Okay, I sat for about 3 minutes and remembered the majority of the plot of CoFA, so here is the review for that, posted AFTER the review of CoLS (could I have done a double-review instead? Yes, but I didn’t think of that till now, so too bad). 
Today’s other featured book: City of Fallen Angels (Book #4 of The Mortal Instruments) by Cassandra Clare.
Format I consumed it in: E-book, from the library down the street from me.
The premise: Camille Belcourt, Magnus’s ex-girlfriend from The Infernal Devices, tries to recruit Simon to her side (against Raphael Santiago, who is now her rival/enemy). Simon is hesitant, but doesn’t outright tell her no. He goes home and pretty much gets kicked out by his mom, who has found his bottles of blood and thinks he’s a monster. Kyle, the new lead singer of Simon and friends’ awful little band, offers Simon his spare room to stay in. Simon continues two-timing Isabelle and Maia, which he and Clary both acknowledge is a terrible idea. Random people with Simon attack him as he moves around the city, but the Mark of Cain on his forehead causes them to be blown into smithereens for trying to harm him. So far, CoFA seems to be about Simon more so than anyone else.
Meanwhile, Jace has been having nightmares about killing Clary, so in a fit of noble self-sacrifice/machismo or whatever, he decides to keep away from Clary, who starts to wonder if he really loves her after all. One of Jace’s tactics for avoiding Clary is to play bodyguard to an unwilling Simon, showing up at Kyle’s apartment, staying overnight in Simon’s room (this book is the first time I’ve seen what Jace/Simon shippers have been on about for years), coming to Simon’s shows, etc. Unfortunately, Jace and Clary show up at the same show, and Jace gets distracted from his bodyguarding duties by Clary (of course), and Simon, who’s been going without blood for days, loses control and attacks Maureen, a 14-year-old girl with a crush on him who hangs around his band and is “his only fan”. Man-pain abounds and a ton of bad shit happens.
Simon teams up with the Clave at one point to help capture Camille. Magnus and Alec are called back from their European vacation so that Magnus can interrogate Camille. Alec, upon finding out about his boyfriend and Camille’s past *history*, starts to get super jealous and suspicious about Magnus’s history with everyone from his past that they encounter. And through all of this, Jocelyn and Luke are planning their wedding and even have their engagement party right when things REALLY start to go wrong!
My thoughts: Not gonna lie, I wasn’t going to read the last three books of The Mortal Instruments at all because some friends who’d read it advised against it. I’m glad I read the sneak peek that was included at the end of City of Glass (the one with Camille and her minions and Simon and vampire politics– I’m a huge sucker for vampire stories/lore, with the exception of Twilight), because it got me interested enough to give CoFA a shot. Because my expectations were so low, I wasn’t as bothered by some of the things that happened as I would have been otherwise. Simon’s dilly-dallying in regards to his future as a vampire and his romantic relationships with Izzy and Maia would have normally bugged the hell out of me, but instead, I was much more patient about it.
So, things I liked: Camille. Raphael. Vampire politics! Kyle and Jace’s bromance. Clary playing more of a supporting role in the first half of the book (don’t get me wrong– I like Clary, but having as the protagonist for a while was awesome). How Izzy and Maia handled their discovery of Simon’s two-timing. Izzy and Clary’s growing friendship. The awkward engagement party scene. The evil plot that gets revealed in the second half of the book.
Things I disliked: The characters’ inability to think about the end result at critical moments. Simon’s wishy-washiness. Maureen. And why the hell is Alec trusting Camille? What a horrible idea!
My rating: 4/5. Tbh, I didn’t like it as much as CoLS, but I also didn’t spend as much time groaning during slower parts as I did during CoLS, so I’m going to give them identical ratings. I also can’t remember what I originally rated this as, so this will have to do.
Advertisements Share this:
