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About The amplifier. (West Linn, Oregon) 1921-current | View Entire Issue (June 1, 2011)
"City of Fallen Angels" drags readers down into a fantastical world; magic and mystery stirs story C hrisann K im _________________ Acclaimed New York Times best-seller Cassandra Clare released the fourth book of "The Moral Instruments" series, "City of Fallen Angels" on April 5. Filled with fantastical excitement, love and betrayal, Clare elegantly plots out the book's story, including new discoveries and relationship situations in which teens will definitely take interest. The book begins with Simon Lewis, the protagonist, Clary Fray's best friend, struggling to adapt to his vampirism. In the previous book, "City of Glass," a vampire friend of Clary, Raphael, bit Simon, turning him into a vampire. Lewis is approached by the vampire Camille Belcourt and is asked to join her and the Daylighters and earn his place in the vampire society. The relationship between Clary and Jace Herondale, the "beautiful golden haired angel" as Clary calls him, continues to build slowly and softly through the first few chapters. Simon’s band is approached by Kyle, a handsome boy with good vocals wishing to join the band. Clare does a good job of obscuring the true character of Kyle and his motives. The plot builds as Simon's mom discovers his secret: bags of blood hidden in his refrigerator. There are People may not listen to compact discs anymore with iTunes on the rise in 2011. But now, at least people have a day dedicated to local stores that still sell vinyl. Record Store Day is an effort to help out local independent record stores. It was founded in 2007 as a day for artists to release special albums and songs only available on this day and only in vinyl. On this day, people buy records, listen to live music and have cookouts. Record Store Day is the third Saturday of April each year. The first band included in Record Store Day was heavy metal band Metallica. This year, over 600 bands visited their local stores for this day. An ambassador was chosen for Record Store Day, Ozzy Osbourne. Past ambassadors include Joshua Homme (Queens of the Stone Age, Them Crooked Vultures) and Jesse Hughes (Eagles of Death Metal). miscommunications and betrayal. Though Clare uses Simon well done. Clare uses clever dialogue and simple Also, as typical of a female teenager I may be, I found the wrote made the romantic scenes sweet and they made me chuckle at the cheesiness. Those scenes weren't as much as a flaw to the entire book, but they did feed into the story. The author also uses a plethora of biblical references such as the story of Cain and Abel, bible verses and the symbolic images of Angels, the messengers of God. It made me wonder if Clare was somewhat of a believer, or that she was just using the biblical archetypes to give a twist to e plot. These allusions were sed at the end of chapters, leaving a dark and suspenseful liffhanger—one of the main reasons that I had to continue reading. From the charming love scenes to the battles between wolf and vampire, I give this b o o k ★ ★ ★ ★ * front to back. If you're a fan of teen fiction, fantasy and a bit of love here and there, I highly recommend this book. Be sure to read the first three books of the Mortal Instruments series, "City of It m e a n s , ' he said, 'that love is the most powerful force in the world. That love can do anything.'" -Jace Herondale, "City of Fallen Angels" a lot of fantastical archetypes in the story of bringing two different clans together, a subplot of Clary and Jace's difficult love life makes an incredible tie as it serves both as a distraction and an intensifier to the characters' main purposes. Clare does a fabulous job of creating the characters so their personalities are relatable and lovable. Being a fan of the entire series, I was attracted to Jace's sarcastic and nonchalant dialogue. Clary’s stubborn, yet strong character foils against Jace's manly behavior; the two are perfect for each other. Through the previous books, Simon also went through both physical and mental transformations. His nerd status has evolved into a dark and introverted vampire and his fun, light and whimsical behavior around Clary has turned quiet and secretive. I find the quick yet meaningful metamorphosis of descriptions to convey the story's underlying message: "Love just isn't enough." The overall plot wasn't as creative as I thought it would be; Simon tries to bring the Shadowhunters (those like Jace and Clary) and the Downworlders (those like Kyle and Camille) together. Yet I felt the way the characters felt; pulled into a new world of mystery and stirring action, j Some notable releases for Record Store Day have included a reissue of the first release of White Stripes on Lips limited edition box set. I'm glad that we have Record Store Day. We don't have many days, if any, my nose in the book constantly. Once a chapter left on a cliffhanger, I thought, "Oh man, I HAVE to finish this." It was impossible for me to drop the book in the middle of something intense. Photo by Gwyn Fisher, Fiiekr Creative Commons A customer browses Music Millennium’s huge collection of records. It was one of the stores which participated in Record Store Day this year, a day designed to help local record stores by offering special release albums to customers. 7" red and white swirl vinyl, limited edition Pink Floyd 66/ 6 7 vinyl and The Flaming Bones," "City of Ashes" and I had for celebrating music in its entirety. Record Store Day isn't just a day to release cool romance parts cute and simple. The descriptions that the author music, it's a day to enjoy the same music the other people in your community like too. It's a way to meet friends, find new music and have a good time. It's what is missing with iTunes. There's really no interaction when you wait for an album in your house, at your computer or by yourself. iTunes is a wonderful convenience and I use it often. But it doesn't beat the physical copy of holding an album in your hands as if you won a trophy. And with recent vinyls, it has a code so you can download the music from the vinyl onto iTunes. I guess what I'm trying to say is that Record Store Day is essential to remind us of our roots, of what music used to be. I'll end with this quote, which I think represents Record Store Day well: "I think it's high time the mentors, big brothers, big sisters, parents, guardians and neighborhood ne'er do wells, start taking younger people that look up to "City of Glass." Fans of this series can look forward to the fifth installment, "City of Lost Souls," coming May 1, 2012. "City of Fallen Angels" is available in all major bookstores and as a digital eBook. them to a real record store and show them what an important part of life music really is," Jack White, in the bands the White Stripes, the Dead Weather and the Raconteurs, said. "I trust no one who hasn't time for music. What a shame to leave a child, or worse, a generation orphaned from one of life's great beauties. And to the record stores, artists, labels, DJ's, and journalists; we're all in this together. Show respect for the tangible music that you've dedicated your careers and lives to, and help it from becoming nothing more than disposable digital data." There are multiple record stores around Portland that participate in Record Store Day, including Music Millennium (3158 E Burnside), the Record Room (8 NE Killingsworth, at comer of Williams) and Jackpot Records (203 SW 9th Ave, 3574 SE Hawthorne). And remember to save the date for next year, April 21.