Review: City of Lost Souls - Cassandra Clare

Title: City of Lost Souls (The Mortal Instruments #5)

Author: Cassandra Clare

Genre: Young Adult, Urban Fantasy

Release Date: May 8th 2012

Publisher: Simon and Schuster

Pages:540

Source: Bought

The demon Lilith has been destroyed and Jace has been freed from her captivity. But when the Shadowhunters arrive to rescue him, they find only blood and broken glass. Not only is the boy Clary loves missing–but so is the boy she hates, Sebastian, the son of her father Valentine: a son determined to succeed where their father failed, and bring the Shadowhunters to their knees.

No magic the Clave can summon can locate either boy, but Jace cannot stay away—not from Clary. When they meet again Clary discovers the horror Lilith’s dying magic has wrought—Jace is no longer the boy she loved. He and Sebastian are now bound to each other, and Jace has become what he most feared: a true servant of Valentine’s evil. The Clave is determined to destroy Sebastian, but there is no way to harm one boy without destroying the other. Will the Shadowhunters hesitate to kill one of their own?

Only a small band of Clary and Jace’s friends and family believe that Jace can still be saved — and that the fate of the Shadowhunters’ future may hinge on that salvation. They must defy the Clave and strike out on their own. Alec, Magnus, Simon and Isabelle must work together to save Jace: bargaining with the sinister Faerie Queen, contemplating deals with demons, and turning at last to the Iron Sisters, the reclusive and merciless weapons makers for the Shadowhunters, who tell them that no weapon on this earth can sever the bond between Sebastian and Jace. Their only chance of cutting Jace free is to challenge Heaven and Hell — a risk that could claim any, or all, of their lives.

And they must do it without Clary. For Clary has gone into the heart of darkness, to play a dangerous game utterly alone. The price of losing the game is not just her own life, but Jace’s soul. She’s willing to do anything for Jace, but can she even still trust him? Or is he truly lost? What price is too high to pay, even for love?

Darkness threatens to claim the Shadowhunters in the harrowing fifth book of the Mortal Instruments series.

To be fair, I had quite low expectations for COLS. I'm one of those people who have preffered it if Clare has left it at three books, with it ending with City of Ashes. Now, I know you're all going to bite my ass and say 'well you don't have to read the rest of the series, you can just pretend that it ended with CoA.' Now, that wouldn't be as fun. I would still read the rest of the series just to find out what happens in the end, who ends up with who (it's not obvious at all!), who dies etc.

Jace was a bit of a disappointment for me in this book. Actually in CoLS AND in CoFA. The things that made me fall in love with him earlier in the series kinda magically disappeared in the second half. Where's all the sarcastic and witty comments? I know that he had gone through a LOT and all that (please! can someone give the poor boy a break!), but I still think the author should have still added a few more Jace-like moments. I didn't find the evil Jace as hot either. At the end of the book, there was some promise for his character, and I'm anticipating for the next book to find out more about what happens to Jace now.

I really don't know about you guys, but I despise Clary. I DO NOT like that girl one bit. I thought she was too stupid, too naive, too reckless and throughout this whole book I'm thinking WHY THE HELL DOES JACE LOVE YOU THAT MUCH? Coz if it was up to me? I would have no problem pushing you over the cliff, you whiny bitch. Argh. I think she's the main reason why I didn't enjoy this book as much I would like to have had, and if it was a different protagonist leading, then this would be one of my favourite books of all time. I would rather have someone like Isabelle over Clary any day. At least Isabelle's got depth and matured throughout the whole series, which brings me to my next point.

The main characters were the best part of this fat book. I loved that the POV alternates between Jace, Clary, Simon, Isabelle, Magnus and Alec, and even Jordan and Maia. Reading this book made me feel like just having a little chat with my friends, because of the familiarity and how Clare wrote them in such a very three dimensional way. You can't help but be interested, to root for them. My new favourite couple is Alec and Magnus, and I nearly cried at the end. NEARLY. I'm not losing hope things will get better in the next book. Now. Jordan and Maia. I get that they already had a past relationship, but I thought it was a bit of a stretch from the last book (when Maia couldn't stand Jordan's guts) to this where they basically just spent the majority of the time kissing and cuddling and doing naughty things. Probably just me, though.

I admit I did get bored at some scenes of the story, and I personally think some should have been cut out or edited. There was just TOO much. Too much description. Too much explaining. Which led me just scanning most of the descriptions of places and boring stuff. I want the kind of writing that is just straight to the point. Direct. And one that wouldn't let me put the damn book down. I do think Clare's a very good writer, but it's just not for me I guess. The ending kinda redeemed the story for me, but still a bit meh. 

SLIGHT SPOLER: Was I the only one who didn't think about Brother Jeremiah? Not until I finished the book I went to the Mundie Mums forum for CoLS, and when it was mentioned that it could either be Will or Jem (from the Infernal Devices), I literally think my jaw was touching the floor. OMG.

I could go on and on about Sebastian/Jonathan, but we'd be here all day. You just need to know two words from me: disappointment and hatred.

Even though this wasn't Clare's best book in my opinion (I think Clockwork Prince is my favourite and the best IMO), I still enjoyed reading it and am still eagerly waiting for the dramatic finale City of Heavenly Fire. Maybe Jace and Clary could finally do it. ;)