There are lots of similarities between City of Ashes and the Harry Potter series, one of the major ones being their respective capital-V Villains with capital-V names: Valentine and Voldemort.
Like Voldy, Valentine has a severe hatred of mudbloods, except here, instead of being wizards born of mundane descent, they're half-demonic people, like vampires or werewolves. Instead of just admitting that these people don't affect their lives in any way, both villains are bent on a form of magical racial cleansing that must be stopped.
Questions About Race
- Why does Valentine hate Downworlders so much? Are there any parallels between Valentine and real-life historical figures?
- Many Downworld races don't get along. Is it biological hatred, or learned racism of each other?
- Jace often makes comments about Simon ("mundane" or "bloodsucker") and makes disparaging comments about Downworlders early on. Within the context of the book, is Jace racist?