Reviews - City of Lost Souls

7.18k reviews for:

City of Lost Souls

Cassandra Clare

3.98 AVERAGE

thedeadlyscimitar's review against another edition

2.0

adventurous medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: No

Loveable characters: Complicated

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

I honestly feel like these books just keep getting worse and worse. I originally started reading The Mortal Instruments when I was in high school, back when they first came out. I read the first three books back then but stopped keeping up with them at one point and never got any further in the series. Recently, I decided to pick the series up again to see whether I still enjoyed these books as much as I did when I was a teenager. Unfortunately, I definitely don’t think these are books that appeal to me as much now that I’m returning to them as an adult. However, while I can still enjoy the first three books to an extent, these later books have been pretty much a slog to get through. I don’t know how many times I’ve found myself rolling my eyes over the ridiculous amount of unnecessary drama or sighing in frustration over some new stupid decision one the characters made. These books feel very much like unnecessary sequels that didn’t need to be written.

I think one of my biggest gripes with these books is just how immature and angsty virtually all of the characters are. Even the adult characters pretty much have the maturity of level of a child. Jocelyn in particular was incredibly annoying and did not act her age at all. Everything in these books is drama, drama, drama all the time to the point where I feel like I’m basically watching a teen soap opera. All the characters have their moments where they just act completely stupid and over the top until I literally just want to reach out and shake them.

Probably the worst offenders are Clary and Jace. As a teenager, I loved both of them. As an adult I pretty much want to strangle them on a regular basis. Jace in particular really gets on my nerves. He’s just so arrogant, hardheaded, angsty and obnoxious. Pretty much ninety percent of his jokes and sarcastic remarks are also just ultra cringe and make for terrible dialogue. Clary is very melodramatic and can be pretty selfish and immature. Also, I’m all for undying love and soul mates and everything, but their relationship is just so over the top that it’s annoying. They have no chemistry and seem very codependent. And look, I get that they’re teenagers but it’s still irritating. Maybe I’ve just really outgrown these books.

The second most annoying characters to me in this book are Maia and Jordan. Their characters aren’t particularly annoying, they’ve just extremely boring. Neither of them add anything to the story and they don’t particularly have any chemistry either. Both of these characters are just kind of there and feel like they have no real purpose. Jordan’s whole character is basically about being obsessed with Maia. There’s literally almost nothing else to him. I always just increased my audiobook speed to get past any parts involving them more quickly. They were that boring.

Ugh and my god even though my favorite ship is Malec, they were extremely annoying in this book too! Alec in particular really pissed me off. I get where he’s coming from with worrying about aging while Magus is immortal, but the way he handles it in this book is just really shitty and stupid. I really thought that Alec was smarter than this.

And then there’s the overall plot of the novel. It’s honestly just one big frustrating mess that in some ways feels like a cheap rehash of the first three books but with far more annoying elements. The bond between Jace and Jonathan got old VERY fast. Actually, it was already old the instant it happened at the end of the last book. I hated the whole dynamic between Jace, Jonathan and Clary in this book. I hated the weird magic hopping around Europe and going to pretentious clubs and cafes etc part of the plot. I hated the fact that Cassandra Clare went back to the whole sibling incest thing. So much of this book was just slow, tedious and irritating.

I very much wish that The Mortal Instruments had ended after <i>City of Glass</i>. The only really good thing to come out of these later books is Simon and Isabelle, but even that is full of a lot of unnecessary angst. I suppose the bottom line is that these are very much young adult books. While I can and have still enjoyed many YA books as an adult, this is not one of them. It just feels particularly immature and I have an extremely difficult time relating to the characters. There are some great ideas here and I love the world building, but the execution leaves a lot to be desired. I will most likely read the final book in the series just to finally say I finished The Mortal Instruments after all these years, but I definitely need a long break. In the meantime, I’m going to go find some fiction written for actual adults with characters who are mature and reasonable human beings.

Content Warnings

river24's review against another edition

2.75

adventurous medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

2.75/5

WHY does she keep adding in gross shit, I thought we were past that? And WHY did she ruin the one good thing about this series (Malec) ??? (This series is my popcorn reality tv series for when I don't actually feel like reading. Why do I keep putting myself through this!?)

dionneinpages's review against another edition

DNF coz I got bored

lydiavalerius's review against another edition

4.0

dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Complicated

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

missemilyreagan's review against another edition

5.0

City of Glass remains my favorite but this one was up there. While I still loved it like I love all the TMI books, it didn't live up to the admiration I have for City of Glass. My emotions were up and down in this; I didn't know who to trust or what was going to come of all this. It kept me on my toes! I can say that I've come out of this hopeful but emotionally drained. That being said though, I plan on starting City of Heavenly Fire immediately because... duh!