Book Review - City of Fallen Angels by Cassandra Clare

Publish Date: April 5, 2011
Publisher: Margaret K. McElderry
Pages: 424
ISBN: 978-1-4424-0354-3
Series: The Mortal Instruments
Source: Simon & Schuster

Goodreads 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. 

My Review:
I was really looking forward to reading City of Fallen Angels, and when I got my own copy from Simon & Schuster in the mail, I was totally stoked.

I started reading it that night, and was right away engaged in Simon, Clary and Jace. I loved that the first part of CoFA was in Simon's point of view. I liked seeing how he was dealing with the whole vampire / daylighter thing. Next we moved onto Jace and Clary. I loved the way we started with them, the playful training, and flirting, and I was full of goosebumps and butterflies and I was happy for them. I was happy for me too, honestly! I was glad to be diving into the Shadowhunter realm, and I wanted to see Isabelle, and Alec again! I was ready for this!

Then something happened, Jace started avoiding Clary, and I had no idea why! A little while in we found out the reasoning behind this, but I still felt like I missed something. I went back and read a few chapters thinking that maybe in my excitement I missed a page (or 10) and missed a very clear and obvious reason behind Jace’s behaviour. I was wrong though – and the back and forth happenings between Jace and Clary just got a little frustrating.

Clary seems like a whole other character at some points. She doesn’t seem to be the strong willed, independent Shadowhunter (in-training) like the other books. And to be honest, we didn’t get into a lot of actual Shadowhunter fight scenes which was lackluster for me! I wanted the tension, and the fighting, and get a feel of Clary in her new life as a Shadowhunter. There was a pretty wicked scene at the end of the book, which kind of made up for the previous chapters, and Cassandra Clare left us with a HUGE cliffhanger and I swear throughout the last chapter of the book, I was holding my breath the whole time!

Cassandra Clare still has her ways with writing though, she still manages to make her scenes come to life in my eyes with the description she uses. Though at points there were comma’s used excessively (I don’t usually care about this, I use comma’s where I’m sure they aren’t supposed to be, it happens – but it seemed to really stand out to me this book) We’re introduced (or re-introduced) to a few characters from Clockwork Angel, and we meet a new character of whom I’m totally looking forward to seeing more of. The favourites were back of course, Alec, Magnus, Isabelle, Simon, Luke and Jocelyn. And it was great seeing the familiar names.

Overall, I enjoyed City of Fallen Angels because I enjoy the story, the characters, and Clare’s writing. Sure, Clary wasn’t her usual self, and at times the story felt rushed, but overall, it was enjoyable! I’d recommend this book to others who have read the series, and if you haven’t read the Mortal Instruments series, then you should – they are worth it!