Blurb and Goodreads summary: Clary is back in New York and life is good: she's training to be a Shadowhunter and is finally able to call Jace her boyfriend. But nothing comes without a price. When Jace inexplicably begins to pull away from her, Clary is forced to acknowledge that she herself has set in motion a chain of events that could lead to the loss of everything she loves. Even Jace.
Meanwhile, internecine warfare among vampires is tearing the Downworld community apart, and only Simon — the Daylighter who everyone wants on their side — can decide the outcome; too bad he wants nothing to do with Downworld politics. Love, blood, betrayal and revenge: the stakes are higher than ever in City of Fallen Angels
I am a HUGE fan of this series and adored City of Glass. While I do think that City of Glass ended the series perfectly, I was still excited about the release of City of Fallen Angels. Unfortunately it took me a while to get into the story and it didn't live up to my high expectations. Don't get me wrong, I still enjoyed this book, just not as much as the others.
In my opinion Simon is the main focus of this book. I was always a fan of Simon but not enough to want to read a book about him. I was looking forward to seeing how Jace and Clary were getting on. And while I am on that topic, I really felt their relationship was lacking at times. I think it is because I missed all the crazy, slightly sick, chemistry between them when they thought their feelings for each other were so wrong. Now that they can finally be together, some of that excitement and tension is gone. I missed it :( On the other hand, there were some hot kissing scenes between the two ;) Jace also didn't seem like himself. Everything that has happened in his life seems to have caught up on him and he has lost some of that arrogant sarcasm I had grown to love.
The supporting characters were better than ever. I really enjoyed seeing a more vulnerable said to Isabelle as she gets involved with Simon. I would love to have seen more of Alec and Magnus; but when they finally arrived, they did it with a bang. Magnus is my favourite supporting character; he is funny but sweet and he cares so much about Alec. Alec shows his jealous streak in this one, which gave me a few laughs!
"Or there are plenty of pretty girls here, since apparently your taste goes both ways. Is there anything you aren't into?" "Mermaids," said Magnus into his fingers. "The always smell like seaweed."
Overall I found some parts of the story lacking and unnecessary but I did still enjoy it, particularly the second half. The HUGE cliffhanger at the end has left me worrying about whether what has happened can ever be reversed! I certainly hope so! I'm not looking forward to waiting for a whole year to find out!
Over in Ireland we don't have the version of this book that includes Jace's letter to Clary from City of Glass; but the letter can be found at http://cassie-claire.com/cms/jaces-letter. I just want to write a few words about how much I loved it! I remember when I was reading City of Glass I was so upset that Clare didn't include the full thing! So obviously I was delighted the other day when I discovered this gem! Some quotes from the letter:
"I belong to you, you could do anything you wanted with me and I would let you. You could ask anything of me and I'd break myself trying to make you happy."
"As long as I can still dream, I'll dream of you."
Some swoon worthy stuff right there!
Initially I felt giving this book 3 stars was a bit unfair but then when I thought about it, I remembered all the times I put it down at the end of a chapter because I was a little bored. (mainly with Simon, I'm sorry to say!) And I would have liked to read Clary's viewpoint a bit more. So ya, 3 out of 5 Stars for this one. I am still looking forward to the next book in series!
I actually really loved this one. I think I was just pleasantly surprised that the story continued, because I felt there was a pretty solid ending after the third book. But I have a crush on Jace, so I'm pretty much happy as long as he's there. But I agree, Simon was kind of boring in this one.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the review!
Courtney
Fuzzy.Coffee.Books
I have to say I really liked the view of Simon and the vampire side to things here. And the way that we came to Jonathan. But there was a lot in here I felt didn't live up to the previous books as well. But with that said I think this is a transition type book. One to bring us up to point with the characters and their lives. I got the feel they are all left in a state of flux, or in the middle of change. I think the next books will bring us back to what we want to see, like the first three books. :) Can't wait to see.
ReplyDeleteI definitely have a crush on Jace too Courtney! To be honest, I think I'd be perfectly happy with a book entirely for Jace's viewpoint! Yum!
ReplyDeleteAnd Melissa, I hadn't really thought of it as a transitional type of book. The ending certainly lined us up for an interesting storyline in the next book!
Yeah, I really think with all the information we got in this book there is alot to build on. And the ending just left us with such want and potential. I think (or hope) Cassandra is going to blow us away in the future book. :)
ReplyDeleteIn the fourth installment of the series, it has a lot more of Simon's POV. In my opinion, that's great. Simon continues to be one of my favorite characters and he brings a certain lightness to all the drama and heartache.
ReplyDeleteI'll be the first to admit that it wasn't my favorite book in the series, but it was definitely a good read. It was nice to see all of the characters again. =)