Review #16 City Of Lost Souls - Cassandra Clare

Goodreads summary:
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?


Author: Cassandra Clare
Pages: 534 (Hardcover)
Release Date: May 8th 2012
Genre: Urban Fantasy
Series? Yes. No.5



LONG STORY SHORT:

The Mortal Instruments Series - at least in my opinion - gets better with every new installment. This one now really drew me into the Shadowhunter world, made me want all the characters to exist in real life so I could experience their sarcastic dialogues first hand. City Of Lost Souls made me laugh and cry, provided some great messages. But most of all I'm starting to wonder if it is possible to invent a story like that - a story world like that. I'm almost convinced Cassandra Clare has some bonds to the Nephilim because otherwise I couldn't explain how she fabricated that work of art that COLS is.

REVIEW:

Why I bought City Of Lost Souls? Is that a question? I mentioned before that I wasn't a big fan of the first installments of the series. It got better with number three and I felt at home for the first time in the Shadowhunter world in City of Fallen Angels. Seeing how huge (page wise) City of Lost Souls was I couldn't wait to get into it.

I have to admit I haven't read other people's opinions on this book yet so I don't really know how the general view on this book is. I love the atmosphere Clare puts into her novels, like she knew the characters personally and simply describes what she remembers. Also, she put great twists into this book that kept the suspense high until the end and that made me race through it way too fast because I was dying to find out if and how they could solve all the problems that came up.

I don't think I have to talk about if I liked the characters, because - hey, I was reading the fifth book here! - of course I did. What really caught my eye this time was what I missed last time: how each and everyone grew up. They all reach that time of your life where you start knowing what you want in life and what you are willing to sacrifice. Besides all the Shadowhunter action that happened you could see how everyone made decisions that were important for their lives and how almost all of them stopped thinking like enthusiastic teenagers, but more like young adults who know that nothing is forever and that all of your actions come with certain consequences.

The only thing that bothers me - and that has always bothered me - is Clare's tending to stop reasonable world building when it would just be very important. I have been a bit disappointed of every Mortal Instruments installment until now, because at the end I feel like she moves things into the direction she wants them to go without having a real explanation for why this or that is possible all of a sudden. As I read the last few pages I caught myelf thinking stuff like "Okay, that could've happened right at the beginning - without the 500 pages in between!", so that was a little sad.

Overall, if you like the Mortal Instruments I think you will definitly devour this book! As I said, I enjoyed entering this world again so much that I couldn't even focus on some flaws the book might have had. The only thing I noticed was how easy Clare always makes it for herself in the end. She thinks of this amazing, twisted but very reasonable plot throughout the whole novel and then the (round about thirty pages long) epilogue disappoints me. Other than that, I loved it!

RATING: 3 out of 3 Smarties