City of Lost Souls by Cassandra Clare
Published May 8th 2012
“What price is too high to pay, even for love? When Jace and Clary meet again, Clary is horrified to discover that the demon Lilith’s magic has bound her beloved Jace together with her evil brother Sebastian, and that Jace has become a servant of evil. The Clave is out to destroy Sebastian, but there is no way to harm one boy without destroying the other. As Alec, Magnus, Simon, and Isabelle wheedle and bargain with Seelies, demons, and the merciless Iron Sisters to try to save Jace, Clary plays a dangerous game of her own. The price of losing is not just her own life, but Jace’s soul. She’s willing to do anything for Jace, but can she still trust him? Or is he truly lost?”
If you haven’t read the first four books, there might be minor spoilers in this review. There’s no spoilers for City of Lost Souls though.
I love Cassandra Clare. She’s an amazing writer that can create one world that’s so rich, so full, that it can spawn dozens of books. That being said, The Mortal Instruments series is one of those series’ that I will complain about whenever given the chance but I’ve still bought every book in the series within a week of its release. I can’t say no to this series, however much I want to.
I’ve never liked the The Mortal Instruments series as much as The Infernal Devices. And I started reading TMI first. I dread starting each book because I know that I’ll just be felt feeling both disappointed and excited. Disappointed that I didn’t love it has much as I wanted and excited for the next book. If there’s one thing The Mortal Instruments books are good at, its killer cliffhangers.
I always struggle with the characters of this series. I don’t like Clary. I think she’s annoying and stupid. She never does what she’s told even when not doing what she’s told is reckless and insane. She acts without thinking and she lets her “love” for Jace control her.
I personally don’t get the appeal of Jace. I never have and with only one book left in the series, I doubt I ever will. (Side note, if you love Jace, please comment telling me what you like about him. What qualities does he have that you like? Seriously, I really want to know. ) I found him to be very needing and whiny in the fourth book but in City of Lost Souls, he’s all sorts of new annoying.
I’ve never liked Simon and I wish he would have just died in the first book. I felt like Clare is just stringing him along though out the series because let’s be honest, Simon should have died a bunch of times by now. But he always miraculously lives. I didn’t hate him as much as I did in City of Fallen Angels though so that’s something.
I think is the only well written female character but for some reason, I just can’t fall in love with her. I don’t know what it is but I just can’t. She has all the things I love in female characters but there’s just something about her that I can’t put my finger on that just bugs me a little bit.
I love Alec and Magnus. I think they’re the best characters in this series and I wish they were more of a focus though out the series. If I could get ride of Jace and Clary so I could replace them with Alec and Magnus, I would in a heartbeat.
I feel like the series would have been better off if it just ended after three books. It felt like a whole lot of nothing was going on in this book and what actually happened made the whole book a little forced and kinda stupid. I just don’t see why all this had to happen.
This series is like a supernatural Pretty Little Liars. There’s so many layers of drama and craziness that it get really hard to keep track of everything. And really hard to explain. I was trying to tell my sister about what was happening (she’s only seen the movie) and it was so hard to explain everything because so much is going on in this series but at the same time, nothing is happening. The drama of this series blows my mind. It’s so insane. And addictive.
Overall, I wasn’t extremely impressed with this book but at the same time, I enjoyed reading it. I could go on and on about my mixed feelings about this book and this series. I hate it but I just can’t seem to stop reading. I’m kinda sad (okay, a lot sad) that there’s only one more book in this series but I’m also excited to see what else Cassie Clare has in store for her readers in the new Shadowhunter books. And that last sentence left me with chills and I was dying inside.
11 COMMENTS
Ashley
8 years agoThis series started to become a chore to me. A horrible chore, like doing dishes. Blehh. I have a love/hate for it. The first three books were great, but then after the third book, I just started to not like it. It dragged on and it was so hard to actually get through them. It took me forever to read the last book. I had to stop reading multiple times and read other books, because it was just so boring to me. :( it sucks, because it was a promising series. I loved the first three books (especially the 2nd and 3rd). The third book could have ended the series perfectly. The last three books were kind of unnecessary and I think that’s why I started to get bored and not liking them anymore. I still made myself read the entire thing though. I’ve wanted to read the other Shadowhunter book series that she has, but I needed a break from the Shadowhunter world after reading the Mortal Instruments.
Taylor
8 years agoYes! I feel the same way!!
Trisha Ann
8 years agoRight!! Among all YA female characters I’ve read, I think Clary’s the most annoying and immature.
Josephine
8 years agoYour review was very interesting for me! I personally loved TMI very much. It’s very interesting to see an opposite perspective. I loved all the characters and I was gripped the entire time. This may be due to the face that I read this book when I was quite young, so I think I’ll have to read it again to see what I think of it now!
Anjeline @ Love thy Shelf
8 years agoI felt the exact same way with TMI. I loved TID, though. It’s one of my favorites. I think TMI should’ve stayed as a trilogy and that last book was sooo long and unnecessary
Anjeline @ Love thy Shelf
8 years agoGreat review!! I felt the exact same way, which was crazy because I loved TID! TID was so fantastic. If you felt mixed about this one, I’d love to hear what you’ll think about the last book in the series. TMI went on for too long.
Taylor
8 years agoThanks! I’m a little excited to read the last book because 1) It’s the last book and 2) Everyone and their mother has told me that I’ll cry a lot. I’m very curious to find out why everyone says I’ll cry. I’ve somehow stayed completely spoiler free. :D
Anjeline @ Love thy Shelf
8 years agoI can’t wait to read your review! I find very little people who has similar views as mine when it comes to TMI. That’s great that you’ve been able to stay spoiler free. That’s so hard nowadays haha.
Taylor
8 years agoAgreed! :D
Faith
8 years agoI think everyone likes Jace because he grows on you after 7 books.
(He kinda grows on you like mold though :)
I never minded him but I have no good reason as to why I didn’t…
Taylor
8 years agoThat’s such a great description of Jace and this series, it grows on you like mold. :D