City of Lost Souls (Cassandra Clare)

Title: City of Lost Souls

Author: Cassandra Clare

Publisher: Simon & Schuster

Length: 534 pages

Rating: 3.5/5

Book five of the Mortal Instruments series: Sebastian kidnaps Jace and threatens world destruction. Clary goes undercover, and Simon/Magnus/Isabelle/Alec provide back-up.

Jace is smoking on this cover.

In short: started like, eh? Ended with AHHH! And there were a few WTFs in the middle. Not the best yet, but definitely worth the read, because as readers, we ultimately need to know what happens!

I think my main problem was the time lapse between when this book came out, and when I had read the other books. I was confused for a large portion of the first half, trying to remember all of the characters and their convoluted relationships with each other. Not to mention piecing together where the Clockwork characters come in (I do NOT like what you’re implying Cassandra!). So fair warning, reread the other books in the series first.

And while it was also a little confusing how the narrative jumped time/space/place/narrator throughout the book without warning, I did like that this kept things interesting. Things certainly are heating up romance-wise with all these characters! One final thought: Cassandra, I love that in your novels, adults just seem to get in the way. Way to give your young characters some freedom- I love this about YA. 

City of Fallen Angels (Cassandra Clare)

Title: City of Fallen Angels

Author: Cassandra Clare

Publisher: Simon & Schuster

Length: 424 pages

Rating: 4.5/5

Writing reviews for sequels or any book that isn’t the first in the series is tough. It’s not like you’re going to randomly pick up book four, even if City of Fallen Angels is awesome (which it is, of course). And I can’t tell you what happens- that would give away everything that happened in the previous books, and then you wouldn’t want to read them…and you might hate me.

All I can say is that yes, this is book four of a trilogy…which is now going to be six books instead of three. Normally I would snort at this. I’ve learned not to question Cassandra Clare. She knows how to toy with your emotions. Bring on more books! (I haven’t devoured an author this much since that summer I read everything written by Tamora Pierce. Someday I’ll devote a post to her amazingness as well.)

Non-spoilers:

1.      LOVE the crossover from Clockwork Prince (book two of the prequel series- The Infernal Devices). If you’re looking to jump on this fabulous bandwagon, I suggest you read Books 1-3 of Mortal Instruments, then Book 1-2 of Infernal Devices and then City of Fallen Angels. And then City of Lost Souls, because it comes out next in May 2012. Got that? GO!

2.      Stop toying with my heart Cassandra! So much drama and angst. The world of Shadowhunters certainly is a messy one. I just a tiny bit hate that every main character finds someone to fall in love with or fall out of love with- it’s just so paired off at points. Come on, now. But whatever, I love it.

3.      Clary on this cover scares me. Cassandra (have you noticed we’re now on a first name basis?) must love it (see her website- I adore her level of fan interaction btw) but WHAT are Clary’s eyes doing?

4.      Simon is growing on me. And again, new (and good-looking!) characters are introduced to spice things up.

5.      Cliff-hanger ending, naturally. Killing me here. Book 5: May 8th

If you're not on this bandwagon, jump on it!