Saturday, November 24, 2012

Review: City of Lost Souls by Cassandra Clare


 City of Lost Souls (The Mortal Instruments #5)
City of Lost Souls by Cassandra Clare
Bev’s rating: 4.5 stars Dani’s rating: 5 stars Average: 4.75 stars
Reviewed by Bevy, the honorary word walker**


**This review was actually written a while ago by one of our friends, Beverly. She unfortunately does not have a blog, so her fanatic rant on City of Lost Souls will be posted here at A Walk on Words. Dani has provided commentary on this, since she read it a little while after Beverly. Hope you guys enjoy! A warning, Bev gets a little intense in this review. Might I mention she is an extremist Jace fan? :)
--Steph
 

Goodreads Synopsis:
      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.


Review: 

“‘A date,’ Jace repeated. ‘Often a ‘boring thing you have to memorize in history class,’ but in this case, ‘an offer of an evening of blisteringly white-hot romance with yours truly.’”
~City of Lost Souls
"It's me," said Jace. "Watching me play Scrabble is enough to make most women swoon. Imagine if I actually put in some effort.” 


    I am eternally indebted to Cassandra Clare for a number of reasons. Among these are her creation of not just one, but several sexy male characters! And if that fact doesn’t draw you into her latest installment in The Mortal Instruments series, clearly you a) aren’t a girl, or b) aren’t gay. 
    While I firmly believe sexiness can be enjoyed in any situation, I’d first advise you to read the other four books in the series. Strike that. I command you to read the other four books first. Only then can you fully appreciate the hotness and sweetness and raging awesomeness of Jace--not to mention you’ll probably be lost if you don’t read the other four books. Rather than give you a long synopsis on every Mortal Instrument book thus far, I’ll assume I am writing for an educated reader who has read the other four novels. Be warned! You are about to venture into spoiler territory--it’s not too late to turn back!
    So we left off in City of Fallen Angels screaming in horror as Jace-the-good-sexy-angel morphed into Jace-the-evil-sexy-servant-of-Sebastian (note how the words ‘Jace’ and ‘sexy’ stay constant), and I think we can all agree that when Clary said “I’ll be back. Five minutes” we knew it was doomed to go downhill from there. The City of Lost Souls (COLS) picks up a couple of weeks after its predecessor concludes (on a cruel cliffhanger, might I mention). Immediately, the main characters--Simon, Clary, Isabelle, Alec, and Magnus--are thrust into intense action, with intricate subplots developing as the story progresses. We see the pain of Simon as he faces the fact that his mother can’t accept him. We see the slow but sweet romance budding between Isabelle and Simon (and Maia and Jordan, two secondary characters who become more important--so goody if you like werewolves!). At the same time, we bite our lips as Alec’s paranoia over losing Magnus has him seeking out an old enemy-turned-ally-kinda. Meanwhile, Clary is in the most dangerous situation of them all--she is in the hands of Jace and Sebastian, who have become mysteriously bound in such a way that when Sebastian is hurt, so is Jace (great--if one dies, the other dies too!) These subplots made COLS my favorite Mortal Instruments book so far.
    Not only that, but I felt that Clare’s writing in this book was greatly improved from her previous books. A lot of times, her writing in the previous books was two parts boring dialogue, one part boring description, and one part witty conversation (namely spawning from our favorite male protagonist Jace). This book was packed with far more gripping conversations, and despite the more quiet moments (i.e. when Clary and Jace lie together in a boat in Europe), it keeps you wanting to turn the pages. 
    I think one of Clare’s best achievements in this latest installment of the Mortal Instruments is painting vividly the angsty relationship between Jace and Clary in this book. On one hand, Clary is physically attracted to Jace, yet she knows it’s not...Jace. Plus Sebastian is this creepy, incestuous, one-hundred-percent-scary-demon-child dude hanging around, making it all awkward.
    The plot in City of Lost Souls is also tightly woven. I couldn’t find any noticeable plot holes, and she builds it all up to a stunning climax that made the 500-odd pages worthwhile.
    My least favorite moments: Okay, honestly Clary? I know you’re madly in love with Jace (hell, who isn’t?) but sometimes you act just plain stupid. You can’t be so selfish about a hot momma. Also, I LOVE Alec/Magnus but Alec--what’s your problem? Stop worrying about Magnus’s past and focus on the present.
    Overall, I recommend COLS--it’s an engaging read with great characters, plot, and dialogue!

Dani's commentary
In blue is Bevy’s commentary on Dani's commentary...

Dani’s commentary: JACE IS A SEXY BEAST. NUFF SAID. *hear hear* On a more serious note, Jace is the most witty, smart, and most of all, HOT character you will ever meet in a YA book.Proof of his hotness is the fact that he won the YA Sisterhood’s (a book reviewing blog) annual CRUSH TOURNEY!So he really is the king of crushes!
MARRY ME JACE. As you can clearly tell, Bevy is completely smitten with Jace. Heck yes. Heccccck yes. MY HEART SKIPS A BEAT! She is head over heels! I bet she could walk on air. ;) She already does WALK ON WORDS. Too bad he’s taken by Clary...Bev is CRAZY about him. Like if she saw a guy who remotely looked like Jace...who knows what would happen. So, in a nutshell, don’t mess with this girl. You’re allowed to fall in love with Jace, but I wish you luck if you try to compete with her. I wouldn’t compete with me over any guy. >:)
P.S. Jace’s name is pronounced just how it looks! It is not Jack-ee or Jase-ee. It is JACE. As in it rhymes with LACE. So don’t mess up this dude’s name. He’d probably beat you up anyway if you did....

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