City of Lost Souls (The Mortal Instruments #5) ~ Cassandra Clare

Author: Cassandra Clare 
Publication: May 8, 2012
By: Margaret K. McElderry
3.75 Stars*

The cover is beautiful and very close to how I imagine Jace and Clary to look.

*OK, I will attempt to explain my "star" rating but before I do, please remember that this is MY blog and MY opinion. I don't expect everyone who visits here to agree with me but I do ask that you be mature (code for "kind") in any and all responses that you leave. Readers will notice there are no hoops to jump through in order to leave your opinions here BUT nasty or profanity laden comments will be deleted. :)

From Goodreads:

The demon Lilith has been destroyed and Jace has been freed from her captivity. But when the Shadowhunters arrive to rescue him, they find only blood and broken glass. Not only is the boy Clary loves missing–but so is the boy she hates, Sebastian, the son of her father Valentine: a son determined to succeed where their father failed, and bring the Shadowhunters to their knees.

No magic the Clave can summon can locate either boy, but Jace cannot stay away—not from Clary. When they meet again Clary discovers the horror Lilith’s dying magic has wrought—Jace is no longer the boy she loved. He and Sebastian are now bound to each other, and Jace has become what he most feared: a true servant of Valentine’s evil. The Clave is determined to destroy Sebastian, but there is no way to harm one boy without destroying the other. Will the Shadowhunters hesitate to kill one of their own?

Only a small band of Clary and Jace’s friends and family believe that Jace can still be saved — and that the fate of the Shadowhunters’ future may hinge on that salvation. They must defy the Clave and strike out on their own. Alec, Magnus, Simon and Isabelle must work together to save Jace: bargaining with the sinister Faerie Queen, contemplating deals with demons, and turning at last to the Iron Sisters, the reclusive and merciless weapons makers for the Shadowhunters, who tell them that no weapon on this earth can sever the bond between Sebastian and Jace. Their only chance of cutting Jace free is to challenge Heaven and Hell — a risk that could claim any, or all, of their lives.

And they must do it without Clary. For Clary has gone into the heart of darkness, to play a dangerous game utterly alone. The price of losing the game is not just her own life, but Jace’s soul. She’s willing to do anything for Jace, but can she even still trust him? Or is he truly lost? What price is too high to pay, even for love?

Darkness threatens to claim the Shadowhunters in the harrowing fifth book of the Mortal Instruments series.

My thoughts...
Pros:
*Jace
*We get to find out what happened to Jace - YAY!
*We get to see the story unfolding from multiple points of view which was interesting.
*Simon's role in this book had me crying ALL THE TEARS.  (I *hearts* him almost as much Jace.)
*All of the characters are affected in some way by the end both physically and or emotionally.
*Sebastian was intoxicating in his evilness. (Wait, that should probably be a con but...)
*EPILOGUE! EPILOGUE! EPILOGUE! Cassie Clare could have quite possibly killed me by the end if she hadn't included this, so a HUGE thank you for that! ;)

Cons: 
*Not enough Jace. (Can there EVER be enough Jace though? I mean, REALLY?! *giggles*) 
*The torment of Jace was very painful to read and almost too much to take.  
*There were times where I wasn't exactly sure what was happening and there were
parts I could've done without but I think that's because I just really wanted to know what was going on with Jace and Clary. (Shallow, I know. Do not judge. *grins* )
*I wasn't really drawn into the book until halfway through and that doesn't usually happen with Clare's books. 
*I cried at the end and it wasn't for reasons you might think... 

I liked this but I didn't "love" this, and believe me, I really, really wanted to "LOVE IT SO HARD" hence the star rating. While I do lurve these characters and have grown quite attached to them, I have to be honest when I say, there were times I felt as if this storyline was being dragged out a bit. The torment that Jace and Clary have to go through is like a bad carnival ride and I wonder when they'll be able to get off of it and just be happy for longer than five minutes? I know that not all stories have a "And they lived happily ever after" ending but when is enough, enough?  Before you hate all over me or tell me to "Just stop reading!" keep in mind that I love them and just want them to be "OK". ((hugs them))  I am looking forward to seeing how it all ends...