7.22k reviews for:

City of Lost Souls

Cassandra Clare

3.98 AVERAGE


That was a pretty good book. It had a very captivating ending, but I have to admit, I wasn’t as motivated to pick the book up in the middle. Maybe it had more to do with my busy schedule than with the book itself, but I had trouble propelling myself through. However, reaching the end, I was very enticed and am looking forward to the next book.

Overall, this second half of the Mortal Instruments series has been pretty enjoyable, if a bit over-the-top, and I was happy to close out the year with this book as my final read.

Wie schon sein Vorgänger konnte mich auch "City of Lost Souls" leider nicht wirklich begeistern.
Zu großen Teilen liegt dies an den Charakteren beziehungsweise daran, was Clare sie tun lässt. Mir hat zwar gut gefallen, dass sich vor allem die Nebenfiguren weiter entwickeln und wir andere Seiten von ihnen zu sehen bekommen, aber viele Charaktere hatten mindestens eine Szene, bei der ich nur den Kopf geschüttelt habe. Gerade Alec und Jace waren für mich ein Quell unendlicher Frustration.

Alecs Verhalten, das ich bereits im vierten Band kritisiert habe, hat sich hier nur noch verschlimmert. Ich verstehe sein Problem wirklich, aber er hätte einfach mit Magnus reden sollen, das hätte ihnen einiges erspart. Stattdessen
Spoilerdenkt er ernsthaft darüber nach, ihm seine Unsterblichkeit zu nehmen, hinter seinem Rücken? Ernsthaft? Ob er es letztlich getan hätte oder nicht, spielt keine Rolle, alleine schon, dass er den Gedanken hatte...
So sehr ich auch hasse, was am Ende des Buches aus ihrer Beziehung wird... es war die einzige logische Konsequenz nach dem, was passiert ist. Da die beiden mein Lieblingspaar der Reihe sind, finde ich wirklich traurig, was die Autorin aus ihnen gemacht hat.
Auch die Geschichte um Jace, Clary und Sebastian/Jonathan hat mich irritiert. Mir war von Anfang an klar, dass etwas vorgeht, das wir Leser noch nicht wissen, aber trotzdem war es für mich anstrengend. Obwohl Jace nicht mein Lieblingscharakter ist, hat mich gestört, wie Clare ihn in diesem Buch verwendet und wie er sich deshalb verhalten hat. Innerhalb der Geschichte ergibt es Sinn, allerdings bin ich der Meinung, dass nicht immer alles ihm passieren muss... er ist mit dem Stigma seines 'Vaters' schon gestraft genug.

Durch die Mitte musste ich mich ein bisschen durchkämpfen. Ich konnte verstehen, dass Clary gehofft hat, ihr Bruder könnte sich bessern, aber für mich war die ganze Zeit offensichtlich, dass das nur eine Illusion ist, weshalb es frustrierend war, über die Unternehmungen der drei zu lesen.
Im letzten Drittel aber wurde die Geschichte wieder richtig spannend. Clare versteht sich darauf, ihre Bücher mit Konflikten zu beenden, die packend, tragisch und emotional sind. Auch die potentiellen Konsequenzen, die sich aus den Ereignissen ergeben könnten, interessieren mich, sodass ich auf den letzten Teil der Reihe gespannt bin. Ich hoffe nur, dass der Abschluss mich zufrieden stellen und die Frustration, die ich beim Lesen von Band 4 und 5 verspürt manchmal habe, sich gelohnt haben wird.

"City of Lost Souls" bekommt von mir, hauptsächlich für die Entwicklungen der Nebencharaktere und einen spannenden Konflikt am Ende, 3,5/5 Sternen.
adventurous emotional 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: Complicated
adventurous dark 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: No
adventurous dark funny medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Plot
Strong character development: Complicated
Loveable characters: Complicated
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

This book was just perfect,I just couldn't stop reading and it was 3am! Seriously I can'T wait for the next one.

this was so slow, but worth it for that ending.
adventurous dark emotional tense fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: No
Loveable characters: Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Now that I’m older and a mother I’m highly concerned about everyone in these books and how quickly everything is “love”. At fifteen/sixteen. The story is still well written and flows well, but the characters irk the shit out of me and I want to smack them all upside the head. 

Additionally, I listened to the audiobook and wish they’d invested in making sure the narrator could actually pronounce the words, and not just things like stele, but every day run of the mill words were butchered constantly. 


A Willowood Book Review:



Well, Cassandra Clare has done it again! I loved, loved, LOVED this book! The Mortal Instruments series has easily become my favorite book series. I feel so connected to the characters and what they are feeling! Okay, now that I've gotten that out, lets get to the actual review. Warning there will DEFINITELY be spoilers!

Where to begin, where to begin... How about the beginning of the book?
After Jace has mysteriously disappeared (or not so mysteriously) everyone is looking for him and Sebastian (a.k.a. Jonathan Morgenstern). When the Clave decides that other things are more important than looking for Jace I just about had a flip out moment! Um, excuse me but what could possibly be more important than Jace!! Then finally Clary spots Jace and Sebastian in the Institutes library and I was so excited to see what happens... and nothing happened.
Clary goes home all depressed because Jace seemed happy with Sebastian. Then she falls asleep and when she wakes up, there he is! Jace is in Clary's bed just looking at her. Sebastian is there too and both of them try to convince Clary to run away with them, but before anything else can happen Jocelyn and Luke get involved and it goes down hill from there. Luke gets seriously injured by Sebastian/Jace (they are now linked together what happens to Jace happens to Sebastian and vise versa which is why Jace is all happy-go-lucky when it comes to Sebastian) and Jocelyn and Clary move into Magnus's apartment with Alec.
Clary cannot stop thinking about Jace, obviously, so she packs a bag and goes back to Luke's apartment because she knows that Jace will come for her again. She also brings and ring with her that lets her communicate with Simon, who has the other ring.
Now I'm going to give a short explanation and then jump to the ending of this book:
Jocelyn finds that Clary is gone and is furious with Simon for not stopping her, Jordan and Maia go searching for a cure for Luke, Isabelle and Jocelyn look for a weapon that will kill Sebastian but not harm Jace, and Clary is with Jace and Sebastian traveling around Europe in this magical apartment preparing for this ceremony that Sebastian wants to preform that will make a race of dark/demonic Nephilim.
There is a point in the book where Jace breaks free of his possession by Lilith and speaks to Clary. He wants to turn himself in to the Clave with the Infernal Cup but Clary stops him and calls Sebastian before Jace can leave the magical apartment....HAS CLARY GONE BAD-SHIT CRAZY!!! Jace has a very good chance of returning to normal and ending this whole thing and Clary ruins it....
So Sebastian and Jace carry on with preparing for the ceremony. Jace has gone ahead to the Seventh Sacred Site for the ceremony and it's just Clary and Sebastian in the apartment. This is when things get creepy in an incest way.
Clary gets caught using the ring to contact Simon and gets into this huge physical fight with Sebastian. During the fight Sebastian admits that he loves Clary (and not in a brotherly way) and constantly pins her to the wall or ground trying to kiss her! WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON HERE!?!?!?!? Clary ends up losing the fight and is forced into wearing this ceremonial dress and is taken hostage to the ceremony.
NOW THIS IS MY FAVORITE PART OF THE ENTIRE BOOK!
THE ENDING!!!!
I loved the way Cassandra finished this book! To be honest, there is no great way for me to explain the ending of this book. All I can say is that is blew my mind and I kept thinking this is it, this is when everything is going to go to shit and everyone is going to die.
If you really want to know what happened in the end JUST READ THE FRICKIN' BOOK ALREADY!!! TRUST ME YOU WILL NOT BE DISAPPOINTED!!!
Thanks for reading my review, everyone.
Happy readings to you all :)
adventurous emotional medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: No
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes