Title: City of Heavenly Fire (The Mortal Instruments #6)
Author: Cassandra Clare
Published: May, 2014 by Margaret K. McElderry
Pages: 725
My Rating: ★★★★☆
Purchase: The Book Depository
Shadowhunters and demons square off for the final showdown in the spellbinding, seductive conclusion to the #1 New York Times bestselling Mortal Instruments series.
Darkness has descended on the Shadowhunter world. Chaos and destruction overwhelm the Nephilim as Clary, Jace, Simon, and their friends band together to fight the greatest evil they have ever faced: Clary’s own brother. Sebastian Morgenstern is on the move, systematically turning Shadowhunter against Shadowhunter. Bearing the Infernal Cup, he transforms Shadowhunters into creatures of nightmare, tearing apart families and lovers as the ranks of his Endarkened army swell. Nothing in this world can defeat Sebastian, but if they journey to the realm of demons, they just might have a chance.
Lives will be lost, love sacrificed, and the whole world will change. Who will survive the explosive sixth and final installment of the Mortal Instruments series?
Final Thoughts:
This book ate my whole weekend. It was just so long. I’ve spent the past six hours on my couch getting through the last 300 pages, feeling like I just wanted it to end. Don’t get me wrong, it was a great book, a great end to the series, but it was just so…I guess ‘tiring’ is the word. All of the characters get a look in, with most getting a fair share of the time spent exploring and wrapping up their plots, but in doing this, it really slowed down the pacing with all of the jumping back and forth to all of the different perspectives. It’s probably a good thing for people who are sick of certain characters, but I just wanted to get to the end and put the heavy (you could use it as a brick) book down.
Assuming everyone’s up to date with the series, or at least the first ‘trilogy’ of the series, you’d know that Clary’s brother, Sebastian, took over from his father as the ‘big bad’. He’s really quite capable at it too. From the start, we’re thrown into a battle that seems more threatening than any of the danger the past two books have tried to muster up. The whole world here is falling apart, and for that, I really loved this book. In fact, the first half of the book is everything I’d hoped the final book would be. The pacing was actually quite fast, the danger, the deaths, the betrayal—all of the things we’d been hyped up towards were there. The blows just kept coming.
But then the second half hit.
I don’t know what happened, but everything just slowed. There were about 50 pages spent with our main characters in a cave. It helped it getting a lot of their feelings out there, but still, people don’t need to be stationary to talk. Other things happened with the side characters, of course, but I felt like I was just waiting for the war to come, for things to happen. The fact that I’d been reading for so long probably also added to my antsy state. But I think if I’d left it and read in shorter sessions, I may have found it harder to pick up again. With the chapters averaging around thirty pages, it would have made it feel like more of a chore.
Now that I’ve finished the book, I feel like a weight has been lifted. And one certainly has. As much as I love having my hardcover, I recommended buying the e-book simply out of fear that the book could crush you if you fell asleep reading it. If you’re unsure about taking on the second half of the series, I’d say give it a go. This definitely gave me the closure I was after. It even has characters from the Infernal Devices popping up from time to time throughout it. And from the way this one pushed a few new characters onto us quite heavily, I’d say they’ll be the leads in her next series to come.
Recommendation:
I mentioned it already: e-book, people. e-book.
