{Review} City of Fallen Angels by Cassandra Clare

City of Fallen Angels
by Cassandra Clare
Series: The Mortal Instruments #4
Pages: 424
Release Date: April 5, 2011
by Margarte K. McElderry Books (an imprint of Simon & Schuster)

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he Mortal War is over, and sixteen-year-old Clary Fray is back home in New York, excited about all the possibilities before her. She's training to become a Shadowhunter and to use her unique power. Her mother is getting married to the love of her life. Downworlders and Shadowhunters are at peace at last. And - most importantly of all - she can finally call Jace her boyfriend.

But nothing comes without a price. Someone is murdering Shadowhunters who used to be in Valentine's Circle, provoking tensions between Downworlders and Shadowhunters that could lead to a second bloody war. Clary's best friend, Simon, can't help her. His mother just found out that he's a vampire and now he's homeless. Everywhere he turns, someone wants him on their side - along with the power of the curse that's wrecking his life. And they're willing to do anything to get what they want. At the same time he's dating two beautiful, dangerous girls - neither of whom knows about the other one. When Jace begins to pull away from Clary without explaining why, she is forced to delve into the heart of a mystery whose solution reveals her worst nightmare: She herself has set in motion a terrible chain of events that could lead to her losing everything she loves. Even Jace.

Love. Blood. Betrayal. Revenge. The stakes are higher than ever in City of Fallen Angels.

Originally I wasn't going to finish this book. But then I got some comments saying that it got better, so I finished it. And really liked it.  I was kind of on the fence about whether or not I liked that Cassandra Clare added 3 more books to a series that, it looked to me, had wrapped up perfectly in book 3.  I wasn’t going to finish this book, or the rest of the series, until a commenter said that [SPOILER: Sebastian came back ], and after that I was sold.  At this point in the series, the Shadowhunter world is so complex and well explained that I feel like if I went to New York I would totally find Jace and Clary.  The writing, I’ve noticed over the course of the series, is very good, but at times I feel like it’s a bit dense, as in Clare feels the need to explain things in great detail, and every little event, such as searching a building, has to be very precise, and sometimes when there’s a ton of action or a really cliffhangery part of the book, I just can’t read that boring description stuff.  So I do find myself sometimes skipping parts, but that really isn’t Clare’s fault because it’s just how I am and how I read.  So I’m not really complaining.  The Clace drama and also Simon’s drama was kind of annoying in the beginning (well actually Simon was annoying the whole book) but the Clace drama really made sense and added to the story.  The story really wasn’t going anywhere for the first half of the book until BAM holy shit [SPOILER: Lilith is raising Sebastian from the dead] and after that it’s just great.  AND OH MY FREAKING GOD THAT LAST PAGE, THAT LAST PAGE OF THE WHOLE BOOK FREAKING KILLED ME.  [SPOILER: What does it mean?!  Sebastian and Jace are connected now, so does that mean that Jace is controlled by Sebastian again and that Jace has demon blood now?!  Holy shit!  (please don’t actually answer those questions in the comments below lol I don’t want spoilers for the next book).  But OMG that completely floored me.]

Basically I’m in love with Jace.  Not kidding, I love him.  I even dream about him.  All night.  Yes.  My brother thinks I’ve gone insane, and he said that Jace is ruining my life.  WELL HE IS!  Jace is perfection.  I have never wanted a fictional character to be real as much as I want Jace.  I’M TELLING YOU GUYS UNLESS I CAN FIND A BLONDE, SEXY, HALF-ANGEL SHADOWHUNTER I’M GOING TO DIE ALONE!  And OMG have you guys seen Jamie Campbell Bower?!  HE IS PERFECTION!  God okay I need to stop.  Basically I love Jace so much it hurts.  It really does.

As for the other characters, I feel like with every book Clary becomes stronger and stronger.  I think she really grew in City of Glass so by this point she is a really great character.  And then you have the rest of the Shadowhunter gang, Isabelle, Alec, Magnus (I TOTALLY SHIP MALEC BY THE WAY), and, of course, Simon.  Who I no longer like.  He’s been kind of getting on my nerves for a while, but after this book I just don’t like him at all.  [SPOILER:  To me he came off as a jerk because he was dating both Isabelle and Maia, a werewolf.  I thought that was just really sleazy of him. ]

I am now fully invested in this series, and will most definitely finish it.  Jace is ruining my life, but oh well.

4 stars