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.

The Academy - First Days (Year One, Book Two) (The Academy #2)

Title: The Academy - First Days

Author: C.L. Stone

Series?: The Academy

Synopsis:

Sang Sorenson used to be the invisible girl in class. As a new student to Ashley Waters High School, Sang hopes that her new friends will be the change she’s been craving and will make fitting in a breeze.
But Academy students aren’t there to take it easy. The high school is overcrowded and rife with violence. When fights begin, Sang will uncover the true reason the boys traded in their private school life for a public one.

This year, Sang will no longer be invisible. This year, Sang is a target.

The principal and vice principal are hot to take Sang down, and her own mother is determined to entrap Sang forever in her belief that the safest place to be is in the shadows. Despite this, Nathan, Luke, Kota, North, Silas, Victor, and Gabriel will discover Sang’s unyielding loyalty.

And they will sorely need it.

The Academy, supremely influential.

 

Why I Read This:

I was in love with book one of this series and thus looked all over for a copy of book two, which I do not regret having to buy to read. It was only $3 for my Kindle edition, so it's not much, but I think I would've paid more if I had needed to because I was interested in it.

 

My Thoughts/Review:

This sequel to the first book of The Academy series was amazing. I loved it through and through. While it doesn't have my usual likes for supernatural and things like that, I have always loved a good spy book.

 

This book starts off when Sang Sorenson and the boys are going to go to their first day of school at the new high school. Of course they stood out, they wore better clothes than everyone else, they were new, they were 7 freaking hot guys and one girl who kept to themselves. Them standing out quickly becomes a problem. Fights ensue, people are hurt, and everyone must stand together to stay out of it.

 

Sang has a problem with staying out of fights when people are beating up on her friends. In turn, she gets hurt. In turn, the guys are pissed, but also glad that she stepped in. She seriously needs training. Bad.

 

I loved Sang, don't get me wrong. She's probably my favorite heroin ever. I think she's so clueless that it's funny sometimes, but I get why she's clueless. I mean, she's never had friends before. We're going through more of what happened in the first book, except better than ever, and on a bigger scale. Now, Sang has to avoid certain people in school instead of just her mother, though there's a bit of that in there, too. Sang is so brave and loyal, as well as quite clever, though she tends not to realize it. I absolutely loved her character and while there were a few things I would've done differently, I admired her for the things she did. It was pretty awesome.

 

Kota, North, Silas, Luke, Nathan, Victor and Gabriel were all wonderful in this book! I lived for the moments where they showed up. I'm having trouble with maintaining who my fave is. I think it's still North, but I'm starting to like Kota, Victor, and Gabriel even more. And Luke. And...everyone else. Dang it! I love  them all, but I'm still in love with North. :) They're all so amazing!

 

So, I highly recommend that you go get this book. It's pretty awesome. Go find it and read it.

 

I can't wait for the next book to come out! The Academy - Friends Vs. Family (Year One, Book Three)! It sounds uber-good! I'm keeping it on my list of books I'm waiting for to come out!

 

I give this book 5 out of 5 stars.

 

~Jessicah

Insurgent (Divergent #2)

Just a warning. Don't read this if you haven't read Divergent, please. It'll make it a lot easier, I promise.

 

Title: Insurgent

Author: Veronica Roth

Series?: Divergent

Synopsis:

One choice can transform you, or destroy you. Every choice has consequences, and as unrest surges in the factions all around her, Tris Prior must continue trying to save those she loves, and herself, while grappling with haunting questions of grief and forgiveness, identity and loyalty, politics and love.

Tris’s initiation day should have been marked by celebration and victory with her chosen faction; instead, the day ended with unspeakable horrors. War now looms as conflict between the factions and their ideologies grows. And in times of war, sides must be chosen, secrets will emerge, and choices will become even more irrevocable—and even more powerful. Transformed by her own decisions but also by haunting grief and guilt, radical new discoveries, and shifting relationships, Tris must fully embrace her Divergence, even if she does not know what she may lose by doing so.

 

Why I read this: I fell in love with Tris and everyone else in the world of Divergent the first time around, so I wanted to pick up this book as soon as I heard about it!

 

My thoughts/Review:

This book picks up right where Divergent left off, starting with Tris's extreme guilt about Will and struggle with the loss of her parents. Tris's respite in Amity is short, however, and she soon finds out that Amity will not involve itself in the war. Soon after, Tris and the others head back to the city to seek the help of Candor and meet up with some unexpected friends. After that, everything goes to hell and we're even worse off than when we started. Get ready for the ride of your life. Relationships are tested, secrets are unveiled, friends turn enemy, and no one knows what the truth is anymore.

 

So, I loved Insurgent. Maybe it wasn't quite as awesome as Divergent, but it was only a smidge away. Action, conflict, just a sprinkle of romance, adventure, something new at every turn, and twists that I was honestly shocked about. I love how the book started off exactly where Divergent stopped. Most series skip a while in between books, and I'm glad this one didn't.

 

**

 

Tris- I love how she's so bold, and stubborn, and resilient, etc. She has to be one of my favorite heroines ever. She doesn't take crap. However, she's so secretive (i.e. not telling anyone about killing Will) that it destroys her from the inside out, and it destroys all her relationships, too. She gets to where she starts recklessly risking her life instead of really thinking it through like she used to. I mean, at least before she knew what she was doing when she risked her life. She's amazing and all, but still. That was unspeakably stupid of her to risk her life so many times without thinking it through--really thinking it through--and it's not really surprising that it's hurting the people around her. She thinks that they won't miss her a ton, that she's less important, but SHE'S WRONG. Argh! Why can't heroines ever get that through their heads?! I am glad that she seems to grow throughout the book, though, just as she did in Divergent.

 

Four/Tobias- So, by now I hope we all know that Four's name is Tobias, or else I know that you didn't actually read the first book. Four is as stubborn as always, but we start to see a softer side to him. He's willing to do anything for Tris--well, anything except putting up with her stupidly endangering her life, which I get. He doesn't wanna get hurt like that. He doesn't want her to get hurt like that. Four is so convinced that he's right, though, and his pride really hurts him. He starts becoming too naive, so much so that he can't tell when someone's trying to dupe him or not. And I don't know where he gets off lecturing Tris about secrets because he has secrets of his own. I'm glad that Tris points that out, too. And he's so misunderstanding of everything! Yes, Tris should've been more forthcoming, but she had her reasons, and the least he can do is respect her decisions and trust that she had reasons (no matter how stupid they were). Even through all of that, I still loved him. He's still really smart and stuff, just not smart enough sometimes.

 

Is anyone else even worth mentioning? I mean, yes, we have Marcus and Jeanine and Christina (who ends up being okay again at the end) and everyone else, but they're all secondary characters. I do feel like they're all real people though, not just flat characters. Veronica Roth has a way with her characters that I love.

 

**

 

I liked the role that being Divergent played in this book, and that we're finally kind of getting a little bit of what it means to be Divergent. There are twists and turns everywhere, and several of them I would've never suspected, especially the one at the end, but it was still pretty awesome all together.

 

I cannot wait for the next book to come out! I will be anxiously waiting until it comes out this October!

 

I give this book 5 out of 5 stars.

 

~Jessicah

The Iron Fey

So, as I'm sure that some of you are aware, there's this series called The Iron Fey by Julie Kagawa. I'll be posting reviews for all of these books very soon. That includes the novellas, as well as the spin-off from the series, The Iron Fey: Call of the Forgotten. Stick around for those exciting installments to this new blog

~Jessicah