City of Fallen Angels [Review]

Stats: 
434 pages [Kindle]
Published 4 April 2010 by Margaret K. McElderry
ASIN: B003V1WVH0
[Amazon::Barnes&Noble]


Synopsis:
The Mortal War is over, and Clary Fray is back home in New York, excited about all the possibilities before her. She's training to become a Shadowhunter and to use her unique power. Her mother is getting married to the love of her life. Downworlders and Shadowhunters are at peace at last. And—most important of all—Clary can finally call Jace her boyfriend.

But nothing comes without a price.

Someone is murdering the Shadowhunters who used to be in Valentine’s Circle, provoking tensions between Downworlders and Shadowhunters that could lead to a second bloody war. Clary’s best friend, Simon, can’t help her. His mother just found out he’s a vampire and now he’s homeless. Everywhere he turns, someone wants him on their side—along with the power of the curse wrecking his life. And they’re willing to do anything to get what they want. At the same time he’s dating two beautiful, dangerous girls—neither of whom knows about the other.

When Jace begins to pull away from Clary without explaining why, she is forced to delve into the heart of a mystery whose solution reveals her worst nightmare: She herself has set in motion a terrible chain of events that could lead to her losing everything she loves. Even Jace.

Love. Blood. Betrayal. Revenge. The stakes are higher than ever in City of Fallen Angels.



My Thoughts:
City of Fallen Angels was definitely better than all the previous books.

I feel like this book took on Simon's POV more and I appreciated that because I didn't really like Simon. It definitely helped me gain more insight on his character and personality. I also liked more of the vampire side of things being featured. I did not, however, like the moody Jace. It was annoying. With the help from my friend, Melissa, I realized that two things bothered me: 1) she mentions people biting their lips and the taste of blood entirely too often. 2) Clare also overuses the pounding heart event too much. I also notice she tends to throw in one huge word that I've never heard of before that doesn't fit into her style of writing or her writing "voice" - it's like she broke out a thesaurus for one adjective every chapter.



{SPOILERS} 

Part 1 Thoughts:
I was happy to hear Jocelyn and Luke are getting married. The part where Simon's mom reacted to the news he was a vampire was really sad. I hope some of that is resolved in book 5. There was a part where I thought I might be getting rickrolled - it was something Clary said. I giggled quite a bit. I was annoyed that Jace "has the fantasy" of Clary making out with a girl. I really can't stand that. Elaborating a bit, it was nice to hear Simon's POV on Jace instead of Jace or Clary's POV. The rune Clary used to get the dead to speak was a sad moment too. I hated Catarina Loss, the warlock nurse, what a condescending twat!

Part 2 Thoughts:
I was very surprised at the twist on Kyle's character. I was not expecting him to be Maia's ex. I was also surprised that how cunning Camille was made out to be, she didn't fight the Shadowhunters, but tried to run while she was crying. Clare's excessive ab describing is annoying too. I hope we hear more about the Iron Sisters in the next installment and if Clary will call upon the Seelie Queen. Another annoying part - Maia's tramp stamp - really?

I think this is Part 3:
I really liked the ending and all the revelations about Lilith, the mother of all demons. I found the Biblical tie-ins interesting even though I'm an atheist. I also love the huge cliffhanger! :)





Previous Review:
City of Glass by Cassandra Clare {here}

[Counts toward my TBR Pile challenge: here]

Linked up at...