City of Fallen Angels by Cassandra Clare
Hardcover, 432 Pages
2011, Margaret K. McElderry
ISBN: 1442403543
Series: Book 4 of Mortal Instruments
Synopsis
The 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, 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. Not to mention that he's dating two beautiful, dangerous girls—neither of whom knows about the other one.
When Jace begins to pull away from her without explaining why, Clary 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.
Review
I really enjoyed the original Mortal Instruments trilogy - City of Bones, City of Ashes and City of Glass. Each book built upon the last, all culminating in the epic climax in City of Glass. City of Fallen Angels didn't exactly continue the trend and ended up being kind of meh for me.
The old evil, Valentine, is no longer a threat in City of Fallen Angels, and it feels as though the book has to start the ball rolling all over again. It was great to revisit with Clary, Jace, Simon, Magnus and others, but the book lacked the urgency the previous books evoked so well.
I didn't like the relationships in City of Fallen Angels. Clary and Jace were annoying. Instead of being happily in love, they constantly had a rift between them. It added some tension, but it felt largely forced. Unnecessary insecurities and secrets ruined the one relationship in the book that should have been drama-free. Simon's love triangle of sorts, with both Isabelle and Maia, ended up being less drama-filled than it should have been. The girls handled it well considering the situation which was nice, but made for a less than entertaining (and less realistic) experience. Honestly, the best "relationship" in the book for me was the interactions between Simon and Jace. The two had never taken to each other, more putting up with one another for Clary's sake, and to see them in Clary-free situations was unexpectedly interesting.
City of Angel's wasn't a bad book, but more of a seemingly unnecessary book. The original trilogy wrapped things up nicely. This book drags out the story of the character's lives without adding much in the way of interesting plot twists. It was a nice reunion, but didn't take any of the characters to places (physically or mentally) they needed. As the first book in a new trilogy in this series, I can only hope that it was setting the stage for something bigger that will bring the frenzied "need to read as quickly as possible" feel back to the next two books.
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