The Mortal Instruments: City of Heavenly Fire by Cassandra Clare

   Clary and Jace once again continue their story.  Sebastian, aka Jonathan Morgenstern, has stepped up his game immensely and once again has put the lives of many into danger.  This time though he comes with the powers of Hell behind him.  His interests have changed, and it seems that he would burn the world down for his own amusement.  The only person who has any hold on his dark heart is Clary.  His sister is the only one he would see unharmed by anyone else.  And Sebastian has made allies that will help him achieve his goals.
   Jace is still battling the Heavenly Fire that burns within his veins.  It is hard to control and because of that fact he has a hard time even kissing Clary because of the fear that he will hurt her in some way.  Evidence suggests that it could happen as well.   Even though it is good news that Heavenly Fire could harm Sebastian, it is almost useless when you don't know how to wield the power inside of you.
   The fight, though, will come down to just Sebastian and Clary.  Unfortunately there will be losses and hurt, double-crossing and more.  The Endarkened warriors Sebastian has created come for them all and want blood.  And if Clary, Jace, and their friends cannot stop Sebastian then the whole world will pay.


"You know what I mean. I don't know how I got here. My life was ordinary. I was ordinary-" (Clary)
"You've never been ordinary," (Jace)


"I remember you said this war was a story of Lightwoods and Herondales and Fairchilds, and it is, and Blackthorns and Carstairs as well, and it's amazing to see them..."  (Tessa)


   City of Heavenly Fire was a very good read; one in an ever expanding line of books about The Mortal Instruments.  However, I do have my few complaints about the book.
1. It was a very long book. Cassandra Clare's books are not exactly known for being short, so this is just a minor inconvenience.  And the story is unwrapped so that it keeps your attention throughout.  That balances out the length of it.
2. Perhaps the biggest complaint I have about the book is the fact that there is a scene with teenage sex taking place.  Anyone who has read the books before knew that it was just a matter of time before Jace and Clary went that far.  What I didn't expect was two teenagers under the age of 18.  In fact, it's pointed out in the book that Jace is 17 and Clary is six months younger than he is.  This one part I just felt was a little unnecessary considering who the audience to many of these books tend to be.  Sex sells but that doesn't mean that you should write it.  The only up side to this is the fact that it doesn't go into great detail about it.  However, there's just a definite element of knowing what is going on. (Should you want to avoid this part, it's about 70% of the way through the book.)
3. Do you ever wonder if there will be an end to the series?  I do.  This is book six and it's looking like there will be another book, although this could have been an excellent ending to the series.  The end of the book is wound up together so well you start to think this is the end. Then at the very end there is that glimmer of more trouble on the horizon for the Shadowhunters.  Isn't there always some type of trouble though?  A series that ends well is much better than one that keeps going until you are absolutely tired of reading the books.  There's only so far you can stretch a story.

The City of Bones -Movie

Today I got to go see The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones.  Now, there is just no comparing the movie and the book.  All of those who have read the book will notice quite a few differences between the two.  If you think this will really be a problem, then don't go see the movie.  As a whole separate deal, the movie was good.  It had plenty of action, it was funny, scary, and a little cheesy.  I could have done without that little bit of cheesiness that they added, but overall a pretty darn good movie.  But please don't take your little kids to go see this movie.  Those demons in it were scary.  Period.  They looked like something that mutated out of a Resident Evil movie.  Talk about nasty and creepy.  And yes, Clary seems just as helpless in the movie as she does in the book.  One little thing though.  Jonathan Rhys Meyers has a serious hair problem.  It may seem like a little minor thing, but his hair is just wow.  And not in a good way.  Picture a cross between Joe Dirt and Johnny Depp in Pirates of the Caribbean and you've got it.  Yes Jonathan Rhys Meyers your hair is causing you a 5 point loss in cool points.  It was downright distracting.  There is some redemption for him though.  He did act just as crazy as Valentine seemed, maybe even a little more so.  Jamie Campbell Bower was a very good choice for Jace.  As we have seen before, he can play the part for someone who is a dark character.  And even though he is one of the good guys, you can also see a little bit of dark and dangerous still and it really works.   The only character I was truly disappointed in was the one of Magnus Bane.  I was hoping for a more flamboyant and out there persona.  That is not what I really got.  Yes you get to see him in his underwear (don't worry his little "outfit" is really hilarious), but he isn't all the glitter and glam and outgoing warlock we see in the book.  And if you have never read the book, then you might be more than a little horrified about Jace and Clary's relationship at the end of it when they find out some rather alarming news about themselves.  But, on the upside, the fight scenes are amazing and the nasty, scary demons really give the movie an edge.  Overall, it was worth going to see in theaters.

City of Fallen Angels (Book Four of The Mortal Instruments by Cassandra Clare)

  He could tell what they were thinking. "Vampire, Downworlder, enemy" was written all over their faces.

    It's the fourth book in this ever-lengthening series.  To be honest, the length of this series is already rivaling
The Twilight Saga.  But, amazingly, our attention is still held.  Instead of this book being all about Clary and Jace, it's more about Simon.  I like that fact that he is given the spotlight for a while.  After all, the guy deserves it.  He fell in love with his best friend, watched her fall into the most dangerous world imaginable, watched her heart break over Jace at various times throughout the series, then have his heart broken by her because she didn't and never would love him, became a vampire, became a Daylighter, and now has the Mark of Cain (which Clary put on him, to save his life).  The guy has been through hell and back and unfortunately in this book, he's back in hell, figuratively speaking.
   Simon is now dating Maia and Isabelle, but they don't know that.  He is trying to keep them from finding out about each other until he can figure out what to do.  At the same time he is dealing with being a vampire and the thirst for blood that it brings with it.  He is starting to feel very alone and the curse of the mark is hanging heavily on him.  The one time that he tries to explain to his mother what he is, she freaks out.  So he leaves his house and starts staying at Kyle's house, the newest band member.  Unbeknownst to Simon, Kyle is a werewolf, and Maia's ex.  In what seems like the worst night ever for Simon, he bites someone close to him, his two girlfriends find out about each other, and Maia meets Kyle again.
   The Mark of Cain was meant to be a curse to the original wearer, Cain.  Unfortunately, Simon is feeling the heavy burden of the curse as well.  No one can harm him without being killed.  And now that everything has gone crazy, his loneliness has no boundaries.  Everyone who knows of the mark he wears, wants Simon as an ally, but no one wants to be there for him.  They are all wrapped up in their own lives to notice the trouble he is having.

"You're a vampire.  It's in your nature to want to drink blood.  You've held out a long time without doing it.  I know you can walk in the sun, Simon, and so you pride yourself on being a normal human boy, but you're still what you are.  Just like I am.  The more you try to crush your true nature, the more it will control you.  Be what you are.  No one who really loves you will stop."


*image via Cassandra Clare
*quotes via Cassandra Clare

City of Bones Diagram

Take a look at who's crushing on who in The City of Bones by Cassandra Clare!!  See my diagram below!

                                 

                      

City of Bones (The Mortal Instruments Book One) by Cassandra Clare

   Soon to be 16-year-old Clarissa Fray is a teenager who doesn't always follow the rules, likes to go to a club called Pandemonium where kids dress in strange goth like outfits and spike their rainbow colored hair, and routinely goes against her mothers wishes.  Normal teenager right?  Clary was a normal teenager until she starts seeing things that others, including her best friend Simon, cannot.  While at Pandemonium one night she witnesses two guys and a girl murder another guy.  The problem is that normal people don't bleed black blood and just disappear when they die.  But this guy did.  Turns out he was not just a guy, he was a demon.  Alec, Isabelle and Jace are all teenage shadowhunters.  They hunt demons.  They also occasionally take care of vampires, werewolves or other things like that when they get out of hand.  They all live under the law of a secret organization called The Clave.  In their world The Clave is in no way a secret, but no one knows about it who is a regular old human; what they call a mundane.
 

The night Clary went to Pandemonium with Simon was the night when everything changed.  She learned of a world she never thought existed, thanks to her mother's insistence that none of it was real.  Then Clary's mother is taken.  When Clary returns to her and her mother's apartment, she is attacked by a demon.  "Silence answered her. No, not silence-a noise sounded through the apartment, raising the short hairs along the nape of her neck.  Like something being knocked over- a heavy object striking the floor with a dull thud.  The thud was followed by a dragging, slithering noise- and it was coming toward the bedroom.  Stomach contracting in terror, Clary scrambled to her feet and turned around slowly..."  Somehow using the sensor she had taken from Jace, Clary kills the demon.  Jace is convinced Clary is no mundane and he is proven right when he is forced to mark her with a rune to keep her hidden.  She must have shadowhunter blood.  Otherwise she probably would have went insane.  Because of the wound Clary received from the demon, Jace is forced to take her to the Institute where he and the others live.  There she is healed by Hodge who tutors the young shadowhunters and helps take care of them.  While at the Institute, Clary heals and learns more about shadowhunters.  She is determined to find her mother if she is still alive.  In order to do that they think they will need what's called the Immortal Cup.  It was where the first shadowhunters came from.  Clary is the only one who can find it.  Her mother hid it well in a surprise location so very close to home.  But as they find the cup, they also find another demon.  One that is far worse than the last and Alec almost dies.  As if things cannot get any worse, Clary's long lost, maniacal father, Valentine (who later you find out in the book is also someone else's father as well), shows up and takes the cup.  Clary never knew her father was still alive. Her mother had kept the shadowhunter world a complete secret from her.  Her mother had been a shadowhunter and her friend Luke, who comes around quite a bit, was a shadowhunter until turned into a werewolf.  Things get  very complicated for young Clary and she needs to find her very dangerous father to find her mother.

  " There were some memories, though, that never faded.  Images burst like flashbulbs behind his lids when he closed his eyes.  Blood and bodies, trampled earth, a white podium stained with red.  The cries of the dying."  (Hodge's memories)

   Clary Fray may be a very courageous character in this story but she is also a young and very reckless one.  I cannot decide whether she is very lucky or very unlucky.  She falls in love with Jace, the best shadowhunter his age.  And puts their lives, as well as those of Alec and Isabelle in danger because she doesn't always think things through.  Because she has so little knowledge of this new world she has no idea what type of consequences will come of her actions.  Jace is so enamored and in love with her that everyone else but Clary notices.  He will do anything for Clary.  Once he was so close to Alec, and now it is Clary.  Alec is secretly in love with Jace and Jace has no clue.  But Clary starts to see that soon enough.  Alec acts like he hates her and that he has something to prove.  "...where Isabelle was all arrogance, Alec slumped down in the chair as if he hoped nobody would notice him."  Perhaps he has something to prove more to himself than anyone else.  Isabelle is just Isabelle.  Flamboyant.  Beautiful.  Guys fall all over her.  Clary wishes she was more like her.  And Jace likes her the way she is.  His thoughts are "she doesn't know she is beautiful".  Simon is Clary's best friend who, of course, is also in love with her.  He has been forever.  But he also likes Isabelle and she likes him too.  It is one tangled mess of love triangles and a very unexpected possible love interest for Alec.  Teenagers that, although they act like they are so sure of themselves, are just trying to figure out what life is all about like all others their age.  They just have to deal with things no one else does.  Death is a part of the shadowhunter life.  They are not expected to have a long life span.  A hazard of the job.
   My favorite part of the book is definitely the garden scene.  Jace takes Clary up to the greenhouse to wish her a secret happy birthday.  It was her 16th birthday and there had been nothing special for her.  In a rare moment you finally get to see that as hard Jace seems to be, he also has a sweet side too.  Clary seems to bring out a better side to Jace.  It is a little romantic and for a second Clary forgets all of her problems.  For just a second in time she is happy.


                                                          The descent beckons 
                                                        as the ascent beckoned.
                                             -William Carlos Williams, The Descent

                          
                   Look for Mortal Instruments: City of Bones in theaters August 23rd, 2013!

*images via Cassandra Clare
*quotes via Cassandra Clare