Book 5 of The Mortal Instruments: CITY OF LOST SOULS, Cassandra Clare

CITY OF LOST SOULS is the fifth book in The Mortal Instruments series and so far the last one. We have to wait a little bit longer, more than 365days, for the final book (or will it be the final?).  I have enjoyed this book very much because Cassandra concentrated more on the relationships within our characters.

So Let's recap the book first:

As we all know Ms Clare has left us hanging in the previous book. Our gorgeous boy Jace brought back to life the sly (and not at all loveable) Sebastian. And for the this, Sebastian pay him back in way I hated so much. He took the control over Jace. And both are now missing! Clary is on the edge of patience. She is not only been investigated by Clave but also the love of her life is nowhere to be found. And nobody knows what the hell is going on. She is so desperate that she even considers to ask for help of Seelie Queen! NO NO NO and NO!!! That is a bad idea! I don't know why but I have not warmed up to this character at all. Actually, the opposite has happened. I do not like her and do not trust her. She is up to something and I am sure she will betray our group of Shadow-hunters. Anyways, The Seelie Queen wants a payment for her help. What a surprise! And she asks for a pair of rings from The Institute. Clary, desperate for any kind of information, agrees and decides to steal the rings from The Institute. But she is interrupted by a surprise visitors - JACE & SEBASTIAN. And what is even stranger is the fact that  them two are behaving like two besties, brothers and like they actually like each other (it seems that Jace completely forgot what an asshole Sebastian is and Sebastian seems to be very forgiving for fact that Jace killed him - just a little thing ). The same night Jace and Sebastian visit Clary at Luke's apartment. Jace wants her to join them on some very mysterious quest. We also find out that Jace and Sebastian are bound to each other and if one dies, the other dies too. There is the plan to kill Sebastian out of the window! But everything goes even more awry when Jocelyn sees her son, who she hated since he was born, and there is a fight where Luke gets hurt. He is dying. Jace and Sebastian disappear like cowards (not a best moment of Jace's). So Luke is taken to his pack in abandoned police station. Nobody knows how to cure him. Not even our sparkly High Warlock of Brooklyn Magnus Bane. And that's when Jordan and Maia comes in. Jordan as a member of Praetor Lupus might be able to help to get some info from the vice-president / chief member of the clan. So him and Maia are on a journey to Road Island. They resolve their issues. Both of them realise that they are still in love with each other and get back together. And they even find the cure and save Luke's life. In the meantime, Clary decides to play a little bit of her own game. After an argument with Jocelyn, where Jocelyn is a little bit of a bitch and tells Clary that her and Jace are not meant to be, Clary develops a plan. She has the rings she stole from the Institute. She gives one to Simon and keeps the other one. She is going to go with Jace and find out what the hell is going on. Why is he acting so strange. And the rings serves like a communications with Simon. Basically they will keep in touch and exchange new found information. 

Clary joins Jace and Sebastian and starts to live with them in this strange apartment which travels through dimensions. She finds out that the plan is to create new version of Mortal Cup which uses Demon Blood instead of Angel Blood and helps create new half demon version of Shadow-hunters. We also find out how is Sebastian able to keep control over Jace and why is Jace not the Jace we all love so much. He acts like him. He looks like him. He talks like him. But he is not Jace! He is some kind of a twisted version of Jace who doesn't care about the right. He is completely and utterly under Sebastian's control like a little bitch. Clary is of course desperate to save and bring back her Jace. She slowly gains the trust of Jace and Sebastian's and share adventures with them. 

In the meantime the rest of the gang, well what's left from it - Simon, Isobel, Alec and Magnus are hard-working little bees. Isobel and Jocelyn visit the Silent Sisters to find out how they can break the bond between Jace and Sebastian. They found out that only Demon or Angel sword can do the trick. Magnus decides to raise a demon. Unfortunately, this demon is a little bit of an asshole. He doesn't want to help our friends but also he doesn't want to leave. At the end it's Simon and his Mark of Cain who kills the demon. And then Simon has an idea. He is cursed by the first mark so he is the only one who can raise an Angel and ask for help. So our group of four goes to Luke's farm and decide to raise our friend - Angel Raziel and ask him for help. And Simon is successful. Not only he gets Michael's Sword which is the only weapon which can be use to kill Sebastian without killing Jace, but also he gets rid of the Mark of Cain. Angel takes it back because Simon does not supposed to have it. We also witness some very intimate moments between him and Isobel. Them two are getting closer but Magnus and Alec are a different story. Alec is acting weird and is obsessed with the fact the Magnus is immortal and he is not. He has couple of secret meetings with Camille and he is playing her right in her hand. His insecurity causes a strain  in their relationship. And in the Shadow-hunters fashion, he is not talking to Magnus about it. He is talking to Camille!! Why are Shadowhunters so crappy with relationships and talking to their respective half??

Anyways, in the meantime, Clary dates Jace in Venice. She parties with him and Sebastian in Prague and nearly have sex with Jace in the middle of the club after she got high. Seriously, the girl is finally getting some experience apart from painting and reading comic books. And she is having some bonding time with Sebastian in Paris cafe. But she is still missing her Jace. But one night, after a mission, on which was Jace sent by Sebastian, he comes back as JACE!! HER JACE! He was sent to retrieve The New Mortal Cup and kill Magdalena who made it. In process she stabbed him with an angel knife and the Mark of Lilith which Sebastian uses to control Jace is disfigured. And he and Clary share a moment. But Jace stops them and wants to give himself to Clave for the sins, hurt and damage he caused. Clary desperate to save him, doesn't even listen to him when he says that he doesn't want to live under Sebastian's control. She screams for Sebastian and he takes back the control. Sebastian now fully trusts Clary and tells her the whole plan. He wants to kill every human, every shadow-hunter and he wants to take control over the world. BAD NEWS CLARY! YOUR BROTHER IS A TRUE PSYCHO!!

So after Clary learns the whole plan and re-discoveres her lost ring, she gets in touch with Simon and tells him what is going on. He fills her on the sword information but they are cut off short when Sebastian punches Clary. Them two start to fight with each other. REALLY FIGHT. There is blood and Sebastian even nearly rapes Clary. WTF!!! He is her brother. Seriously, there is something really wrong with that boy! He takes her to the side where is a big gathering of Shadow-hunters who swore loyalty to Valentine and now they are going to be on his side. He actually even kidnaps Amatis, Luke's sister, and turns her into Dark Shadow-hunter. But not everything is going according to his plan. Thanks to Simon, our good Shadow-hunters turn up at the meeting with some help and start fighting. Simon gets Clary the sword. She is all ready for killing Sebastian, but Jace is trying to stop her. And then she realises that there is only one thing she can do. She stabs Jace. Not because she does not love him, BECAUSE SHE LOVES HIM. She trusts Jace's good heart and that there is enough good in him, that the sword would not kill him. And she now realises that the true Jace would rather die that live on under Sebastian's influence and control. When she stabs him, she hears cries of Sebastian as he realises that they have been separated. And Jace burns. The sword burns inside him and burns away and he is sinks into the ground lifeless. Clary cries out. She is calling for him. She is pleading for him to come back and then there is heartbeat and Jace is alive. 

He is taken to back to The Institute where he has a heart-to-heart with Isobel and Alec. He heals from his injuries but there is a slight problem. When Clary visits him and they have their heart-to-heart, he keeps the distance from her. She doesn't understand why. Maybe he is angry with her because she nearly killed him? But that's not the case. Hell has not froze over so Jace could not stop loving Clary. He is just still carrying the fire from the sword inside him and he can't touch anybody because he would burned them. But Clary is different. He can touch her but there is still a possibility he could hurt her so they are taking things slow. When will them to get their moments of happiness?!? They will make a pack that they will find Sebastian and prevent anything he is planning. And they will kill him!

But not everybody gets their happy ending in this book. Magnus discovers what was Alec up to and breaks up with him saying he doesn't want to have anything to do with him or his friends. Alec is heartbroken and wants to kill Camille. But he is too late! Too late because somebody else has already done it. Maureen!! Yes the little bad vampire girl is back in town!! And not only that. On the floor of The Institute is a message left from Sebastian : "I'm coming."

What a great book! It was action packed. It had me on my tip toes all the way through and as usual Cassandra did a great job to keep me entertained from start to finish.

As I mentioned before I loved how this book paid attention not only to relationship between our main couple Clary and Jace but she also took the time with Magnus & Alec's relationship and the feelings developing between Simon and Isobel. I loved how we saw the tenderness and care shared between them two. I really hope that Isobel will get to be with Simon as he is the only one who actually got under her skin and inside her heart. I very much enjoyed the interaction between them too. I adore the chapter where Simon told her the Star Wars story and they spent the night together in purely non-sexual way. 

I have also loved that Cassandra gave some alone time to Clary and Jace, although he was not really her Jace most of the time. At least they got to spend some time together. The sexual tension between them is so strong and unbearable at times. I just want them to be together properly because they didn't have much quality time together yet. I thought that maybe they will finally get to be together in Paris on the night when Jace got himself back but Jace being kind of a gentleman decided that it's not the right time. Because when they are together, he wants them to be the true Clary and true Jace. So so so sweet. And I even enjoyed the sweet moments where he reads to her. Cute overload!! 

But my heart his broken a little bit. It is broken for Magnus and Alec. Them two just got to change their facebook status to IN RELATIONSHIP and Camille and her clever remarks to Alec caused them to break up at the end. I felt like we didn't get enough time for their relationship to develop further. Like somebody stole the moments from us. There must be some more to their story. I hope this is not final and Cassandra will get these six amazing people their happiness. 

This book was again full of witty, very funny and very entertaining dialogues. This time I have enjoyed the return of Jace's sarcastic humour and arrogant, self-loving confidence. I laughed at so many of them. Partially our Jace was still there. In pieces. Mostly we could see it when he was with Clary. The fact that Clary is the love of his life will never change. He can be Jace under Sebastian's control but he will always love Clary in every version of him. And she will always love him. I so hope for their happy ending!!! Please Cassandra! Make it happen!

I have to say that I was glad that this story wasn't only about Jace and Clary and Sebastian. I am truly thankful that Simon and Alec and Isobel and Magnus had their fair share in this book and weren't left on the sidelines. 

The writing was again excellent. Witty. Clever. Cassandra made me cry. She made me laugh. She made me think about things twice. I have loved every page of the book and there is many of quotes I will cherish forever. 

And again, she made sure that I and the rest of the fans will definitely buy the next book and left some many unfinished stories which will conclude in the final book! Although which TMI fan would be so silly and wouldn't want to read the final chapter in our favourite gang's story? Only an idiot. 

I cannot wait for the last book in this series. THE CITY OF HEAVENLY FIRE is coming out MAY 2014. A Year to go people!

But at least we have the movie coming out on August 23rd and Cassandra co-operated with Sarah Rees Brennan and Maureen Johnson and they brough us THE BANE CHRONICLES. And I have the copy of the first one WHAT REALLY HAPPENED IN PERU!

Here are some quotes from this book I have truly enjoyed :

"He'd burn the whole world down till he could dig you out of the ashes. I know," Alec said.”

“As far as I’m concerned, this is the worst thing that’s happened since I found out why Magnus was banned from Peru.” 

“I stabbed you. With a massive sword. You caught on fire."
His lips twitched, almost imperceptibly. "Okay, so maybe our problems aren't like other couples.”


“He grinned. It was a wicked grin, the kind that made the blood in Clary's veins run a little faster. "You want to go on a date?"
Caught off guard, she stammered. "A wh-what?"
"A date," Jace repeated. "Often 'a boring thing you have to memorize in history class,' but in this case, 'an offering of an evening of blisteringly white-hot romance with yours truly."
"Really?" Clary was not sure what to make of this. "Blisteringly white-hot?"
"It's me," said Jace. "Watching me play Scrabble is enough to make most women swoon. Imagine if I actually put in some effort.”


“Do you remember,” he said, “when we first met and I told you I was ninety percent sure putting a rune on you wouldn’t kill you—and you slapped me in the face and told me it was for the other ten percent?” Clary nodded.
“I always figured a demon would kill me,” he said. “A rogue Downworlder. A battle. But I realized then that I just might die if I didn’t get to kiss you, and soon.” Clary licked her dry lips. “Well, you did,” she said. “Kiss me, I mean.”
He reached up and took a curl of her hair between his fingers. He was close enough that she could feel the warmth of his body, smell his soap and skin and hair.
“Not enough,” he said, letting her hair slip through his fingers. “If I kiss you all day every day for the rest of my life, it won’t be enough.”


“Does she still love you?"
"I don't think so," Magnus said dryly. "She wasn't very pleasant the last time I saw her. Of course, that could be because I've got an eighteen year-old boyfriend with a stamina rune and she doesn't."
Alec sputtered. "As the person being objectified, I ... object to that description of me.”


“Simon rolled his eyes. “It’s a good thing we know the person who’s dating Magnus Bane,” he said. “Otherwise, I get the feeling we’d all just lie around all the time wondering what the hell to do next. Or trying to raise the money to hire him by selling lemonade or something.”
Alec looked merely irritated by this comment. “The only way you could raise enough money to hire Magnus by selling lemonade is if you put meth in it.”

“How was the Seelie Queen?"
"Same as usual."
"Raging bitch, then?"
"Pretty much.”

“You may have the worst timing since Napoleon decided the dead of winter was the right moment to invade Russia.” 

“Nerd love. It is a beautiful thing, while also being an object of mockery and hilarity for those of us who are more sophisticated.”

“Take off your shirt."
Jace raised his eyebrows. 
"I'm not going to attack you," she said impatiently. "I can take the sight of your naked chest without swooning."
"Are you sure?" he asked, obediently sliding the shirt off his shoulders. "Because viewing my naked chest has caused many women to seriously injure themselves stampeding to get to me.” 


"But it doesn't change what we are to each other. It's like there's always been a piece of my soul missing, and it's inside you, Clary. I know I told you once that whether God exists or not, we're on our own. But when I'm with you, I'm not.” 

“There are some people—people the universe seems to have singled out for special destinies. Special favors and special torments. God knows we're all drawn toward what's beautiful and broken; I have been, but some people cannot be fixed. Or if they can be; its only by love and sacrifice so great that it destroys the giver.”