Title and Setting of The City Of Ashes

I have started reading the book The City of Ashes and really enjoy it. This is the second book in the series, where The City of Bones is the first book. It’s about a girl named Clary who finds herself in the middle of a secret war going on right under the human’s noses. A group called the Clave, led by Shadowhunters is fighting against demons that Valentine, a former Shadowhunter released onto the earth.

         The title of the book has a dark meaning. Ashes are the leftover powder of something that burned. In the book, character emotions burned but later soothed. In the history of the Clave, some pretty bad things happened, and to hide the evidence, the people burned it. Every time you burn something, there is always something left, ash. There is always some evidence left and that can affect lots of people. Ash could be easily blown away, in that case secrets. In the first book Clary learns that terrible secret but now, secrets are forgotten, blown away, taken over by new ones.  

         The setting takes place in New York City. It is dull but mysterious. No Daniel! New York City isn’t dull! I’m not talking about the human world; I mean the secret world of the Shadowhunters. Their life is only about protecting the world from demons. That might be fun for the first few years, but then the dark times come; when secrets are revealed, betrayals happen, and the people you love are taken away.  The setting is dull because of the background, regular brick houses or old churches. It is also mysterious by the places hidden in those dull houses or churches. For example, a church could be a safe house or a refuge for a Shadowhunter while a brick house could be a quick-stop by armory. You don’t know what it is. Is it just a regular house, or a special Shadowhunter place? The setting is perfect for this book. It is like the ash. Ash is dull, a gray/black powder, yet mysterious. How did this piece of wood become ash?

         Right after you read the book, you feel a different way.   You may feel darkness coming over you. You may feel depressed about the horrible things that happened in this book. You could see people watching you as if you are not human. You might think: is that a church or an armory? Was that a Shadowhunter I just walked by? At the end, you somehow just realize that all of this is just a story.