Book Review: The City of Lost Souls by Cassandra Clare

Title: City of Lost Souls
Author: Cassandra Clare
Publisher: Margaret K. McElderry 
Released: May 8, 2012
Read from May 10-13, 2012
My rating:

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.


My Thoughts:


   Wow. just WOW. It was like watching a marathon series of TVD, except it’s TMI, and it’s plot is far more different than TVD. I never thought, or actually I thought of it but anyway, I never thought COLS could beat or maintain the level of epicness of the other 4 books, but it actually did! I didn’t know what can still possibly happen in the 5th book because every little possible thing happened already. City of Lost Souls was a book full of lost souls. LOl.

   The ending of City of Fallen Angels left us all hanging with lots of questions, the biggest of them is “what will happen to Jace now?”. I remember feeling so sad of how Jace’s character was given a very heavy problem in the last book, and just as he was relieved from Lilith’s control, he was yet again loaded with a heavier problem. (though I know there will be a solution,he can’t just die). Anyway, so in the beginning of City of Lost Souls, we follow two weeks after the incident on the rooftop. The Clave is hunting for Jace & Sebastian, but after 2 weeks of failed attempts at finding them, they moved them second in their prioritized tasks. So, as usual, the gang (Clary, Alec, Izzy, Magnus & Simon) made their initiative and took it in their own hands to solve this problems. Clary ended up acting as a “spy” and stayed with Jace & Sebastian, while Alec, Magnus, Izzy and Simon were figuring out and finding ways how to kill Sebastian without harming Jace.

   What I liked about this book is the no holds barred action and romance scenes. Clary can be officially deemed as a one hell of a kick-ass woman. She’s not becoming a shadowhunter, because she already is embodying a Shadowhunter. Her boldness and braveness is not something to be looked down on here, but admired. There were a lot of unexpected twists that made me hold my breath countless of times. Thankfully, not so much deaths that I care about. Simon, oh gosh, I love Simon more than ever! I appreciated his funny attitude before, but now I adore it! He’s like a happy-go-lucky guy who acts like it’s nothing to him, but deep inside he cares and he cares a lot. I appreciate more of his and Clary’s friendship here. I dunno why. Maybe I just don’t remember how they were before. What surprised me even more was the fact that on the two times I cried in this book, it was always on the scenes with Simon on it. (seriously, I’m becoming attached to this guy and I don’t mind it a bit). Let’s move on to Jace. My gosh, for some reason I imagine him more handsome and hotter now, and at the end of it all, I saw how much wisdom he has gained from all his experiences. I just loved him more and more.

  The plot was not complicated to follow, and was very much well planned. There’s no other way to say it other than to just simply say reading this book was an amazing journey! I was totally entertained and enthralled with the story. Captivated, I was, with how things went through in the book. And I will just say this once, I have fallen somewhat to Sebastian. Haha. There’s just something about evil guys that enraptures me. I pity their situation and understand that they are lonely. And Sebastian is really alone. He just has this evilness in his nature that lead him to what he is now.

  Thank God the ending was not a cliff hanger. And the ending was superb. The book is absolutely ah-may-zing. Can’t wait for Heavenly Fire. And I can’t wait for the movie! Seriously, that movie is long overdue! Hunger Games was already shown two months ago, and TMI was the first one to be adapted.

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