Review: City of Lost Souls by Cassandra Clare

City of Lost Souls by Cassandra Clare
The Mortal Instruments #5
Release Date: May 2012
Publisher: Margaret K. McElderry Books
Source: Bought – Hardcover

Pages: 535
Rating: 

Buy the book: Amazon, Book Depository, Books-a-Million, Barnes & Noble

The New York Times bestselling Mortal Instruments continues—and so do the thrills and danger for Jace, Clary, and Simon.

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?

Love. Blood. Betrayal. Revenge. Darkness threatens to claim the Shadowhunters in the harrowing fifth book of the Mortal Instruments series. Goodreads

My Review: I will try and make this as spoiler-free as possible! But if you haven’t read City of Fallen Angels, I’d recommend not reading this as it could possibly spoil you.

At the end of City of Fallen Angels, Jace and Sebastian/Johnathan have gone missing. Clary would stop at nothing to find Jace; she didn’t care who she had to face or the consequences that would follow.  After weeks of trying to track Jace and Sebastian down with no luck, the Clave decides to put the quest to find them on hold and attend to other matters. Clary, of course builds her own little search party of 1 to go find him. She then puts her luck to a character she has had a rocky encounter with and each one not being a very happy memory.

“You would do anything to save him, whatever it cost you, whatever you might owe to Hell or Heaven, would you not?” (p. 19)

Before I get into more of my review– this book!! … Definitely my favorite of the 5 so far! There wasn’t a part in this book that was boring! Especially the last 200 pages it was completely action packed and my heart was racing the entire time! Had a couple tears shed– that’s when I know I’m obsessed with the book is when my heart starts racing and I have tears running down my face. I’m really sad that there is only one book left in this series, but isn’t coming out til May of 2014.

Back to my review..

Clary is definitely a stubborn girl; she doesn’t pay attention to rules, seeing as she is constantly breaking them. Sometimes I just want to tell her how stupid and reckless she is being, but then I realize I’m talking to a book and she would never hear me. I  do really admire how brave she is to risk her life for Jace and her family.

Simon– he was so awesome in this book! The Mark of Cain had the advantages of being a Daylighter and being a vampire. No one could kill him or even try to hurt them without it coming back into their faces even harder. I absolutely adored Simon throughout this book, especially at the end where he sacrificed his life to help save everyone. He knew what he was getting into and what the cost might be and that didn’t stop him from his task.

Mr. High Warlock of Brooklyn, Magnus– I feel absolutely TERRIBLE for him. What Alec did to him was not his choice to make in the first place. As much as I love Alec, that was a really stupid move on his part. I’m hoping things will get better for these two in City of Heavenly Fire. Magnus is definitely one of my favorite characters in this series along with Simon. Magnus and Simon’s little arguments were my favorite! At times I’d find myself laughing out loud.

Jace Lightwood/Herondale/Morgenstern/Wayland (SO many last names! .. I like Lightwood better.)– My poor baby. :( I just wanted to go up and punch Sebastian/Johnathan (WHATEVER the heck is name is!) in the face… The amount that this boy has gone through in a matter of months… Okay, his whole life! WOW! Two possessions in the matter of a couple weeks!? Sometimes I just want to push Clary out of the way and give Jace a big ole’ hug and tell him everything is going to be okay. Well not exactly okay considering he’s a Shadowhunter, you get my point!

Sebastian– I was actually surprised at how I felt with Sebastian during this book! As evil as he is, he was very interesting to read! I do like his character, but as an evil character. He is probably one, if not my favorite evil characters. There is just something about him that is just so interesting despite how evil he is! I just can’t put my finger on it! … I thought that just maybe, like Clary that he could turn out to be a good character and everything was just a misunderstanding.. Nope.. Not happening anymore. I then also remember his interaction with Clary… *begins gagging* Nevermind, I changed my mind about me liking him as a character!

I really need to start reading The Infernal Devices! I do know that there are two characters involved- Will Herondale and Tessa Gray. But other than that, I really have no idea what it’s about! There are a lot of references that I’m noticing now. Will is mentioned quite a bit throughout City of Fallen Angels and City of Lost Souls. Okay, getting off track!

Well I don’t really have much more to say other than spoilers, so I won’t say anything else. :) Hope I didn’t spoil anyone too badly!

If you have no read this book or series yet, I HIGHLY recommend doing so! I do warn that it is VERY addicting and you will probably become obsessed! You’ve been warned, don’t say I didn’t tell you so! :)

Favorite Quotes:

“‘Basia coquum,’ Simon said. “Or whatever their motto is.” “It’s ‘Descensus Averno facilis est.’ ‘The descent into hell is easy,'” said Alec. “You just said “Kiss the cook.” “Dammit,” said Simon. “I knew Jace was screwing with me.”” (p. 29)

—

“She craned her head back to look up at him. “Ninety-five percent? What’s the other five percent?” “Oh, you know, the usual–demons I might kill, runes I need to learn, people who’ve annoyed me recently, people who’ve annoyed me not so recently, ducks.” “Ducks?”” (p. 197)

—

“”Who is your father?” asked Simon. Magnus’s eyes went back to Alec. They were gold-green, as unreadable as the eyes of the cat he held on his lap. “Not my favorite topic, Smedley.” “Simon,” said Simon. “If I’m going to die for you all, the least you could do is remember my name.”” (p. 304)