City of Heavenly Fire: A Review

First of all, let me say that I have been in love with this series since the minute I picked it up and started reading it. Six years!!! AND when I read the first three books, that was back when there wasn't going to be a fourth, fifth, and sixth! I thought the third book was THE END. And, frankly, I was okay with that. It was a bittersweet ending, but everything ending somewhat happy.

Then one day, I was incredibly BORED in my computers class so I started searching the internet for a City of Bones movie. Granted, this was YEARS before the movie was even talked about or had a sound contract. (The movie, by the way SUCKED and was the WORST book to movie I had EVER seen. They changed the ending and SOOOOO MANY ASPECTS THAT SHOULDN'T HAVE BEEN ALLOWED TO BE CHANGED). So there's my rant.

Anyway, when I was looking for what I thought was going to be the most epic movie ever, I discovered that Cassandra Clare was adding three more books to the series!!! AHHHHHH!!! I was SO excited. Also, this was before they had real covers--it was just their names. I was blown away by their awesomeness. The covers really capture the feel of the series. Amazing!

AND THEN! A year later she came out with the prequel series, The Infernal Devices. LOVED THEM.

So that's my very shortened story of my discovery and love for this series.

I made this extra big, because it's awesome.

Description (goodreads):

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!

My Review (Spoiler ALERT like... a lot):

Let me begin by saying I love the connections. The incredible amount of foreshadowing that you HAVE to pay attention to or you might miss it. I love how characters from the prequel series ended up in this one. In fact, I would have been very angry if they had not shown up.

I LOVE YOU JEM!

Ahem. *Clears throat*

Cassandra Clare has an amazing way with words. My heart races, I scream out in frustration, and I even shed tears. I have fallen in love with these characters, and they always make me laugh. Simon and Jace's banter has made me laugh--out loud--ever since the beginning. Not to mention how each of the characters has their own sense of humor and adds to the fun of the story.

This series is also so in depth. The world building is incredible. The Shadowhunter families for instance--you have to keep up with all the famous ones, Herondales, Carstairs, Penhallows, Morgensterns, Fairchilds, Blackthornes, etc. I love it. I love how real this urban paranormal fantasy feels. It's like these are actually people and their incredible history is real.

Plus, there is SO much more history to these books that we can only glimpse at. Sad, but man. Clare is a freaking genius. She's awesome. My mind would explode (and kind of already is, with my own characters I write about) with so many histories and characters to take care of. She is by far one of my favorite writers.

Jace is one of my favorite characters (had there not been The Infernal Devices and a... Jem... he would be my favorite). He is funny, strong, and loyal. Despite the pain and the protective walls he has built around himself, he finally let it all go. He finally realized what it was to truly love someone. He opened his heart--TRULY opened his heart--to Clary and began to trust her fully. I loved that. I loved the way they worked together to bring about the end of Sebastian, aka Jonathon Morgenstern. Jace has always been my favorite. I will forever see him with the picture in my head--not the actor they got. Bleh.

Clary. Actually, until this book, she kind of annoyed me. I mean, she's strong, loyal and tough too, but in the beginning, she was very whiny. She grew on me, but she certainly isn't one of my top ten favorite female leads. (I don't even have a top ten, maybe a top two...?) Anyway, she grew so much at the end that maybe I'm willing to rethink the above. She finished with a bang and brought everyone together again.

Simon.

I was SO ANGRY WHEN HE FORGOT EVERYTHING!! I wanted to punch someone in the face, scream, cry, rage!

You can't get rid of SIMON!

But then...

His band was named The Mortal Instruments. I cried.

Everything ended okay. And I cried again and was very happy. My heart was happy and I was okay with this series again.

Simon is hilarious and... gosh. I just can't get over how much I love the banter between him and Jace. They help keep things light, even when the situation is dire and life-ending, they are always there to make me laugh. Simon is also a nerd, and well, I'm a nerd, so I love my nerds. I love how he always references his video games and then turns out being right. Tehe. Oh the nerdiness. Gotta love it.

Isabelle. She was awesome. I liked how she never took crap from anyone. How she constantly proved that she could kick anyone's butt whether they were demon, Downworlders, or other Shadowhunters in general. There were a few things I didn't really like about her, but over all, I liked her better than Clary.

Alec. He's a cool dude. Always standing up for what's right--even when Jace was in his jerk mode and gave him crap about it. I love how he and Jace finally understood what it meant to be paraboti by the end of this series. It really made everything come in a full circle.

Sebastian. I totally hated him. He was a freak show and a crazy dude. I loved how Raphael said so to his face. Poor Raphael... And JORDAN! I cried.

Jonathan Morgenstern. In all honesty, his death was sad. It was bittersweet and sad. The fact that all the evil was burned out of him, only for him to die in his terrible guilt was a tad sad. He was a victim of his crazy father, Valentine Morgenstern, who poisoned his blood with the blood of a demon. *Sigh* I thought I would be doing fist pump when he died. Instead I was like.... "Ooooh. That's kind of... sad..."

As for all the other characters... There are far to many to name and frankly, they aren't all main characters. So I am not going to get into it.

This series is by far one of my favorites. If you enjoy the really getting to know your characters, putting together puzzle pieces, action, mystery, love, romance, and demon killing hotties, then this is DEFINITELY your kind of book.

I will warn you though, this series takes a good memory. When the fourth book came out, I listened to the first three again on audio book because I wanted to remember everything that had happened.

Yet, in the end. It is SO WORTH IT!!

And... it's not entirely over yet...

WHOO HOOO!

TOTALLY A FIVE OUT OF FIVE FOR ME!!!

*I purchased this book of my own doing. I am in no way affiliated with the publisher, nor was I asked or paid to do a review. These are my own personal thoughts and opinions*