Clary will sit still, say nothing, and just watch. What a fitting image for her role in this series.
And yet she’s supposed to be our protagonist.
The only reason that Jace isn’t on Valentine’s side is because he’s the Designated Hero and Valentine is the Designated Villain. There is nothing in his characterization that suggests that he would have any problem siding with Valentine. Especially when he nearly joined up with him twice.
If I’m being charitable, maybe CC forgot that Isabelle was in that scene? Or Jace didn’t mention Isabelle because he didn’t want Valentine to get mad at her and possibly vow revenge…maybe?
But if CC didn’t forget, then, yes, this just makes Jace look like a lying, egotistical ingrate.
Jonathan: is polite and friendly to Clary up until they kiss, sticks up for Simon when Aline insults him, successfully lies to everyone about who he is for most of the book, and kills Max without being seen.
Jace: is rude and sneering to Clary from the moment they meet, insults Simon non-stop right in front of Clary, throws out racist insults like a reflex, throws tantrums whenever he doesn’t get his way, and barges into the grieving werewolves’ hangout and tries to slaughter them all before Luke stops him.
Yes, clearly, Jonathan is the one who needs to learn about subtlety and restraint. Stop lying, book.
And gave him the same name as his biological son. Because that’s not going to cause any identity crisis and resentment on their part, is it? Valentine is a moron.
But yeah, Valentine ruins his son from birth by giving his wife demon blood, then blames his son for the faults that he caused, and decides to favor someone else instead. But no, Jonathan is the stock psycho villain that we should all boo, while Jace is the sympathetic, misunderstood angel.
Oh, really? Has he ever felt Simon’s pain as if it were his own? Maia’s? Clary’s? Isabelle and Alec’s? The werewolf pack who was grieving before he swaggered in with the intent to bait them and kill them? I think not. And we were supposed to think that he was so cool and debonair for not caring. We were supposed to find him attractive for being a heartless narcissist who didn’t care about anyone’s feelings. Stop lying, book.
Which is why he just said that he raised Jace to be a soldier. Which is why he killed Jace’s pet falcon in front of him to teach him a lesson about caring too much. Which is why Jace is the selfish, violent egomaniac that he is. STOP LYING, BOOK.
Dear Lord, actual authors of Gothic novels would tell Clare to tone it down.
And there was much rejoicing!
Both Simon and Jonathan have treated Clary with far more civility and consideration than Jace ever has. But now Jace is suddenly the one who believes in Clary’s strength? Jace? The scumbag who’s mocked her and patronized her and has kept her in the dark about important matters since the beginning? JACE?
A male character who’s treated her like dirt, no less. Yeah, no thoughts about her mom or anything. Or any of her so-called friends. Jace is the only reason for her existence.
Since there’s apparently no limitation, she could’ve also wished that Valentine never became evil in the first place. She could’ve had a family, all of this suffering could’ve been avoided, Simon could’ve remained human, etc.
I wonder how the Lightwoods are going to react when or if they find out that Clary had every opportunity to wish their son back to life, but she didn’t. Which only goes to show how little she cared about Max. About anyone.
And this is why the so-called heroes of this series are anything but that. They are utterly, completely selfish. The narrative can say whatever it wants, this scene right here proves what a lie everything was. Nothing else matters, but Jace. Not the plot, not Shadowhunter-Downworlder tensions, not the other characters, nothing. All that matters is that Clary gets to kiss the hot maniac who only cares about himself. Everything else was just set dressing.