Tuesday, December 17, 2013

Review: The Mortal Instruments: City of Lost Souls by Cassandra Clare

Title: The Mortal Instruments: City of Lost Souls
Author: Cassandra Clare
Publisher: Walker Books
Year of Release: 2012
ISBN: 9781406339147
Source: Purchased (Myer, $14.95*)

Number of Pages: 539

Summary: 
Jace is now a servant of evil, bound for all eternity to Sebastian. Only a small band of Shadowhunters believe he can be saved. To do this they must defy the Clave. And they must act without Clary. For Clary is playing a dangerous game utterly alone. The price of losing is not just her own life, but Jace's soul. Clary is willing to do anything for Jace, but can she still trust him? Or is he truly lost? What price is too high to pay, even for love?


I wasn't too impressed with this book to be completely honest. It still had a great storyline and I did enjoy it overall, but honestly, this series has really started to bore me. It might just be that I need to read something different, something refreshing, but I can still tell the difference between a good book and a bad book, and while City of Lost Souls is definitely NOT a bad book, it's certainly not a good one either. If it were up to me, I would have ended the series after City of Glass. That book was excellent and the ending to it felt like the perfect ending for the series. While the book that followed, City of Fallen Angels wasn't terrible, it still didn't measure up. Neither did this book. 


(Spoilers ahead)

This instalment to me, drained on and on and on and on while it was constantly flicking back and forth between Team Magnus, Alec, Isabelle and Simon as they tried desperately to get their hands on a weapon that would sever the bond between Jace and Sebastian, and Team Sebastian, Jace and Clary as they traveled from city to city working on some evil, diabolical plan, that we don't even find out the content of which until the end of the book. I did enjoy some of the new characters that were introduced though, like the Iron Sisters and Azazel (HELLO WEREWOLF), and the Raziel-summoning was also really enjoyable! The book also still managed to make me laugh outright more than once, usually the result of the wit of Magnus and/or Simon, which I was glad for. 

It was thoroughly predictable though. I mean, who didn't see the whole Clary-save-Jace thing coming? And while I'm a big supporter of Magnus's and Alec's relationship, in this book, it was just the same old problems from the last couple of books and then by the end of it, they break up. Well, it's not like we didn't see that coming either. 

For the most part, City of Lost Souls was slow. For the majority of the book, nothing of interest seemed to be happening and it severely lacked the two main things I look for in a novel of this kind: suspense and action. There was hardly none of it. The end battle scene wasn't nearly as good as I'd hoped it would be. It was disappointing. 

It's made me less excited for the final book in this series, City of Heavenly Fire, which is to be released in May 2014. If there's one thing I can give this book credit for, it's the end cliffhanger. Sebastian leaves a note of sorts at the Institute, informing them that he is coming. Great. So there's a war coming. Well, luckily we were informed of this about 3985873 times throughout the course of this book, otherwise I never would have guessed. 

Drop me some comments on your thoughts on this series! Did you like City of Lost Souls? Are you excited for the next book? Let me know! 

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