Review: City of Heavenly Fire by Cassandra Clare

ABOUT THE BOOK

City of Heavenly Fire

by Cassandra Clare
The Mortal Instruments, #6

In this dazzling and long-awaited conclusion to the acclaimed Mortal Instruments series, Clary and her friends fight the greatest evil they have ever faced: Clary's own brother.

Sebastian Morgenstern is on the move, systematically turning Shadowhunter against Shadowhunter. Bearing the Infernal Cup, he transforms Shadowhunters into creatures out of nightmare, tearing apart families and lovers as the ranks of his Endarkened army swell.

The embattled Shadowhunters withdraw to Idris - but not even the famed demon towers of Alicante can keep Sebastian at bay. And with the Nephilim trapped in Idris, who will guard the world against demons?

When one of the greatest betrayals the Nephilim have ever known is revealed, Clary, Jace, Isabelle, Simon, and Alec must flee - even if their journey takes them deep into the demon realms, where no Shadowhunter has set foot before, and from which no human being has ever returned...

Love will be sacrificed and lives lost in the terrible battle for the fate of the word in the thrilling final installment of the classic urban fantasy series The Mortal Instruments!

REVIEW

The inscription reminds me that Shadowhunters are the Angel's weapons. Temper us in the fire, and we grow stronger. When we suffer, we survive."

Oh my, I don't even know where to begin with this.. I have been in awe of this series since I first picked up City of Bones. It completely hooks you in and doesn't let you go. These characters stay with you long after you've closed the book. I remember the first night I began reading about Clary and the Shadow World. I remember dreaming about it and knowing that this was going to be a series that stuck with me. And it has.

After all that these beautiful people have been through, it apparently isn't enough. In City of Heavenly Fire, they are faced with something far greater than anything they've ever dealt with and it sure seems like it's the end of the world. Literally. You are so sure that Sebastian is going to win the war. He's going on a very strategic rampage of killing and turning Shadowhunters against each other. And in the midst of it all are these children whose lives are forever changed because of it.

I never would have guessed that the opening scene of City of Heavenly Fire would begin with Emma Carstairs in the Los Angeles Institute and it completely threw me off. I had to look at the cover again just to be sure I had received and began reading the correct book! I'm actually pleased that she became a prominent character at the end of the series because now when I start reading Lady Midnight, I'll already be attached to her and the other characters. I'll already have a sense of who she is and who they are and it will make it that much easier to be swept away in the story when I do read it. I'm loving her and and her spunk and loyalty to the Blackthorns and Julian.

City of Heavenly Fire does bounce around a lot. We shift from character to character, from Emma to Maia to Clary to Jace to Simon to Izzy to Alec to Magnus and so on. Cassandra flawlessly sweeps through each scene, giving us a rather large picture of everything that is going on in the war. We find out things that are happening or going to happen before they do and at times you're yelling "NO! Don't do it! It's a trap!" We're given so many details about the situations from multiple angles and it really makes everything come full circle. I love getting so wrapped up in the story like this.

Of course that makes the heartbreak even more heart wrenching when it does finally come, and YES, people do die. And it completely guts you. So many things go wrong and so many things go right and you wonder what they could have done differently to make certain things NOT happen, but of course it had to happen that way for the story to progress as it did. But you still don't want it to.

And what would be a Cassandra Clare novel without its wit and humor?? There is plenty of it. You always have to have light where there is darkness and Cassie has always weaved the two together seamlessly. I think that's one of the things I truly love about her writing. When there's despair there's always going to be something to make you laugh shortly after. And in the middle of the war-torn Shadow World, there is A LOT of romance. Whether it be the kind that makes your heart soar or the kind that makes you come undone, it's all there. And I loved every minute of it. Can I have more please??

Overall, I am very happy with how this series wrapped up. It was such a great conclusion. Some things, I wish could have been different but I do feel it was a wonderful ending to a fantastic series. The Mortal Instruments will always hold a special place in my heart and I can't wait to read more about the Shadowhunters and continue on with Emma in Lady Midnight.

Rating:

THE MORTAL INSTRUMENT SERIES

AUTHOR

About Cassandra Clare

Cassandra Clare was born overseas and spent her early years traveling around the world with her family and several trunks of fantasy books. Cassandra worked for several years as an entertainment journalist for the Hollywood Reporter before turning her attention to fiction. She is the author of City of Bones, the first book in the Mortal Instruments trilogy and a New York Times bestseller. Cassandra lives with her fiance and their two cats in Massachusetts.



Author Links: Website | Blog | Facebook | Twitter | Goodreads

FAVORITE QUOTES

"Guys don't let other guys keep calling other guys. Okay, that came out wrong."

"I don't repeat my mistakes."

"You're right. You make all new and even worse mistakes. Don't do it, whatever it is. Don't lead a werewolf uprising, don't do anything that might accidentally contribute to the apocalypse, and don't start your own line of glitter and try to sell it at Sephora."

"That last idea has real merit."

"You can't go around looking like THAT. You look like you escaped from a romance novel."

"You are a great deal of trouble, Jace Herondale."

"So I've been told."

"I only have two reactions to bad news. Uncontrollable rage and then a sharp left turn into boiling self-hatred."

"Every time I think I'm missing a piece of me, you give it back."

"There are a hundred trillion cells in the human body. And every single one of the cells of my body loves you. We shed cells, and grow new ones, and my new cells love you more than the old ones, which is why I love you more every day than I did the day before. It's science. And when I die and they burn my body and I become ashes that mix with the air, and part of the ground and the trees and the stars, everyone who breathes that air or sees the flowers that grow out of the ground or looks up at the stars will remember you and love you, because I love you that much."