City of Lost Souls by Cassandra Clare

Synopsis: 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. (Goodreads)

Review:

I started this series a couple of years back and I have been slowly making my way through it. I had a really difficult time reading the first three books but the books to follow really got me into this series. This book was no exception. I loved it.

Lets first talk about the character development in this book, I was extremely impressed. The characters have grown so much and they were extremely vulnerable in this book. But, I think that is what made me love this book even more because you got to get to know them from a completely different point of view. In this book the characters were raw, they were vulnerable and they should that they can feel love, pain, hatred and acceptance. This book offered so many feels. I felt the love that Clary had for Jace, while she fought to get him back from the possession that Lilith put on him in the previous book. Clary, never gave up on him and she always mentioned that even through the possession their was always a glimpse of the real Jace. Jonathan, also showed a loving vulnerable side as his connection grew with Jace and he took Clary into his life. Even though he is the villain in the book he showed a lot of emotion. It seemed that if circumstances of his childhood were different he would have turned out to be a completely different person. Clary’s, best friend Simon also grew as a character. He showed his adaptation to being a vampire and having to deal with opening up to his family and dealing with the repercussions. His relationship with Isabel also grew and it was very interesting to see the progression of the connection between each other. Alex and Magnus as always were very intriguing. I loved Magnus, from the very beginning but this book made me love him even more, because of how helpful he was towards the shadow hunters. However, their relationship also tore at my heart because it was beautiful and tragic all at the same time.

The majority of the time took place in Valentine’s traveling apartment. It was extremely amazing to see the way the apartment worked. It also provided a very good source to learn more about the Morgensten family history and about Jonathan’s , Jace’s, Clary’s and Valentine’s past.

I gave this book a 5/5 stars. It kept me on the edge of my seat. The writing was witty and intriguing. I couldn’t put this book down. I wanted to know what would happen next and I worried about the characters and the situations they were put in. You get to learn a lot about the character’s and it bring on the FEELS! The character relationships were a lot deeper and Clary was just a badass female character and I love that about the book. You can see her growing into her shadow hunter heritage.Cassandra Clare painted a picture with this book, and I couldn’t have asked for a more satisfying read.