Review: City of Lost Souls

Title: City of Lost Souls
Author: Cassandra Clare
Genre: Young Adult, Urban Fantasy
Pub Date: May 2012, Simon & Schuster
Format: Hardcover
Source: Purchased from BN.com

Synopsis (from Goodreads)

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?

My Thoughts

Holy cow, there is a LOT going on in City of Lost Souls! At first I thought I wasn't going to be able to keep up with all of the plot lines that were breaking off of the main story, but in the end it wasn't really too much to keep track of. While I am one who admits to having a fondness for happy endings, this book doesn't wrap every piece of the story up with a pretty bow and I am totally okay with that because the way some events played out was totally necessary and appropriate. (Don't you love the vagueness of my attempted spoiler-free reviews?) Of course, this book also isn't the last in the series, so there is still time for "and they all lived happily ever after."

{CAUTION: Spoilers ahead if you haven't read City of Fallen Angels.} So call me crazy, but I actually enjoyed Jace and Clary more in this book, probably because I'm so sick of "I love you but we can never be together, blah, blah, blah." For me, the fact that Jace was possessed for the majority of the story actually made the times when he wasn't possessed a little less annoying. But if he and Clary don't finally make it to their happily ever after by the end of the last book, I'm throwing out all of these books! ;-) Other interesting side stories: (1) Alec -- just what is he thinking by listening to Camille's tempting offer? (2) Simon tells his sister about what he is now. Will she handle it better than his mother did? 


{We now return to the spoiler-free zone.} Even though I was a bit disappointed with City of Fallen Angels, it ended with just enough intrigue to make me dive right into City of Lost Souls and I'm really glad I did... except for the fact that I have to wait until March 2014 to read the finale! This book is fast-paced with a much stronger plot, so really held my interest the entire way through and was much more reminiscent of the first three books in that respect. I think I will have to plan an entire series re-read before that last book comes out so that I can really savor the ending. Fans of this series should be pleased with City of Lost Souls!

My Rating