City of Fallen Angels by Cassandra Clare

City of Fallen Angels by Cassandra Clare
Margaret K. McElderry, 432 pages
Borrowed

"The Mortal War is over, and sixteen-year-old Clary Fray is back home in New York, excited about all the possibilities before her. She's training to become a Shadowhunter and to use her unique power. Her mother is getting married to the love of her life. Downworlders and Shadowhunters are at peace at last. And—most importantly of all—she can finally call Jace her boyfriend. But nothing comes without a price. Someone is murdering Shadowhunters, provoking tensions between Downworlders and Shadowhunters that could lead to a second, bloody war. Clary's best friend, Simon, can't help her. His mother just found out that he's a vampire and now he's homeless. Everywhere he turns, someone wants him on their side—along with the power of the curse that's wrecking his life. And they're willing to do anything to get what they want. Not to mention that he's dating two beautiful, dangerous girls—neither of whom knows about the other one. When Jace begins to pull away from her without explaining why, Clary is forced to delve into the heart of a mystery whose solution reveals her worst nightmare: she herself has set in motion a terrible chain of events that could lead to her losing everything she loves. Even Jace. Love. Blood. Betrayal. Revenge. The stakes are higher than ever in City of Fallen Angels."

First, this book had very large shoes to fill after reading its prequel, City of Glass (by far my favorite in the series so far!). But it met my expectations and it was definitely a book I had trouble putting down, considering I finished it in approximently three days (Ask any of my fellow court members and they will tell you that that is a major accomplishment for me!).

This book starts out in such a great light. The war of course is over between the Downworlders and Shadowhunters, which I saw as a way for fresh and different story lines to evolve. And I was not disappointed. Also, considering that Clary and Jace had finally found their way back to eachother in City of Glass made my heart melt (It was about time!!!!).

But on the other hand, as I started to read my way through this book, I hit some speed bumps along the way that sometimes just made me put it down. For all of you Simon followers out there, he is present a lot more in this book than any of the other Mortal Instrument books, which isn't necessarily a bad thing. But I happened to be a bigger Jace, Clary, and Isabelle fan. I will say this, though. There were a few times that I was so infuriated with Jace and his undiagnosed bipolar disorder (like I said, its undiagnosed, but I'm suspecting it myself) that I felt I could have thrown the book across the room (which I refrained from doing because it was a library book). There is massive amounts of decision changing as well. I felt a lot of the time that the characters were a little too wishy-washy for my taste (I don't like reading about characters that are THAT normal. We see enough of that in the real world).

All together, this book was very good. It creates new relationships and characters that will bloom nicely throughout the rest of the series. The romance is at a much higher level than in the other books (a major plus on my end), and, of course, it is beautifully written. Ms. Clare never disappoints in that department. I can't wait to see how this series evolves. It is so engrossing and I am so glad that the court talked me into reading it. Its fresh, new, and has quirky and hilarious characters. What more can a reader ask for? :)

Rating: 4 - I really liked it. Worth buying. (If you have invested in this series and love it like I do, you'll want to admire them all next to each other and re-read them again and again.)