Book Review: City of Fallen Angels by Cassandra Clare

ISBN: 1442403543
Published: April 5th, 2011
Publisher: Margaret K. McElderry Books
Read from February 2nd to 7th, 2014
Synopsis from Goodreads:

The Mortal War is over, and sixteen-year-old Clary Fray is back home in New York, excited about all the possibilities before her. She’s training to become a Shadowhunter and to use her unique power. Her mother is getting married to the love of her life. Downworlders and Shadowhunters are at peace at last. And—most importantly of all—she can finally call Jace her boyfriend.
But nothing comes without a price.
Someone is murdering Shadowhunters, provoking tensions between Downworlders and Shadowhunters that could lead to a second, bloody war. Clary’s best friend, Simon, can’t help her—his mother just found out that he’s a vampire, and now he’s homeless. When Jace begins to pull away from her without explaining why, Clary is forced to delve into the heart of a mystery whose solution reveals her worst nightmare: she herself has set in motion a terrible chain of events that could lead to her losing everything she loves. Even Jace.
The stakes are higher than ever in the #1 New York Times bestselling fourth installment of the Mortal Instruments series.

Review:

As this series has gone on, it's become harder and harder for me to give these books anything other than five stars. I've seen a lot of really negative reviews for this book in particular, and while I can see some of the points they're making, I really don't understand that negativity. Maybe I've just gone so far into fangirl land at this point that I'll blindly like anything. I don't know. All I can tell you is that I enjoyed this book immensely.

I don't think I've made it a secret in the past that I love Magnus and Alec. While there are a lot of things I love about this series, they are definitely number one. Yes, I was a bit disappointed that they didn't show up until more than halfway through this one, but the idea of them traveling around Europe together is so cute that I'm willing to put up with that. (Seriously, I really want a story about that vacation. I'm so tempted to go look up some fanfiction right now, but I should probably try to avoid spoilers.)

It's a bit hard to talk about a lot of the things I could say because I'd like to keep this review spoiler-free. You'd think that with this book basically being set up for an entirely new plotline that it would be a bit on the boring side, but I didn't feel that way at all. It felt very character-focused, and as I've mentioned in every single Mortal Instruments review of mine, I find that the strongest point of the series.

The ending of the book had me on the edge of my seat. It's definitely a cliff-hanger, and it's left me so upset that I don't have the fifth book yet. I have no idea when I'll actually be able to get the fifth one either, but I really hope that it's sooner rather than later.