Book Review: City of Lost Souls by Cassandra Clare (Mortal Instruments #5) (no spoilers)

Book: City of Lost Souls
Author: Cassandra Clare
Publication: May 8th, 2012
Source: Local Library
Rating: 5/5 Stars
Summary (from Goodreads):

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

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*may spoil previous novels in the series*

My Thoughts
I struggled with City of Fallen Angels so I have to admit I didn't have too high of expectations coming into City of Lost Souls the fifth book in the Mortal Instruments Series. City of Lost Souls took me a while to get into, but once I did the action was intense and kept me reading. Still the novel took me a while to read just because of its pure size. City of Lost Souls has become my 2nd favorite book in the series behind City of Glass.

The character development in this novel was amazing. I have known these characters for five books now, but they seemed dull and boring in City of Fallen Angels. They were alive once again in City of Lost Souls. We finally really got to know Sebastian's character and boy is he evil. The love between Clary and Jace continued, but in a much different way from how I would want it to be. Clary finally seemed like herself again in this novel. I enjoyed the love story between moody Magnus and jealous Alec. I even enjoyed the parts with Simon because Isabelle has always been one of my favorite character. I actually think these two would make a good match up, but we will see what choice they make in the final novel City of Heavenly Fire. We also see Maia and Jordan's characters developed more fully so we can see their personalities. I always love Clary's overprotective mother, Jocelyn and Luke's role in each novel.

The world building as always is amazing in City of Lost Souls. Clary is in very many different places in this novel and Cassandra Clare was able to keep a vivid image in my mind about each one of them. I think Cassandra Clare made the transition from characters flawless. It didn't feel like she was leaving out a missing piece of Clary's life before jumping back to Simon. It all seemed like it was building on the story. I loved all the downworlders and mystical creatures that helped Simon, Magnus, Alec, Maia, Jordan, and Isabelle in this novel. I think this novel really helped me further understand Cassandra Clare's shadowhunter/warlock world. She really explained what they can and can't do relating to Angels and Demons. Some the answers seemed easy until Magnus explained the consequences of every action.

The fight to save Jace wasn't easy and I liked that fact. It took 500 some pages to come to a conclusion and find their not so happily ever after. Of course Cassandra Clare left this novel with a huge cliffhanger so that I can highly anticipate City of Heavenly Fire. All I know is if the last novel has half the action of this novel it is going to be amazing. There is going to be lots of action with Isabelle, Simon, Magnus, Clary, Alec, Jace, and Sebastian. The shadowhunter world will never be the same after reading City of Lost Souls.


Thanks for Reading


Rachael