Book Review: City of Fallen Angels by Cassandra Clare

Book 4 in the Mortal Instruments series

Published: 2012

Pages: 435

Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

Sypnosis from Goodreads:

The Mortal War is over, and sixteen-year-old 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 importantly of all—she can finally call Jace her boyfriend.

But nothing comes without a price.

Someone is murdering Shadowhunters, 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. When Jace begins to pull away from her without explaining why, Clary 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. 

My thoughts:

So much darkness in this book, I felt like everything was leading up to something so foreboding. This book felt so different to the previous 3 that made up the first volume of the Mortal Instruments, and it was definitely exciting coming back to this book world after jumping into the past with Clockwork Angel! I chose intentionally to follow Clare’s publication order, and reading both series together is amazing! This book definitely had me feeling and in fact it gave me nightmares, especially as I reached the last three chapters. 

For many reasons, this book felt different to its predecessors; there was so much angst and anguish, I could feel Jace’s torment throughout the book, and I felt so sad for him, considering what he’d been through in City of Glass, I felt sad for Clary because of how he was treating her; their love is so powerful but honestly I’m scared for what will come next. I had a feeling what might happen with Jace in this book, yet it didn’t make it any less terrifying. 

I loved also the reference to The Infernal Devices, and how those characters, well one in particular, is connected to Magnus and how said character (Will), definitely impacted the warlock. This made for some Magnus and Alec angst, which I loved, I adore Malec, and I was swooning when they had their scenes. They’re so precious! 

Another thing I really enjoyed about this book is how it was quite Simon focused, from the start, Simon had become one of my favourite characters and I loved seeing things from his perspective, albeit he definitely had a fair share of torment too. Though there was one thing about him in this book that initially annoyed me, but it was okay when Maia and Izzy sort of banded together for a bit. I ship Simon and Izzy, they had some close scenes at the end that I really enjoyed. 

Surrounding new characters and old, this book definitely had a lot of mystery and suspense to it, I definitely didn’t want it to end! Cassandra Clare has definitely cemented her place as one of my favourite authors, ever, and this book and it’s events will definitely stay in my mind for some time! 

And that concludes my review, until next time, happy reading