City of Fallen Angels by Cassandra Clare
Publisher: McElderry
Publish Date: April 5, 2011
Series: The Mortal Instruments #4
ISBN: 1442403543
ISBN-13: 9781442403543
Synopsis: 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 rating: 3 of 5 stars
In the fourth installment of The Mortal Instruments, Clare brings us back with the City of Fallen Angels. We see Clary, Jace, and Simon attempt to live their lives after Idris. Clary has begun her training to become a better Shadowhunter, and where she gains physical strength with training, she seems to weaken in emotional strength towards Jace. Jace has struggled with the truths that were revealed in Idris as well as the nightmares that has lived in his sleep. Simon is trying to be sure of his identity with being a vampire, a regular boy, and a boy dating two girls. Even though there were a lot of things resolved in the last book, it seems there were a few things left unsaid.
And that’s why I believe Clare wrote this book. There are a lot of things to say about this fourth book. It didn’t grab me as quickly as the first three books did. I felt that those three had some definite direction and that they all had a purpose that was laid out in the beginning of the series and in each book. As I read this book, I felt that this didn’t have that purpose, that throughout the book, it struggled with it’s own identity. Was this book necessarily a part of the series? I’m not sure. It seemed like an extended epilogue, different from the rest of the books.
At first, Clary and Jace seemed to take a back seat from being the main characters. Simon was the first thought, the first scene. What he goes through in this book and the choices he makes, it leaves me questioning what his real role is. Is he a main character or is he the best supporting character? It seems, like how Simon does in the storyline, his character struggles with his identity.
Clary seems to be a weaker character in this book than in the previous books. I don’t know if it’s the love and emotions overwhelming her, but it made me not want to like her in this book. I gravitated towards her in the previous books because of who she was and who she sought out to be. I felt that she lost herself a little. And all because of a boy? Ugh.
Jace was actually pretty consistent in this book. He was conceited, sure of himself, and the enigma that he has always been in the previous books. What he goes through in this book, his struggles with the nightmares, who he is as a Shadowhunter, as a part of the nephilim, as a part of a family…well I feel this is the only part of the storyline that needed to continue. He is the character that everyone wanted to find out about.
I enjoyed reading this book and I think you will too.. It answered a few questions that I didn’t know I had. I am looking forward to the next book.
