City of Fallen Angels by Cassandra Clare

THIS IS THE FOURTH BOOK IN A SERIES.

Do not read this review until you've read City of Bones, City of Ashes, and City of Glass.

THANKS SO MUCH.

City of Fallen Angels takes place two months after the events of City of Glass. In it, a mysterious someone’s killing the Shadowhunters who used to be in Valentine’s Circle and displaying their bodies around New York City in a manner designed to provoke hostility between Downworlders and Shadowhunters, leaving tensions running high in the city and disrupting Clary’s plan to lead as normal a life as she can — training to be a Shadowhunter, and pursuing her relationship with Jace. As Jace and Clary delve into the issue of the murdered Shadowhunters, they discover a mystery that has deeply personal consequences for them — consequences that may strengthen their relationship, or rip it apart forever.

Meanwhile, internecine warfare among vampires is tearing the Downworld community apart, and only Simon — the Daylighter who everyone wants on their side — can decide the outcome; too bad he wants nothing to do with Downworld politics. Love, blood, betrayal and revenge: the stakes are higher than ever in City of Fallen Angels.



I heard a lot about this book before I ever actually picked it up. And most of it wasn't good. I have a friend who bought it the day it came out and she still won't pick it up because someone leaked spoilers to her... Which she in turn told me...which made me not want to read it. As much. I actually started reading this over Memorial Day weekend, read a few chapters, and put it aside. Not because it wasn't good, I'll have you know. More because of the "The Monster at the End of this Book" problem. Have you ever read that? Do you even know what I'm talking about?

When I was a kid, my parents read us a book about "lovable, furry, old Grover" called The Monster at the End of this Book. Now, I apologize for the spoilers, but the book goes on about how Grover is afraid of monsters and he tries tying and nailing the pages of the book together, and even builds a brick wall so no more pages can be turned, which in turn keeps you from getting to the monster at the end of the book, in theory. When all else fails, he resorts to begging you not to turn the page, which, of course you do. Come to find out, the monster at the end of the book is Grover. Ha-ha, right. It ends with an "Oh, I am so embarrassed." from Grover.

The point is, with some of the things I heard about this book, City of Fallen Angels, I kind of didn't want to turn the pages and get to the end of the book, for fear of what I'd find there. Well, I did it. I kept turning pages, got to the end, and....

Holy. Crap.

I am speechless. (Or at least as speechless as I get...)

This book wasn't at all what I expected--in a good way, and it wasn't anything like what I heard it was like. (Thank goodness!) It was quite a bit darker than I thought it would be. There were some things that actually truly disturbed me, and at times I had a hard time reading it. But it was in that rubber-necking, you-don't-want-to-look-but-can't-look-away... kind of way. (Am I making sense?)

In a nutshell, loved it. Can't wait for the next one, because HOLY-MOTHER-OF-PEARL, it's going to be amazing. And I swear to you, if someone gives me or Chaleese (my friend who won't read this book) false spoilers about it (Book 5), I'm going to channel my inner-Isabelle and punch them in the face. Just sayin'. :)

Happy Reading!