Book Review: City of Lost Souls

Warning! The synopsis is filled with spoilers from the first four books & the review is filled with major spoilers from this book! I also compare it to Mockingjay (from the Hunger Games trilogy), so there are Mockingjay spoilers in it, too.

City of Lost Souls

"The demon Lilith has been destroyed and Jace freed from captivity. But when the Shadowhunters arrive, they find only blood and broken glass. Not only is the boy Clary loves missing, so is the boy she hates: her brother Sebastian, who is determined to bring the Shadowhunters to their knees.

The Clave's magic cannot locate either boy, but Jace can't stay away from Clary. When they meet again Clary discovers the horror Lilith's magic has wrought - Jace and Sebastian are now bound to each other, and Jace has become a servant of evil. The Clave is determined to destroy Sebastian, but there is no way to harm one boy without destroying the other.

Only a few people believe that Jace can still be saved. Together, Alec, Magnus, Simon, and Isabelle bargain with the sinister Seelie Queen, contemplate deals with demons, and turn at last to the merciless, weapon-making Iron Sisters, who might be able to forge a weapon that can sever the bond between Sebastian and Jace. If the Iron Sisters can't help, their only hope is to challenge Heaven and Hell - a risk that could claim their lives.

And they must do it without Clary. For Clary is playing a dangerous game utterly alone. The price of losing 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? What price is too high to pay, even for love?

Love. Blood. Betrayal. Revenge. Darkness threatens to claim the Shadowhunters in the harrowing fifth book of the Mortal Instruments series."

Author: Cassandra Clare
Year of Release: 2012
Genre: Fantasy, Romance, Paranormal
Sequel(s): City of Heavenly Fire
What motivated you to read this book?: Well, after reading City of Fallen Angels, you pretty much have to read this one
Book Version: ebook
Where did you get the book?: Bought it on my Nook from Barnes & Noble
Orginal?: Yes
Preditable: Nope
Favorite Character: Jace
Least Favorite Character: Sebastian
Thoughts on Cover: Best cover of the series! Love, love, love it! I love Jace & Clary together. They are so adorable. This cover is gorgeous! Plus, Jace looks hot & Clary looks beautiful!!
Recommended to: Harry Potter, Percy Jackson fans, & Fantasy/Urban Fantasy Fans
Favorite Quotes: Will write another post with my favorite quotes
Rating: 4 of 5 Stars
Review: "City of Lost Souls is the Mockingjay to the Mortal Instruments". That's the quote I came up with when reading this book. It definitely felt like the Mockingjay of the series to me, but better. Mockingjay was my least favorite book of the Hunger Games trilogy & City of Lost Souls is my least favorite book of this series. I'm not saying that I hated it, I still enjoyed it and liked it. (I did give it four stars.) However, it did remind me of Mockingjay because in Mockingjay Peeta was brainwashed/corrupted & in City of Lost Souls, Jace was possessed/corrupted. I liked City of Lost Souls better because Jace didn't want to kill Clary when he was possessed/corrupted, but in Mockingjay Peeta wanted to kill Katniss when he was brainwashed/corrupted. Also, there was a part in City of Lost Souls when Jace returned to normal & in Mockingjay, Peeta didn't return to normal until the very end.

The rest of my review will not be like my normal reviews. I'm going to list out and comment on the parts of the book that I didn't like and the parts that I liked. I'll start out with the parts I didn't like and end with the parts that I liked.

The Parts I didn't like

Jace When He Was Possessed/Corrupted
Of course, being the huge lover of Jace that I am, I hated this. I was excepting it, of course, after reading the end of City of Fallen Angels, but I still didn't like it. I started missing the real Jace. I didn't like how this version of Jace didn't respect Clary at times or some of the things he said to her. The scene at the club upset me, but it didn't surprise me. I didn't like how he was so obedient to Sebastian and asked him for permission to do things. I especially hated that he killed someone and that he kept Clary in his arms, preventing her from fighting in the battle at the end of the story. That was definitely not like the real Jace at all.

Too Much Romance
Before I say anything else, NO I am not referring to Jace & Clary. I will ALWAYS love the romance between the two of them. They are so cute together. I also liked the romance between Jordan & Maia. They are pretty cute together, too. I am referring to the fact that there was too much romance with all the other characters: Isabelle & Simon and Magnus & Alec. Normally, I LOVE romance, but it seemed like there was romance in every, single chapter of this book. (That would have been okay if it was romance between Jace & Clary, though.) It started to get on my nerves. I normally like books that have romance in it, but not to the extreme, especially between characters that don't seem right together (I'll get to that later). I liked the first four books because the romance occurred less often, so I therefore enjoyed it more. I literally started thinking that this book was a romance book. Again, like I said earlier, if there was a ton of romance between Jace & Clary, I would have loved it, but the romance between all these other characters was getting on my nerves.

The Scene When Simon Bites Isabelle
This scene disturbed me. I was really hoping that Simon wasn't going to bite Isabelle, but he did, and she liked it. That was even more disturbing. I don't even like talking about this. I also don't think Simon and Isabelle go well together at all. I really like both characters a lot, but they just don't suit each other at all. Their relationship is really awkward. I think Simon goes better with Maia, but Maia belongs with Jordan.

Alec's Obsession over Magnus
First of all, let me tell you that I have nothing against gay couples or gay people, (I don't want people getting the wrong impression.) and I like Alec and Magnus as individual characters, (just not together as a couple), but Alec's obsession over becoming immortal & Magnus becoming mortal was probably the most annoying part of the entire book. Alec's obsession of this was starting to remind me of Bella's obsession of becoming a vampire in Twilight. And the fact that Alec was meeting in secret with a murderous vampire to discuss this, was pretty horrible, too. I hated these scenes. I was thrilled when Magnus broke up with Alec at the end of the book.

Jocelyn
I really don't like Jocelyn at all. She's way too overprotective of Clary. She doesn't seem to trust Clary enough to be able to take care of herself. I understand things from her perspective, but she really needs to calm down a bit. I especially hate what she told Clary about her and Jace not belonging together. That really angered me. What Jace did was not his fault at all. First, Lilith was controlling his dreams and was controlling him when Jace put the knife to Clary's throat, and then Sebastian was controlling Jace in this book. Jocelyn had absolutely no right to say that to Clary. She doesn't even know Jace. Jace is not Valentine.

My Liking of Sebastian
I hated that I actually started liking Sebastian. Well, not liking him, but having mixed feelings about him. Obviously, in the end, my feelings were no longer "mixed".

The Parts I did like

The Short Appearance the Real Jace Made
This was a pleasant surprise. I wasn't expecting the real Jace to return until the very end of the book. This entire scene with Clary was extremely adorable. I loved it. It was probably my favorite part before the battle and the epilogue. I thought it was cute that he even cried. I also found it to be hilarious when he said he was jealous of himself. I especially loved how he gave a mini-speech to Sebastian about how much he hated him. I was so used to Jace acting like Sebastian's friend/brother when he was being controlled, and then he made that declaration. It made me happy.

How the Possessed/Corrupted Jace Had Bits & Pieces of the Real Jace in Him
I wasn't expecting this either. I liked how at times, when he was being controlled by Sebastian, he still respected Clary occasionally. The part when he was reading A Tale of Two Cities to Clary was really cute. Other parts with him and Clary were cute, too. 

Maia & Jordan
As mentioned earlier, I like Maia & Jordan as a couple. I was thrilled when they got together again. I think they are really cute. They are definitely my second favorite couple in this series after Clary & Jace.

Part 3
Part 3 of the story was my favorite part of the entire book. There was so much suspense. It reminded me of the suspense in the City of Glass. I love scenes that are so intense that it makes my stomach hurt. Authors that are able to write scenes that are capable of doing that to readers have a ton of skill. Cassandra is definitely one of them. I loved the scenes with Simon & Raziel, the Battle, & the Epilogue best.

Simon & Raziel
I thought it was very selfless of Simon to risk his life to summon Raziel in order to try to save Jace & help with the war. I really enjoyed this entire scene.

The Battle
The battle scene was the part that made my stomach hurt because it made me nervous for the characters. This part was very intense. I absolutely loved it. I also liked how Clary saved Jace at the end. I love stories when the girl saves the guy. At first when she stabbed him I was shocked out of my mind. I couldn't believe it, but then I remembered that Raziel said the sword would burn all the evil out of whoever was struck by it & realized that Jace wasn't going to die because obviously Jace isn't evil. He has good in him.

The Epilogue
I loved the epilogue! The part at the beginning when Jace recognized someone's voice that was as familiar to him as his own, I thought for sure it would be Clary, but then it ended up being Alec & I burst out laughing. I also liked the part when Clary & Isabelle talked in the elevator of the institute & of course, I thought the infirmary scene with her & Jace was so sweet! I think it's cute how Clary always worries about whether or not Jace likes her. I was kind of wondering why Jace was keeping his distance from her but the reasoning for it--that he still has the heavenly fire in him--was quite interesting & very original. Cassandra is very good at coming up with original ideas for these stories. I definitely wonder how he will be cured of it in the next book! The very ending of the book was interesting, too, with the angel's wings and the note from Sebastian. This ending was a lot better than the ending of City of Fallen Angels. It's not an upsetting ending. However, it definitely makes me eager to see what happens next in book 6!

Overall, I thought this book was a lot better than I thought it would be. I enjoyed it enough, but I didn't love it. There are certain parts that I did love, though. I definitely cannot wait to read City of Heavenly Fire when it comes out March 2014! I wish it would come out sooner!!