Transcript
Laura Petro: Hello everybody and welcome to another episode of Ya We Read It. My name is Laura, i' am one of your hosts.
Meggie: And my name is Maggie and I am your other host.
Laura Petro: And you have caught us in the sequel to Cassandra Clare's Shadowhunter series, also the Mortal Instruments series. It's the City of Ashes. um Oh, Two City, Two Ashes, Meg.
Laura Petro: That would have been such a good one We'll get to that later.
Meggie: Oh, to city to ashes.
Laura Petro: Well, you guys will understand what that's in reference to later, but...
Meggie: That's good.
Laura Petro: I digress. This is our podcast. We read young adult novels. You know what we're reading. We have so much to say. Maggie and I, unfortunately, will not shut up about this book series. up Negative connotation.
Meggie: It plaguing our brains in crazy ways. um Luckily, I haven't had any dreams that really mirror or match the energy of the books. And I'm a shout out to God, I guess, for that one for creating my brain normal.
Laura Petro: Yeah, you know, I think this book is really igniting my critical thinking, but like emphasis on the critical because a lot of things I'm like, why is this happening? And I feel like this is how it should have been done instead. So that's been fun for me.
Meggie: It's true. And on my end, my journey of this book is I'm really trying to immerse myself in understanding incest culture. I told Laura that I watched a movie that is called My Fault, Your Fault, London.
Meggie: i don't know. It's apparently big Spanish series.
Laura Petro: seen the Spanish version. Yeah.
Meggie: Yes, I watched the English versions because apparently it's a big following. And my roommate just watched me like frown the entire time. And I really was trying to get between it because it's like they're step siblings.
Laura Petro: Well, that's...
Meggie: They marry into it.
Laura Petro: Maggie, you're like, I'm gonna dip my toe in with some step-sibling incest, and... And you still frowned the whole time.
Meggie: Yeah, I did. it was a pretty tricky, but the soundtrack bangs. They put a gay on that soundtrack and he really did his job, I will say.
Laura Petro: I'm sorry, I can't get over the fact of you describing it as like, yeah, it's pretty tricky. yes
Meggie: It is. It's pretty. It's
Laura Petro: You know what they say. Stepbrother steps that are pretty tricky.
Meggie: pretty tricky stuff. They found themselves in a little bit of a pickle. I guess. I don't know.
Laura Petro: What a conundrum. How will they get through that?
Meggie: But I can't speak on the experience. I've never been attracted to step-sibling or a sibling. I don't know.
Laura Petro: Yeah, I would say that's a pretty universal experience.
Meggie: So I don't know what the rules are.
Laura Petro: So I don't know if we were trying.
Meggie: Wait, to be attracted to or not be attracted to?
Laura Petro: It is kind of weird that it's like, was c Cassandra Clare trying to make Clary the most unrelatable protagonist ever?
Meggie: I know. It's like, and of course you guys relate because you wanted to kiss your siblings too.
Laura Petro: Do you guys know when you meet your brother when you're 16 and then you want to, you want kiss him all the time?
Meggie: Yeah. Which is, does do they have a small student body? Why is she York City?
Laura Petro: They live in, like, they live in New York City. Surely she can find anybody else to...
Meggie: She goes to the club. There's so many people to kiss. i don't know.
Laura Petro: I don't know. Um...
Meggie: Forbidden love.
Laura Petro: I just thought of another thing that I can't stand about the plot of this book, but I'll get to that later because we're going to open on ah the City of Ashes where we introduced ah to a young white haired warlock named Elias and he's tag teaming with villain Valentine and he's drawing a pentagram in this like apartment room I don't really remember um and he's going to raise the fear demon Aggramon um and Elias he really Elias Elias Elias is the right way to say that yeah so sorry any Eli all of our ah of but huge Elias fan base I apologize
Meggie: Somewhere.
Meggie: We're so sorry to offend if we said your name wrong. Elias.
Meggie: It really doesn't matter though, because he's about to get murdered.
Laura Petro: you he He dies.
Meggie: so
Laura Petro: He summons this fear demon and he dies because the the demon too scary. And Valentine was like, this was all a part of my plan. It's a side scene. It's like an it's like a post-credit scene to open a book, you know?
Meggie: It so is. and that's the prologue. He's getting his little demons ready for battle. my Mary's? How do you say Lightwood Mommy's name?
Laura Petro: I've been saying Maurice, but I like don't know if it's like a weird way to spell Marissa or what.
Meggie: Okay, we're going to with Maurice.
Laura Petro: I should have looked it up.
Meggie: Maurice and Robert Lightwood are now back. They're overseeing the Institute now that Hodge went MIA, all crazy style. And they brought their little brother, Max. So now we have Isabel Alec, Max, who is like 10 years old, and he's going to be living at the Institute as well.
Laura Petro: Yeah.
Meggie: Mary is very cold to chase. Not really that friendly, even though she helped raise him essentially.
Laura Petro: Yeah, ah she's like, it's not clear if she's mad at Jace because he's related to Valentine yet, or if she's really mad at Jace because he hasn't like said like, man, Valentine sucks. You know, it's not really explained. um But we're going cut to Clary, our like main protagonist. She's hanging out with her best friend, Simon. And like her internal monologue during this is like, man, i really wish that Jace guy wasn't my brother. So she's still really hung up on the fact that she wants to kiss him. Jace, who is her biological brother, and she wants to kiss him, but she can't.
Meggie: She can't, so she just kind of settles for kissing Simon despite not being attracted to him. And she's like, this is comfortable.
Laura Petro: Yeah.
Meggie: This is fine.
Laura Petro: Yeah. And we also get like a like of a one line mentioned that like Simon's like jaw and like ah like bone structures a little bit sharper. Simon like physically looks a little bit different since that vampire party that he went to in book one. But we don't spend much time on it.
Meggie: It's implied he's sexier, but not sexy enough for Clary to ditch her brother.
Laura Petro: Yeah, it's it's sexy enough for her to kiss Simon and directly compare it to kissing her brother, which is canon. Maya.
Meggie: which is canon, write that down. So Jace is kind of dealing with the news of him being siblings with Clary by just throwing himself into battle.
Meggie: So he goes to a werewolf bar and we get a bit of a backstory on Mia, who is Maya, who is a werewolf there.
Laura Petro: Maya.
Meggie: She was turned into a werewolf by her abusive boyfriend when she was younger. And she's kind of amazed by Jace because Jace is moving through this world like the biggest asshole that's ever lived.
Laura Petro: And I'm so confused. Maya got like a huge backstory. She's barely in the book. Like she is in it twice. um So that was confusing. But yeah there's a whole commotion.
Laura Petro: There's like a half dead body in the alley. Jace is being rude to the wolves to try to stir up trouble. And Luke has to walk in.
Meggie: Yeah, it seems to indicate that they call him, he calls one of them a slur. And when they are saying that one of them got their throat slashed in the alley and he's just a cub. Jace was like, he deserved it.
Meggie: So they're all fighting. Like Laura said, Luke steps in and he's like, I get that he's being an asshole. Let me talk to him. And Luke also calls Clary to come down. Simon, for some reason, huffing and puffing is like, fine, I guess I have to go too.
Meggie: We just, we're not going to talk about it.
Laura Petro: really is Simon really is that friend who like will invite himself to things, which I kind of respect. And also, like sometimes he needs to read the room that maybe he shouldn't be hanging out with monsters and demons and shadow hunters all the time.
Laura Petro: But I digress.
Meggie: I know. Because like, what are you to do? You're just going to make her feel like shit about it the entire time.
Laura Petro: Yeah.
Meggie: So Clary and Luke are basically talking Jace off of a ledge of he is insinuating that since he's 17, he's going to run away.
Laura Petro: Yeah.
Meggie: He's going to live in the human world. He can do it. And instead they're like, how about we go to the Institute? Luke is like, let me talk to Marius because we used to be in the circle together.
Meggie: So she might respect what I'm saying. um And of course, Jace is hurt because Marius is the only parent that he's really kind of ever known who's been nice to him.
Laura Petro: Yeah. And Reese is like, I just can't trust you, Jace, because you're kind of involved with Valentine now. So they're like, instead of us trusting you in any way, shape or form, because we've known you basically your entire life, we're going to call the Inquisitor, who's the member of like the clave council and their whole thing is they're of the law and she's basically going to come and use the soul sword on jace to see if he's actually a traitor or not um and that's like the plan
Meggie: Yeah, she basically has a grudge against Jace because obviously she hates Valentine and she investigated all the circle members and punished them. And yeah, back at Luke's, he gives Clary her mom steel.
Meggie: Simon's such a baby about this. Again, he's like, why do you want to be a Simon Hunter? They suck.
Laura Petro: Yeah.
Meggie: That's that moment. And then the Inquisitor is at the Institute. And I gotta say, Jace is not handling this well. He is being sarcastic. His attitude is piss poor. And she's like, actually, I have so much power.
Meggie: I am going to throw you into a cell in the Silent City because you're being a menace.
Laura Petro: Yeah. Like, I don't understand. Cause like I get Jace is impulsive, but like, I feel it hard to believe based on like Jason, the first book that Jace is this bad at like, Oh, I can't like,
Laura Petro: ah turn on the charm for this person who could throw me in jail. Like that felt a little strange to me.
Meggie: Exactly. it is like the OC when Seth became to Seth. Now we're being Jace is becoming like to Jace where he's becoming a character more than he was, you know?
Laura Petro: Yeah. Yeah. That's exactly, that's exactly it. Exactly. um But yeah, Jason's an asshole and she's like, I'm to throw your ass in jail in the silent city. And then you can still try to be an asshole to me, which is like, okay, Inquisitor throw down. Actually. I do love that. She was like, I'm not dealing with this.
Meggie: No, she hates kids. She's not going to deal with these meddling kids. At Luke's, and Maya is there and she's sleeping over on the couch. Clary's like, Simon, you can come stay in my bed.
Meggie: and
Laura Petro: Simon just at a glance calls Clary his girlfriend in passing and Luke has to be like Clary what's that about? Clary's like huh I guess he did call me that. That's the scene.
Meggie: And they start kissing again. They kind of indicate that she doesn't want to have sex with him. And he's like, well, I would like to at some point. And she, again, her internal monologue is like, this is nice. This is comfortable. It feels kind of like, you know, just kissing a wall. It's not like Jace where I feel like my blood is on fire when I kiss.
Laura Petro: Yeah, so she's actively comparing it to kissing Simon. and i Sorry, kissing Jace. It's bad. um Meanwhile, Jace is like locked away in this dark prison. He starts hearing noises and screams. And like somebody, one of the Silent Brothers enters in with a torch.
Laura Petro: and collapses in his cell dead so like jace is like what the fuck is going on he ends up passing out when jace wakes up valentine is there this is a very common theme i'm sensing with valentine it's like people like pass out and then wake up and valentine's there that happens so much
Meggie: I would be terrified. I'd be so scared. It's like, okay, so you're just watching me sleep. What are you, Edward Cullen? Relax.
Laura Petro: And Valentine says, I've killed all of the silent brothers and I have the mortal sword. We actually don't know how many silent brothers there are, but we know they all live in the silent city. So it's kind of implied that he's just decimated this entire place.
Meggie: Did you find it crazy that he told his plan, basically? He was like, yeah, I got the sword.
Laura Petro: Yes!
Meggie: I killed them all.
Laura Petro: I also found it crazy that nobody talked about the fact that all of the Silent Brothers died at any other point time in this book. Like, that feels kind of extreme. Like, the Silent Brothers were, like, a decent part of the first book, and then they all die and we're just moving on?
Meggie: I know exactly. Like, are they in extinct? I guess at some point the Inquisitor does say that, oh, this must have just been a ruse because there's this the other plot of this. The reason that Valentine wants this sword is he's just killing the children of Downworlders. And there is a fairy who dies in Central Park and they think that it is a diversion.
Laura Petro: Yeah.
Meggie: From him going to get the sword and killing all of the silent brothers, which I guess if you can, you don't have the sword yet. So is the ceremony of like, I need to kill the four children of downworlders. Is that, is it going to work?
Laura Petro: I don't know.
Meggie: What's to say?
Laura Petro: But yeah, it's crazy. He gets the sword base so fast. um And Valentine, like Maggie said, tells him the entire plan of like, gonna use the cup, gonna use the sword, be a bad guy. And then instead of Valentine being like, Jace, come with me and you can be my little lackey. He's like, I'm gonna leave you chained up and you'll find me when you want to. I'm not gonna tell you anything about where I'm going.
Meggie: Which is, if you want your son to join, now is a hot opportunity. You can really manipulate him to get- If I-
Laura Petro: Yeah! Like, you could be like, the Quave locked you up, the Inquisitor's such a bad person, don't you want to join me? Manipulate the shit out of him!
Meggie: If I was chained in the dark, I would do anything to get out of there. And I'm just hearing people scream?
Laura Petro: now you're chained in a dark room and you know there's a dead body lying on the floor.
Meggie: Yeah, no.
Meggie: Oh my God. And then you can probably start seeing the outline of it as it gets darker and you get accustomed.
Laura Petro: That's terrifying! Ugh!
Meggie: I hate that. um Isabel calls Clary to the Institute. She's like, Jace iss gone We need to go get him They go, they enter the silent city.
Meggie: They see all of the silent brothers. They're dead. Clary somehow opens Jace's cell by just thinking about the word open. She draws a little rune and she's like, open. And it makes it look so easy.
Laura Petro: It works. So easy. And they find Jace and Clary cannot help but just caress the shit out of his face. And, uh, and like, she's like, I don't know if this is how sisters should act.
Laura Petro: It's not. Uh, but they, yeah, give him a firm, like, good to see you, buddy.
Meggie: That is true. I think I would give my brother like a firm handshake after i saved him.
Laura Petro: A nice salute.
Meggie: Good to see ya. Like slap on the back like brothers do.
Laura Petro: Yeah.
Meggie: It wasn't that bad down there.
Laura Petro: ah They leave, they get them back. And Maryse is waiting for them at the Bone City exit, which is kind of weird that she didn't go with them. And it like, here, kids, you go in. Like, that doesn't make sense to me either.
Meggie: Well, they were in Central Park attending to the ferry. And then the Inquisitor, such an asshole.
Laura Petro: Yeah.
Meggie: Jace comes out. He clearly has like this demon poison in him. And he needs to go to like a hospital because he keeps falling down. And the Inquisitor is like, wait, wait, wait. No, I want to interrogate him. Because cause why the fuck was why the fuck was his dad coming and stealing the sword when I was going to use the sword on him at the trial?
Meggie: And Jace can't even string together a sentence. Let the man live.
Laura Petro: So like, and their whole thing is like, Jace isn't allowed to stay at the Institute. So they're just going to like, let him stay with Magnus for a while.
Meggie: I love this. Yes, the Inquisitor is like, fine, he's going to be in prison there. And so they go to check on Jace. They're like, hey, how are you doing at Magnus Baines? And they have this it's situational comedy where Magnus Baines is like, I hate him. All he does is clean. And then Jace is like, all Magnus has is TiVo. All we watch is Project Runway. I'm over it. don't want to be here.
Laura Petro: It is very, very funny. um but And they basically reconfirm like Valentine's plan of like the sword's going to let him have this whole demon army. And that's what he's doing by getting all these like creatures to complete his ritual.
Meggie: Exactly. he needs the blood because there's this ritual of infernal conversion, which apparently the sword is supposed to be an angelic item. But once he kills and gets the blood of like fairy, vampire, werewolf, I don't remember the other one.
Meggie: Zombie. No, I'm kidding. um That will turn the sword into an evil sword where he can have power over demons.
Laura Petro: Yeah, exactly.
Meggie: Crazy stuff.
Laura Petro: But while they're explaining this, Alec gets a phone call ah from a the the the fairy realm, which is normal. He has them on speed dial a bit because that's like again, this doesn't make sense.
Meggie: because he's a fairy.
Laura Petro: It's like, why did they call Alec about this? And the fairy queen wants to meet all of them? to see what they know. And Jason's like, I don't know about these dang fairies, but he agrees. So they're not going to go to the Seelie court of fairies. And I do have to pause here because we're about 16 minutes into this podcast and we have covered 145 pages. And I think that kind of describes how much extra fluff is in this book for minimal plot points.
Meggie: they're Yeah, they're quite quite as a bit. It's pretty cool how they get into the fairy court. They have to jump in a pond that is in Central Park and they basically do it under the moonlight and then they come out they're dripping wet.
Laura Petro: That's cool. That was cool.
Meggie: That kind of sucks. Jace does indicate that fairies, they're tricky people. We got to be careful. we got to be really careful with them.
Laura Petro: Yeah, he's like, don't touch anything. Don't accept anything. Like, mind your P's and Q's. We meet this guy, Meliorn, who's a hot fairy that, like, Isabel hooks up with sometimes.
Meggie: Love that.
Laura Petro: Yeah, great detail.
Meggie: I love that. Get yours, girl. And then they discuss the deaths that are going on with the queen. She's not too happy about it. And they indicate that it's Valentine. They really need her help when the time comes.
Meggie: And they agree on it. And as they're leaving, Clary realizes that she can't leave. And the fairy's like, well, it's because I told you you're not supposed to drink or drink. like eat anything of mine and had someone pricked like her finger and so she was sucking the blood which had juice on it and what does a fairy queen do but she's like i want to kiss and there's they're all trying to figure out they're like what does that mean so they're all like talking about who's gonna kiss who and she's like nope i want to kiss from her and points to clary and she's like
Laura Petro: And she's like, and you have to kiss the person you desire the most. And I'll know if you're not doing it. And Clary doesn't even like try to pretend to go for Simon. She like, which, was which is also crazy to not even be like, let me go with this guy. Who's my boyfriend because clearly that's the person I desire. She's like, okay. And immediately starts passionately making out with Jace and like Jace isn't stopping it. Nobody else is stopping it. It's just happening. is It's yikes. It's big yikes.
Meggie: It really is. They pull away. Jace is like, there, are you happy? And the fairy queen's like, yes, I really liked watching that. They go back to Central Park. No one's talking. Almost immediately, Simon takes off running.
Meggie: He's like over the hill calling a cab.
Laura Petro: Yeah.
Laura Petro: No, and like, here's the thing that I also am so like mad we didn't get. It's implied that salmon Simon is mad because Clary didn't choose him. Simon is not grossed out that she chose her brother. He is simply more upset that he was not picked to be desired.
Meggie: This is true. He tries like once to be like, isn't this kind of crazy? And Isabelle's like, I mean, if I had to, if it was, I had to kiss Alec once to leave, I guess I would. And then Simon's just throwing a tantrum because it wasn't him.
Laura Petro: Yeah, it's weird. It's weird how pro-incest pretty much all the characters are actually. Yeah,
Meggie: I do think it was weird that Isabelle was like, I would kiss my brother. was like, why?
Laura Petro: and if like Cassandra Clare's like, no, no, no, you guys, this is a normal plot to have in a children's book. um
Meggie: I know. They head back to the Institute. They're going to wash off. And if if the kiss wasn't enough, nothing happens. But Jace is like, I'm going to go take a shower and put on a towel. And Clary, you can wear a big t-shirt of mine to bed.
Meggie: and You can lay in my bed. um a
Laura Petro: And they're going to talk about it because they're going to we should probably talk about the kiss we just had and how your boyfriend's really mad at you. um And the whole culmination of this conversation is Clary being like, ah, I just really wish you weren't
Meggie: It is. And he's like, i don't give a fuck, to be honest. I don't care that we're siblings. I want you so bad. And she is like, but it would hurt people and it's sick and it's perverse.
Laura Petro: Ah!
Laura Petro: Jace literally, like, basically insinuates, like, maybe it doesn't matter if we both feel this way, which is insane!
Meggie: I know. And so she goes to call Simon just to make sure he's okay. Jace comes out towel around his hips being like, you're not calling that mundane. Are you hand against the door frame? Probably dripping wet.
Meggie: ah um
Laura Petro: What?
Meggie: And yeah, that's exactly what she's doing. She is calling Simon and trying to figure out where he is. They all go to bed and then in the middle of the night, they wake up to banging on the Institute door and it's Raphael, the leader of the vampires, standing there with Simon's body in his arms. He's like, he's not dead, but he did this crazy thing where he walked into a Hotel Dermot basically just wanting to ask questions and then everyone attacked him.
Laura Petro: Which, I'm sorry. The fact that we did, we get so many cutaway scenes in this book and we did not get the cutaway scene to Simon being intrigued to go to Hotel Dumont and this happened and we just heard about it in passing is actually insane to me.
Laura Petro: would have loved to see it
Meggie: I would have loved to see it.
Laura Petro: But ah yeah, like i would I would, I would, have sacrificed so much.
Meggie: Like,
Laura Petro: I would have given i would have given Cassandra clear an extra 20 pages to do this, but no, she didn't. ah And so basically the whole thing.
Meggie: I wouldn't. Yeah, it it was so fra like, does he keep asking the questions as he's being attacked? I need to know.
Laura Petro: Like also like, like there's no, like we don't, we truly do not know why Simon wanted to go to this place. Like we, we kind of understand that he he was intrigued by the fact that he was bit a vampire. So like he kind of had some so like venom in him, but like, it's not clear.
Meggie: He was having some side effects and he instead of just, I guess, Googling it or waiting out the side effects, he just walked right in there like, surely I can ask them questions.
Laura Petro: Yeah.
Laura Petro: Yeah. Hey guys, I have some questions.
Meggie: Guys, I'm just feeling kind of weird and my jaw's really nice now. um
Laura Petro: I'm hotter all of the sudden.
Meggie: What's that about?
Laura Petro: Is that normal? um So Raphael basically is like, we got two options. We can bury him and then he can claw his way out of the ground and then he'll be a vampire or he can just be dead. So what do you want?
Meggie: Clary's like, think, think, what would Simon want? You know what? I think Simon wants to be alive and see me kiss my brother more. So they take him, I mean, they take him to a Jewish graveyard, which is respectful of Simon.
Laura Petro: I mean...
Meggie: You know, I love that they went out of their way to yeah respect what would be his burial.
Laura Petro: yeah that's nice.
Meggie: And he has...
Laura Petro: Yeah, Clary does respect his religion, does not respect him as a person.
Meggie: Doesn't respect his sexuality, which is Clary's. this He is kind of trying to claw way out, but he's having a really hard time. Clary's like, we had to help him. And they're holding her back.
Meggie: He gets out and Clary goes over and immediately just all red flags are down. She is like tending to him. And obviously he tries to get her blood.
Laura Petro: Yeah, because he's hungry.
Meggie: ae then, and then she's like, this isn't the Simon I knew before. and Raphael's like, give him a minute. I have a blood bag.
Laura Petro: Yeah.
Meggie: Let me feed him. He's fine. He'll be fine.
Laura Petro: Like, yeah, it's like, yeah, like Raphael did not want Cleary to come for this exact reason. um Cleary next is going go visit her mom in the hospital 200 pages in Her mom's been in a coma and she's just been messing around with her brother, I guess, instead.
Meggie: finally
Laura Petro: And also Jace never goes to the hospital either. He's like, this girl's my mom, but I guess I'm never going to, I don't want to see her.
Meggie: know jace is like fine with his father abusing him for 10 years but the mom that didn't even know that he was still alive he just can't forgive that
Laura Petro: um
Laura Petro: That's where he crossed the line. Yeah.
Meggie: So she's at her bedside. We get this shortest interaction in the world with the mom, which is so funny for how big of a part she plays in the book. Luke overhears Clary being like, what happened to Simon is my fault and insists it is not her fault.
Meggie: And he does this really funny thing where he gives her a guide on coming out as gay um to give to Simon. And she is like, what are you doing? And he's like, well, it's like it's kind of the same thing coming out gay, coming out vampire. Maybe it has some good tips in there.
Meggie: And when he gives it to Simon, Simon's like, I don't need this. My mom already thinks I'm gay. Awesome.
Laura Petro: Which and like also like Simon's waiting for her at Luke's and basically like talking about being a vampire. And Simon again, like again, we have another character who just has like no emotional feeling about like being a vampire. He's like, this is weird now. I guess I'm just a vampire. Like there's no there's no stakes, which is crazy to me because his entire like life just changed because it doesn't exist anymore. Yeah.
Meggie: I know. ah So they're at Luke's and Luke kind of brings back Maya. She's got a busted shoulder because she was attacked by a demon. It's like a demon poison. So Simon calls Jace. He's like, hey, will you come and bring Alec and ah Magnus Bane? Because he's like our resident healer nurse guy.
Meggie: And you and so as Laura said Simon's not really feeling anything about being a vampire just yet so Maya goes ahead and just kind of tears him to shreds about being a vampire.
Meggie: She's like we're not supposed to be friends because I'm a werewolf and you're a vampire and I fucking hate you.
Laura Petro: And yeah, and he's not really hurt by this either.
Meggie: I'm
Laura Petro: He's just like, well, that's Maya, I guess. Like, again, there's no stakes in this conversation.
Meggie: just kind of mean.
Laura Petro: I'm sorry. um Magnus and Jace arrive to help, but they notice that, like, Luke, who went out to, like, repark his car, is suddenly MIA. And they go outside.
Laura Petro: They find him fighting demons that are, like, dragging him to the water. So they have to go fight those demons and drag Luke inside. And they're like, thank God Magnus is already here because he can help this.
Meggie: Yeah, Clary holds up like a steel and one of the demons is just like afraid of it, her, so it leaves.
Laura Petro: Yeah. Yeah. And then we also get like a sidebar that Magnus and Alec are hooking up.
Meggie: Yes, it's so true because Magnus is like, well, now I got to heal Luke too. i'm not doing it for free. And Jace is like, yeah, you're going to, you're dating a friend of ours. And Alec goes so red in the cheeks.
Meggie: He's like, oh, we aren't dating.
Laura Petro: Oops.
Meggie: And Magnus Bane is like, okay, then what do you call this? We're literally dating.
Laura Petro: Oops. Oops.
Meggie: Which is so funny. So now um Alec is out, I guess. Jason Cleary, they have another discussion about how hard it is to stay away from each other. And Simon overhears and is once again mad, which I, why are you punishing her for not liking you?
Laura Petro: Yeah.
Meggie: Punish her for liking her brother. how about that?
Laura Petro: Literally, like Simon is again, like mad that he can't trust her to like be monogamous with him. And it's like, no, no, no, you can't trust her because she likes her biological brother. Different, different things.
Meggie: Different things. We need to get a journal. We need to differentiate um and kind of learn where to prioritize our anger.
Laura Petro: ah Yeah. And like the whole thing is Jace is going to stay at Luke's for a little bit. And, but like they need a prisoner at Magnus's. So Alec is going to stay at Magnus's for a little bit. Raphael shows up at Luke's to give Jace a motorcycle.
Laura Petro: When Jace asked Raphael for the motorcycle, we don't know. And Jace is going to take this motorcycle, the flying motorcycle to go to Valentine's boat, which we do not know when Valentine got the boat, why Valentine has a boat or how Jace knew all of this information.
Meggie: Also, how does he know? Yeah.
Laura Petro: Like, This entire scene just came out of nowhere for me. I was like, when did Jace ask Raphael for this? How does Jace know that there's a whole, like, and it's like a cruise ship size boat on the Hudson or something.
Meggie: It would have been so amazing. You could have had a scene where he just like hangs back at the graveyard. There's the Raphael Lucent.
Laura Petro: Before Valentine leaves, have him be like, by the way, i got a boat.
Meggie: Valentine couldn't. Yes.
Laura Petro: Come find me on it. Easy. Easy.
Meggie: So anyways, he lands on this boat that Valentine is commandeering and he at first sees what apparently is supposed to be Clary's death. He's so scared he blacks out. He comes to Valentine's interest.
Laura Petro: a theme, motif.
Meggie: Valentine always showing up when someone passes out and he's like, neat, isn't it? That's Aggramon. That's the demon of fear. He takes the thing that you're most scared of in the world. And then Valentine figures out that Jace is most scared of his sister dying.
Meggie: And he's like, wow, the love you feel for your sister. Inspiring. Dare I say.
Laura Petro: we did forget to mention that something that happened in like the Seelie court with the fairies was the queen fairy was like, hey, you guys were both kind of, you guys both don't have normal blood. You guys got special blood because Valentine gave you special blood. And so now that Jace is face to face with Valentine, he's like, so what's my blood? And Valentine's like, I'm not going to tell you that.
Laura Petro: And Jace just drops it. He's not like, oh, let me go to Magnus. Let me go to like anybody else I know who could figure this out for me. He's like, okay.
Meggie: Yeah, if I was special, I would want to know immediately.
Laura Petro: I would be calling in so many favors to figure that out. I'd have the i'd have Raphael, like I'd pour some blood blood into a cup and I bet he could tell me. Yeah.
Meggie: Oh, absolutely.
Laura Petro: Like the fact, like that's the thing that I think is like irritating me about these books.
Meggie: Swish it around. Take a little taste of it.
Laura Petro: Like things like happen and come up and then everyone just goes, yeah, okay. And like nobody tries to fix anything or solve it or like think about it. It's just, it just happens.
Meggie: So he's got special blood. He's not going to look into that whatsoever. Valentine does hand the sword over to Jace because he's like, hey, Jace, kind of want to show you something super cool. And as he's holding the sword, he sees all of these demons that are going to essentially attack. And he's realizing that the clave is so outnumbered and so fucked. And Valentine's like, and that won't happen. I'll actually protect the people that you love if you join me.
Meggie: And then we end on not knowing where he's gonna go but it's pretty obvious he's not gonna join valentine he hasn't at this point
Laura Petro: Yeah. Part three. It's part three. It's the next morning. And everyone's going to summarize what happened the night before. Like we didn't just read about it and nobody has a thought on it.
Laura Petro: They're literally just resummarizing the events and Jace comes back. Nobody questioned where Jace went. um And that was crazy.
Meggie: i know that was crazy but
Laura Petro: And Clary's like, look at this room that I thought like thought of. And it's okay. Yeah.
Meggie: Yeah, because I think Jace kind of obviously piecing together that they are special. He's taking a moment and he's like, actually, Cleary, how did you rip the door off of the Silent City? And she's like,
Laura Petro: Yeah.
Meggie: I don't know. I guess I like drawing. And they're like, perfect. You're good at runes. You're going to draw one that is for fearless. how about we just How about we just spitball? We just kind of improvise what that might look like.
Meggie: um Maya is feeling really guilty over yelling at Simon. She has this crazy line of dialogue that I love that she says, quote, h oh you know, Jace reminds me of an old boyfriend. Some guys look at you like they want sex. Jace looks at you you like you've already had sex. It was great. And now you're just friends, even though you want more.
Meggie: Drives girls crazy. You know what I mean? Yes, Clary thought. No. And then she says, I guess you wouldn't being his sister.
Laura Petro: Which like insane for Maya to say that. Insane for Clary to say that. Insane for Maya to say that. Insane all around. Actually insane all around.
Meggie: Yeah.
Laura Petro: Clary spitballed Fearless Rune. She puts it on Alec and they're like, I guess we'll have to see next time Alec is like scared about something. And the Inquisitor and Maurice and their dad, Robert, all come over.
Laura Petro: And Alec um almost starts telling them that he's gay because he's suddenly fearless now. So the Rune is working. and the inquisitor somehow knows that jace saw valentine i think she put like a tracker on him or something it's not fully explained uh and he's gonna take him to idris uh because she needs to run him to a trial with the clave and so she puts these fire cuffs on him and they book it out of there
Meggie: Yeah, she did.
Meggie: and they book it. Maya, and this is so funny of her, and it's so relatable. She's like, oh, there's so much action and happening here. No one's thinking about me. No one's talking to me. So she just runs out, and I imagine that she's jumping out a second story window and running away, and she leaves a note that's basically like, i need to make amends.
Laura Petro: Yeah. Yeah.
Meggie: So she's on her way to Simon's Valentine thrilled about this because he's like, whoa, now I can just capture the werewolf because she runs immediately into the demon of fear and bleed her out, finish the ritual.
Laura Petro: yeah
Meggie: So now she's a hostage.
Laura Petro: Yep, it happens so fast. They're back at the Institute waiting to portal themselves back to Idris. The Inquisitor puts Jace in a cage. We also learned that her name is Imogen, like this far into the book. um And the Inquisitor is going to drop a bomb. She has ulterior motives. She's not going to take Jace back to Idris for a trial. She thinks Valentine loves Jace and she can trade Jace for the mortal instruments back. And Jace is like, why would you think that would work?
Laura Petro: He's the bad guy. Yeah.
Meggie: Jace is like, listen, I get it. You loved your son. You're kind of sad that Valentine killed him. So you're using me as a revenge. I get that. It doesn't work like that with Valentine. He doesn't give a shit about me. But the Inquisitor is like, no, he does because he is a person.
Laura Petro: Yeah, he's a father. He's a daddy. He loves you.
Meggie: He's a father. You wouldn't understand unless you were a parent.
Laura Petro: ah And Luke and Clary finally realize that Maya is gone. So they're going to look for her. They're going to call Simon on the way. ah He's like, hey, I haven't seen Maya.
Laura Petro: But as he's on the phone, ah he's like, shit's going down. And they're like, oh, shit, we got to rush on over to Simon's. And Valentine takes over the phone and is basically like, got your vampire friend.
Laura Petro: ha And then the line dies.
Meggie: but that
Laura Petro: Yeah.
Meggie: Alec, meanwhile, he is going to go and spring Jace out of jail. um He's like, going to be honest. This little configuration looks a lot harder than I thought. Here's an apple. He kind of rolls an apple underneath because Jace is otherwise going to starve to death.
Meggie: And Jace, I'm so sorry. Jace in this moment somehow realizes what his special power is and it's just jumping really high.
Laura Petro: Or, do yeah, jumping ah jumping up and jumping down. That's Jace's special blood power. And because, like, Alex, like, well, I see this cage doesn't have a ceiling. and Maybe you can jump it.
Laura Petro: And he does.
Meggie: So that's his special power.
Laura Petro: It kind of feels like, kind of feels like a, like, this felt like a Mad Lib. It's just like, and Jace jumps out of prison.
Meggie: It's
Meggie: like, cool, my sister can just, I guess, create any sort of spell she wants, and I'm just a frog.
Laura Petro: Yeah. Oh, Clary has the most useful power I've ever heard of. Me? I can jump.
Meggie: He can jump. So he does. He springs literally out of jail. Luke, meanwhile, back at home, he's piecing together that Valentine has taken Simon and ah Maya because he is pissed at Jace for turning down, joining him and seeking revenge.
Laura Petro: Thank
Meggie: Alec brings Jace back to the Institute. They call Clary only to be told, you know, Simon's been taken. And then Simon wakes up next to Maya bound and chained. They're on the boat.
Laura Petro: I did think it was crazy for Valentine to send them a text being like, by the way, i have everything for my ritual. As if any villain in the history of ever would tell the people that are trying to stop them, hey, FYI, you're on ah a tight clock, by the way.
Meggie: I like to think he used an emoticon. Honestly, Valentine to me gives that he has a signature to all of his texts. There's like just a sign off.
Laura Petro: Hyphen Valentine. With a heart.
Meggie: I really think that he does. so they're chained on this boat. um Maya updates Simon that Valentine seems to have control over all these demons. Valentine shows up, his favorite thing to do.
Meggie: He just throws some powder on Maya and she starts like burning and bleeding.
Laura Petro: Silver powder, it's bad. um
Meggie: And he immediately goes and he's like, you know what, actually, also, Simon, you're kind of pissing me off. And he slits Simon's throat.
Laura Petro: That was crazy.
Meggie: That was nice.
Laura Petro: um And we also need to talk about it because like Jason's like, well, I can't leave through the front door because the Inquisitor will see me. So Jay straight up jumps from like the third story of the Institute and Luke and Clary are at the bottom in the truck being like, holy shit, Jace just jumped off the Institute and he's fine. And then they move on so fast. Yeah.
Meggie: Yeah, it's boat time. Luke, Clary, and Jace, they're driving a loose car. They realize we need to get to the boat. And it's literally this line of thinking.
Laura Petro: They're like, oh shit, this is a land-based vehicle.
Meggie: It is like, actually, I think that I wrote the line down, which is like, if we're going to get to the boat, we need another boat. We need another boat.
Laura Petro: It feels like they spent time looking at the wheels of the car and looking at the water and being like, how is this gonna work?
Meggie: I know, and Luke's like almost pissed off, too. He's like, well, Jace can't walk on water. And it's like, why are you getting... You're the adult in this situation.
Laura Petro: Yeah!
Meggie: Why are you mad?
Laura Petro: Like, clearly, surely you knew the boat was a thing. Like, why are you getting there being like, oh shit, it's a boat.
Meggie: But don't worry, they have a loophole, as they always do. They're using Magnus Bane again.
Laura Petro: Magnus is the loophole for everything.
Meggie: They...
Laura Petro: I'm sorry. It's like, it feels like every time, like, we can't explain how they should handle something, it's like Magnus just comes by.
Meggie: Also, he has a hustling and bustling social life. ah
Laura Petro: Yeah.
Meggie: I don't think he would give everything up. He'd probably be like, I have a party. i can come like three hours after when it's done. But like, I can't.
Laura Petro: Yeah, so if you look, you can't make like Magnus this giant socialite, but then also have his calendar completely free whenever it's convenient for the plot.
Meggie: I have a party.
Laura Petro: It doesn't work like that.
Meggie: no spoken as a true it girl. My calendar is booked and busy.
Laura Petro: Thank God.
Meggie: Booked and busy.
Laura Petro: um Sorry, this is just.
Meggie: So Magnus comes, he makes this into like an aqueduct.
Laura Petro: so
Meggie: Those like my, those boats in Miami that they'll like go in the water and it, it it works.
Laura Petro: Yeah.
Laura Petro: And they just, and they floor it and boy, does it just float on the water normal as normal as possible.
Meggie: Yeah. Jace has Clary put the fearless rune on him just in case he runs into the demon of fear again. He just can't see his sister die.
Laura Petro: Yeah.
Meggie: It's the worst thing in the world.
Laura Petro: and And Luke, like, for some reason, while they're like, well, I know we're about to face this villain, but maybe I should deliver the backstory on why the Inquisitor is the way that she is. So he gives her this long ass backstory in the middle of like prepping for combat about her son, Stephen, and how he was in the circle with them.
Laura Petro: And how he was like so enthralled with Valentine. And he had a wife and he died. And then his wife killed herself. But she was pregnant. And that's why the Inquisitor hates Valentine so much. And that's why she sucks.
Laura Petro: Because she misses her son.
Meggie: It was such a domino effect. Son dies, wife kills herself, and then the dad dies of grief, and then the Inquisitor's like, I'm all alone. I guess I would also seek revenge.
Laura Petro: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, but she's going about it all wrong. But either the way, weird time to deliver this much information. um And they just kind of leisurely stroll to the boat, I guess.
Laura Petro: I don't know how, like, it's not explained where the boat is, like, if it's in the ocean, if it's in, like, the river.
Meggie: Well, I was imagining that it's a big boat. And so it's like, how do they get from the truck boat to the big boat?
Laura Petro: Yeah. yeah
Meggie: I really didn't understand. Do they just, ah well, for JC jobs, I guess.
Laura Petro: Yeah. And like Luke swims and Clary gets carried. So I don't, but it doesn't seem like there's a ladder over the side of this giant boat. So it really doesn't make any sense.
Meggie: It's time for Imogen, the Inquisitor's big plan to finally go into action.
Laura Petro: Uh,
Meggie: Alec and Isabel, they burst into the library at the Institute. Marzi and Imogen are talking. Valentine appears and Imogen is like, I'm ready to pull my big one.
Laura Petro: I have to pause this here, Maggie, because like there's been multiple times in this book series where just like Valentine hologram appears and it's like, could you just like decline the call ever? Like. And
Meggie: Yeah. Is it just like, oh, fuck. And now he's in my room.
Laura Petro: now he's where he can see me. He's in my room like that. That's creepy.
Meggie: It'd be such a good prank, but I would be annoyed that I have no say in it. I'd be like.
Laura Petro: it's just like I'm trying to sleep right now. um And he basically.
Meggie: He pops up, you know, he pops up and the Inquisitor is like, listen, I got your son hostage.
Laura Petro: Sorry, go ahead.
Meggie: He is in jail. I'll give you it for the instruments or I'm going to kill him. And Valentine's like, OK. Whatever that means. So what?
Laura Petro: Yeah, he's like, go ahead, kill him. bye Which is also like, why did Valentine show up to this?
Meggie: yes
Laura Petro: Like, why? Like, it doesn't make sense why Valentine's... What's Valentine's motive for talking to these two people?
Meggie: I really don't know.
Laura Petro: That makes no sense.
Meggie: he doesn't get anything out of it.
Laura Petro: like yeah Like, he's losing time to do his plan by, for some reason, talking to these people? Okay. Because then, did Imogen be like, I'm going to place a phone call really quick and Valentine's like, hey, what do you want? I'm busy right now.
Meggie: I know she's realizing like, oh, shit, I guess that we are actually going to have to engage in war. um So she's got to call up every shadow hunter in the city. And Alec is like, oh, actually, ah by the way, Jace did jump out of jail.
Meggie: He just kind of sprang, hopping to skip.
Laura Petro: Yeah.
Laura Petro: And he explains, so how Clary has these cool rune powers and she can create her own rules, Jace can just jump, like, up or down really high.
Meggie: She's gonna just jump. Sadly, he can't jump that high because a winged demon comes and just swoops Cleary up.
Laura Petro: Yeah, it's funny because it's like Jace can't jump like with.
Meggie: yeah
Meggie: Okay.
Laura Petro: He can't jump from the car up to the boat. Like he has to swim. He's like, no, it's too far of a jump.
Meggie: And I do kind of love this moment because for how much Jace is always scared that Clary is going to get killed, Clary is wearing Jace's jacket. And this big Talon winged demon comes, swoops her up, and he is like, that was my favorite jacket!
Meggie: Right?
Laura Petro: Jace didn't even think about his other biggest fears, his favorite jacket going away with a flying demon. ah
Meggie: Yeah, this- Oh, I also love this too because the winged demon drops Clary off perfectly next to Maya.
Laura Petro: Yeah.
Meggie: And Maya's like, hey, thanks for swooping in.
Laura Petro: I thought Maya and Simon were like in a room underneath like levels of this giant boat, but I guess they were on like top deck or something because like
Meggie: I thought they were too. I know, but they were on top deck.
Laura Petro: Yeah, it's not... because yeah Does Cassandra Clare know the like the floor map of a boat and how that works? But I digress.
Meggie: I don't know. I just wish I knew how big this boat was because at some point Jace falls through the floor too and I'm like, where is he now?
Laura Petro: Yeah, and like... Because they describe this boat as bigger than a yacht, and like I think, when we first see it. So, like, this boat's massive, right?
Meggie: Yeah, pictured one of those like war aircraft carriers to be honest, like almost that big in my brain.
Laura Petro: Yeah.
Laura Petro: Yeah. But this boat seems very tiny based on the plot of this book. um
Meggie: So Maya's like, thanks for swooping in. Thanks for dropping by. um Bad news. Simon's dead. Sorry about that.
Laura Petro: Yeah. And like, meanwhile, Luke and Jace are just fighting like the demons raining down from the sky and they cannot keep hold of them. um
Meggie: Yeah, Jace is mowing them down with his new fearless rune.
Laura Petro: Clary learns a new rune, which is big hole to escape. Yeah.
Meggie: and And she, like, pushes Maya through this hole to, like, weasel through. Valentine shows up and he's like, where's Maya?
Laura Petro: Sorry, this scene... This scene is, like, very much, like, you know those tubes that kids go through at, like, the, like, Chuck E. Cheese?
Meggie: Oh, yeah, for sure.
Laura Petro: This is very much giving Valentine is Clary's, like, trying to skitter through one of these tubes, pulling her out, being like, where do you think you're going?
Meggie: pulling her out i know i felt the same way because i thought she was kind of stuck in there a little bit and he just rips her back um he you'll never believe it another demon takes off with them to a second location never again sign jace's jacket is toast he's not getting that back um valentine at the second
Laura Petro: Yeah.
Laura Petro: Yeah.
Laura Petro: These demons are really helpful.
Laura Petro: No. Clary can make a rune for a new jacket.
Meggie: ah Maybe they can. They can just ah conjure it out of thin air.
Laura Petro: Yeah.
Meggie: Valentine at the second location is like, listen, you little slut. I'm on to you and Jonathan's perverse sibling love. And that's that's kind of where that...
Laura Petro: It is weird to me that like this entire book I'm siding with the villain being like yeah it's actually pretty messed up.
Meggie: Yeah, I'm happy someone's talking about it.
Laura Petro: Yeah, I'm really glad that this bad guy can actually call out that incest is bad.
Meggie: Thank you.
Meggie: He's like, my moral compass may be pretty fucking crazy, but I don't like when sisters and brothers kiss.
Laura Petro: I draw the line at incest. It's like, yeah, you should. um
Meggie: Jace is having a moment with the Inquisitor where she puts him in something that he can't escape. And I will say, okay, this moment is really interesting because it's seeming that she is piecing together that Jace is actually not Valentine's son because she sees a scar that he has and she brings up Michael Wayland and then she immediately gets killed, which sucks.
Laura Petro: Yes.
Laura Petro: Yeah. Yeah. So she's in, she tries to like whisper some, some truth bit to Jace, but he's like, what did you say? You crazy bitch. And then she dies with her last breath.
Laura Petro: So he's like, that didn't make any sense. ah
Meggie: She does such a quick 180 because I think that she sacrifices herself in his place as a demon's, yeah, going to kill him.
Laura Petro: Yeah. She's protecting Jace. This was way too tiny of a scene for how many long scenes we get.
Meggie: Mm-hmm.
Laura Petro: Like the fact that we didn't get a longer like build up with this like Inquisitor in this moment was such a miss to me.
Meggie: I agree. But the show must go on. Isabel and Alec, they show up. Another demon is geared up to attack them. Isabel gets sprayed with this demon poison and Alec drags her to safety and gets like he gets thrown across the ship by this different demon that Jace is.
Laura Petro: yeah He falls overboard and gets knocked unconscious.
Meggie: He does. And Jace, he gets just body slammed through levels of the ship.
Laura Petro: Yikes.
Meggie: He is just falling down.
Laura Petro: Yeah.
Meggie: But he likes to jump. He's actually, he's really excited.
Laura Petro: It's pretty good. He'll always land on his feet. He's like a cat.
Meggie: Lemons into lemonade. He gets to jump.
Laura Petro: They're like, Clary, her powers are she can make these cool runes.
Meggie: His favorite thing.
Laura Petro: Jace is kind of like a cat. He always lands on his feet. ha.
Meggie: He lands on his feet. And like, remember how the ah demon bird dropped Clary right into the midst of things? This is kind of the same with um Jace.
Laura Petro: Yeah.
Meggie: He just falls exactly where he's supposed to be, which is where Valentine is.
Laura Petro: um Easy. Yeah, because honestly, i don't know if you've ever tried to like get around a big boat. It's hard. There's too many hallways and doors. They lead lead to too many places. So it's really nice of these demons to just speed up this plot.
Meggie: It's actually super nice of it. um Like Laura said, Alec is in the water. He gets dragged out. Magnus Bane is on the boat and he's kind of running out of magic to save everyone. So Alec is like, here, take my hand, take my energy.
Meggie: You know, very cute moment.
Laura Petro: Yeah. Okay.
Meggie: Gays are real. Jace, once again, he's in the perfect spot. He's with Valentine, which is awesome sauce because Valentine's going to give his evil monologue of a lifetime about how he's like, Jace, please, please, please, please join me.
Meggie: You're just like me. You're just as evil and bad as me. And Jace is like, no! And he takes his steel and he stabs him. And it turns out that it was just the demon of fear, Aggramon.
Laura Petro: Yeah, and Jace faced his fears.
Meggie: He didn't actually kill him.
Laura Petro: And then Jace stumbles across Simon's body somehow. We don't know, like, how. and And in a way that is crazy to me that we did not explain this at all, Simon's just not fully dead yet.
Laura Petro: This was absolutely insane to me. Simon got his throat slit and was bleeding out. And he's, after all of this, he's just still alive.
Meggie: Yeah, wouldn't you make sure if you went through all this effort to kill them that they're like really dead? Nope, but
Laura Petro: Yeah. Yeah. So we don't know how or why, and we're not going to, they're not, it's not going to be explained, but Simon's just not dead yet. ah So Jason's like, Oh, you can have some of my blood.
Meggie: He does. He raises his arm to him where he's been hurt in battle. Simon goes on drinking the blood. He's back in the game. He does apologize after that, which is so nice.
Meggie: But now he's got some angel blood in him. So level up, baby.
Laura Petro: Level up.
Meggie: Level up.
Laura Petro: um Jason, Simon, Landon with Clary and Valentine. So again, very convenient that they find the exact people they need to talk to. And this is they just argue with him back and forth.
Meggie: Mm-hmm.
Laura Petro: Like there's no big monologues. There's no big but like revelations. It's just kind of an argument.
Meggie: It is kind of an argument and there is another loose end that is tied up so quickly in that it just stops existing. Valentine has the sword to Clary's throat and when he takes it away, it's like all of her blood, like her entire body is freezing ice.
Laura Petro: yeah
Meggie: And Jace is like, remember how special you are, remember. And she's like, oh wait, fuck, I can do my little rune thing. And she draws a rune on the side of the ship and says open and it basically blows up the ship.
Laura Petro: So basically all we've learned is Clary is Rudy from the show Chalk Zone, if you remember that, with his magic piece of chalk and everything would turn to life.
Meggie: Oh my God, I forgot. That's a really deep cut.
Laura Petro: Yeah. And that's also a really great analogy, if you ask me.
Meggie: It is. So she wakes up after she blows up the ship and the ice isn't a thing anymore. She's not feeling the ice in her veins. She's like totally fine.
Laura Petro: Yeah, we get no description of how this ship like sinks or the aftermath of the battle. Clary just wakes up and they're all sailing home and they're like, man, what a day.
Meggie: Yeah, they really are. They're like, I think it really just like everything came apart. And luckily, this was my favorite part was that, hey, we actually did it. Clary, if you hadn't done that, everyone would have died. And you'll never believe this. Demons can't swim.
Meggie: So they all died.
Laura Petro: they went, and Valentine's gone again. Like, oh.
Meggie: done yeah valentine's gone it was all of the fairies finally followed through and they came in and they pulled everyone out of the water um and then they're all freaking out because they're like oh my god wait wait wait the sun's coming up wait oh my god simon is stuck
Laura Petro: And what is crazy is Simon turns to Clary and goes, you know what, I think it's time for me to die, actually.
Meggie: it really does
Laura Petro: And he does! He's like, I'm good.
Meggie: Which makes me believe that we shouldn't have made him a vampire. i mean, yeah, he's obsessed with Dungeons and Dragons, but her her gut was like, yeah, I think we gotta keep him alive. I don't think he wants to be alive.
Laura Petro: He literally says, he's like, this has been fun. I'm good, though. But he doesn't die. They describe his skin as, like, shimmering. It's implied that Jace's angel blood that's not fully confirmed yet is angel blood, and that's how he can be in the sunlight now.
Meggie: Exactly. And we end with Marzi explaining that she wants Jace to stay at the Institute. She only threatened to kick him out because she was like, I didn't think it was safe for you here because the Inquisitor was coming.
Meggie: And that is where the book ends. But we do get an epilogue. Of course we get an epilogue.
Laura Petro: We get an epilogue where Clary goes to Simon. and He's like, man, I'm still a vampire, but I love that I can go outside now.
Meggie: he's He's like gardening in his backyard. He's thrilled.
Laura Petro: And Simon's done a full 180 being like, I think we should just be friends. And so I guess they're just friends now.
Meggie: And she's like, is this about Maya? For some reason, she's like not thrilled about this.
Laura Petro: Jealous.
Meggie: Why?
Laura Petro: No.
Meggie: i don't know.
Laura Petro: Clary does like pit me as that kind of person that she would just be like, what do you mean you're not in love with me?
Meggie: i know because she's like, oh, is this?
Laura Petro: I don't, I don't love you, but you should be in love with me.
Meggie: She's like, is this about Maya? And he's like, well, yeah, because Maya kind of looks at me the way that you look at your brother. And I kind of want that.
Laura Petro: I kind of want the way you feel about your brother, but with a person I'm not related to. Does that make sense?
Meggie: so Are you following?
Laura Petro: I know this might sound crazy to you but hear me out.
Meggie: um Luke, who I assume is like 50 years old and Clary have a conversation. Clary is like 16 and she's giving him love advice, which is like, you've been pining for my mom for 20 years. And at some point she said she couldn't date because she gave her heart away. Have you ever thought about maybe like telling her? And he was like, no.
Laura Petro: He's like, you can do that?
Meggie: It's allowed?
Laura Petro: And Clary's like, I'm going to take my love into my own hands. And she's going to go tell Jace how she really feels. And he cut his hair now. And she's like, wow, that looks awesome. And they're at the like diner that they went to in the first book. And he's going to grab some to-go food. and before Clary can be like, I think we should give this a real go, Jace is like, I'm really sorry for the way I've been acting. I think I should just be your brother from now on.
Meggie: Yeah, and he she's like, that's great, but inside she's dying because she wants to be kissing cousins so bad.
Laura Petro: She sobs on the subway the entire way home. And as she's leaving whatever station she gets off at, Shadowhunter we've never heard of before named Madeline finds her somehow and is like, I need you know that Jocelyn put herself to sleep and into that coma and only I can wake her up.
Laura Petro: That's the end of the book.
Meggie: That's the end of the book. And ladies, if you're listening, don't take the subway after a breakup. Treat yourself to an Uber with our promo code.
Laura Petro: Should we start making up sponsorships and promo codes that don't exist?
Meggie: think we should. think it'd be really funny. um We're coming. ah
Laura Petro: Use sob 25 for 25% off your next
Meggie: The like 30 listeners are like, they sold out. and we're like, we wish. No, this is a bit that we're doing.
Laura Petro: week. We wish we were making money off of this, you guys. um
Meggie: We wish. um So this brings us to our top five, which honestly, we're really thrilled about our top five. um This was a tricky book. I think there was one topic that we hit the most and we ran with it. we We're doing the top five better titles for this book.
Laura Petro: Because City of Ashes doesn't make any fucking sense.
Meggie: It just, it makes...
Laura Petro: There was no city. There was no ashes. There was a boat. There was incest.
Meggie: I just, my thing is, I think it was i think it was because the...
Laura Petro: There was vampires.
Meggie: boat blew up but yeah
Laura Petro: I thought the boat more like folded in on itself. I was like, if Simon had died and turned into a pile of ash, you could have argued that.
Meggie: then we could have done city of ashes do you want to go because the way it's i think that you should yeah okay
Laura Petro: you could have But there was no fires in this book.
Laura Petro: Yeah, yeah, yeah. Coming in at number five, we think a better title for this book would be The S.S. Valentine. The villain has a boat now. Really hits home, the part where Valentine has a boat now because it's not explained in the book at all.
Meggie: Yeah. And so when you go in with that, you're like, oh, OK, he's going to have a boat.
Laura Petro: Yeah, you're like, oh, I understand that. I know i know what i'm getting into in the second book. The villain has a boat now.
Meggie: um Number four is just a pretty simple one. ah Mom's in a coma. Oh, well.
Laura Petro: Yeah, kind of really channeling the attitude of every character anytime something happens in this book.
Meggie: Yeah.
Laura Petro: they're Like, oh, well.
Meggie: Oh, well.
Laura Petro: ah Number three, ah City of Incest, I think would nail nail the the nail on the head personally.
Meggie: Yeah, I really think that that's the entire theme of this book is we're always going to the city, the city of incest.
Laura Petro: Yeah.
Laura Petro: Yeah.
Meggie: Ding, ding, ding, ding. Number two is going to be is gonna be ah the fairy queen knows and she likes it. ah
Laura Petro: I think that's poetic. I'm like, what does she know? Oh, and we get to that scene and I'm like oh, she knows and she likes it.
Meggie: Oh.
Meggie: Yeah, it's great foreshadowing of what's to come.
Laura Petro: It's great. ah And number one, um this is between a best friend and a brother, which I think would have just really poster
Meggie: I think that naming every other book can be the city of, and then just this one, break it.
Laura Petro: for this book.
Laura Petro: Because this,
Meggie: i think that that would be awesome.
Laura Petro: This really describes Clary's kind of internal struggle, but mostly to her just being like, man, my brother's still a hot. That's crazy. um
Meggie: Exactly.
Laura Petro: And all of that. But wow, we really did that, huh?
Meggie: We really did. And, you know, we will be back next week with the third book. If you want to email us, city of glass.
Laura Petro: City of glass.
Meggie: I actually get that one now that I'm,
Laura Petro: City of glass. That one makes sense. That one actually makes perfect sense. So...
Meggie: And if you want to email us at maggieandlaurapresent at gmail.com, we are, you know, back up and running. If you just want to tell a friend to listen to us or even give us five stars, that would be awesome.
Laura Petro: It would be so nice if you guys could tell somebody else about this podcast.
Meggie: Yeah, we've been doing this for six years and it would be cool to like actually have a steady following.
Laura Petro: Yeah, yeah, yeah. We would love that. And maybe also it would be cool if like we were more steady with our seasons, but like things happen and we're only two people. Like if we had the means to, to realistically do this regularly, we would.
Meggie: That's so true. Laura's engaged now, by the way, guys.
Laura Petro: know I'm like, I'm like showing my ring off. Like this isn't an audio medium. Yeah.
Meggie: Hey, we can turn it back visual if I get on my shit and make little videos. Laura's engaged now. We got to show off the ring, the bling.
Laura Petro: It's a pretty ring, you guys. I want you to know it's got an emerald on it.
Meggie: It is pretty. It's gorgeous. um So yeah, if you want to email us about that, actually, and what you think.
Laura Petro: Yeah, I'll send you a picture of my engagement ring if you email us.
Meggie: Yeah, super exciting. All right, we'll see you guys next week.
Laura Petro: All right. Love you guys. Bye.
