Review: #576
Title: City of Fallen Angels
Series: The Mortal Instruments - 4th book
Author: Cassandre Clare
Read Before: no
Comments: City of Glass had a sense of closure to the plot, so City of Fallen Angels feels kind of redundant. It still ends up being a decent novel but there are many areas where it falls down. The plot for one, feels muddled and lacks focus. It pushes the overall story arc of the series forward but its standalone plot is very shallow. Basically, Simon the vampire is approached by another vampire, Shadowhunters are dying mysteriously and Clary investigates something unusual. These various plot threads end up converging into one but it isn't clever or complex. City of Fallen Angels ramps up the romance factor too, with around 50% of its content focused around the love, feelings and relationships of Clary with Jace, Simon with Isabelle and Maia, and Alec with Magnus. It focuses on the relationships way too much, especially when all three have the common theme of the relationship facing struggles. Jace becomes the stereotypical teen novel lover, who hates himself and thinks he does not deserve Clary. Alec finds out that Magnus has many loves in the past. And Simon two-times Isabelle and Maia. All of these are cliché and predictable, it is not enjoyable to read about their pathetic and self-depreciating thoughts anymore when you know that it does not mean anything at all in the grand scheme of things, they will forgive and stay together. The climax of the novel was equally disappointing in that it made most of the novel feel like it didn't lead up to this moment, rather than it was setting up for later books instead. City of Fallen Angels was still enjoyable to read, but has a lot of flaws.
Rating: 6.5/10