 | Title: City of Fallen Angels
 Sexual Content: Kissing. References to homosexuality. Rating:
Okay – A few good points, but with significant flaws. Library/swap/borrow if you want. |
Description
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 that 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 that's 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.
Review
(This review contains spoilers from the previous books)
I’ve read all the previous books in The Mortal Instruments series, and after finishing CITY OF FALLEN ANGELS, the overwhelming thought I had when I closed the book was: she should have stopped at book 3. The The impossible love between Clary and Jace has been the driving force of the first three books. And honestly the incestuous obstacle to their romance has always been a real hindrance to my enjoyment of the series overall. I knew eventually it would be revealed that somehow they weren’t actually related, and I had to cling fiercely to that thought every time they started making out thinking they were brother and sister, but it was big on the ick scale even still and I think that particular storyline was drawn out much too long. But after such a seemingly insurmountable obstacle to their love no longer exists, what could possibly trump incest in CITY OF FALLEN ANGELS?
The answer, unfortunately, is nothing.
But Clary and Jace still act like their love is impossible. Jace brings new meaning to the word brooding. His objections to being with Clary felt very thin to me and her response was overly melodramatic. I haven’t been able to loose myself in this series really since the first book, but I felt especially detached from this one. It didn’t help that half the book was devoted to Simon’s perspective and his ongoing struggle to come to grips with his new life as a vampire. He’s never been a strong enough character to hang a book on in my opinion, and he proves that in CITY OF FALLEN ANGELS.
Bottom-line, the Jace/Clary parts of the book were unsuccessfully trying to recreate the romantic tension they had in the previous books, and the Simon parts just weren’t interesting enough to warrant the page time he got. Yes, there is a plot involving demons and murdered Shadowhunters, but with all the characters faux drama, it fell flat me. Diehard fans of the series will no doubt love this latest installment, but if you’ve been lukewarm like me, you might want to pass and try Cassandra Clare’s Infernal Devices prequel series instead.
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