Book Review: The Mortal Instruments Book Five City of Lost Souls Cassandra Clare

Synopsis: 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.

The Nerd rambles: Say what you will about Cassandra Clare--I'm not going to get into it here. These books though---they're my dirty little secret. Seriously. I deny deny and deny that I like them, and a few select know that I do. (And here I go putting it up on the internet *sigh*). Please don't get me started on the movie, I don't think anyone can handle that.

The Good: There's A LOT going on in this book. And not all of it is Clary moping over Jace. Or whining about Jace. Or chasing Jace. The other characters show up and do things, significant things that are important to the plot--and to what this series may change into with the next book. Some of the characters have even appeared to grow a bit and have started to patch relationships and personal issues. I like that not everyone is relying on Clary to magically pull something out of the air to save the day. This book had a lot of action, and conflict. It takes a little while to digest.

The Bad: Clary whines. Simon whines. Izzy's a tall stoic bitch. And we're not talking about Alec. Ever again. There's so much going on in this book at times scenes tend to get too cluttered, too hung up on minute meaningless detail. Other scenes seem to drag. I think that's part of Clare's writing style though. The build up to the last 'big fight' was rushed, and the fight almost anti-climatic with how quickly it was over. Alec, you have a lot of explaining to do, and I don't think you're going to fix what you broke.
Honestly, I enjoyed it. I've read better, and I've certainly read worse. I just wish there was some way to smooth everything down, because at times it became very jarring.

Rating: ★★★★☆
Total Length: 535 pages
Available Format: Epub, Kindle, Traditional
Publication Date: May 8, 2012
Author Link: Cassandra Clare webpage