Cassandra Clare
424 pg., U.S. hardcover
Simon & Schuster
4.5 stars | A
From Goodreads:
The Mortal War is over, and Clary Fray is back home in New York, excited about all the possibilities before her. She's training to become a Shadowhunter and to use her unique power. Her mother is getting married to the love of her life. Downworlders and Shadowhunters are at peace at last. And—most important of all—Clary can finally call Jace her boyfriend.
But nothing comes without a price.
Someone is murdering the Shadowhunters who used to be in Valentine’s Circle, provoking tensions between Downworlders and Shadowhunters that could lead to a second bloody war. Clary’s best friend, Simon, can’t help her. His mother just found out he’s a vampire and now he’s homeless. Everywhere he turns, someone wants him on their side—along with the power of the curse wrecking his life. And they’re willing to do anything to get what they want. At the same time he’s dating two beautiful, dangerous girls—neither of whom knows about the other.
When Jace begins to pull away from Clary without explaining why, she is forced to delve into the heart of a mystery whose solution reveals her worst nightmare: She herself has set in motion a terrible chain of events that could lead to her losing everything she loves. Even Jace.
Love. Blood. Betrayal. Revenge. The stakes are higher than ever in City of Fallen Angels.
The following review will contain spoilers for the first three books in the Mortal Instruments series. The entirety of this review will be free of CoFA spoilers, apart from a paragraph at the end set aside specifically for said spoilers.
Let's just start with the writing, shall we? Yes. That 'Yes' was both a confirmation of my question and a praise to Cassandra Clare's writing. Although I'm not that big of a fan of its slow-pacing in her Infernal Devices series, I forgot how much I loved it in the Mortal Instruments books. She has so many more plots in this series that she can focus around; especially at the end. I loved Isabelle's perspective the most, probably because I was getting a bit tired of Simon's voice, and Clary had just started to become the norm for this series, so I was pleasantly surprised to see Isabelle tell the story a bit. Although I was able to tell that each perspective was written by a person, they did their own respective unique qualities. Obviously, every single subplot led into the overarching climax, and Clare definitely did a phenomenal job of dropping hints and foreshadowing to the big reveal at the end, which I LOVED. Just a disclaimer, Cassandra Clare's writing is not for everyone. Back in 2009, Bones took me a months to read, Ashes took me two days, Glass took me a month, and--long story short--Fallen Angels took me a few hours. I definitely think that her writing has improved since the first book, and I really recommend sticking with it through the rest of the series.
Second thing on the agenda is the plot. The plot in this book is just...beyond any other plot in the series, although I think Ashes may still be my personal favorite. This book definitely had an advantage on the other books because there were more characters and scenarios for Cassandra Clare to write about. I'm glad that there wasn't an overload of romance (although when there was romance, it was heavy), and, admittedly, there were some dull parts around the middle, but I urge you get over that bump. I believe that Fallen Angels has an unbelievably complex, unpredictable plot, and Cassandra Clare has truly mastered the art of disguising plot points within other plot points. There were some things that I started to theorize about, and got correct, but other than those two or three things, I was thrown through a loop. Her series is definitely original, and I even laughed once or twice, which I hardly ever do while reading. The plot centers around a series of killings occurring in New York, and Clary and Jace have to track them down, as well as figure out what's causing some strange behavior occurring in different characters. The ending of the book definitely affects the rest of the series, although I have not read Lost Souls yet. It had an absolute, definite plot arc and structure, and I praise Clare for that.
The last thing, and most important thing to me, is character development. The weird thing about this series is that the first book takes place in 2007, and so does the second book...and the third book...and the fourth book...and apparently the fifth one does as well. The thing that bugs me about this is how intense the romance is, and how unrealistic it is that all the characters have come so close in a matter of months. What I am looking at, though, is how much Clary has changed from the first book to this one. She's definitely grown into her own as a character, a woman, and a Shadowhunter. She's very independent, snide, and bold in this book, and not in the annoying, stereotypical, YA-heroine way that many authors are striving for these days. Jace, in my opinion, is still quite a bit of a predictable guy for me, and I definitely think that he and Will Herondale (from The Infernal Devices) are mirror images of one another. I love Maia's character arc, I really ended up liking Jordan, and I loved the tension going on between Alec, Magnus, and Camille there at the end. This book's character development definitely shone through.
THE FOLLOWING PARAGRAPH CONTAINS SPOILERS TO CITY OF FALLEN ANGELS
So, can we TALK about Lilith? I loved her as a character, but definitely not as a human being. She's vile, and in my opinion, even worse that Valentine will ever be. I've got a feeling that she isn't done; that she isn't gone. I mentioned some of my theories coming true, and one of those was that Simon's "band promoter" would end up being someone in disguise, and indeed she did. As far as Sebastian goes, and I think this may be a stupid theory, but I think that--and maybe this is just a crackpot theory, hey, I'm from the Harry Potter fandom; some people though Ginny Weasley was a cat Animagus just because she was cat-like--all the references to his hair being like seaweed might have some references to the lake he was killed by, and maybe symbolic for the horror of being suspended underwater. Maybe, also, there may be some climactic scene in Heavenly Fire involving Jace and Sebastian, or Clary and Sebastian, by a lake/in a lake. I don't know. It's a wild theory. I'm excited to see how Alec and Magnus's relationship pans out in the next book, and pumped to see more of Isabelle. I've just got to wait to get my hands on a copy...#firstworldprobz.
City of Lost Souls is now out in bookstores, and City of Heavenly Fire, the story's finale (this time for real) is expected for a release date of March 19, 2014.
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