REVIEW: City of Lost Souls by Cassandra Clare

Series: Mortal Instruments #5
Format: Hardcover
Release Date: May 28, 2012

My Copy: Borrowed from Library
Purchase Links: Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Book Depository

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.

I won't delve too much on the story's summary because the synopsis pretty much says it all. So I'll talk about Clary a little bit *puts Kevlar vest on*.

I'm not a big fan of Clary from the start for several reasons and I will no longer enumerate why. In CITY OF LOST SOULS she truly annoyed me with her reckless and blind love for Jace without any regard for her friends and family. Of course her "self sacrifice" did everyone good in the end but I still am not a fan of her selfish acts. In her mind she's doing something noble to save the man she loves but looking at the big picture she added her name to the list of people the rest of the group is worrying about not to mention coming up with a plan to rescue Jace and putting an end to Sebastian/Jonathan's evil plots.

Jace is in love with the idea of dying.

As for Jace, he took the backseat but we still got a glimpse of his acerbic sense of humor and heard pronouncement of his undying love for Clary. I'm just glad that the events and the secondary characters provided enough juice and distraction that I simply ended  up tolerating the emo fest.

Now what truly delighted me was Simon, Magnus and Isabelle. I find Isabelle's infatuation with Simon really cute, it's like watching an episode of Beauty and the Geek! I wish that Simon won't be as dense in the next book and Isabelle even more daring to draw Simon out, these two need to BE in a relationship ASAP. I'm eager to find how Simon's story is going to be moving forward, he's been one of my fave characters in the series since day 1.

Your Jonathan was dead, and perhaps death longs for him still, and he for it.

Now for darling Magnus, I love his character and I'm happy that though he's running with teenagers he manages to stay above the drama and remains the voice of reason. I don't know what'll happen between him and Alec in the future but I like how he didn't let his love for the boy muddle his decision.

The ending blew me away and I am loving how the story is moving forward. I was apprehensive about CClare continuing the series after CITY OF GLASS because in my mind, how can you top that epic arc of the story?! I guess and I'm also glad that the fount isn't dry yet and it looks like the third book can be topped after all.

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