First published March 25, 2008, this book and its versions are available on Amazon in hardcover, paperback, Kindle, and audiobook formats, at local libraries, or through the Libby app.

The second installment of The Mortal Instruments is jam-packed and thrilling; it’s a roller coaster ride that keeps adrenaline pumping with each page. Clare continues her borrowed themes; the Harry Potter parallels are unmistakable. For example, Valentine’s quest for horcrux-like items and Jace screaming, “I’m nothing like you!”

The Fae Queen, the underworld imagery Clare brings to life in amazing detail: the morbid dancers, the feast, the inability to outright lie yet to manipulate the truth, the wicked games she plays are brilliantly done. If the book had followed in the same vein, it could have been five stars all around.

Clary, Jace, Simon, Alec, and Isabelle form an odd group of fighters, allies, friends, or enemies; it’s hard to tell where the line is drawn. Then Max, Magnus, and Maia enter the mix, complicating things further. Max, Alec and Isabelle’s little brother, has an ambiguous role. Magnus, the high warlock of Brooklyn and Alec’s secret paramour, might feel skeevy to some readers because of the age difference, Buffy anyone? Maia is a werewolf in Luke’s pack who hates everything and trusts no one except maybe Luke and perhaps Simon. Imogen, the Clave’s representative, is on a vengeance rampage for everything Valentine did. Last but not least, Valentine is the villain you picture twirling his mustache in victory, playing everyone like marionettes.

Readers might find a few things in this book despicable. Let’s address Jace outing Alec under the pretense of helping him be honest with himself, huh, wrong on many levels. The real skeeve moment is when Jace suggests he and Clary keep a secret romantic relationship, even though they’ve discovered they are siblings, as if he doesn’t care that what he’s proposing is incest.

Valentine, the villain mastermind, acts against the character Clare, as presented to her audience, by targeting two of the four houses’ most closely watched children for his spell. If the spell only involved the blood of warlocks, werewolves, vampires, and fae, he wouldn’t keep going after those he did. He would have acted smart, chosen the easiest targets.

The writing isn’t much improved from book one. The theme of downworlders and people with impure blood feels like an age-old conflict in disguise. Overall, it’s still an interesting 2.5-star read.