So, I finished this days ago but have been procrastinating writing the review hoping for inspiration. I mean, it’s not like it was bad – it was actually quite a good book. But it was the ending to a 6 book series, which makes me emotional in so many ways. Like so many others, I hate when a series comes to an end!
Here it is: City of Heavenly Fire by Cassandra Clare is the last book in the Mortal Instruments series. It was long – oh dear God, so very long! – at 725 pages. I actually had to break it down so I read the same number of pages each day and could get through it in less than a week. Killer. I really like to be done a book in no more than 2-3 days usually. Oh well.
The good: This was a good, solid plot and end to the saga. Ms. Clare’s writing was exactly what you’d expect and I enjoyed where she took the characters on their last journey together. I hated to put the thing down and I thought about the story while laying in bed at night, which is always a good sign!
The main characters – Jace, Clary, Alec, Izzy and Simon (Yes, Magnus, too) – continue to try to stop Clary’s evil brother, Sebastian, from taking over the world. They face impossible odds of having to bring all the Downworlders together, to work alongside the Shadowhunters, all in a short matter of time, before Sebastian succeeds in turning all Shadowhunters into Dark Ones.
Ms. Clare has written another series of 3 books, called The Infernal Devices, where she takes the same Shadowhunter world, but in a different time period. I loved the fact that she was able to bring a few of those characters into this plot and make them part of this story! Loved it! (Especially because I adored the trilogy and was heart broken when it was over.) I also appreciated her decision to bring in a whole new set of characters that she introduced in this book, and which will be the lead characters for her next Shadowhunter series entitled The Dark Artifices coming out next Spring.
The bad: Well, I will say, I wish she had shorten the plot just slightly. As much as I love her writing, over 700 pages is just a little too much. The main plot actually ended a good 125 pages before the end, but she chose to fill the remainder by tying up loose ends. I’m all about finding out what happens to characters in the ‘after’ and sometimes get annoyed when an author leaves things too open for interpretation. But there were definitely a few things she could have skimmed over a bit more. I almost felt like there was a whole other story within the story that she felt like needed to be told at the end.
Overall, I did love the book, even with my minor criticism of the ending. The short of it – if you’re a fan of the series, definitely read the book and finish it! If you flaked off a book or two back because you were growing weary, then you might want to sit this one out.
One thing is for sure – I can’t wait for her next series to begin, so I can lose myself in the Shadowhunter world once more. Well done, Ms. Clare, on finishing the Mortal Instruments series so well!
Happy reading, friends! 🙂
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