Review: City of Lost Souls

Title: City of Lost Souls (The Mortal Instruments ~ Book 5)
Author: Cassandra Clare
Publication Date: May 8 2012
Publisher: Margaret K. McElderry
ISBN: 1442416866
Length: 534 Pages
Link to Synopsis: Goodreads
Source: Purchased (Kindle Edition)
Buy It: Amazon US / Amazon UK

My Rating: 5 Stars

Let us begin with the bad... the very very bad.  Why oh why is Book 6 not due out until 2014?  Yes you read that correctly, 2014.  City of Heavenly Fire is scheduled to be the final in this 'second trilogy' and the actual release date is scheduled for March 19th, 2014.  That is 1 year and 7 months away, not that I am counting down or anything. *sigh* I guess I will just have to sit and wait with everybody else and hope that there is no large asteroid that is currently hurtling towards earth or that the zombie apocalypse is held off until after the release date.

Now with that little moan out of the way let us get on with the review of City of Lost Souls.  I really did enjoy it! I loved it much more than book 4, City of Fallen Angels but not as much as City of Glass. There are currently two camps you can join.  Camp One thinks that the original trilogy was so wonderful and ended so perfectly that it was a shame to carry on with a 2nd trilogy.  Camp Two can not get enough of Clare's wonderful characters and would read anything about them and love that she chose to continue them.

I have a leg in both camps. City of Glass for me has yet to be topped but I am not ready to say goodbye to these characters.  I was a little disappointed in book 4 but I really feel that City of Lost Souls stepped up it's game and I felt we are back to the style of writing I have come accustomed to from Clare.

I felt true despair in multiple parts and had no idea how it was all going to be made right.  I gasped and talked to myself so many times my husband probably thinks I am going insane.  I know deep down I should hate Sebastian and really I do but I just find him so sad and lonely.  A few times I so wished they could pull the bad out of him and it would all be fine and he and Clary could be a proper brother and sister and there would be family dinners and they would spend Christmas together... but this is not a Norman Rockwell moment.  He is bad. Evil. Black hearted... the list could go on and on.  And what is up with Clare's fascination with incest?  I felt dirty because I so desperately wanted Jace and Clary together in the first Three books and now we have Sebastian salivating over Clary.  Ewwww.  Just Ewwww.  I did have a little trouble understanding Alec in this book.  I understand how much he cares for Magnus but the lengths he goes to in this book was so out of character for Alec.  I am sad at how Magnus and Alec ended up but there is hope that it will all come together in the next book.  Oh... and how much do I love Jordan?  The answer is a whole lot!  So sweet.

I am quite happy with the ending and that is saying something because Clare is the queen of cliffhangers.  This book ends in a way that makes you want to carry on but not in a way that you will be pulling out every last hair on your head while you wait for the next book. Maybe she gave us this ending as some sort of a peace offering as she knew there would be so many upset people with the 2014 release date for the final book.

I have added the March 19th, 2014 date to my calendar, I have the final book added to my Goodreads 'Awaiting Release' folder and will be along with all of you kicking and screaming patiently waiting for our last look in on the characters we have all come to love.

QUOTES FROM CITY OF LOST SOULS