Review: City of Fallen Angels (The Mortal Instruments #4) by Cassandra Clare

Title: City of Fallen Angels

Series: The Mortal Instruments #4

Previous books in this series: City of Bones (#1) | City of Ashes (#2) | City of Glass (#3)

Author: Cassandra Clare

Genre: YA, urban fantasy

Publication date: April 2011

Published by: Margaret K. McElderry Books

Source: Purchased Hardcover

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Synopsis: The Mortal War is over, and sixteen-year-old 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 importantly of all—she can finally call Jace her boyfriend.

But nothing comes without a price.

Someone is murdering Shadowhunters, 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 that he’s a vampire, and now he’s homeless. When Jace begins to pull away from her without explaining why, Clary 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.

My rating: ★★★★★

City of Glass had such a great ending, it wrapped things up really well, so for the longest time I was super nervous to read this one. And oh my god, it turns out I had every reason to be nervous because

That being said, I loved this book! Obviously lol. I love my Shadowhunters, even though Cassie Clare loves to torture my favorite characters 😭

After everything that happened in the last book with Valentine and Sebastian, you’d think the Shadowhunters would finally have some down time, but nope! In fact, Jace is acting strange, distant, and it was very worrying. I adore Jace, and I was worried he was gonna pull a Will Herondale. Jace being a Herondale, I wouldn't put it past him. Lol. But at the same time, Jace has these rare sweet moments with Clary that just melt my heart, especially when he respects her boundaries and doesn’t push her to do things she doesn't want to 😍 Those intense make-out sessions... so good! 🖤

I also love that he’s training Clary, but what I don’t love is that he’s doing it so she can protect herself from him!! 😭 Jace keeps having these horrible nightmares of him killing Clary and it’s just so heartbreaking. He is so traumatized after everything that happened, desperately not wanting to be like Valentine but thinking he IS because of these nightmares. It makes me want to cry 😩 And then later we learn that these nightmares were Lilith manipulating him. My poor Jace 💔

So because of his fear of hurting Clary, he’s been avoiding her as much as he possibly can. It’s almost self-sabotage.

“You’re everything I want,” Jace said. “And maybe Jace Lightwood deserves to get everything he wants. But Jace Morgenstern doesn't. somewhere inside I must know that. Or I wouldn't be trying to destroy what we have.”

This hurts so much! Not only is he dealing with all these awful nightmares, but he’s also having this sort of identity crisis, which is totally understandable after everything he went through. But as much as I love Jace, even I can admit what an absolute idiot he was being. Instead of talking things out with Clary, he's avoiding her and hanging out with Simon and Kyle. It was incredibly frustrating—him keeping secrets and just acting like a moron. He may be having an identity crisis, but that is the most Herondale thing I have heard. Lol. And I mentioned the intense make-out sessions earlier, which I really did love, but I definitely think he should've stopped to just TALK TO HER! What the hell, dude! Get it together!

So because of this thing that is happening with Jace, he’s been spending quite a bit of time with Simon and this new guy we meet, Kyle. I’m not gonna go into Kyle too much, but I really liked him! He and Jace actually became besties and they even played video games together, which was very endearing for some reason. As for Simon, because of the things Jace is going through in this book, he hasn’t been sleeping or eating well, and at one point Simon calls him out on it. THEN he proceeds to drag Jace to a store to buy him food! And oh my god, I don’t know why, but I thought it was SO cute! 😍 This was probably one of my favorite scenes in the book. Actually, their bromance was one of my favorite things about this book! I mean, they supposedly hate each other, but here is Simon taking care of Jace, just like Jace saved Simon and inadvertently turned him into a Daylighter. I just love that. Lol. (Although, granted, Jace only saved him for Clary. But I do feel like they're starting to warm up to one another now.) Simon taking care of Jace was the cutest freaking thing ever! I loved it so much! 🥰 Their interactions in general were a lot of fun. I just really loved the bromance between these three 🥰

As for Simon, I have things to say. First of all, I started the series not liking Simon AT ALL, but I definitely started warming up to him by the end of CoG. He’s really funny and just a fun character overall. But now he pulls THIS??

He’s seeing both Maia and Isabelle at the same time and they don’t know about the other!! What the hell Simon?! I was really not loving this. He needed to pick one or the other because it just isn't fair to either of them. It was totally not okay 😒

One thing that did break my heart regarding Simon was when he finally told his mom he was a vampire and the reaction she had... Oh my god. It broke my heart! It was just so harsh! And the only reason I didn't cry during this part was because I was reading this out in public. Lol. Otherwise, 100% waterworks. That’s how much I’ve come to like Simon... despite the Maia/Isabelle thing.

All that being said, I loved this book! Even though it totally ripped my heart to shreds 😩 I love Jace and I hate seeing him go through this. And that ending?? I am not okay! I was looking forward to a playful, flirty Jace, but... that end!

This arc in the second half of this series is gonna be heartbreaking, I can feel it. But I love this world and I love these characters, so I’m excited! I’m really interested to see where the story is gonna go now that you-know-who has made an appearance 😬

Have you read this book? If so, what did you think about it? If not, what do you think? Does it sound like something you might want to read? Leave me a link to your review or comment below! 😊