Publisher: Margaret K. McElderry Books
Release Date: May 8, 2012
Format: Hardcover
Pages: 544
Source: B&N (purchased)
Genre: YA Urban Fantasy
Review Date: May 23, 2012
Rating: 4 bookmarks
This book was so very good. This installment was on point. There was a lot to like. Starting with the fact that Jace seems to have grown up a lot through this horrid experience of being under Sebastian’s control. Poor Jace, I really felt bad for him, especially when a glimpse of the real him surfaced and he realized all the things he’d been planning and doing. My heart just broke for he and Clary. I like that we get to finally see Clary kind of “woman up” for lack of a better term and act more mature at the end of the book. They both have some adult things going on in the book and they have turned a corner. Generally, they seem a lot older than 18ish.
Per usual, the gang goes against the Claves orders and goes on their own mission to save Jace. In the mist of this crazy plan Clary takes off to join “team bad” as she calls refers them. Her goal is to act like she’s on board with “team bad” and get inside information and report back to Simon. But all does not go as planned. Side note, that whole “team bad” and “team good” thing was pretty comical.
The villain, of course is Sebastian…aka Jonathan Morgenstern! Man, he is bad to the bone. There is nothing even remotely good about him. He is disgusting. He is one of the worst villains I’ve read about in YA Urban Fantasy. Sebastian is so screwed up he even threatens to rape his sister. EEEWWW, beyond gross, and somewhat reminiscent of V.C. Andrews books. At first, I was a little put off by this one scene, but I just stopped myself from going there and remembered that I used to read books that had just as horrible things if not worse in them when I was young. I don’t know if YA readers still read books by her (recent books were written by ghost writers), but anyways I read tons of her stuff when I was 14-16. And for those of us familiar with Andrews books, there always seemed to be some sort of incestuous situations going on. Basically, I’m saying, there is a scene or two that may be slightly uncomfortable, but nothing intolerable and take it for what it is, fiction. Sebastian is so screwed up, at the root of it, he just wants to ultimately control Clary, Jace and the rest of the world.
Luke gets injured and is down for the count for mostly the entire book. Clary’s mother Jocelyn is sort of sad. She did hide a lot from her daughter which has sheltered her. Due to her not being raised in the Shadowhunter world, Clary’s lack of understanding the real deal danger level of situations creates a feeling of indestructibility for her. Because of her fierceness, she is always running off half cocked with poorly thought out plans. Even with poor execution and immaturity working against her, she seems to come out on top anyways. Thank goodness for Simon’s unwavering support, or Clary would be screwed, especially in this book.
I liked that Mia and Jordan rekindled their relationship, which was cute, it was a little lightness to help cut all the gloomy stuff going on with Clary and Jace. Isabelle and Simon also turned a corner with their relationship, I could see them officially getting together in the next book. Sadly Alec and Magnus’s relationship took a downturn, but that’s not surprising knowing that jealousy was about to have Alec do something really crazy. If Alec were my boyfriend and he was going to try to do to me what he was thinking of doing to Magnus, I’d dump him too! Actually, I do feel a kind of way about an old warlock like Magnus being so willing to work with a bunch of “kids”, even though he’s helping Alec’s friends. That part does seem a little unusual, and even in the book (I’m paraphrasing here) Magnus said that he was sick of being their personal free warlock.
One thing that happened that didn’t really have anything to do with anything is that the new young child vampire Maureen killed Camille!?!?! OMG, a child is now Queen. I’m guessing that she may be the primary villain in the next installment.
At the end, I felt momentarily happy for Jace and Clary, but of course, their happy reunion is short lived and the drama will continue! To top it all off, there is an pretty decent cliffhanger . I’m looking forward to reading book 6, “City of Heavenly Fire”.
Release Date: May 8, 2012
Format: Hardcover
Pages: 544
Source: B&N (purchased)
Genre: YA Urban Fantasy
Review Date: May 23, 2012
Rating: 4 bookmarks
This book was so very good. This installment was on point. There was a lot to like. Starting with the fact that Jace seems to have grown up a lot through this horrid experience of being under Sebastian’s control. Poor Jace, I really felt bad for him, especially when a glimpse of the real him surfaced and he realized all the things he’d been planning and doing. My heart just broke for he and Clary. I like that we get to finally see Clary kind of “woman up” for lack of a better term and act more mature at the end of the book. They both have some adult things going on in the book and they have turned a corner. Generally, they seem a lot older than 18ish.
Per usual, the gang goes against the Claves orders and goes on their own mission to save Jace. In the mist of this crazy plan Clary takes off to join “team bad” as she calls refers them. Her goal is to act like she’s on board with “team bad” and get inside information and report back to Simon. But all does not go as planned. Side note, that whole “team bad” and “team good” thing was pretty comical.
The villain, of course is Sebastian…aka Jonathan Morgenstern! Man, he is bad to the bone. There is nothing even remotely good about him. He is disgusting. He is one of the worst villains I’ve read about in YA Urban Fantasy. Sebastian is so screwed up he even threatens to rape his sister. EEEWWW, beyond gross, and somewhat reminiscent of V.C. Andrews books. At first, I was a little put off by this one scene, but I just stopped myself from going there and remembered that I used to read books that had just as horrible things if not worse in them when I was young. I don’t know if YA readers still read books by her (recent books were written by ghost writers), but anyways I read tons of her stuff when I was 14-16. And for those of us familiar with Andrews books, there always seemed to be some sort of incestuous situations going on. Basically, I’m saying, there is a scene or two that may be slightly uncomfortable, but nothing intolerable and take it for what it is, fiction. Sebastian is so screwed up, at the root of it, he just wants to ultimately control Clary, Jace and the rest of the world.
Luke gets injured and is down for the count for mostly the entire book. Clary’s mother Jocelyn is sort of sad. She did hide a lot from her daughter which has sheltered her. Due to her not being raised in the Shadowhunter world, Clary’s lack of understanding the real deal danger level of situations creates a feeling of indestructibility for her. Because of her fierceness, she is always running off half cocked with poorly thought out plans. Even with poor execution and immaturity working against her, she seems to come out on top anyways. Thank goodness for Simon’s unwavering support, or Clary would be screwed, especially in this book.
I liked that Mia and Jordan rekindled their relationship, which was cute, it was a little lightness to help cut all the gloomy stuff going on with Clary and Jace. Isabelle and Simon also turned a corner with their relationship, I could see them officially getting together in the next book. Sadly Alec and Magnus’s relationship took a downturn, but that’s not surprising knowing that jealousy was about to have Alec do something really crazy. If Alec were my boyfriend and he was going to try to do to me what he was thinking of doing to Magnus, I’d dump him too! Actually, I do feel a kind of way about an old warlock like Magnus being so willing to work with a bunch of “kids”, even though he’s helping Alec’s friends. That part does seem a little unusual, and even in the book (I’m paraphrasing here) Magnus said that he was sick of being their personal free warlock.
One thing that happened that didn’t really have anything to do with anything is that the new young child vampire Maureen killed Camille!?!?! OMG, a child is now Queen. I’m guessing that she may be the primary villain in the next installment.
At the end, I felt momentarily happy for Jace and Clary, but of course, their happy reunion is short lived and the drama will continue! To top it all off, there is an pretty decent cliffhanger . I’m looking forward to reading book 6, “City of Heavenly Fire”.
Get the Kindle version here: City of Lost Souls (Mortal Instruments)
