Thursday, May 10, 2012

Review: City of Lost Souls by Cassandra Clare


The New York Times bestselling Mortal Instruments continues—and so do the thrills and danger for Jace, Clary, and Simon. Can the lost be reclaimed? What price is too high to pay for love? Who can be trusted when sin and salvation collide?
Love. Blood. Betrayal. Revenge.
Darkness threatens to claim the Shadowhunters in the harrowing fifth book of the Mortal Instruments series.
-barnesandnoble.com 
Jace is still missing and the Clave no longer cares.  They are more concerned with finding Sebastian than Jace.  Clary’s only hope in finding him is to use the bell that was given to her by the Seelie court, leaving Jace’s fate in the hands of the queen.  As usual the queen is less that helpful only looking to gain for herself.  When Jace shows up in the middle of the night at Clary’s house she immediately knows something is off.  He is now tied to Sebastian.  What hurts one hurts the other.  Jace also isn’t himself.  Since when does Jace Lightwood follow orders?  The only way to that Clary could possibly get him back is to plunge into unknown without the safety and comfort of her friends.  City of Lost Souls is the newest installment to The Immortal Insturments series, filled with love, loss, fantasy, fighting, and genius writing that we have come to know from all of Cassandra Clare’s other books.
My absolute favorite part of this books\ was Sebastian.  Yes there is probably something deranged and wrong about me but ever since City of Glass when you find out that he is really the real Jonathon Christopher Morgenstern I wanted to know more about his guy.  Clary, Jace, Isabelle, Jocelyn, and the whole lot of them think that he is evil, and yes he’s done horrible things, but I see him as a victim mostly.  I feel sorry for him.  He didn’t choose to have demon blood, it was chosen for him and because of it he has missed out on what life could have been.  And I agree with him; what kind of mother hates their child, no matter what they’ve done or in this case what was done to them?  I’m curious to see how the rest of this place out and I’m still pulling for a miracle where he is concerned.
I like that in this book you see more of Alec and Isabel’s POV.  You really get a feel for both of them.  In the first three books all you see about Alec is him trying to get a grip on which he really is.  He also thinks that he’s in love with Jace.  In City of Fallen Angel’s you see that his relationship with Mangus is new but in City of Lost Souls you get a to see all of his struggles.  Not only does he deal with the feelings that one would have when they’re dating century’s old warlocks that still look babeish but also the backlash of him telling people he is gay.  Isabel on the other hand, shows her vulnerability a bit more.  In the first two books Izzy is a strong, independent, beautiful, careless teenager.  But slowly you see that really that’s not all she’s about.  The most important thing to her is her family.  She feels she’s failed them because first Max dies and now Jace is gone and then there’s the secret she’s been carrying for her mother for years. She is also really falling for someone for the first time and doesn’t really know how to act.  She’s always kept people that weren’t family at arm’s length.  I love how much I’ve seen her grow as a character up to this point. 
There really isn’t a single thing that I could think of that I didn’t like about this book.  I devoured it in less than 48 hours and will probably reread it and the whole series.  I’m completely obsessed with these books. 
Cassandra Clare is the writer of the best selling TMI and ID series.  She buds with Holly Black whom she is/has co wrote a new series with and will be starting her third shadowhunters series before long.  She is a fan of Game of Thrones and Lord of the Rings (base off twitter).
Have you guys read this book yet?  What did you think?  I need discussion guys! I want to know all of your opinions about this book and the turn of events.  PS the book trailer is pretty amazing.


1 comment:

Portugal said...

The Mortal Instruments is one of Cassandra Clare's amazing series that never fail to catch the readers' hearts no matter how torturous the plot and the stories are. I know because I was one of those avid fans of the books who first grabbed a copy as soon as it was released, despite of the anticipated heartbreaks and possible huge cliffhanger ending that I will get. I've expected torture and of course, one of Cassie's trademark--huge cliffhanger ending that might result in an open-mouthed, face-shocked, head-banging, wall-thumping kind of moment. Something that will make you throw the book on the wall because of frustration, knowing that you will have to wait another long year to get the next book and see what will happen next to the characters you loved, hated, and rooted for. In short, I expected an extreme roller coaster ride. But I was surprised and relieved to find out that there was no super biggie cliffhanger ending. Cassie spare us from too much torture this time and I wasn't a bit disappointed at all. I absolutely loved this book.