City of Fallen Angels by Cassandra Clare

City of Fallen Angels
By Cassandra Clare
Publisher: Margaret K. McElderry
Date Published: April 5, 2011
Pages: 424
Rating:

     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.

      The entire Mortal Instruments gang is back in the newest installment. Going into City of Fallen Angels, I was a bit wary because I feel that this series concluded perfectly at City of Glass, which tied up the entire story pretty well. After finishing the fourth novel, I still stand by the fact that Clare could have left this as a trilogy, but I won't complain too much because I really did miss all of Jace's snarky comments, which never cease to entertain me.

     Along with Jace, all my favorite elements in TMI were back: the humor, Shadowhunter action, a lot of romance, and some unpredictable plot twists. I admit that the story began quite slowly, and I felt myself slipping because it had been so long (a couple years?) since the last book came out and I found that I had to reacquaint myself with the entire world. But the new plot eventually reeled me in. But I continued to feel that City of Fallen Angels dragged in a lot of places, which I don't remember feeling with the rest of the series (as stated before, this could just be because I haven't read Clare's writing in a while). Even all of Clary and Jace's romance scenes seemed to drag; I miss that old quick bantering they had before. 

   City of Fallen Angels did hook me however, and made me realize that I'm not too tired of The Mortal Instruments- yet. I should be on board for the next two books in the series. I did really appreciate how Clare tried to bridge the gap between her new prequel series, The Infernal Devices, and The Mortal Instruments, with some revelations and references in this book; The next couple of years are dotted with releases from both series, which may make everything quite confusing. Honestly, I think I'm a bit more invested in seeing where The Infernal Devices will go now. TMI will always hold a special place on my bookshelf, but it really could have ended at number 3.

   But really, the ending of City of Fallen Angels?? What's going to happen now?