In 2007 Cassandra Clare released one of the most amazing books in YA genre, the novel THE MORTAL INSTRUMENTS : CITY OF BONES. And this book took over the world and became an instant international best seller followed by future instalments : CITY OF ASHES, CITY OF GLASS, CITY OF FALLEN ANGELS and CITY OF LOST SOULS. Each book found it's place on New York Times bestselling list with major fandom growing by day. But the series wasn't finished yet... Clare had one last instalment to publish and we all have been counting down the days.
That it happened. May 27th 2014. CITY OF HEAVENLY FIRE has been published and the story of MORTAL INSTRUMENTS finally came to the end. But what can we expect from the final book? Will it measure to the success of its previous brothers and sisters? Or will it be a major disappointment for the fans? Clare is one of my favourite authors and these books have become one of my favourites (although I do still prefer INFERNAL DEVICES.. but it's a secret), so I am expecting great things from this book. Will it satisfy my needs?
The answer is ... HELL YES!!! Wow, I thought that the final book of Infernal Devices: Clockwork Princess was a brilliant ending to the series, but CITY OF HEAVENLY FIRE managed to top it off.
We are coming back to the familiar world of shadow hunters, vampires, werewolves, faeries, demons, warlocks.. it's welcoming us with an open arms and with a bang. Straight to the action. No messing about. Sebastian is on his path of revenge. Attacking institutes and turning shadow hunters to his will by making them drink from Infernal cup and forgetting all they were. Turning them to Endarken. Clave is worried. Nobody knows how to stop him. The only weapon - Heavenly Fire - is now running in Jace's veins and he doesn't know how to use it. All the citizens and protectors of Allicante are moving back to Allicante to protect each other. Clary and Jace know what Sebastian wants. Them - especially Clary - and to rule the world of darkness. And they have a time limit. He is slowly getting want he wants and the shadow hunters are at the end of ways how to stop him. So after disappearance of Magnus, Luke, Jocelyn and Raphael, our group of friends (Jace, Clary, Alec, Isabelle and Simon) decides to enter the demon dimension of Edom in order to rescue the ones they love and maybe figure out how to stop Sebastian from destroying the world. Will there be enough time to stop him or are they too late?
Secondly I would like to thank the publisher for keeping the look of the books with the other. No hardback edition, just the good old paperback with beautiful illustration which matches its previous instalments. It's bigger though. A lot bigger. Which means we are in for a treat.
Clare managed to tie the ends of story in the right way. We have come to the end with explosive finale which left me breathless. The writing continue in the true fashion of Clare's. Easy to follow. Entertaining. Thrilling. Exciting. And full of oh-my-god-i-cannot-believe-that-this-has-just-happened moments. It's was like eating in a posh restaurant where every course is better and better and it all finishes off with mouthwatering chocolate dessert and tasteful cup of coffee. Everything was just perfect.
I have loved how Clare connected the story of Infernal Devices with the current happening in Mortal Instruments and slowly giving us a taste of The Dark Artifices. We had the opportunity to not only follow the story of Jace and Clary and her friends, but we also had the chance to meet Emma and Julian who will take the centre stage in the new book series. But my favourite part? Brother Zachariah becoming Jem again!! Wow. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Jem, my favourite shadow hunter and my favourite character from all Cassandra's books is back. I could not be happier when I read the chapter where we finally found out how he stop being being a Silent Brother. And Tessa is back as well. AMAZING.
I enjoyed the developments and twists which seemed to be on every page of this book. Every chapter something unexpected happened. Just when I thought I have it all figured out and there is nothing which can make it worse...BOOM, there is another new twist! I have laughed. I have cried. In the last 3 chapter I was sobbing like a child. This is the right way to end one fantastic book series.
But the second great surprise for me was that this time, I wasn't routing for Clary & Jace. Not even Magnus & Alec. The true couple and the ones who became the true heroes of this book for me are SIMON & IZZY! These two just stole the show for me. I have loved their will they - won't they relationship from the start, but this book just took it to an extra level with Simon eventually making the biggest sacrifice and the most mind-blowing thing in the book. B-R-I-L-L-I-A-N-T.
There are so many things I want to mention but that would be me spoiling this wonderful experience for you. So I am going to stop now. All in all, there is nothing which was wrong with it. Nothing at all. Not one bit.
THIS IS HOW A BOOK SERIES SHOULD END. A lot of book series authors should be inspired by Clare's writing. She knows how to write an explosive finale. I have loved every page of it. And cannot wait to read it again.
Not only she managed to surprise me with fantastic ending, but she added an extra extract from her upcoming series from the Shadow World - THE DARK ARTIFICES. She certainly know how to treat her fans. Plus not to mention the comic strip in the UK version which makes you to become a comic book fan. Well done Cassandra Clare. You have done it again!
And thank you for acknowledging the love for fans! In her Acknowledgment for the book she wrote (in true Cassandra Clare's fashion) :
"Them that I love, know that I love them. This time I want to thank my readers, who have stuck with me through this whole epic roller coaster of a saga, through cliff-hangers and angst and feels. I wouldn't trade you for all the glitter in Magnus's loft."
This is why I love her, her writing and her stories. She is one of us!! People who dream and when her dreams came true, she didn't forget about her readers. She thanked us for all the continuous support. And that is a sign of a good person and wonderful writer.
See you soon Ms Clare. Counting down the months till we can start a new adventure together. Autumn 2015, THE DARK ARTIFICES: LADY MIDNIGHT should graze us with its presents on our book shelves and in local book stores. Can't wait!!
Extracts AKA quotes I loved:
“Okayyyyy,” Isabelle said in a low voice, “When did Brother Zachariah get hot?”
“Did Brother Zachariah just steal our cat?”
“Oh, God, the lovebirds,” Magnus said, pulling the pillow off his face. “I hate happy couples.”
“Alec pulled his knees up to his chest and looked thoughtfully at Jace. “I know,” he said. “I’m not jealous. I always knew, from the first, that everyone thought you were better than me. My dad thought it. The Clave thought it. Izzy and Max looked up to you as the great warrior they wanted to be like. But the day you asked me to be your parabatai, I knew you meant that you trusted me enough to ask me to help you. You were telling me that you weren’t this lone and self-sufficient warrior able to do everything alone. You needed me. So I realized that there was one person who didn’t assume you were better than me. You.”
“Jem: Come in.
Jace: Where's Brother Zachariah?
Jem: I'm right here. Jace Herondale. And once more a Herondale is the object of my deliverance. I should have anticipated.”
“A parabatai. Like he was. And Jace knew, too, what that faded rune meant: a parabatai whose other half was dead. He felt his sympathy leap toward Brother Zachariah, as he imagined himself without Alec, with only that faded rune to remind him where once he had been bonded to someone who knew all the best and worst parts of his soul.”
“I did not make a pie,” Alec repeated, gesturing expressively with one hand, “for three reasons. One, because I do not have any pie ingredients. Two, because I don’t actually
know how to make a pie.”
He paused, clearly waiting.
Removing his sword and leaning it against the cave wall, Jace said warily, “And three?”
“Because I am not your bitch,” Alec said, clearly pleased with himself.”
“I think they’ll probably put that on my gravestone. ‘He Was Heterosexual and Had Low Expectations.”
“Temper us in fire, and we grow stronger. When we suffer, we survive.”
“Heroes aren't always the ones who win," she said. "They're the ones who lose, sometimes. But they keep fighting, they keep coming back. They don't give up. That's what makes them heroes.”
“We are all the pieces of what we remember. We hold in ourselves the hopes and fears of those who love us. As long as there is love and memory, there is no true loss.”
“Brother Zachariah,” Isabelle said. “Months January through December of the Hot Silent Brothers Calendar. What’s he doing here?”
“There’s a Hot Silent Brothers Calendar?” said Alec. “Do they sell it?”
“Because the world isn't divided into the special and the ordinary. Everyone has the potential to be extra ordinary.”
“When our hearts break, they break into shards that cannot be easily fit back together.”
“There are a hundred trillion cells in the human body, and every single one of the cells of my body loves you. We shed cells, and grow new ones, and my new cells love you more than the old ones, which is why I love you more every day than I did the day before. It’s science. And when I die and they burn my body and I become ashes that mix with the air, and part of the ground and the trees and the stars, everyone who breathes that air or sees the flowers that grow out of the ground or looks up at the stars will remember you and love you, because I love you that much.”
“I think sometimes we are reckless with our hearts the way we are with our lives. When we give them away, we give every piece. And if we do not get what we so desperately need, how do we live?”
“If you never tell anyone the truth about yourself, eventually you start to forget. The love, the heartbreak, the joy, the despair, the things I did that were good, the things I did that were shameful--if I kept them all inside, my memories of them would start to disappear. And then I would disappear.”
“Sharp are the arrows of a broken heart.”
“Herondales." Zachariah's voice was a breath, half laughter, half pain. "I had almost forgotten. No other family does so much for love, or feels so much guilt for it. Don't carry the weight of the world on you, Jace. It's too heavy for even a Herondale to bear.”
“There are things our souls want, and mine wants you.”
“What happens in the demon realms stays in the demon realms,” said Jace.”
“Value your parabatai," he said. "For it is a precious bond. All love is precious. It is why we do what we do. Why do we fight demons? Why are they not fit custodians of this world? What makes us better? It is because they do not build, but destroy. They do not love, but hate only. We are human and fallible, we Shadowhunters. But if we did not have the capability to love, we could not guard humans; we must love to guard them. My parabatai, he loved like few ever could love, with all and everything. I see you are like that too; it burns more brightly in you than the fire of Heaven”
“Family isn't blood. It's the people who love you. The people who have your back.”
“Did Brother Zachariah just steal our cat?”
“Oh, God, the lovebirds,” Magnus said, pulling the pillow off his face. “I hate happy couples.”
“Alec pulled his knees up to his chest and looked thoughtfully at Jace. “I know,” he said. “I’m not jealous. I always knew, from the first, that everyone thought you were better than me. My dad thought it. The Clave thought it. Izzy and Max looked up to you as the great warrior they wanted to be like. But the day you asked me to be your parabatai, I knew you meant that you trusted me enough to ask me to help you. You were telling me that you weren’t this lone and self-sufficient warrior able to do everything alone. You needed me. So I realized that there was one person who didn’t assume you were better than me. You.”
“Jem: Come in.
Jace: Where's Brother Zachariah?
Jem: I'm right here. Jace Herondale. And once more a Herondale is the object of my deliverance. I should have anticipated.”
“A parabatai. Like he was. And Jace knew, too, what that faded rune meant: a parabatai whose other half was dead. He felt his sympathy leap toward Brother Zachariah, as he imagined himself without Alec, with only that faded rune to remind him where once he had been bonded to someone who knew all the best and worst parts of his soul.”
“I did not make a pie,” Alec repeated, gesturing expressively with one hand, “for three reasons. One, because I do not have any pie ingredients. Two, because I don’t actually
know how to make a pie.”
He paused, clearly waiting.
Removing his sword and leaning it against the cave wall, Jace said warily, “And three?”
“Because I am not your bitch,” Alec said, clearly pleased with himself.”
“I think they’ll probably put that on my gravestone. ‘He Was Heterosexual and Had Low Expectations.”
“Temper us in fire, and we grow stronger. When we suffer, we survive.”
“Heroes aren't always the ones who win," she said. "They're the ones who lose, sometimes. But they keep fighting, they keep coming back. They don't give up. That's what makes them heroes.”
“We are all the pieces of what we remember. We hold in ourselves the hopes and fears of those who love us. As long as there is love and memory, there is no true loss.”
“Brother Zachariah,” Isabelle said. “Months January through December of the Hot Silent Brothers Calendar. What’s he doing here?”
“There’s a Hot Silent Brothers Calendar?” said Alec. “Do they sell it?”
“Because the world isn't divided into the special and the ordinary. Everyone has the potential to be extra ordinary.”
“When our hearts break, they break into shards that cannot be easily fit back together.”
“There are a hundred trillion cells in the human body, and every single one of the cells of my body loves you. We shed cells, and grow new ones, and my new cells love you more than the old ones, which is why I love you more every day than I did the day before. It’s science. And when I die and they burn my body and I become ashes that mix with the air, and part of the ground and the trees and the stars, everyone who breathes that air or sees the flowers that grow out of the ground or looks up at the stars will remember you and love you, because I love you that much.”
“I think sometimes we are reckless with our hearts the way we are with our lives. When we give them away, we give every piece. And if we do not get what we so desperately need, how do we live?”
“If you never tell anyone the truth about yourself, eventually you start to forget. The love, the heartbreak, the joy, the despair, the things I did that were good, the things I did that were shameful--if I kept them all inside, my memories of them would start to disappear. And then I would disappear.”
“Sharp are the arrows of a broken heart.”
“Herondales." Zachariah's voice was a breath, half laughter, half pain. "I had almost forgotten. No other family does so much for love, or feels so much guilt for it. Don't carry the weight of the world on you, Jace. It's too heavy for even a Herondale to bear.”
“There are things our souls want, and mine wants you.”
“What happens in the demon realms stays in the demon realms,” said Jace.”
“Value your parabatai," he said. "For it is a precious bond. All love is precious. It is why we do what we do. Why do we fight demons? Why are they not fit custodians of this world? What makes us better? It is because they do not build, but destroy. They do not love, but hate only. We are human and fallible, we Shadowhunters. But if we did not have the capability to love, we could not guard humans; we must love to guard them. My parabatai, he loved like few ever could love, with all and everything. I see you are like that too; it burns more brightly in you than the fire of Heaven”
“Family isn't blood. It's the people who love you. The people who have your back.”
You seem so pleased writing this book review! I definitely agree, it was a fabulous ending to the series. I have yet to read the Infernal Devices but now I can see it is so twisted in with this one, I just have to go read it! Nice job on the review ;) Sizzy all the way!
ReplyDeleteCheck out my review: http://olivia-savannah.blogspot.nl/2014/06/city-of-heavenly-fire-book-review.html
haha. I've been waiting for ages to write this book review! I just love the series although I do prefer Infernal Devices (which you should read BTW). Will make sure to read your review :) Sizzy is a great word by the way. Nearly as good as OLICITY haha
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