Reviews

City of Fallen Angels by Cassandra Clare

tituss_64's review

Will finish at a later date

thereadandseek's review

adventurous dark medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

sierrav's review

adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

svtplaylist's review

adventurous dark mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

bagelbug's review

dark emotional funny tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

alli_thebookgiraffe's review against another edition

4.0

I feel like City of Fallen Angels was written by a different author than the previous three books. Maybe this is due to growth of Cassandra Clare’s writing style. The first thing I noticed was the dialogue is much less and descriptions are much more detailed. I have always disliked her lack of descriptions. She drew better pictures for me in this book than previously. I also love that this book was more focused on Simon as a character because I honestly like him more and I don’t really care for Clary. I also think the characters were more developed than previously. I did like the mention of Clary drawing again. She seems to be the victim of meeting a new boy and then losing all personality and only being driven by emotions. It is just nice to see her a little bit more logical in this one and doing her hobby again. Simon is probably my favorite character; however I do wish there was more demon hunting and killing. I do like that the major antagonist was, in fact, a demon. Another positive for me was Clary’s mom getting married to Luke. I wish Jocelyn was a more prominent character because I really do like her. Mostly our perception of her is through her teenage daughter’s eyes. Like most teens, Clary fights with her mom or has an attitude with her. I don’t like that Isabelle made Simon change the way he dressed, and Simon let her do this. If you don’t like someone the way that they are you don’t deserve them. Secondly Alec was extra annoying in this book. I wish he was completely left out. Jace’s self-pity is also annoying and very self-involved. The added love triangle was also a con for me. I am also really tired of bringing in an antagonist and talking about how awesome they are and then they die easily with mostly no fight. Cassandra Clare could have thought up a more interesting downfall of Lilith especially with an entire book about demon hunters. Lastly, I feel like the last chapter could have been 30 pages shorter. It was mostly filler, in my opinion. I genuinely did like this one more than all the previous combined. The writing changing the way it has makes a large difference for me. I do love to see how an author grows as they write more books.

lolacola's review against another edition

got boring after

valentine died

crog_art's review against another edition

adventurous emotional mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.5

rleaf's review

dark slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.75

akookieforyou's review against another edition

adventurous dark slow-paced

2.75

I have to say, this was kind of disappointing. Not terrible by any means, but compared to just how good the first three were, this just doesn't compare. And it almost recieved a 2.75 star rating instead.

A big part of that is because of the shift in focus. While it's true that the previous installments occasionally had chapters from the other characters' perspectives, this one did it ten fold. There was so much Simon, and while I liked him, and his personality, a lot in the early ones, here he was mostly insufferable. Two timing girls, starving himself, being shocked that a starving vampire will attack an innocent girl, feeling so "othered" and almost unwanted by his group of friends etc. It just became exhausting to read.

I'm also just not invested enough in the affairs of the side cast, so getting long sequences focused on them is not engaging. I enjoy hearing about how they're doing, and how their relationships are going, but not so consistently and from their perspectives.

Another major contributor was the slow as molasses pace. It felt like nothing of note happened in the first half. In fact, I was shocked to realize I was even halfway through the book, because it still felt like it was reintroducing everything, and getting us caught up!

The saving grace was definitely Clary. While everyone else was getting on my nerves, Jace with his isolating behavior, Isabelle with her callousness (though it was nice to finally see her and Clary bond a bit more), and the aforementioned Simon, Clary really brought me a sense of happiness and you-go-girl spirit. She's trying to improve her Shadowhunter abilities, killing it with the runes, properly sassing all of the bratty behavior of the other characters, and all the while wearing some cute fits (the hot pink Betsy Johnson dress? Iconic). I would love to see her actually become somewhat proficient in fighting though, because sometimes she still ends up needing to be saved, but I blame that on the writing, not the character. 

I also really love Luke and Jocelyn's moments. They're an enjoyable couple, who are quite sweet.