City of Fallen Angels

At the end of City of Glass we had reached a point where the first part of the Shadowhunter story had reached a partial conclusion and the point where it allowed Cassandra Clare to move our characters in a new direction. I, therefore, had high hopes for City of Fallen Angels and was excited to see in which direction we would go now that we had ended our storyline with Valentine.

I am absolutely delighted that in this book we continue to have Simon as a very front and centre character. From Book 1 his character development has been one of the highlights of the series, I love that we still have so much to discover about him and that he continues to play a leading part in the way the storyline is moving. He is really engaging and I love any chapters told from his perspective and desperately want to see him continue to play a heroic role.

I am almost scared to say this but I am struggling with Jace and Clary more as each book goes by. I know they are the central characters on whom the series is focused but they aren't setting me alight as much as I would hope. I am getting a little bit bored with Jace's bad boy brooding and the ongoing dramas. I could really do with a little less teen angst from them and more time spent focusing on bringing others to the fore.

I am loving Magnus and Alec and their developing relationship, I am really interested to find out how they manage the reality of Magnus' immortality and the challenges this is going to pose for them in the years ahead. I also love that we are getting more characters from The Infernal Devices slowly beginning to infiltrate the story and I give a little yelp of joy each time I recognise one of them and I am and I am really excited to know if they will dovetail further as we come to the series conclusion.

I know some people have said they didn't enjoy this book as much as they did the earlier books in the series but for me I enjoyed it a little more than City of Glass, I liked the expanding focus on other characters and would happily see the focus continue to move to a wider perspective than simply Clary and Jace.

At the two thirds milestone of the series I am seeing the finish line in sight and am excited to cross it in the weeks ahead so I can look forward to moving on to enjoy The Dark Artifices as well.