Sunday, July 22, 2012
Review of City of Lost Souls by Cassandra Clare (Spoilers for books 1-4)
12:30 PM | Posted by
Alexis Ladig
WARNING! SPOILERS FOR BOOKS 1-4 MAY BE INCLUDED
Title: City of Lost Souls
Author: Cassandra Clare
Release Date: May 8th, 2012
Source: Walmart (I know, I know)
Publisher: Margaret K. McElderry
Format: First Edition Hardback
Pages In This Edition: 534
Rating: 4/5 Stars
On the Cover:
Beyond the Cover:
Summary 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?
Love. Blood. Betrayal. Revenge. Darkness threatens to claim the Shadowhunters in the harrowing fifth book of the Mortal Instruments series."
Title: City of Lost Souls
Author: Cassandra Clare
Release Date: May 8th, 2012
Source: Walmart (I know, I know)
Publisher: Margaret K. McElderry
Format: First Edition Hardback
Pages In This Edition: 534
Rating: 4/5 Stars
On the Cover:
Beyond the Cover:
Summary 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?
Love. Blood. Betrayal. Revenge. Darkness threatens to claim the Shadowhunters in the harrowing fifth book of the Mortal Instruments series."
Review:
I'm in love with Cassandra Clare's writing style and characters. For that reason (and also because I need my yearly dose of Jace's amazing snarkyness) this was one of my most anticipated reads of 2012. The Mortal Instruments Series has long been one of my favorites, and this book was just another great addition to an already great series.
Let's start with the characters. I have absolutely love all of them. Jace and Magnus are my favorites because of their wit and humor, but every single character this author puts on the page has something that I love. The depth to her characters astounds me; it's like a onion that has endless layers to peel off. I have no idea how she keeps it all straight. She must have endless notebooks full of traits for all of her characters or something. I would love to ask her how she develops her characters. Also, how does she think up the funny as hell dialogue?? I bet she could write for a stand-up comic.
Pacing and plot: the first was okay and the second was great. The pacing was the only problem I had with this book. I felt like the first 200 or so pages were kind of slow, and the only thing that had me keep reading was the characters and the dialogue. Thank god it didn't last that way forever. By the middle of the book I was on the edge of my seat. If fact, I finished that last 250 pages all in one sitting. I was even posting chapter updates on Twitter because I was so excited. The plot was definitely great. Clare is great at crafting an amazing story. The twists and turns in the plot have me guessing all the time, which is super important in a book that is as long as this one is. I was sad at the end though because of a certain thing. Maybe this will be worked out in book six though. I sure hope so!!
This wasn't my favorite book in the series (City of Glass is) but it's still good book to read. Now all I have left to do is wait for book six to come out. A WHOLE YEAR. I'm going to die. Definitely pick this up if you are a fan of the series. Stick with the beginning and I'm sure you'll love it. :)
Labels:
2012,
Cassandra Clare,
City of Lost Souls,
July,
Reviews
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
About Me
- Alexis Ladig
- Hi I'm Alexis and I love sharing my love of reading and writing with the world.This blog is an outlet for me to express myself and my opinions, and show other bookish people some awesome things to explore in the world of literature!
About the Blog
With Beyond the Cover, I want to help people interested in YA with a resource to refer to. This blog will be composed of reviews as well as other book related subjects.
Grab My Button
Followers
Follow Me on Networked Blogs
Currently Reading
My Rating Scale
Reading Challenges
Powered by Blogger.
Labels
2011
(48)
Reviews
(43)
YA
(36)
TBR
(21)
2012
(18)
In My Mailbox
(17)
August
(15)
September
(12)
The Story Siren
(12)
November
(9)
October
(9)
Giveaways
(7)
July
(7)
Blog Tour
(5)
Book Haul
(5)
Jen Nadol
(5)
The Mark
(5)
Waiting on Wednesday
(5)
December
(4)
Graphic Novels
(4)
Guest Post
(4)
SWAG
(4)
2014
(3)
Challenges
(3)
June
(3)
New Releases
(3)
Read-A-Thon
(3)
Wrap-Up
(3)
Blake Nelson
(2)
Blogoversary
(2)
February
(2)
March
(2)
May
(2)
Reading
(2)
Simone Elkeles
(2)
The Experience
(2)
The Rising Moon
(2)
The Vision
(2)
Updates
(2)
2011 Wrap-Up
(1)
2013
(1)
A Bad Day for Voodoo
(1)
A.S. King
(1)
Against All Odds
(1)
Aliaa El-Nashar
(1)
Amanda Hocking
(1)
American Born Chinese
(1)
Anyas Ghost. Vera Brosgol
(1)
April
(1)
April Henry
(1)
Awards
(1)
Banned Books Week
(1)
Because I Am Furniture
(1)
Ben Hatke
(1)
Birthdays
(1)
Blog Redesign
(1)
Blogging
(1)
Blogovation Design
(1)
Book List
(1)
Books Ahoy
(1)
Burned
(1)
Caged Moon
(1)
Cambio
(1)
Carolee Dean
(1)
Carolyn Mackler
(1)
Cassandra Clare
(1)
Choker
(1)
City of Lost Souls
(1)
College
(1)
Comeback
(1)
Crossroads
(1)
Darker Still
(1)
Dash and Lily's Book of Dares
(1)
Daughter of Smoke and Bone
(1)
David Levithan
(1)
Defy the Stars
(1)
Destroy
(1)
Distance Between Us
(1)
Elisabeth Wheatley
(1)
Elizabeth Woods
(1)
Ellen Hopkins
(1)
Embrace
(1)
Failure
(1)
First Second
(1)
Free Books
(1)
Gene Luen Yang
(1)
Goals
(1)
Harmony
(1)
Hilary Florido
(1)
Hold Still
(1)
J.T. Petty
(1)
Jay Asher
(1)
Jeff Horton
(1)
Jeff Strand
(1)
Jessica Shirvington
(1)
John Green
(1)
Jonathon Hill
(1)
Kasie West
(1)
L.A. Candy
(1)
Laini Taylor
(1)
Lauren Barnholdt
(1)
Lauren Conrad
(1)
Lauren Oliver
(1)
Leanna Renee Hieber
(1)
Leaving Paradise
(1)
Legends of Zita the Spacegirl
(1)
MK Reed
(1)
Magic Most Foul
(1)
Mary Ting
(1)
Michelle Hodkin
(1)
Miranda Kenneally
(1)
Mystery
(1)
Negative
(1)
New Book News
(1)
New Year
(1)
Nilsa Rodriguez
(1)
Nina LaCour
(1)
Nina Malkin
(1)
Pandemonium
(1)
Please Ignore Vera Dietz
(1)
RAK
(1)
Rachel Cohn
(1)
Rachel Deagan
(1)
Recovery Road
(1)
Return to Paradise
(1)
Romance
(1)
Sonya Bria
(1)
Stealing Parker
(1)
Stephanie Parent
(1)
Switched
(1)
Swoon
(1)
Take Me There
(1)
Thalia Chaltas
(1)
Thank You
(1)
The Dark Age
(1)
The Fault in Our Stars
(1)
The Future of Us
(1)
The Night She Disappeared
(1)
The Secrets of the Vanmars
(1)
The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer
(1)
Watch Me
(1)
Winning
(1)
1 comments:
Oh well, 6 yrs is such a long journey.. we hope that you could still continue doing your daily dose of your blog..
Estetik
Post a Comment
Comments are my favorite! Please feel free to say whatever you like. I love reading comments.
--Alexis