Title/ Author: City of Heavenly Fire by Cassandra Clare
Publisher/ Year: Margaret K. McElderry, 2014.
How I Read It: Kindle Edition
Why I Read It: I WAS NOT GOING TO NOT READ IT.
Rating: 5+ stars out of 5
This is the last book of The Mortal Instruments series by Cassandra Clare & I have been waiting for this book for two years & let me just say it was perfection.
Summary from Goodreads:
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...
Quick Summary for those who have not read it yet:
Well first of all, before you even get close to reading this review or the spoilery one, you should go and read the first 3 book of the TMI series, then go ahead and read
Clockwork Angel, then
City of Fallen Angels, then
Clockwork Prince, then
City of Lost Souls, then
Clockwork Princess, then you can look at this :) But anyway, this was very very hard to get through, mostly because it was long & I'm a slow reader. But when I got to the last 25% of the book I could not put it down and I was up until 4 am reading and finishing and ultimately crying. It wasn't my favorite of the series unfortunately, but overall, I feel it was a great ending.
The Review (Many spoilers ahead!):
After having plenty of time to recuperate after this book, I think I can write an insightful review, while still keeping my fangirling alive. I read this about a couple weeks after it was released due to the fact that school was just in the process of ending. This book. JUST WOW. I couldn't believe what was going on.
Coming into this book, I've heard so many theories about who will die, what will happen, and while some were right, I was surprised by others. Mostly, it was the people who died that surprised me. Except for Jordan. I figured it would either be Jordan or Maia who would bite the dust, or even both. I have to admit that a lot of this book was fairly predictable: a boyfriend or girlfriend would die, a couple would do it. something bad would happen to one of the main main characters which would rip your heart to pieces. Regardless of the book's predictability, it had its high points.
My high points of the book actually had nothing to do with the original characters of The Mortal Instruments series. While I love Clary, Jace, and the others, I was more interested in Emma and Julian's journey and their amazing friendship and Brother Zachariah (and for those of you who have read Clockwork Princess you know exactly why)! For a 12 year old, Emma is pretty bad-a. She truly was a fighter and all she wanted to do was help. And considering her only family that she knew was left was Julian and his family...I mean her parents were murdered by Sebastian and the Endarkened...and she's still one of the most stubborn, persevering characters in the book. If I could compare her to any other fictional character out there, Katniss would fit the bill. What made it even better was her friendship with Julian. It reminded me so much of Will and Jem's relationship which is one of my favorite pairings to ever exist in the fictional world. Emma and Julian depended on each other, and not just on one of them. It completely destroys the typical gender roles you would expect from well, reality. While not realistic, I greatly appreciated it. When Julian couldn't bear the weight and pain of the Mortal Sword, Emma was willing to take it, to share his burden. You could tell she loved him. And while showing her outstanding courage and bravery, Clare did not forget the fact that she was a girl. Before she decided to say "yes" to being Julian's parabatai, she had a second of hesitation, and in that second, the reader knew that she was a girl like any other, with budding feelings, but at the spur of the moment, being his parabatai was the decision she knew was best.
After finishing Clockwork Princess and seeing all of the COHF snippets up and about, I was excited to see how Brother Zachariah would become a beautiful, 19 year old, healthy Jem Carstairs again. The way it all fit together with Jace's heavenly fire and how all that was connected made me smile. It was the Herondale and Carstairs bond, that legacy, that made me smile, how they were still connected even when Will has passed and a different generation was running things. It was hard to see him as the same Jem, but throughout the rest of the book, I saw the aspects that made me fall in love with him again, and it was so worth it. It was also refreshing to see Tessa again, although I would have been happier if she and Jace met properly. I've had so many daydreams about the day they meet and I had a whole conversation in my head between them.
Anyway, one thing that I found beautiful and sad at the same time was something I didn't expect, but it was Sebastian at the end of the book, when he became the son and brother that Jocelyn and Clary never had. His development from City of Glass to this book was incredible, and I actually felt sorry for him. And Clare made sure he would be a character meant to be remembered in a good way, which made his death sad. His last words... "I feel light." This had so much meaning to the book and really accentuated the battle between light and darkness, and how finally, a ruthless murderer, became someone who finally saw the light, because the darkness was gone. It was just a chilling way to end the saga of Sebastian...or should I say Jonathan...
I loved the action and suspense throughout the novel, even though I didn't find myself completely invested until the last quarter of the book where crap went down. When they were trapped in Edom and the only way out was through Magnus's demon father, I was so nervous. I didn't want Magnus to be gone. That would have meant the end of the only character that has been consistent in every series as far as I know, who has seen firsthand the stories of these characters. It would have broken my heart. But then Clare does the second worst thing. SHE MESSES WITH SIMON. NO ONE MESSES WITH SIMON. Needless to say, the tears were too real and everyone else I could have talked to about it was asleep. But the Epilogue made up for it, and for everything that happened during this series. It truly wrapped everything up, and I had many flashbacks of these characters in the first book and how they turned out to be. I was content with how it ended, but I was in a major book hangover after finishing. Especially after reading this huge book through my kindle. When I decided to read a hardback as my next read, I kept tapping the page when I was trying to turn the page. Look what COHF had done to me! Haha!
Overall, so glad I read this, and I can't wait for the Dark Artifices!
