Sunday, November 10, 2013

City of Lost Souls (The Mortal Instruments #5)

Title: City of Lost Souls
Author: Cassandra Clare
Series?: The Mortal Instruments
Synopsis:
The New York Times bestselling Mortal Instruments continues—and so do the thrills and danger for Jace, Clary, and Simon.

What price is too high to pay, even for love? When Jace and Clary meet again, Clary is horrified to discover that the demon Lilith’s magic has bound her beloved Jace together with her evil brother Sebastian, and that Jace has become a servant of evil. The Clave is out to destroy Sebastian, but there is no way to harm one boy without destroying the other. As Alec, Magnus, Simon, and Isabelle wheedle and bargain with Seelies, demons, and the merciless Iron Sisters to try to save Jace, Clary plays a dangerous game of her own. The price of losing is not just her own life, but Jace’s soul. She’s willing to do anything for Jace, but can she still trust him? Or is he truly lost?

Love. Blood. Betrayal. Revenge. Darkness threatens to claim the Shadowhunters in the harrowing fifth book of the Mortal Instruments series.
 Why I Read This: 
I read the other books and wanted to read this one too, after the cliff hanger of the last book.

My Thoughts/Review:
"Harrowing" is a good word to describe this book (in more ways than one).

Clary, Simon, Jace, Sebastian, Maia, Jordan, Alec, Magnus, Isabelle and the Clave are all back for another installment of The Mortal Instruments series! While trying to figure what the heck is wrong with Jace for hanging out with Sebastian like they're brothers or something, Clary discovers that something is horribly wrong--Lilith's magic has bonded the two together; neither can die without the other dying, as well. Jace is submissive to Sebastian and loses himself, though he retains his love for her (no matter how twisted it becomes). Clary makes a move and acts like she's joining them, when she's actually communicating to Simon what's going on. Meanwhile, everyone else is trying to find a way to kill Sebastian without killing Jace--and they discover a solution that could end up killing someone in the process of getting an impossible weapon. Alec and Magnus have more relationship problems--problems bound to happen with a mortal and an immortal. Alec is tempted by an offer to take away Magnus' immortality, but will he take it? Will Jace live or die? Will Jace even get away from the control of Sebastian? Will Clary be able to pull of her most dangerous stunt yet? Will Maia and Jordan get back together? Will Simon and Isabelle be a happy couple? Who knows. You'll have to read to find out, I suppose.

On another note, we find out quite a bit about Sebastian in this book. I guess he's not all that bad of a guy, but still. Evil. Genius. Gotta admire his brains, though he does seem to underestimate Clary quite a bit, which wasn't necessarily the brightest move.

All those relationships that grow? Clary and Sebastian (as bro and sis of course), Clary and Jace, Simon and Isabelle, Maia and Jordan, and several others.
All those that crumble to dust? Sebastian and Jace, Simon and Maia, and Alec and Magnus (O.O)

The Alec/Magnus scenes were heart-wrenching and if they don't get back together, I will be forced to send angry fan letters to Cassy Clare because THEY ARE PERFECT FOR EACH OTHER. I CRIED DAMMIT.

Anyway, it's an okay book overall, but it didn't live up to my expectations, to be honest. The first three books were better than these past two, and I hope the last one will be getting better. The plot was kind of all over the place, but I can deal with that as long as I can piece it together. It was still pretty clear in the direction the book wanted to go.

I won't hold as high expectations for the next book, but I definitely will read it. I didn't stick with these books thus far just to give up now. It's happening.

I give this book 3 out of 5 stars.