City of Lost Souls

I finished this installment of the Mortal Instruments a few days ago and I've been letting it all sink in before posting my review because of all the books in the series this far it's the one I've been least overwhelmed by.

This is the 5th book in the 6 books of the series and by now we have become very familiar with the usual cast of characters and they are feeling like old friends and we are very familiar with the Shadowhunter world and the other Downworlder characters. It is clear with this book that we are building towards a big finale in Book 6 but is it wrong that a little bit of me cannot wait to be done with the whole Clary and Jace fiasco?

The central two characters in this series have become a tad dull and their ongoing relationship angst and the ability for Jace to stumble from one disaster to another is beginning to wane a little at this stage. Clary thinks there is no one like him, in fact, he can literally do nothing to stop her trailing at his heels like a puppy dog. This book is the perfect example of how even his demonic connection to her brother Sebastian and his involvement in a plot to end mankind cannot stop this girl from sticking up for him. Yes, kill Sebastian and you kill Jace is a bit of an issue to helping him but really was it just me who wanted to yell “Just kill them both and be done with it!”.

These books still hold sway for me now because of the wonderful characters that surround our hapless central two. Simon Lewis, our day walking vampire and Clary's best friend continues to hold this series together for me. He has grown immensely from book one and is the real hero of the hour, there is nothing he will not do for his best friend and I could read about him so much more. Isabelle Lightwood is also winning me over immensely with her feisty nature and kickass attitude. I also had such high hopes for Alec and Magnus and Magnus Bane always has held a special place in my heart in this series and The Infernal Devices but in this book, I have to say that Alec blew it. He literally blew this relationship up because he couldn't cope with having an adult conversation with Magnus where he said “I don't know how to cope with your immortality”. Instead, he decided to go behind Magnus' back and try to take the immortality from him. Now that was just stupid and misguided and although I love Alec dearly he dropped in my estimation in this book.

With one book to go in this series I am clearly going to read it's conclusion but now I'm beginning to wonder if I'm reading because I've heard such wonderful things about the series to follow, The Dark Artifices and I've been told you need to understand the conclusion of this series before embarking on that. Lady Midnight and Lord of Shadows have all been clearly highlighted as way better than this series and I cannot wait to start them but I do wonder if without this draw I'd be getting a little disillusioned with Clare's writing by now. The Infernal Devices was incredible and I loved it so much but The Mortal Instruments is at the moment a bit of a ‘meh' for me.

There have been some highs along the way, an equal number of lows and this book is probably one of the lower points for me. Most people will probably read it as a means to an end of getting to Book 6 but I'm not sure anyone really will have loved it.