City of Fallen Angels by Cassandra Clare

Title: City of Fallen Angels
Author: Cassandra Clare
Published: April 5, 2011
Pages: 424/Hardcover
Series: The Mortal Instruments #4
Source: Personal library


Summary: City of Fallen Angels takes place two months after the events of City of Glass. In it, a mysterious someone’s killing the Shadowhunters who used to be in Valentine’s Circle and displaying their bodies around New York City in a manner designed to provoke hostility between Downworlders and Shadowhunters, leaving tensions running high in the city and disrupting Clary’s plan to lead as normal a life as she can — training to be a Shadowhunter, and pursuing her relationship with Jace. As Jace and Clary delve into the issue of the murdered Shadowhunters, they discover a mystery that has deeply personal consequences for them — consequences that may strengthen their relationship, or rip it apart forever. 

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.

Review: I'm pretty sure Cassandra Clare could write about pigs from outer space and it would still be phenomenal. Suffice to say, I loved the fourth book in the Mortal Instruments series.

I liked that the first three books were their own cycle with their own plot so now there's a new plot but with the same characters. It felt like I was starting a whole new series but with characters I already knew and cared about.

The characters definitely seemed different in this book though. I think they all matured quite a bit after what happened in City of Glass. I noticed a change particularly in Jace. He didn't seem as snarky and sarcastic, and I kind of missed it, but I also noticed that he was a lot more serious about his relationships with people (like the Lightwoods and Clary). All the other characters were just as strong as ever. I loved Jordan and Maia, and I hope to see more of them in future books. I also love that the book focused on other relationships, like Simon's with Isabelle and Maia and Jordan's with Maia, instead of just Clary and Jace.

I think a lot of the plot happened in the end of the book. In the first three books of the series you pretty much knew they were after Valentine and he was the bad guy, but City of Fallen Angels was a little more mysterious as far as knowing who the "bad guy" was. I think that's why most of the action happened toward the end.

The ending, oh that ending. From a literary viewpoint it's a genius way to end a book, but from a fan-girl viewpoint (that would be mine) it's an evil way to torture us until the next book's released.

If you're a fan of the Mortal Instruments series you need to read this book. If you haven't read the Mortal Instruments series then you need to fix that...now. 


More Books by Cassandra Clare
City of Bones
City of Ashes
City of Glass
Clockwork Angel