City of Lost Souls Review

City of Lost Souls
by Cassandra Clare

Spoilers

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.

My Thoughts:

I gave this book 5 stars. By far my favourite book in the series. Everything about this series has come so far from the start and it's 

Jordan and Maia were very ignorable the first time I read the series. I really didn't care about what happened to them, they were just unimportant. Now, reading the series again I just want these sweet characters to get back together and be happy together. They are so cute. Maia is the one character in this entire series who has never pissed me off or made me question whether or not I trusted her. She's always been very straight forward and had a good moral compass.

What I didn't even notice the first few times reading this book was that werewolves have gold rings around their irises' even when in human form!!! I completely missed that and it was only mentioned in passing, if I hadn't been reading in depth I probably would have missed it. Now I have to rethink everything, especially how I picture these werewolf characters.

Simon and Izzy are just such an amazing couple. I am constantly amused by the fact that Izzy is completely confused by her attraction to Simon. She's like "WTF??? I've dated incredibly hot guys and not gotten over attached, why am I suddenly so over attached to this nerd?" and I'm really living for it. Seeing more of their relationship in this book was refreshing. The series is usually very centred around Jace and Clary, and it still is a lot about them, but the magic of this second half of the series is that we get more of the other couples i.e. Simon and Izzy.

Alec is driving me crazy, he's completely letting his insecurities get to him and he doesn't even notice the way Magnus looks at him. Magnus is so completely in love with him and Alec doesn't even seem to want to talk to Magnus when Magnus brings up Alec's insecurities. It's driving me crazy.

I have to talk about something that really upset me for a moment here. If you haven't read the Infernal Devices Series yet, then I would highly recommend skipping over this paragraph. I wouldn't say it's exactly a spoiler, but it probably won't make any sense. Why I'm upset is because the book Will gave to Tessa expressing his love for her was blown up in Sebastian's magical floating house. This physically pains me. That's not even what upsets me the most. What upsets me the most is why did Tessa not keep that book? It is a highly sentimental object, so why wouldn't she keep it? It seems like the type of thing one would bring with them everywhere because it is a symbol of your love. I'm very upset by this. Okay onto the rest of the review.

It's constantly mentioned in the book how tall Jace is. He's like a giant, he is just so tall. That made me think he was like 6 foot 6, just towering over everyone. Turns out Jace is actually only 5 foot 11. Not, short, but a lot shorter than I expected.

So much development has happen with the story and with the characters fro the first book. They have changed so much. Cassandra Clare's writing has gotten a lot better throughout the series. She knows how to keep everyone engaged and wanting more. I love seeing how the characters have changed throughout the past few books and the change is immense.

Sebastian is manipulative, cruel, and a complete lunatic. I love him though. He's a psychopath for sure, but being a psychopath usually means you're pretty charismatic. I know it's all a silkscreen and that he's an awful human being, but I can't help but be charmed by him. He does all this awful stuff with a mischievous little grin on his face and you just want to be around him. I hate him but I love him. I think the author did a really good job with him.

I'm terribly unobservant when reading, which is why I discovered loads of new things while reading this book again. For some reason I was under the impression that Amatis become one of the dark shadowhunters of her free will. Apparently I missed the part where she was dragged out of her bed and forced to drink from the cup. I also didn't notice that Maia and Jordan slept together, but that was probably because I didn't really care about those two the other times I read it.

There was this theory I read about on Tumblr, I don't remember who thought of it, but it goes like this; Robert and Maryse both have blue eyes, Izzy has black eyes. Therefore it is genetically impossible for Izzy to be Robert's child. Who from this series has black eyes? Valentine. Therefore the theory goes, Izzy is Valentine's daughter. I think some other things that back up this theory is that in the past books Maryse would always talk about how much she and loved Valentine and we all just assumed it was like a friend or a leader, but that was only implied. There was also the fact that Valentine always called her "my Maryse". Now there are holes in this theory like, why didn't Valentine ever use this to his advantage? We all saw what he did with Jace, who wasn't even his kid. Unless, Valentine never knew that Izzy was his daughter. I could completely see this theory as being factual.

Clary and Isabelle's friendship is coming along quite nicely. Bonding over the people they both love. It's been a long time coming and I know it wasn't always smooth, but it's coming to a good place. I think the two of them need more female friends. Especially Clary who's only friend seems to be Simon.

Quick note: Jace and Clary are absolutely adorable together.

Overall, this was an amazing fifth book, it really leaves you wanting to jump right into the sixth book. I personally feel like it was the best book in the series. I would give it an A+.

Quotes:

“Basia coquum," Simon said. "Or whatever their motto is.""It's 'Descensus Averno facilis est.' 'The descent into hell is easy," said Alec. "You just said "Kiss the cook.""Dammit," said Simon. "I knew Jace was screwing with me.” 

“She turned and looked at him. "Ducks?" she said again.A smile tugged the edge of his mouth. "I hate ducks. Don't know why. I just always have.” 

“I've got the Mark of Cain," said Simon. "That means nothing can kill me, right?""You can kill yourself," Magnus said, somewhat unhelpfully. "As far as I know, inanimate objects can accidentally kill you. So if you were planning on teaching yourself the lambada on a greased platform over a pit full of knives, I wouldn't.""There goes my Saturday.” 

'My mother seems to have accepted it,' Alec said. 'But my father — no, not really. Once he asked me what I thought had turned me gay.'Simon felt Isabelle tense next to him. 'Turned you gay?' She sounded incredulous. 'Alec, you didn’t tell me that.''I hope you told him you were bitten by a gay spider,' said Simon.

“Missing, one stunningly attractive teenage boy. Answers to 'Jace' or 'Hot Stuff” 

“What have you done to my cat?" Magnus demanded... "You drank his blood, didn't you? You said you weren't hungry!"Simon was indignant. "I did not drink his blood. He's fine!" He poked the Chairman in the stomach. The cat yawned. "Second, you asked me if I was hungry when you were ordering pizza, so I said no, because I can't eat pizza. I was being polite.""That doesn't get you the right to eat my cat.""Your cat is fine!" Simon reached to pick up the tabby, who jumped indignantly to his feet and stalked off the table. "See?""Whatever.” 

Class Reading List

So recently Booktube-athon happened and with that there were video challenges everyday. Now obviously I don't have a booktube channel so I didn't do the Booktube-athon, but there was this one video challenge that I thought would be really cool: Creating a class and choosing a reading list for that class. This appealed to me so much that I decided to make a post on it.

My class would be on real world problems. I mean as opposed to fantastical problems like dragons and assassins. I thought about it and I think displaying actual problems in today's society in fiction is really important. This is a bit of a sensitive topic so beware.


The Hate You Give

This book covers racism and hate crimes. Now I haven't even read this one yet, but from the uproar it has caused I can tell it's an important book. I'm going to be reading as soon as I possibly can.

The Bell Jar

This novel covers depression and a persons slow decent into madness. It's so relatable because this happens to millions of people. There's something about it that still makes it iconic after several decades.

The Perks of Being a Wallflower

This book covers PTSD. And if I'm not mistaken it was banned from several schools because of the topic. The downward spiral is so subtle that you barely even notice that it's happening. This book is on this list because it's something that, like the Bell Jar, happens to millions of people all the time and needs to be talked about more.

The Outsiders

It's a book about segregation between classes. It's a story about how these people were basically treated horribly because they weren't rich, they were just the same as everyone else and even though it's set in the 60's it's still pretty accurate today.

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time

This book is about autism and the treatment and understanding of those who are autistic. People treat autism like it's a disease that needs to be wiped out and I think this book does a great job of displaying the good as well as the bad.

Boy Toy

This story covers pedophilia and the general assumption that "men can't be raped". Spoiler alert: they can be. I read this book years ago and didn't realize how important it really was. I'm glad I read it when I was younger because I really think it shaped a lot of how I see things today.


I kind of want to actually do a sort of read along thing with this possibly. Let me know in the comments if you might actually want to do that. 

July Wrap Up and August TBR

I had one hell of a reading month. I read all the books. Five of them were actually rereads, while I usually don't include rereads in my wrap up, I'm too proud of myself for these to not include them. I have reviews up for most of these, you can find my reviews here.

1. City of Bones

 I gave this book 4.5 stars. City of Bones is the first book in the Mortal Instruments Series, one of the original series's that I love. We go way back, I hadn't read this series since before the movie came out. It's been a while since I read the series, so I decided to do a reread this summer which is going pretty well. 

2. City of Vikings 

I gave this book 4 stars. I got an ARC of this through the author. I liked the story a lot, the premise was really intriguing. What pushed it down a star was my own inability to connect with the characters. I've seen other people reviews and they don't seem to have the same problem so I think it really is just a personal thing. Otherwise it was a good book.

3. City of Ashes 

I gave this book 4.5 stars. This book was way better than I remember it being. I did not like this book the first time I read it, well not that much anyway. Funny, i still gave it 5 stars back then despite not liking it that much. This second read made me truly appreciate the story, I loved it.

4. The Game Plan 

I gave this book 4 stars. The author somehow crafts the most hilarious characters and then puts them in the most ridiculous circumstances. i always really enjoy her novels. Amazing.

5. Double Dare 

I gave this book 3 stars. Not as good as some of the authors previous works, but still pretty enjoyable.

6. Jewel of Atlantis

I gave this book 4 stars. I will pretty much read anything Gena Showalter writes. I don't think there is anything else to say other than I enjoyed reading this book.

7. The Nymph King 

I gave this book 4 stars. I liked this book the best from this series. I don't know what it was about this book, but it was a solid A.

8. The Vampire’s Bride 

I gave this book 3 stars. Didn't like this book as much as the others in the series. It dragged a little bit, but it wasn't terrible. I liked the writing style enough that I didn't want to gauge my eyes out while reading it.

9. Mask of Shadows 

I gave this book 4.5 stars. I didn't really know what to expect from this story. It was action packed and Sal was such a relatable main character. I can't tell if it's more character driven or more plot driven.

10. The Amazon’s Curse 

I gave this book 3 stars. Just a little short story after the events of The Vampire's Bride. I feel like me not really liking either is because I don't really care for the Amazons. They're kind of annoying instead of having substance.

11. City of Glass 

I gave this book 5 stars. I can't say much considering this is the third book. It's great let's just leave it at that.

12. The Struggle 

I gave this book 4.5 stars. Felt more like a filler book between book 2 and book 4, but it was an enjoyable filler book. I don't mind, i just wish more had happened.

13. The Girl Who Ignored Ghosts 

I gave this book 3.5 stars. Finally time travel shown in a way that isn't completely flawed. If you don't know what I'm talking about I mean that the one main issue with time travel is bacteria. If someone from our day were to travel back in time, they would unleash their modern day bacteria on the people of the passed and probably start a plague of some sort. While this series has a long way to go, it was still pretty good and I liked the characters. 

14. Daughter of Deep Silence 

I gave this book 5 stars. This book just came out of left field. I bought this book because it was like 6 dollars hardcover and it sounded okay. I read this book in maybe two sittings (I can't sit still for long) and I loved every moment of it. Must read.

15. Because of Lila 

I gave this book 2 stars. I was very enraged by this one. I had a very short rant like review that I didn't even bother posting on my blog because it wasn't that long, but if you want to read it I'll post it here and you can read it if you like, if not just skip to number 16.

This isn’t even a review, this is a rant. In the synopsis we are led to believe that two characters are going to be together and that just doesn’t happen. Well it does, but only for the first 3 or 4 chapters and then the story just goes in a completely different direction. Honestly, is the beginning and the rest of the novel even the same book? I loved the Rosemary Beach series and the Sea Breeze Series, but this spin off series just isn’t doing it for me. I feel like the author is basing our understanding of the characters’s dilemma’s off of our love of their parents. It isn’t working, I can’t be understanding of what these characters are doing no matter how much I love their parents. Also, you know how much I detest love triangles and this had a love triangle in it’s most atrocious form.

With all that said I didn’t completely hate it, I still love Abbi Glines’s writing style so no matter how angry I got at the characters I couldn’t stop reading, so it got two stars instead of one.

16. The Knocked Up Plan

 I gave this book 4 stars. I gave it four stars but as of right now I don't actually remember anything that happened. It was a good book from what I can recall though. There was no major flaw that made me hate it, so that's good.

17. Scandal Never Sleeps 

I gave this book 4.5 stars. Another latest obsession of mine. I just figured I would read a smutty romance just for fun, but then it got too real too quickly. There was this huge mystery element that three books in, still hasn't been solved and I'm hooked. it is so good.

18. City of Fallen Angels

I gave this book 4.5 stars. A bit slower than City of Glass, but this is the first book of the new story arc, so that is expected. 

19. Seduction in Session 

I gave this book 4 stars. Not as good as the first book as I found Lana to be a bit annoying at first, but it did grow on me after a bit of dragging.

20. City of Lost Souls 

I gave this book 5 stars. So technically I did finish this book in August, but I read most of it in July and I finished it before this wrap up was posted. So I'm counting it. This book is still my favorite of the series. It's weird how the pages go from 509 to 511.

Onto my August TBR!!! I feel like everyone is doing ARC August, and I guess I could do that, but I don't actually want to. I'm gonna stick with my regular routine of reading one smutty romance on my computer that I may or may not mention in my blog, one physical book, and one ARC at a time. I am a creature of habit.

1. City of Heavenly Fire and the Infernal Devices Trilogy

I just didn't feel like writing all the book titles out.

2. Rowan Wood Legends

I got the ARC for this from Netgalley and I am really excited.

3. Fallen Heir

I'm obsessed. This series is amazing.

That's it! What books do you guys plan to read in August?

Waiting on Wednesday

Fallen Heir
by Erin Watt

Release Date: August 28th, 2017

Synopsis:

These Royals will ruin you.

Easton Royal has it all: looks, money, intelligence. His goal in life is to have as much fun as possible. He never thinks about the consequences because he doesn’t have to.

Until Hartley Wright appears, shaking up his easy life. She’s the one girl who’s said no, despite being attracted to him. Easton can’t figure her out and that makes her all the more irresistible.

Hartley doesn’t want him. She says he needs to grow up.

She might be right.

Rivals. Rules. Regrets. For the first time in Easton’s life, wearing a Royal crown isn’t enough. He’s about to learn that the higher you start, the harder you fall. 

My Thoughts:

If you've been following my blog for even a month or two you probably know that I am obsessed with the Royals Series by Erin Watt. I'm especially excited for this book because Easton is high up there on my favorite characters list. I love this boy so much and I know his story will be amazing. August 28th can't come soon enough.

Top 10 Favorite Bookish Moments

I was thinking about blog posts I had made and I felt like I was just getting into this pattern of doing posts that were very similar, so I started thinking, what haven't I done before? and this idea came to mind. I'll probably need a part two because there are so many more amazing scenes.

If you didn't already realize this has some pretty HEAVY SPOILERS! I will put the title and cover before the actually spoilery stuff, but be careful, you have been warned.

10. The Sea of Tranquility

When Nastya first speaks to Josh. It was so small, but it was such an important moment for Nastya. She finally found some place to belong, somewhere that she felt comfortable after years of drifting. It was oddly beautiful.

9. Under Different Stars

When Kyon slapped Kricket so she stabbed him. (I love Kyon but he deserved that) Go Kricket, I knew I loved her for a reason. She isn't about to sit around and take your shit.

8. Cross My Heart and Hope to Spy

When Cammie and Zach first meet and then Cammie finds out who he is. It just made me giggly. It's just such a pure moment, I sometime forget what it's like to read younger young adult books. A lot of young adult books are more adult than young and this one meeting just captured this fun giddy feeling that I love.

7. The Iron Trial

When Call finds out he is the Enemy of Death. Such a huge plot twist and played out so dramatically, it just made me want to read more and more of the book.

6. The Secret of Ella and Micha

When Ella and Micha do their first drag race when Ella comes back into town for the summer. Then after the drag race they make out in the car for a little bit. I loved it.

5. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets

When Harry Potter kills the basilisk. I mean, this 12 year old kid, killed a fricken basilisk and didn't give up because he didn't want anyone else to get hurt. 

4. Unravel Me

When Warner doesn’t kill the dog near the beginning of the book, he actually gives it food and pets it. That was the moment I knew that I was justified in loving Warner so much.

3. Shadow Kiss

Rose and Dimitri fighting in the quad, the mix of the action and their overall chemistry was what made this moment perfect. It also made the Rose feel validated when she won, which also made me feel validated.

2. Clockwork Princess

Will and Tessa get together. Will came to save Tessa, but the dumbass got stuck with her. It was beautiful irony. And then my ship got together and everything was good in the world.

1. Crown of Midnight

Celaena Sardothian's flashback to her killing all those guards and getting within inches of the wall at Endovier. It was her first true display of badassery and I was living for it. Sure, she was plenty badass in the first book, but never to this extent.

What bookish moments do you guys love?