Monday, May 9, 2011

City of Fallen Angels

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, internal 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 thought the first book in The Mortal Instruments series had some good, but was kind of a mess. Still, it was good enough to get me to keep reading. As the trilogy (or what was supposed to be a trilogy) went on, I thought Cassandra Clare was improving in her writing. She seemed to be hitting her stride.

She certainly proved me wrong with City of Fallen Angels. It's everything I hate about YA literature. That's not to say that I hate YA books, there are just certain aspects about them that I don't like, and this one is filled with them.

I cannot stand the angsty teenage romance thing. 125 pages in, and that's all that seems to be going on. The love that surpasses all other loves in the world (even though it hasn't been that long since they found out they weren't really brother and sister), but that can't be all. There has to be some "I love you but I can't love you", "does he really love me?", "there is some secret reason why I shouldn't love you".

But wait, there's more. We have a love triangle with Simon and two girls. Oh love triangle, what would I do without you in these YA novels? I wouldn't have anything to spoil my enjoyment, and we wouldn't want that. I didn't get far enough into the book to see what becomes of it, but I don't care. In fact, I'm done with these characters altogether. The story is done and over with as far as I'm concerned, so I'm going to stop reading and pretend it ended with City of Glass.

Book Details
Author: Cassandra Clare
Genre: YA Urban Fantasy
Page Count: 424
Publishing Info: April 2011 by Margaret K. McElderry
Why I Read It: 4th in a series
Grade: F (DNF)
Cover Thoughts: Hmm . . . just, no.

2 comments:

  1. Wow,Total fail! (2)

    I've just read City of Glass (literally, for about 20 minutes) and was reading the first chapter of City of Fallen Angels displayed at her site. And I really thought she started better than the previous books... maybe not. Still, I will keep reading the series. I've already read some other stuff Clare's written and I liked it, I'll give her a chance. And, after reading (or should I say enduring)Twilight, I believe I can withstand almost anything...

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