Review: City of Fallen Angels

Author: Cassandra Clare
Pages: 424
Publisher: Margaret K. McElderry
Source: Library
Series: The Mortal Instruments #4
Synopsis: The Mortal War is over, and 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 important of all—Clary can finally call Jace her boyfriend.


But nothing comes without a price.


Someone is murdering the 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 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 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.


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.


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I'm a fan of the Mortal Instrument series. I love reading of Jace and shadowhunters. I love this series so I was super excited to read City of Fallen Angels.

As always when it comes to this series, I flew by reading this book. I always tend to do that with Cassandra's books. One second I'm on page 10, next I'm on page 237. CoFA was as readable as always with interesting descriptions and more of our favorite shadowhunters.

For the longest time, I had no idea what the plot was going to be. And then, the ending, BANG! Did that really happen? Way to end a novel. Needless to say, I think this was perhaps the biggest cliffhanger I've ever read, and I'm not sure how I feel about it. I wish there was less angst earlier on in the novel and more action but would I have been caught off guard as much as I was? All I can say is that I wish Cassandra drew out the end longer so that there was more action overall in the novel. However, it's a good way to introduce a new plot line so I expect much more action in future books.

I won't spend too much time on individual characters because I enjoyed them and that's that. In CoFA, Jace was filled with angst. I was a bit annoyed; can't a couple ever be fine and have no insecurities? I started to like Simon more, Clary was Clary which means I didn't really like her that much more, Isabelle was amazing, Maia was cool, Alec made a brief but memorable entrance with Magnus... I just noticed there are A LOT of characters. A tiny bit I enjoyed was the references to Will, who I think I love even more than Jace.

All in all, I can see why so many people have issue with this book. For a lot of it, no huge plot is there except problems between relationships but I thought it was still pretty good. 4 stars,

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