Wednesday, May 23, 2012

City of Lost Souls by Cassandra Clare


Spoilers for previous books in the series!

Synopsis

The demon Lilith has been destroyed and Jace has been freed from her captivity. But when the Shadowhunters arrive to rescue him, they find only blood and broken glass. Not only is the boy Clary loves missing–but so is the boy she hates, Sebastian, the son of her father Valentine: a son determined to succeed where their father failed, and bring the Shadowhunters to their knees.

No magic the Clave can summon can locate either boy, but Jace cannot stay away—not from Clary. When they meet again Clary discovers the horror Lilith’s dying magic has wrought—Jace is no longer the boy she loved. He and Sebastian are now bound to each other, and Jace has become what he most feared: a true servant of Valentine’s evil. The Clave is determined to destroy Sebastian, but there is no way to harm one boy without destroying the other. Will the Shadowhunters hesitate to kill one of their own?

Only a small band of Clary and Jace’s friends and family believe that Jace can still be saved — and that the fate of the Shadowhunters’ future may hinge on that salvation. They must defy the Clave and strike out on their own. Alec, Magnus, Simon and Isabelle must work together to save Jace: bargaining with the sinister Faerie Queen, contemplating deals with demons, and turning at last to the Iron Sisters, the reclusive and merciless weapons makers for the Shadowhunters, who tell them that no weapon on this earth can sever the bond between Sebastian and Jace. Their only chance of cutting Jace free is to challenge Heaven and Hell — a risk that could claim any, or all, of their lives.

And they must do it without Clary. For Clary has gone into the heart of darkness, to play a dangerous game utterly alone. The price of losing the game is not just her own life, but Jace’s soul. She’s willing to do anything for Jace, but can she even still trust him? Or is he truly lost? What price is too high to pay, even for love?

Darkness threatens to claim the Shadowhunters in the harrowing fifth book of the Mortal Instruments series.

Well, that's quite a synopsis - and a lot of ground to cover. If you're reading this I'm going to presume you've read the previous books for the series but although I can't avoid spoilers for those I won't reveal the outcome of the plot for this book. Ready? Okay. So as you can see Jace is in a bit of a predicament: bound to Sebastian with no obvious way of splitting them up. Kill one and you kill the other. The greater demon Lillith is responsible for this bond and it appears that it's pretty much impossible to divide them again. All this, of course, suits Sebastian down to the ground and Jace also appears to be happy with the development. When Clary finally sees him he's both Jace and … not Jace. Fed up with being sidelined and babied, Clary makes a monumental decision and decides to join them to find out what Sebastian is up to.

I think the scenes with Clary and not-Jace are some of the most compelling of the series so far. We know Jace pretty well by now and his and Clary's dynamic is both touching and explosive. Not-Jace appears at first to be a more complete and happy person but the longer Clary spends with them the more she discovers. Also, this is the book where Clary kicks some serious ass. All those Shadowhunter fighting classes have paid off and she gets to explore her new talents. She proves that she's able to take care of herself although it seems at times that she may have got herself into more trouble than she anticipated.

I have a deep love for Mortal Instruments books not just because of Jace and Clary. For me, it's as much about the other characters. Simon it's just amazing in this book. I was cheering him on as he balances his (mostly) platonic love for Clary with his interest in Isabelle. God, I love them so much as a couple and was willing them together - grinding my teeth when I was scared they might near-miss. Then, of course, there's the wonderful Magnus and Alec - just the cutest couple ever. However, Alec is in danger of making a mess of things by worrying about his own immortality rather than enjoying the moment.

Another brilliant edition in the series. The world is a better place with the Mortal Instruments in it.

I'm meeting Cassandra Clare as part of her UK City of Lost Souls book tour. I'm going to be asking her questions about the wonderful Magnus and Alec so please, if you have a burning question pop it in the comments and I'll be sure to ask her.

1 comment:

France said...

Well the book was okay but clare went over clarys part a little to much. The situation with clary and jace was confussing. I was glad when magnus and alec broke up because alec became winny and said that magnus did this he did that seriuosly magnus is what 800 somthing years old it would be werid if he didnt do anything. A think clare put maia and jordan in the book for closure for them i do hope they are in the next book.