Book Review: City of Heavenly Fire by Cassandra Clare (The Mortal Instruments #6) (no spoilers)

Book: City of Heavenly Fire
Author: Cassandra Clare
Publication: May 27th, 2014
Series: The Mortal Instruments #6
Source: Local Library
Read: June 11th-June 21st, 2014
Summary (from Goodreads):

In this dazzling and long-awaited conclusion to the acclaimed Mortal Instruments series, Clary and her friends fight the greatest evil they have ever faced: Clary's own brother.

 Sebastian Morgenstern is on the move, systematically turning Shadowhunter against Shadowhunter. Bearing the Infernal Cup, he transforms Shadowhunters into creatures out of nightmare, tearing apart families and lovers as the ranks of his Endarkened army swell.

 The embattled Shadowhunters withdraw to Idris - but not even the famed demon towers of Alicante can keep Sebastian at bay. And with the Nephilim trapped in Idris, who will guard the world against demons?

 When one of the greatest betrayals the Nephilim have ever known is revealed, Clary, Jace, Isabelle, Simon, and Alec must flee - even if their journey takes them deep into the demon realms, where no Shadowhunter has set foot before, and from which no human being has ever returned...

 Love will be sacrificed and lives lost in the terrible battle for the fate of the word in the thrilling final installment of the classic urban fantasy series The Mortal Instruments!

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My Thoughts:

This is going to be one of the hardest reviews I write this year. How do I accurately convey my feelings on a series I loved or characters I'm attached to? I have to say after finishing as long of a book as City of Heavenly Fire I am emotionally drained. In other ways I'm greedy and say that I wanted to just keep reading this book. I wasn't ready for it to end. I wasn't ready to say goodbye to Clary, Jace, Magnus, Isabelle, Alec, and Simon. The transformation all these characters have made in these six novels is amazing. I do have to warn readers I will try to keep this review as spoiler free as possible, but it is impossible not to spoil the previous books in the series so while I do promise not to spoil City of Heavenly Fire, I can not promise to not spoil previous novels. 

Simon is the character I want to talk about the most and for once I'm not going to be ranting about Simon. I have never hated a character so much until I came into contact with Simon. There were so many points during the series that I just wanted to kill Simon and feed him to the wolves. He transformed and changed so much over the last three books especially. Not only with him being a day lighter, but him taking a very important role in the shadow hunter world. For once I didn't hate Simon or find him annoying this book. I actually was rooting for Simon for the first time in the series. I think he created the most drama for the epilogue and I was sad for a brief period about how Simon life was going to turn out. For me to ever feel sympathy for Simon tells how many leaps and bounds he has conquered. 

The action in this novel was amazing. When I first started the novel I realized I had forgotten a bit from City of Lost Souls such as how Jace got the heavenly fire in his veins. Cassandra Clare was sneaky in the ways she used the Heavenly Fire throughout this novel. It brought the most surprising moments. With the war against the endarkened starting the importance of teamwork was important. The downworlders and shadowhunters had to work together to defeat the evil that was Sebastian. The main characters being together for the whole novel was my favorite. I loved getting to spend all this time with the main characters. Clary and Jace remain my favorite couple. Jocelyn and Luke remain my favorite parents. Isabelle remains my favorite kickass female character of the series. I fell in love with each of these characters and as I said before it was hard to say goodbye. Sebastian's character was predictable, but yet surprising in this novel also. I didn't think I would ever feel sorry for Sebastian, but I did. 

With a book this long I thought there would be many period lacking action and there really wasn't. There was minimal slow parts and I think I was just so wrapped in the characters and the story that the length wasn't an issue for me. I have heard people say they are going to wait because of the length. My suggestion is to pick it up soon because it is amazing. 

My one and only complaint about City of Heavenly Fire is the prologue, but my advice is to just bare with it because the characters are explained later and it is a great lead into her new series. I did find the prologue pointless and boring. 

If you haven't felt the need to go read City of Heavenly Fire yet, I do sincerely recommend it as well as the whole series.  I loved City of Heavenly Fire. It was the perfect ending The Mortal Instruments. I really felt like this book flew and I'm saying goodbye to these characters so soon. I did not read The Infernal Devices before reading City of Heavenly Fire so I do have some clues about that series, but I'm excited to read it now and I'm excited to read The Magnus Bane series.