City of Lost Souls

"Great book in a great series!"

"This series is my favorite hands down!"

"content warnings for this book (let me know if there are any I need to add, I plan to put content warnings in every book in my future classroom library): aphobia, attempted rape, death, gore, incest, injury, past loss of loved one, sexual assault, war"

"<i>City of Lost Souls</i> picks up directly where <i>City of Fallen Angels</i> left off, with Jace on the rooftop and the ensuing plot thickening. For those of you who don't know, <i>The Mortal Instruments</i> series was originally intended to be a trilogy. Cassandra Clare decided to extend the series to six novels, so the last three book are a sort of quasi-second-trilogy. I bring up these possibly confusing and seemingly pointless facts because I was somewhat concerned <i>City of Lost Souls</i> would suffer from middle-book-itis, wherein the plot and character development serve only to drive the overreaching arcs forward and set us up for the final run.<br/><br/>I am pleased to say that I did not get that feeling from this book. Although it does serve its purpose to set the story up for the finale, the novel does so much more. We see new sides of characters we've either never seen or only caught glimpses of before. Sebastian, although he is clearly supposed to be the bad guy, is so much more interesting than just a stock villain figure. The changes in Jace are intriguing and cause quite a quandry for Clary. Clare also plays with the characters and their relationships. And I don't mean just Clary and Jace. While this book is about them, it is just as much about the secondary characters. I particularly enjoyed the developments between Isabella and Simon, Jordan and Maia, and of course, Alec and Magnus. <br/><br/><i>City of Lost Souls</i> dredges up lots of character development through dealing with tough issues. Isabella must come to terms with being vulnerable if she wishes to experience love, Alec must come to terms with his mortality and Magnus's lack of same, and Clary must repeatedly decide between her principles and the love of her life (though not just in the way that first comes to mind). Self-discovery through trial-and-error, angst and sundry tribulations is something that young adult fiction is exceedingly good at and well known for. <i>City of Lost Souls</i> is a great and enjoyable example. There are so many feelings in this book, and I love it. If you've enjoyed the previous <i>Mortal Instruments</i> novels and/or <i>The Infernal Devices</i>, I would not hesitate to pick up this book. I can't tell you much about it without giving major plot spoilers, but I can tell you that Clare has written a solid novel here, and I await <i>City of Heavenly Fire</i> with much eagerness to see how it all ends."

"content warnings for this book (let me know if there are any I need to add, I plan to put content warnings in every book in my future classroom library): aphobia, attempted rape, death, gore, incest, injury, past loss of loved one, sexual assault, war"

"Ngl, I skimmed the last twenty pages of this book because I had been reading it for like three months and just wanted to finish it."

"I found that I liked this book a lot more than I liked the last one but still not as well as I liked the original trilogy."

"Jace is missing, and Clary’s out to find him, no matter what the cost. With Sebastian back to finish what his father started, the Scooby Gang has to find a way to stop him before it’s too late. It’s almost over, it’s almost over! They still can’t be together, the world is ending, and it’s almost over! One more book and I’ll be freeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee"

"Lo mejor del libro, como siempre, Jace.<br/>Sinceramente, no me gusto mucho este libro, bastante aburrido los primeros capítulos, tenía demasiada expectativa, creo yo, sobre éste libro.<br/>Peeeeeeeeeeeero... Cassie sabe lo que hace, me dejo intrigada!!! ohhhhh será Jem? o Will??<br/>Sebastian ¬¬ <br/>Clary ¬¬ <br/>Jace ♥<br/><br/>Yep, una reseña bastante fluida :D"

"<a href="http://laughinglistener.com/"><br/>The Laughing Listener</a><br/><b>Reread August 2018</b><br/><b>Format:</b> Audiobook<br/><b>Narrator:</b> Molly C. Quinn<br/><b>Length:</b> 16 hours & 59 minutes<br/><br/><b>Story Rating:</b> 5 Stars<br/><b>Performance Rating:</b> 1 Star<br/><b>Overall Rating:</b> 5 Stars<br/><br/>Mark your calendar guys. Today is the day I gave my first one star performance rating for an audiobook. Because BOY was it cringe-worthy. Normally I try to be pretty lenient and forgiving because it’s not like I’ve had to perform an entire book out loud before, but ugh. I’m pretty sure the only reason I got through this at all was because I was trapped in a car driving to Atlanta for four hours there and back. <br/><br/><img src="https://media.giphy.com/media/Woc5F2s89MnLO/giphy.gif" width="" height="" alt="Glass case of emotion"><br/><br/>But I digress. I’m not here to talk about the crummy narrating, I’m here to review this book, which was AWESOME. This was my second time reading this and I’m jarred by how different the experience was. The first time, I was so angry about Sebastian. To me it felt (and honestly, I still sort of feel this way) that the whole Sebastian-coming-back-to-life thing was just a ploy to stretch out the series and pump out more books. My saltiness must have tainted the memories of this because I remembered <i>City of Lost Souls</i> being pretty sub-par and underwhelming. NOT THE CASE.<br/><br/>And apparently I forgot EVERYTHING??? The only parts I really remembered were the ones in Sebastian’s floating house of horrors, which take up shockingly little real estate in the plot. So basically, it was like I was reading this for the first time.<br/><br/>I have such a better appreciation for Sebastian as a villain now that I’ve had time to brush off some of my fangirl bitterness. He’s such a great mix of human and demon. And the fact that he’s Clary’s biological brother adds a layer of complexity to his character and their relationship that was really interesting to watch. Plus, I COMPLETELY FORGOT HOW F**KING CREEPY HE IS AT THE END????? OH MY GOD. I’m not exaggerating when I say I was yelling at him to cut it out when I was in the car. “NO. JUST STOP. STOP TALKING. PLEASE. WHYYYYYYY???” ⇐ That was me.<br/><br/><img src="https://media.giphy.com/media/PW9A4XrDarYEU/giphy.gif" width="" height="" alt="Forever unclean"><br/><br/>Clary’s character arc in this one was really awesome to watch too. I was annoyed with her in the beginning when she falls for Sebastian’s “we’re the same” speech. But she comes around in the most awesome way. There’s also a ton of Sizzy moments that had me giddy!! I LOVED watching Simon and Izzy get closer. They’re just so freaking cute! And MORE BROTHER ZACHARIAH!!!!! All those little references to The Infernal Devices were killing me! So many feels. I love that I finally get to catch everything I missed the first time I read this.<br/><br/>I’m still majorly uncomfortable with Maia and Jared’s relationship and time hasn’t changed my feelings about that. I love Maia individually and I understand the circumstances surrounding Jared’s situation, but I HATE that he was violent with her in the past and she still goes back to him. Their whole relationship gives me an icky, anxious feeling I don’t like and they feel kind of unnecessary to story. <br/><br/>My boy Alec though. Oh my god. He needs to get himself together. I completely understand why he’s freaking out because the immortality thing would freak me out too, but I gotta side with Magnus on this one. <spoiler>He had every freaking right to break up with Alec, because WTF???</spoiler> I mean, CAMILLE??? THAT’S WHO YOU’RE GOING TO FOR ADVICE?? I can’t.<br/><br/><b>FINAL WORD</b><br/><br/>This book was SO MUCH BETTER THAN I REMEMBER!!! Perhaps even my new favorite of the series!! I love that we get more time with the background characters and Sebastian is a top-notch creepy villain. <br/><br/>#1 ↦ <i>[b:City of Bones|256683|City of Bones (The Mortal Instruments, #1)|Cassandra Clare|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1432730315s/256683.jpg|2267189]</i> ↦ ✦✦✦✦✦<br/>#2 ↦ <i>[b:City of Ashes|1582996|City of Ashes (The Mortal Instruments, #2)|Cassandra Clare|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1432730356s/1582996.jpg|1575860]</i> ↦ ✦✦✦✦✦<br/>#3 ↦ <i>[b:City of Glass|3777732|City of Glass (The Mortal Instruments, #3)|Cassandra Clare|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1369452339s/3777732.jpg|3443248]</i> ↦ ✦✦✦✦✦<br/>#4 ↦ <i>[b:City of Fallen Angels|6752378|City of Fallen Angels (The Mortal Instruments, #4)|Cassandra Clare|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1369452302s/6752378.jpg|6948844]</i> ↦ ✦✦✦✧✧<br/>#5 ↦ <i>[b:City of Lost Souls|8755776|City of Lost Souls (The Mortal Instruments, #5)|Cassandra Clare|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1460477703s/8755776.jpg|13629058]</i> ↦ ✦✦✦✦✦<br/>#6 ↦ <i>[b:City of Heavenly Fire|8755785|City of Heavenly Fire (The Mortal Instruments, #6)|Cassandra Clare|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1460477794s/8755785.jpg|13629068]</i> ↦ ✦✦✦✦✧"