Review: City of Lost Souls

City of Lost Souls
By: Cassandra Clare
Source: Bought 
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?

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

Review: Who could say no to more Shadowhunters? Honestly I will keep reading these books as long as they have Jace in them. He is hands down one of my favorite literary characters of all time. He's just there with Mr. Darcy, Peeta and all the other great literary guys. I also read the novel for it's quirky and sarcastic dialog and it's gripping plot. Cassandra Clare just has a gift for both of those. Most of my favorite quotes have come from a Cassandra Clare novel. Probably because of love sarcastic comments but I just get get enough of Ms. Clare's writing. 

As much as I love this series, I have a feeling it should have stopped after the third book. At first it was just a trilogy, and how it ended in the third book left me feeling good. I loved the characters but I also enjoyed where it ended. They were all happy and I pictured them living a nice happy life together. Now in the 4th and 5th novel, I feel that they are just dragging on. They had already fought this villain, is it really necessary to do it again?  

The beginning of the novel also lacked Jace, who is my favorite character (but we've already established that). It also felt very slow to me, the quirky dialog wasn't there and the plot was just dry. However half way through the book it started picking back up and I became addicted, just like I do with every Mortal Instruments novel. 

This is a series that I will always read, no matter how many Cassandra Clare writes. I do hope that they start to have the spark that the first three had. Yet I still enjoy them and recommend the series to everyone I meet.

 --Danielle