 Cassandra Clare

The New York Times bestselling Mortal Instruments continues—and so do the thrills and danger for Jace, Clary, and Simon.

What price is too high to pay, even for love? When Jace and Clary meet again, Clary is horrified to discover that the demon Lilith’s magic has bound her beloved Jace together with her evil brother Sebastian, and that Jace has become a servant of evil. The Clave is out to destroy Sebastian, but there is no way to harm one boy without destroying the other. As Alec, Magnus, Simon, and Isabelle wheedle and bargain with Seelies, demons, and the merciless Iron Sisters to try to save Jace, Clary plays a dangerous game of her own. The price of losing is not just her own life, but Jace’s soul. She’s willing to do anything for Jace, but can she still trust him? Or is he truly lost?

Love. Blood. Betrayal. Revenge. Darkness threatens to claim the Shadowhunters in the harrowing fifth book of the Mortal Instruments series

City of Lost Souls (The Mortal Instruments #5)

Sarah Campbell

And the Wolf that shall keep it may prosper, 

but the Wolf that shall break it must die. 

As the creeper that girdles the tree trunk, 

For the strength of the Pack is the Wolf, 

and the strength of the Wolf is the Pack.

He wanted to see Brocelind Forest, so we borowed some horses and rode there one day. Of course, we got lost. Brocelind's impenetrable. It got darker and the woode got thicker and I was terrified. I thought we'd die there. But Jace was never scared. He was never anything but sure we would find our way out. It took hours, but he did it. He got us out of there. I was so grateful but he just looked at me like I was crazy. Like of course he'd get us out. Failing wasn't an option. "-he'll find his way back to you, I know it."

Damn.. I know it’s a common thing in the shadowhunter world, but it still hurts

Aline rolled her eyes. "They're sort of ignoring it, like it might go away if they don't talk about it." 

He was trying to hide the concern in his voice, but Clary could hear it. She hadn't been eating much lately, and her clothes had started to hang more loosely on her frame.

When Jace vanishes with Sebastian, Clary and the Shadowhunters struggle to piece together their shattered world and Clary infiltrates the group planning the world's destruction.

City of Lost Souls

Emerson Clute

arwen

Ellie M.

3.25 ⭐️

Possessed Jace?? This book was mainly centered on his, Clary, and Sebastian’s storyline so it still felt like a filler read, but it was nevertheless not as dragging and just as enjoyable.

Monicap

LAST READ: May 29, 2012
This book was an Awesome follow up to the City of Fallen Angels! Jace is still under a spell(ish) and he and Clary have some Almost-moments, some actual moments, and then one moment that was... well, momentous. there's much Sebastian hijinks, and drama between Alec and Magnus, Izzy and Simon, Maia and Jordan, and it's an overall good book. can't wait for this awesome series's conclusion!

Nabila Azahra

I was literally this 👌🏻 close to throw the book out of window😴 THE FIRST 400 PAGES WERE SLOW AF 😑😑 I even finished 2 other books while reading it 😟 But after those hell of 400 pages everything gets better, yay! And Magnus said Indonesian word 🖤 It’s nice to a little bit from my country through this book ehehe😅🇮🇩

akynn 

Tatiana

City of Lost Souls: 3.5/5

Although better than City of Fallen Angels, this book is SO SLOW. At over 500 pages, there is a clear plotline, and for the first time in Clare's Shadowhunter books, there is definitely filler that amounts to almost nothing.

Personally, I like this main plotline more than TMI part one. I think Sebastian actually has depth as a character and I kept questioning if he was the true villain of the story or not. I think that is really cool, how I genuinely could not tell who to root for. The morally-greyness of every character makes an extremely interesting and dynamic story.

I think the most outstanding characters in this book are Sebastian, Simon, and Alec. Their plotlines were so interesting to me, and learning more about them made me fall more in love.

That being said, there's a subplot of Maia and Jordan. This was literally here for no reason and when it was time for their point of view, I was kinda annoyed just because I knew it would amount to nothing.

Then there's Clary and Jace. Classic plot that they love each other yet cannot be together because of external factors. We've seen different variations of this plotline for the past four books in the TMI series, now five. I'm honestly getting so tired of this, and how dramatic Clary is about every single little thing. This is no surprise though, since Clary's mom is also so annoying. 

What saved this book are the ending few chapters. Those were an absolute delight to read. So much so, I could not put the book down. The other best part of this book was the little easter eggs hinting at The Infernal Devices. Namely, when Clary is talking to Brother Zachariah at the end and he says he remembers his past life and his love for two people. MY HEART.

Anyways, onto Heavenly Fire! Almost done OMG I cant believe it :')

Whitney Nicole

** spoiler alert **
           Oh for God’s sake. Alright hear me out.

If I gotta see ONE MORE, just ONE MORE scene of Clary and Jace *almost* doing the do and just being so caught up in their ~passion~ before they’re, uh oh, 🥵interrupted🥵 I think I might put an unconscious rune on me. Seriously, either have sex or dont. “But stera, this is book is rated 14+” yeah yeah, either cut it or do it I still don’t give af. SERIOUSLY, all they need is a pack of condoms and a can-do attitude, if they could get a grip on themselves for more than 3 pages.

Now, on to something else. We are in book five. And I understand and appreciate the fact that clary was raised a mundane, and has only been training for oh, a couple months. Really I do. HOWEVER!!!! We’re not gonna sit here and act like she’s some daring heroine. Every time homegirl rushes into something she gets her assed MURKED. Laid out like some asphalt on a hot summer day. Whole book I was like go sis give us nothing!! And has the audacity to be like “jace you don’t need to protect me” REALLY???!? After having demons play volleyball with your short (seriously we get it you’re short you’re dainty, thank you very much it does not need to be established every chapter) ass?!??? 


Clary is impulsive, and somehow this is painted out to be a lovable quirk instead of something that puts her and multiple people in dangerous situations. And due to that, I see very little character growth from the girl who believed herself to be a mundane up until now. Which one would expect to see SOME character growth when you get dragged by your flaming hot Cheeto hair from normal life into a world that’s the equivalent of being the Bible written by Edgar Allen Poe. 

And finally, despite all my complaints and multiple brides from banging my head against this book, I have made the conscious decision to give it 3 stars. The plot did manage to capture my attention very well, even as the mc’s manage to give me a special kind of headache. Shockingly, and I do mean shockingly, I have switched from being annoying with Simon to him being my favorite character. Mostly because he holds the most common sense (maybe Magnus as well.) Anyways, enjoy the book!

Geoffrey Froggatt

When Jace and Clary meet again, Clary is horrified to discover that the demon Lilith’s magic has bound her beloved Jace together with her evil brother Sebastian, and that Jace has become a servant of evil. The Clave is out to destroy Sebastian, but there is no way to harm one boy without destroying the other. As Alec, Magnus, Simon, and Isabelle wheedle and bargain with Seelies, demons, and the merciless Iron Sisters to try to save Jace, Clary plays a dangerous game of her own. The price of losing is not just her own life, but Jace’s soul. She’s willing to do anything for Jace, but can she still trust him? Or is he truly lost? Content warning for incest, sexual assault and drug use. I never realized, until this book, just how much of a beautiful human being Simon is. He was ready to sacrifice himself for his loved ones, even if it meant dying in the process. Even if he has his own turmoils going on in his personal life, with his mother and Becky, he stayed strong and tried to be there for everyone every single time. That's what I adore about him in this book. You can cleary see the character development Simon has going on since book one. Really, compare Simon Lewis from City of Bones to the Simon Lewis of this book. He has grown so much, and learned and lost so much, these things are bound to change you. But Cassandra Clare has done it so naturally, so periodically, that you feel as he hasn't changed at all at the same time. It's the beauty of writing, you feel as if you're growing up right alongside with them. The rest of the characters are also characterized well, and you can really feel them start to grow compared to their characterization in the first three books in the series. I think one of the reasons I enjoyed City of Lost Souls so much is because it’s told through so many perspectives, some of which we’ve never seen before. This writing style made the story feel much more cohesive and compelling. There was a reputable plotline, with a lot of intricate things happening and playing into each other, and I thought it was filled with notable twists and turns. I know some found this book slow – which I can definitely see, especially with the repetitiveness of Clary’s chapters – but it surprisingly didn’t feel like that for me. I enjoyed this book for what it was.

Nina Verhaaff 

Hannah Yang

I'm... disappointed? I know that The Mortal Instruments series was never exactly great, thought-provoking literature. However, while the first three books got better and better, the City of Fallen Angels and the City of Lost Souls seem to be going downhill. 

The main plot point in the City of Lost Souls is that Jace and Jonathan/Sebastian are missing. That being said, the plot was a mess. If I hadn't read this book in one sitting, I think I would be completely lost trying to revisit it. A lot of the magic / fantasy rules and technicalities were either poorly explained or seemed conveniently stuffed in for the plot. There were a lot of interesting concepts, but they were just there, like "It's a magic world so of course this can exist". 

I'm all for Clace, Sizzy, Malec, whatever other ships... but the reason I enjoyed the first few books in this series so much was the fact that they were action-packed. There was so much kissing and descriptions of kissing and wanting-to-kiss in this book. Don't get me wrong, I'm a sucker for romance. Romance is a big part in this series. However, in this book it felt so unnecessary at times. Kissing is constant. If one couple's not kissing, another one is. The actual romantic part of the kissing was kind of lost on me by the end of the novel.

I did like some things - Clary spends a lot of time with both Jonathan/Sebastian and Jace, and the dynamic of the three is interesting. We get to know Jonathan/Sebastian more in this novel, and I think he's a complex villain and not just Valentine 2.0. I'm interested in seeing how that plays out in the final installment.

Also, I think many of the characters dealt with more emotions and bigger decisions in this book? There was more exploration of their personal problems, insecurities, etc. which I thought was fantastic. Isabelle dealing with her new feelings for Simon, and her uncertainty about liking someone different from her previous lovers. Alec battling with the idea that he will eventually die and Magnus will presumably live on and meet new people; and considering the idea of taking immortality away from Magnus (yikes, Alec). Simon trying to be accepted as a vampire by his family, when he really needed acceptance from himself. I could go on.

So. Plot: not impressed, but intrigued enough to finish this series. Characters: yesss (but get a room, seriously).

i really thought i was ready to throw in the towel with these but i tore through this one and now need to know how it all ends 

samantha lias

Fatima Kadri 

So much of what happened this book was completely pointless. Like, a good 300pgs could’ve been taken out and made into a separate book for people who don’t care about plot.

Anum Memon

I read this series along time ago and thought they were trash. Again that was a couple years ago. Now I re-read the series this past month and I though it was actually really exceptional.

Honestly I thoroughly enjoyed this one. There was some unpredictable moments that left you wanting to continue reading. The love and reality that this book shows despite being in a magical world is just incredible

Lauren Dale

When Jace vanishes with Sebastian, Clary and the Shadowhunters struggle to piece together their shattered world and Clary infiltrates the group planning the world's destruction

Pain, that is what this book is. Beautiful pain, especially the epilogue

Talia Dominguez 

this book is awesome!!!!!! clary outdid herself to save the person she loves!!!
relationships formed and relationships unformed.
awesome read!!!

"angel by the wings" by sia
"je te laisserai des mots" by patrick watson

Marloes

Annabella

This is a reread and still, I feel like I have to wait for COHF without knowing all over again. Help.

Very very slow the first 300 pages but it picked the last 100

Holy JESUS! This books plot is insane😳 Jace is really one unlucky dude, and he is SO lucky he has people who love him! I really hope we get Sebastians end in the final book, I need to know he is GONE! I really recommend this series with all my Heart. I so hope the last book is good!

Isabela H 

** spoiler alert **
           Mmmmmmmmmm very mixed feelings when I really sit down to think about things. 
There is a lot that happens in each book, and I appreciate that it's a pretty healthy mix of predictable things and things that you would never expect to happen. HOWEVER there are some aspects of the story, mainly the relationships between characters, that I thought had been improving when I finished the previous book, but only got worse in City of Lost Souls. 
I think that so much is happening at once that it's hard to achieve a good balance of dramatic plot/heavy action with touchy-feely relationships and unfortunately, it falls a little too flat when it comes to the different characters interacting with each other. 
First and foremost, Simon and Isabelle have, at the same time, both so much and so little going on between the two of them, but partially because they are in such weird situations that there's simply no room for them to be real people outside of the role they play in the action. 
The same can be said for Jordan and Maia, although they are sliiiiiiiiiightly better because there was actually some development going on. 
Don't get me started on Jace and Clary, I flip between thinking they're so adorably in love and then being absolutely sickened and annoyed at their behavior both as individual characters and as a couple. 
Basically, I appreciate CC for trying so hard to have so many characters and for all of the characters to have their own lives and thoughts and feelings outside of the complicated plot, but it doesn't quite succeed.

City of Lost Souls (The Mortal Instruments #5)

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