City of Lost Souls is the fifth book in Clare's Mortal Instruments series, and is an incredible addition to a fantastic series. In this installment, Clary finds herself searching for Jace and Sebastian, now hopelessly linked by Lilith's ritual. As the Clave deprioritizes their search, Clary, Simon, Maia, Jordan, and the Lightwoods are forced to find their own means by which to find them. As Clary goes off on her own to solve the problems, romances bud and develop, including some adorable scenes between Alec and Magnus, Maia and Jordan, and Simon and Isabelle. Like always, Clare adds humor to the more serious scenes and develops the plot extremely well.
My favorite part of Clare's books is definitely the real wit she brings to characters. Even supporting characters have their 15 minutes when she's writing dialogue, and I really love that. The fact that the dialogue is real and raw is incredibly important because she's writing fantasy. The dialogue in this genre can get really dull and dry if the whole focus is on the mystery and magic of the plot and not that it's happening to real people. Cassandra Clare captures dialogue of 17/18-year-olds with finesse, which is what captures me time and time again and keeps me coming back again (that...and the sexiness that is Jace).
The budding romance between Maia and Jordan also kept me coming back, because I mean...he's a sexyyyy werewolf. Who doesn't want to see that happen? But at the same time, I wanted Maia to be strong and reject him because...you know...he was a bastard and Turned her. Either way, I was satisfied...mostly. I feel that the romance is ultimately going to fail because of the fact that all they've done up to this point is fight and make out...among other...more questionable things. This is obviously not how I would build a romance, so I'm waiting to see how that one's going to turn out.
Magnus and Alec. I've been a little wary about addressing this one on the blog. I'm totally pro-gay marriage. I don't think that homosexuality is the way the world was intended to be, but I also don't believe it's right to make it worse. That's all I have to say about the broader issue *steps off soapbox* Magnus and Alec. This is where the spoilers start...btw...about this couple anyway...I think I really warmed up to Alec during this book...you know until he was a total jerk and ruined it all by going to see Camille. But it was adorable to watch him get cute with Magnus...and I can totally picture that blue scarf...mmm mmm mmm delicious.
Simon and Isabelle? The only thing I really have to say about that one is that they are perfect for eachother. Simon has the inner strength to combat Izzy's fiery ways. He's also sweet and adorable, exactly what Izzy needs to settle her down while they get this whole thing with you know...her brother being abducted out of the way. Instead of getting drunk with Jordan...go make out with Simon...that's pretty much what I was saying the whole time. Thank you very much.
And finally, the icing on the cake...Jace and Clary. Once again...the boy is a sexy swagmonster (I was definitely put up to that one....) It broke my heart when he was all normal-but-not-normal. Clary was right though, he wasn't her Jace, which was yeah...heartbreaking. Then for like the 30 minutes he was normal, I cried. They didn't get to have their precious Jace/Clary moments that we've become so fond of...it was just like..."I'm going to turn myself in" "No you're not" "Yes I am" "No--" back to possessed. It was horrible!!! But then...THE EPILOGUE. I'm not done rereading it, so I'm thinking the epilogue is going to get it's own separate entry. It was that good.
So as you can see, it took me on a rollercoaster. But as I just told the bestest friend ever (yeah, that's you(;) rollercoasters are good, especially when they come in book form and only take you as high as the tree house in your backyard or your loft. I hope you found the review fantastic and the book even better:)
Happy Reading!
Teaser Quote: "Do you remember,” he said, “when we first met and I told you I was ninety percent sure putting a rune on you wouldn't kill you—and you slapped me in the face and told me it was for the other ten percent?” Clary nodded.
“I always figured a demon would kill me,” he said. “A rogue Downworlder. A battle. But I realized then that I just might die if I didn’t get to kiss you, and soon.” Clary licked her dry lips. “Well, you did,” she said. “Kiss me, I mean.”He reached up and took a curl of her hair between his fingers. He was close enough that she could feel the warmth of his body, smell his soap and skin and hair.
“Not enough,” he said, letting her hair slip through his fingers. “If I kiss you all day every day for the rest of my life, it won’t be enough.” -Clary and Jace<3
