Book Review: City of Fallen Angels by Cassandra Clare

City of Fallen Angels by Cassandra Clare

Release Date:

Publisher:

Rating: 1 out of 5

Recommended? If you're a die-hard fan of the series. Otherwise, I'd give it a miss.

Buy the Book: Amazon US

City of Fallen Angels takes place two months after the events of City of Glass. In it, a mysterious someone’s killing the Shadowhunters who used to be in Valentine’s Circle and displaying their bodies around New York City in a manner designed to provoke hostility between Downworlders and Shadowhunters, leaving tensions running high in the city and disrupting Clary’s plan to lead as normal a life as she can — training to be a Shadowhunter, and pursuing her relationship with Jace. As Jace and Clary delve into the issue of the murdered Shadowhunters, they discover a mystery that has deeply personal consequences for them — consequences that may strengthen their relationship, or rip it apart forever. 

Meanwhile, internecine warfare among vampires is tearing the Downworld community apart, and only Simon — the Daylighter who everyone wants on their side — can decide the outcome; too bad he wants nothing to do with Downworld politics. Love, blood, betrayal and revenge: the stakes are higher than ever in City of Fallen Angels. - Goodreads page

*Warning – this review contains spoilers from the previous books in the series. I don’t suggest reading this review unless you’ve read the other books. Of course, if you enjoy spoilers then go right ahead! This review is also kind of a rant. I apologise in advance.*

Like what seems like everyone else in the YA blogoverse, I was so frikkin’ excited to read this book. I thought the TMI series was over with City of Glass, and yet I was craving more Jace and Clary, and Magnus Bane!

City of Fallen Angels picks up a short six weeks after City of Glass ended. The first chapter – which you may well have read online – is told from Simon’s point of view. That’s right, a whole chapter dedicated to one POV! Unheard of in this series, right? Until now at least.

During the first few chapters, the reader really gets a feel for how much the world – and the characters - has changed. First off, Simon is now dating both Isabelle and Maia. Yeah, I felt the same way. What the hell, Simon? I lost a bit of respect for him there, to be honest.

The main plot is that a series of Shadowhunters have been killed, and this in itself sounded very similar to the plot of City of Ashes. I did enjoy the storyline, but it wasn’t until the last few chapters of the book that it picked up and I started loving it.

SLIGHT SPOILER

One plot point, however, was one that I hated and that I wish had never been included. I won’t say when or why, but Isabelle and Alec end up killing humans. This is so out of character for them, and for all Shadowhunters, because they’re meant to protect humans. And worst of all, Isabelle and Alec DIDN’T CARE?! It didn’t affect them at all.

SPOILERS OVER

Also, I must point out something about Izzy and Alec. As you know, their brother was killed in City of Glass – a mere six weeks ago – and yet the only person who seems to be showing any emotion about this is Maryse. I can’t remember one instance in which Izzy or Alec think about Max, let alone grieve him. This part almost killed me, because I know for a fact that if my brother or sister had died, I would NOT have dealt their death in six weeks. Probably not even in six months.

Jace is also having a few problems that I will not go into, but I’ll just say that it was very frustrating to say the least. His relationship with Clary is still as complicated as ever, and that got on my nerves. Why can’t they just be happy? Must the woes of their relationship be dragged through another three books? It’s not necessary. I’d rather see them as a happy couple – which you don’t see very often in YA!

Clary, who was once a brilliant protagonist, didn’t have much to do in this book. And it wasn’t until the ending that she actually reminded me of the old Clary from the first half of the series.


I loved that there were some references and mentions from Clockwork Angel (The Infernal Devices series)! I got so excited, I almost jumped around and happy danced whenever Will was mentioned!

Like I said, the ending is probably one of the only parts of this book that reminded me of the first half of the series. And yet, even this was lacking somewhat. There is a HUGE cliffhanger ending, so if you don’t like cliffhangers then I don’t suggest reading this book until the next book is out. But then again, you’d have to wait a whole year.

Overall, whilst I did enjoy City of Fallen Angels, it didn’t feel like The Mortal Instruments to me. So many things had changed, and the characters seemed to have completely lost their personality traits. Even the writing seemed very rushed, with lots of commas thrown in everywhere. I did enjoy this book, but nowhere near as much as the others. I kind of wish that Cassandra Clare had just left the trilogy as it was – a trilogy.