City of Fallen Angels (The Mortal Instruments, #4) by Cassandra Clare

Title: City of Fallen Angels

Series: The Mortal Instruments, #4

Author: Cassandra Clare

Pages: 424

Genre: YA Fantasy, urban fantasy

City of Bones Rating: ★★

City of Ashes Rating: ★★★

City of Glass Rating: ★★★★

City of Fallen Angels Rating: ★★

Goodreads Synopsis:

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.

SIGH.

I am going to preface this by saying I was not a huge fan of City of Bones. I gave it 2 stars, but I did end up enjoying the series as a whole. I immensely enjoyed The Infernal Devices, and I feel like the two trilogies cannot be compared. And, quite frankly, I didn’t think three additional TMI books were necessary. But, I know this series means a lot to so many people, and there is a lot of nostalgia tied into it. So let me also point out that I am in my 30’s and this is my first time reading TMI. So there are several tropes and teen drama that I just do not care for anymore.

But with that being said, I think this series is very consumable and has stood well over time despite the YA fantasy market being over saturated with similar books. I am definitely still going to read the rest of this series because I truly do love the world and how all the characters are connected.

There may be some spoilers in this post as I am having a hard time conveying just how much I did not enjoy certain things. So, once again, I’ll shower you with my thoughts!

What I Liked:

1. The subtle clues that tie into The Infernal Devices. I loved seeing the similarities between Isabelle and Cecily. And the silver snuff box was mentioned, too!
2. Brother Zachariah! ❤ I was so happy our Jem made an appearance.
3. I’m super curious how Camille’s role is going to play out in this series. It was nice to see her again after TID.
4. Isabelle is the best. Hands down. She’s the one person who didn’t royally piss me off.

What I Disliked:

1. Simon really disappointed me in this one. I really sympathized with him in the last three books and thought his development was great. But now he’s stringing along two girls at the same time? Huh? I don’t care if y’all haven’t had the “exclusively dating” talk yet. Don’t date two people and then not tell them about the other person!
2. Jace and Clary. Oh boy. I actually don’t despise Clary like others do, but Jace really made me rage in this one. He’s ignoring Clary to protect her!? HOW? Dude. Ya’ll need to work on your communication skills because I just cannot handle how dumb their plot line was.
3. I used to really like Alec but WOW. His whining and anger toward Magnus for *GASP* dating other people in the past was so gross and misguided. Magnus is, like, a bajillion (not really) years old. Did Alec expect Magnus to have never found love in past relationships? Is he not supposed to have ANY possessions from the hundreds of years he’s lived that might have some reminder about a past ex? This story line permanently left me shaking my head.
4. Lilith. What a pointless and useless villain. I get it — they needed a way to bring Sebastian/Jonathan back. But she was such a horrible plot device.
5. Jordan and Maia. Uh, are we going to ignore the abuse? I don’t care if he was just turned into a werewolf. He straight up abused Maia. He needs to go away.
6. The ending… didn’t really have a resolution?

I don’t know. I guess I feel like we are back at square one in City of Bones again, where all of Jace and Clary’s relationship has regressed and we are starting over. I also feel like Alec used to be so mature and level-headed, and now he’s the biggest brat ever. Just WTF happened?

I’m sorry, I truly am not wanting to offend anyone. And I really do think these books have held up well over the years. I think I’ll enjoy the rest of the series more as I’ve heard good things about City of Lost Souls and City of Heavenly Fire. But, yikes, this one just did not do it for me. I’m sad.

xx,

Amy