{Review} "City Of Lost Souls" by Cassandra Clare

Title:  City Of Lost Souls (Mortal Instruments #5)
Author:  Cassandra Clare
Publisher:  Margaret K. McElderry Books  
Publication Date:  May 8, 2012
Genre:  YA / Paranormal / Romance
Format:  Kindle, 1494 KB

Buy this book on Amazon:  Paperback  Kindle Edition
Author's Website:   http://www.cassandraclare.com/


Synopsis from Goodreads 

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.

Diving In...
**There may be some spoilers in this review.**
 I think since there is so much of the plot in the Goodreads synopsis, I am going to skip all that in my review and just tell you what I think of the book!

It's amazing to me that Cassandra intended to originally end this story after the 3rd book and then she pulls this one out of her hat!  This book, in my opinion, was the best one of the series.  I think it was more well written than the others too.  There was so much happening in this book, but it was in a relatively short amount of time.  It opens up just 2 weeks after the last book ended.  Jace had just disappeared with Sebastian and Clary is mourning his loss while dealing with a trial by the Clave.  That 2 weeks is just relayed in summary really, along with the summary of what happened in the last book.

The kids all decide that they are going to continue to look for Jace even though the Clave has put his case on the back burner, as it were.  This book is more about the relationships between the couples in the book for the most part and maybe that's why I liked it so much.  There is still the usual Shadowhunter fighting and all that, but more about the kids.

Magnus and Alec's relationship goes through the most change in this book, I think.  Magnus Bane has always been one of my favorite characters in this series and I love him even more after this book.  He is more human in this book than in any of the others.  Alec is less human in this book and he is in danger off falling off the edge and that puts a chasm between he and Magnus that they may never be able to cross.  I cried for Magnus in the end and I was and still am angry at Alec.  I don't know how I feel about him anymore.

Maia and Jordan get their act together and work through what happened in their past.  They finally both admit that they still love each other and they always have.

Izzy finally comes to the conclusion one night, while she is drunk, that she is in love with Simon.  She doesn't want to be and she is jealous of his relationship with Clary, but she does love him.  I think Simon has always had a thing for Izzy, but he was in love with Clary.  He has come to terms with the fact that Clary loves Jace and that he will never be with her.  I think he is okay with that, and he does have feelings for Izzy.  I think we will get more of their story in the next book for sure.

Now for Jace and Clary...it's hard to believe at times that she is so young.  The way she feels for Jace is so big at times that she seems much more mature.  It's not hard to believe their love though, it seems much more natural in these books now that the question of family connections has been sorted out.  Honestly though, they have always fit for me.  There was no question that they were meant to be together.  She takes a big risk going with him, even with the ring, but I have to say that I would have done the same thing in her shoes.  She knows that he is not "her Jace" but she needs to be with him regardless.  Throughout this time she struggles with the feeling of knowing he is not quite right.  She knows that he is inside there, and most of the time he acts like her Jace, but there is something dark inside him that she only gets small glimpses of.  It's enough, though, to make her realize that they need to do whatever they can to sever his connection to Sebastian.

There are times in this book that I really wanted to like Sebastian, but there is just enough darkness there that it was hard.  I knew that if I started to like him I would end up regretting it and I was right!  He never quite manages to fool Clary though.  I think she has in the back of her mind at certain points that maybe he wouldn't be so bad to have for a brother, but he always manages to screw something up.

Simon really goes to bat for the team in this book.  He is truly the one who saves them.  He is willing to die to make a deal with Raziel for the sword that they need to sever the connection between Jace and Sebastian.  It comes down to Clary in the end, she has to do something she never wanted to do to save the boy she loves.

Cassandra has her work cut out for her in the next book!  There were a lot of details left undone in this book, but I am sure it's all just set up for the next book.  I just hope it's as good as this one.

This is a YA title so there is no real profanity.  There is some "hooking up", but it's all done in true YA fashion, cut to next scene kind of action.  There are some pretty steamy make out scenes that Cassandra is so good at writing.  There is a Fae Night Club scene complete with faerie drugs, it's not too over the top though.

I would and probably will read this one again since the next one isn't going to be out for 2 more years!  I definitely recommend it if you have read all the rest and if you haven't then go out and get them, you won't be disappointed.  If you don't like a long wait, then just wait until 2014 and then read them all!

Rating 9/10

Other books in this series:  City of Bones, City of Ashes, City of Glass, City of Fallen Angels