4.26 AVERAGE

adventurous emotional fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Plot
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: N/A

Best of the series


I got a Will Herondale closure, or something that felt like it. Anyway, I feel gratitude and love. That's why the 4 stars. That's it though, as much as I enjoyed other parts, loved other characters, no one came close to Will. He meant the world to me. So, I don't think I'll ever pick up any other Cassandra Clare book. No, thank you. Bye.
adventurous challenging dark emotional tense slow-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

this book was long. like really long. i’m not sure if it absolutely needed to be 730 pages. however, the extensive build up led to a very conclusive ending that left me satisfied and anticipating the new trilogy (tda). the characters have now all developed into ones that i love, but of course it was also heart wrenching. i literally read this in two days. 730 pages. i enjoyed it so so much.

okay, i was not expecting to meet julian and emma in this book and have those different point of views with them and with clary and jace. i like emma and julian, and i know that they’re the main characters for tda. i don’t really know them yet, but i have a feeling they’re going to fall in love, which is forbidden since they’re becoming parabatai. since they’re so young in this book, it’s kinda hard to take them seriously as shadowhunters. but it is so sad how julian has to take care of all of his siblings at such a young age with helen and mark gone. mark’s disappearance is heartbreaking and i cant wait to learn more about that in tda. that’s all i’m gonna say on the blackthorns and emma carstairs. i’m really excited to see where their story goes.

i thought it was really random how simon was captured by maureen. like i don’t really understand what the point of that was... he could’ve just gone to alicante? well i guess he’s not really allowed there being a vampire. i was absolutely DEVASTATED by jordan’s death. maia wanted to break up with him, and i’m really glad she didn’t do it before he died. it was so so sad. i also knew that the battle between rufus and bat was going to be disrupted, and i’m glad maia interfered. i was very happy to see maureen dead. like, finally. her only personality trait is being obsessed with simon and i don’t understand how she killed camille. maia’s plan to bring vampires and werewolves together is genius for the dark war.

so all the downworlder representatives for the council are captured. sebastian is in kahoots with the seelie queen and we honestly don’t hear from the downworlder’s point of view for a long time, and i was happy when we finally did. they’re locked away, waiting to be saved by clary & co. this to me seemed very similar to clockwork princess, in which tessa is captured by mortmain waiting for will to save her. they just were very similar scenes when i pictured them in my mind. also we find out how brother zachariah turns back into jem!!! i loved how the stories intertwined.

okay the journey through edom is amazing. but first let’s talk about how they got there. they trusted the seelie queen. why? NEVER. TRUST. HER. she has never done anything remotely showing loyalty. she was linked to sebastian before and she’d do it again. the scene about the seelie queen and sebastian sleeping together honestly made me sick to my stomach. i thought it was so cool how they found themselves in an alternate version of alicante, and how they got the skeptron weapon, although i don’t remember what it did. maybe just more powerful against the demons? clary and jace finally have sex. now, just why did jace bring a condom to the underworld. that’s my question. however, i enjoyed the scene and thought it was so sweet. i loved all the clary and jace moments we got in the book. they can finally be together and happy.

they FINALLY get to sebastian. he is more powerful than ever, but his one weakness is clary. it’s very weird and gross. clary agrees to rule beside him, this plan unbeknownst to isabelle, alec, and simon. clary and jace had previously trapped the heavenly fire previously in jace into clary’s morgenstern sword, a plan we didn’t know of. i really liked that we didn’t know it was going to happen. sebastian asks clary to prove her loyalty to him and kiss him. this is so disgusting. this is your sister. she stabs him with the heavenly fire sword. a good ending to sebastian, but i just wish there was slightly more to it. there was no absolutely epic ending like there was with city of glass and clockwork princess. but there’s also something to appreciate about that, so i still enjoyed the end of sebastian. it only took 4 books. it was so sad to see jonathan, the person who was good. to see him not able to survive because there wasn’t enough good in him was devastating.

now comes the real tragedy. they are all stuck in edom. there is truly no way to get back. hesitantly, magnus calls on his father who he doesn’t like to talk of. magnus’ father coincidentally controls the edom realm. he agrees to send everyone back if he can take magnus’ immortality. this would mean magnus would die. i was crying at this point. magnus is one of my favorite characters and him dying would be devastating. simon steps up to the plate. sacrifices himself, like he tends to often do. at least he’ll still be alive! but that’s not enough for the demon. he’ll take his immortality and vampirism, but he’ll also take all of his memories. he’ll never know anything of the shadow world and will live a normal life. now this. was heartbreaking. we’ve known simon for so long. and for all this to be gone? so quickly? just when him and isabelle were beginning to date. this was so painful. but, they make it home. they agree to the cold peace, banning association with faeries. banishing helen and aline. horrible.

they try and talk to simon. and sure enough, he doesn’t remember anything. doesn’t even remember clary. this sucks. it hurt my heart to read. when i read his band name i audibly gasped. the band name has been a running joke for 6 books. and there it was. the band name was the mortal instruments. obviously the demon wasn’t very meticulous with his memory erasing. there is hope for simon. they speak to simon and although he knows he should remember, it’s hard. and that’s understandable. i just hope he can become the simon we know and love again.

i loved jocelyn and luke’s wedding. we had been waiting for this wedding for the longest time and it finally came! it was so sweet to see everyone come together for a final time and it was such a good conclusion to the book. clary and jace are happy, simon is remembering things, and tessa and jem. we finally get to see tessa and clary meeting. this was everything to me. it was like two worlds colliding.

i will miss these characters so dearly. of course they will still be in future books, but it’s not solely about them anymore. i’ll miss the clary jace simon banter. i don’t think anything could ever replace that. i will most of all miss the clary and jace moments. they were my favorite. they were so rare that they were savored so much. i will for sure reread these books in the future i loved them so much. cassandra clare has come so far with her writing, it’s clear how much she’s grown. city of heavenly fire was such a good conclusion and i cant wait to read more about the shadowhunters in lady midnight (i’ve already started!)
adventurous
adventurous dark emotional funny hopeful lighthearted mysterious sad tense fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Character
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated
adventurous dark emotional mysterious slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Complicated
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Even though there were so many characters to keep track of in this book (as per usual), it was much more manageable and easier to follow than other Shadowhunter books. The beginning of this book was slow but the last half of it made up for it. This book made me appreciate the interconnected nature of these books more than any other. I loved the little connections to the other books in the series, it really made me appreciate how big the world is in this franchise.

4 stars
My first read of 2022 and I'm happy to say that it was not a disappointment.

I love every single character in this series which is surprising for me because I hated them in the first book lol. Maybe even Sebastian/Jonathan. Just a little bit.

All my babies got the happy ending they deserve. Do I even need to say anything about Tessa and Jem in the epilogue? I love them so much, god.

The plot was so seamless and continuous and I am really glad I read this awesome series.
I didn't realize just how attached to these characters I was until the ending of this book. I'm really excited to read about Emma and Julian next.

This series isn't bad but it is very YA.
I do love how some characters form Clare's Infernal Devices series come back/are mentioned.
Her two other shadowhunter series are better, in my opinion. You should definitely read all these books in chronological order though.