Book Review: City of Fallen Angels

Title: City of Fallen Angels

Author: Cassandra Clare

Series: The Mortal Instruments

Length: 424 pages

Publisher: McElderry Books (an imprint of Simon & Schuster)

On-Sale Date: April 5th 2011

Format: Hardcover

There will be SPOILERS for readers who have not read City of Bones, City of Ashes, and City of Glass.
Read at your own risk!

With Valentine dead and the war over, things are going well in the Shadowhunter world.  Luke has won Jocelyn.  Clary and Jace have each other.  Alec is committed to Magnus.  Simon has two girlfriends …
But now, the peace is over.  Shadowhunters are turning up dead.  Who is killing them?  And for what purpose?
Relationships will fall.
Deals will be made and broken.
You will never see what’s coming.

I was content with how City of Glass concluded and was afraid that City of Fallen Angels would ruin my blissful state, but I have to take my hat off to Cassandra Clare.
I was an idiot for not looking forward to City of Fallen Angels.

I found it amazing.  Cassandra Clare explored different parts of her world, and the focus wasn’t solely on Shadowhunters, but on Downworlders and the like as well.

Reading City of Fallen Angels was like visiting your best friend.  It was comfortable.  This was a world that you missed when you weren’t reading it.
Cassandra Clare has yet to disappoint.  City of Fallen Angels never kept you waiting for action or entertainment.  The story captured you right from the start.
There was amusement, even in the darkest of times.

This installment of The Mortal Instruments series was told through a number of characters, some of which we had not heard from before.  I really enjoyed hearing from the new points of view.   It would never be a letdown to know what was inside another character’s head.  I was able to hear the voices of characters who used to be secondary, and now my opinions have changed.
I loved Alec.  He wasn’t a major part of the plot and he definitely was seen more in the first three books, but that didn’t matter.  He played a key role in the number of scenes he was in.  Alec grew up during the first half of the series, and he was one of the characters that changed the most.  I believe he was under appreciated.  I never paid Alec Lightwood much attention, but that all changed in City of Fallen Angels.  Alec was worth paying attention to.  I found Alec to be a very valuable character.  I wanted more of him (and I hope to get more of him in the future).
I appreciated Alec’s amusing sarcasm.  It was definitely needed to lighten the mood.
I at least need to mention the High Warlock of Brooklyn, Magnus Bane.  Now that Magnus had cemented his importance in the Shadowhunter’s lives, by his choice of boyfriend, he was even better than before.  Alec and Magnus had already benefited from each other’s influence and you were given the opportunity to see what had changed.  I look forward to Alec and Magnus’ relationship being further explored.

A good portion of the book was written in Simon’s point of view, just as expected, and I really appreciated it.  In the first half of the series Simon was on the sidelines, and even when he was in the thick of it he wasn’t in the foreground (in my mind at least).  You couldn’t truly understand his character until this book.  In City of Fallen Angels you received an indepth look at all that was Simon Lewis.  I admit that I had pushed Simon aside when I read the other books, because I was completely focused on Clary and Jace. In the past, I thought Simon just caused problems, but this time I found myself wanting to solve all his problems.
I respected Simon so much more.   I’m happy Simon was thrown at me.
It was very interesting to be with Simon as he faced the idea of immortality for the first time.
Cassandra Clare gave us a glimpse of the past with The Infernal Devices references.  Readers were shown more background information on the characters and that only added to the story.

This was one twisted tale.
I assumed that some readers would not be completely pleased with this ending.  I, however, did not fit into that category.  I loved the unexpectedness of the ending.  The stage was prepared for Lost Souls.

By book four, in a series you are emotionally invested, and Cassandra Clare created characters that many people, including myself, really grew to care about.  We scream when something horrific happens.  We laugh at the jokes made.  We cry when a character dies.

City of Fallen Angels was the exact opposite of what I expected and I was so glad.

I feel as if I can’t say enough about City of Fallen Angels, but I’ll let you read the book to find out for yourselves.

Rating

Premise: 5/5

Plot: 5/5

Writing:  5/5

Characters:  5/5

Overall: 5/5

Disclosure: I received a finished copy from the publisher. This did not influence my review in any way.

Song of the day: Don't You Want Me sung by Blaine and Rachel on Glee