City of Lost Souls (Mortal Instruments, The) [Kindle Edition]

Cassandra Clare (Author)

Book Description

Don’t miss The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones, soon to be a major motion picture in theaters August 2013.

The New York Times bestselling Mortal Instruments continues—and so do the thrills and danger for Jace, Clary, and Simon.

What price is too high to pay, even for love? When Jace and Clary meet again, Clary is horrified to discover that the demon Lilith’s magic has bound her beloved Jace together with her evil brother Sebastian, and that Jace has become a servant of evil. The Clave is out to destroy Sebastian, but there is no way to harm one boy without destroying the other. As Alec, Magnus, Simon, and Isabelle wheedle and bargain with Seelies, demons, and the merciless Iron Sisters to try to save Jace, Clary plays a dangerous game of her own. The price of losing is not just her own life, but Jace’s soul. She’s willing to do anything for Jace, but can she still trust him? Or is he truly lost?

Love. Blood. Betrayal. Revenge. Darkness threatens to claim the Shadowhunters in the harrowing fifth book of the Mortal Instruments series.

Editorial Reviews

Review

* "If a cliff-hanger can be considered satisfying, then this book delivers."--VOYA, *STARRED

"The action once again climaxes in a tense, lush battle sequence just waiting for digital cinematic treatment. . . . [A] goth-and-glitter pleasure."--Kirkus Reviews

"The Mortal Instruments series features a rare marriage of extremely intricate, fast-paced plotting with ample digressions into the emotional lives of characters weve come to care about deeply. . . . With a movie in the works, this is an excellent time for new readers to jump on board one of the most enjoyable series in YA. Smart, fun, and epic, these books are addictive for all the right reasons."--Locus (Gwenda Bond)

About the Author

Cassandra Clare made her fiction debut with The Mortal Instruments series, which has been on many bestseller lists and has been translated into more than thirty languages. Cassandra lives in an old Victorian house in Massachusetts with her husband, their cats, and lots and lots of books. Visit her website at CassandraClare.com. Learn more about The Mortal Instruments series at MortalInstruments.com, and learn more about The Infernal Devices at TheInfernalDevices.com.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• File Size: 1109 KB
• Print Length: 546 pages
• Page Numbers Source ISBN: 1442416866
• Publisher: Margaret K. McElderry Books (May 8, 2012)
• Sold by: Simon and Schuster Digital Sales Inc
• Language: English
• ASIN: B005O315ZW
• Text-to-Speech: Not enabled
• X-Ray: Enabled
• Lending: Not Enabled
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #472 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)
  • #5 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Teens > Horror
  • #5 in Books > Teens > Horror
  • #11 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Teens > Science Fiction & Fantasy > Fantasy

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

66 of 74 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Loved City Of Lost Souls! Love Cassandra! 4 STARS May 8, 2012

By Way Beyond The Pages

Format:Hardcover

I love this series by Cassandra Clare! I know a lot of people are getting sick of how Cassandra has chosen to write book after book. I was also a little hesitant at first, and thought that the series should've ended at City of glass. But I just can't seem to get enough of Jace!

In City of lost souls Lilith, the demon has been destroyed and Jace and Sebastian are missing. Clary, not getting any help from the Clave, decides to go out and find them herself. Alec, Simon and Isabelle tag along, of course!!
When Clary and Jace meet she feels that he's changed. Hanging around her evil brother, Sebastian, has made Jace into a different person. He's acting like him and Sebastian are close friends, and that he actually likes him. They soon find out that Jace has been bound to Sebastian, and killing one of them would kill the other as well. Since the Clave is determined to destroy Sebastian, Clary and her friends must find a way to save Jace.

The cover of this book was so different from the other book covers in this series. But I do feel like it did justice to the story. There was a lot more romance than there was action, which is not necessarily a bad thing. Since the previous books were all so action packed I feel it was the right move by Clare to slow down a little.
The first 100 or so pages were a little slow, but as soon as Jace came back in the picture the story started moving, fast.
I did love the chemistry between Clary and Jace, again! Jace was hot as a baddie!! Still as charming as always. Clary believed that Jace could be saved, it was kind of heartbreaking actually. But I loved how Isabelle, Alec, Magnus and Simon got involved. I had missed Magnus!!
I loved how Cassandra focused a lot on Isabelle and Simon's relationship as well.... That part of the story earned some extra points.

What kind of threw me off was the relationship between Clary and her brother Sebastian. I don't understand how Clary could be checking his body out, kind of creeped me out.

Overall I did enjoy City of lost souls! It does not end in a cliffhanger, which is a relief since almost every book in this series has ended in one. I cannot wait to read the next book!
Loved the book and love this series. Read more ›

35 of 42 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars I can't not love Cassandra Clare's novels. May 9, 2012

By Freak-YA-tastic

Format:Hardcover

This book is the fifth installment in The Mortal Instruments series written by the amazing Cassandra Clare who doesn't ceased to write books highly heartbreaking and equally addictive.

I'm a fan of Cassandra Clare, so I may not be the better blogger to tell you if it's good or not since I'm too fond of these characters and this world to really criticize these books, but one thing is for sure, it's far better than City of Fallen Angels.

Some of you thought City of Fallen Angels wasn't as good as the first three books of the series and even if I highly enjoyed it, I tend to think it wasn't that good compared to the other books. But City of Lost Souls is exhausting in a wonderful way. I was always on the edge, almost ruining my not so long fingernails.

With City of Lost Souls, you'll laugh with Simon's good words, you'll fear for Jace and Clary, you'll have you heart broken more than once. It's darker than ever and more thrilling than what I expected.

But, because even with the greater books there's a but, I find the beginning a little... I was about to write slow but it's not a good word since the beginning is really important to put everything in order and to give us some pointers to where it's going to go. No, I would say the beginning is a little long before the readers can really feel immersed in the story. Of course, when you're waiting so eagerly a book, you tend to feel so excited by it that you can barely sit down to read in calm.

What to write more? The characters are still so alive - or not so much alive if you think about Simon - , they're showing other sides of them, more human than ever that can't let you cold and you'll love them even more.

Isabelle is a good surprise.... I really like her more and more which wasn't that easy, not that I really disliked her before but now I enjoy her dialogue, her actions and her personality. Simon is as great as he was, Alec is moving, Jordan and Maia are cute and Sebastian/Jonathan is... well, you'll judge by yourself.

I'm really not disappointed by this sequel and I'm even confident for the next and last book of this series. I'm afraid for the characters, I'm curious to know how it'll end and I just can't have enough of my fix of Cassandra Clare's novels.

One thing that I find funny and even interesting is the little references about the characters of her next series in the Shadowhunters world that will take place in LA.

So, in a few words, even if I'm more a fan of The Infernal Devices series, I find City of Lost Souls too amazing to not read it even if you were disappointed by CoFA. This book has everything you loved first when you discovered Cassandra Clare. Moreover, her world had not revealed all of its secrets. Don't wait any longer and read this novel. But don't forget to breath! Read more ›

36 of 48 people found the following review helpful

2.0 out of 5 stars she does it AGAIN! (WARNING: MAJOR MAJOR SPOILERS AHEAD) May 10, 2012

By Shadow Walker

Format:Hardcover

In this latest installment of The Mortal Instruments, Jace finds himself in a predicament. We last saw him being tricked by Sebastian into some creepy ceremony. Turns out that this ceremony has bound the two together. What Sebastian wants, Jace wants. Prick one of them, and the other bleeds. This proves to be a problem for the Shadowhunters, who want to kill Sebastian but can't do so without killing Jace as well. And off we go...

Where to start? First of all, CC's weaknesses as a writer haven't improved any. She still goes for purple prose, and she still spends an inordinate amount of time describing what everyone looks like and what they're wearing. Hey, I bet you didn't know that Jace has gold hair and gold eyes and that he smells like salt! I bet you didn't know that Sebastian has white hair and pale skin and black eyes! Cassie Clare apparently doesn't think you know, either, because she goes to the trouble of reminding you every other page.

...Okay, that's an exaggeration, but she seriously does mention it in every scene they have. This is a holdover from the previous books. No wonder Stephenie Meyer likes this series so much; both she and CC give you the impression that they fantasize about their male characters nightly (if you know what I mean), considering the way they constantly go on about how stunningly gorgeous and hot and beautiful they are. It's like bad fanfiction, which would be fitting in CC's case.

Cassie Clare is also a master of the cop-out ending, and she does it again here. (MAJOR SPOILERS AHEAD - YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED, DON'T COMPLAIN IF YOU READ FURTHER) You might have heard that one of the main characters dies. That character happens to be Jace.... But let me put your mind at ease by telling you that she brings him back to life immediately afterward. If you're getting a sense of deja vu, that could be because CC has done this before. In City of Ashes, she kills Simon only to bring him back as a vampire (and then she *almost* kills him again at the end of the same book, but then we got the reveal that he was a Daylighter, ta da). In City of Glass, she kills Jace and then has Clary wish him back to life. And in City of Lost Souls, she kills Jace AGAIN and brings him back to life AGAIN.

It's getting tiresome. CC brags about how she's not afraid to kill off her characters, but it doesn't count if the death hardly ever sticks. What's supposed to make death so awful is the permanence of it. CC takes that permanence away, so why should we care when these characters die?

To be fair, there *are* characters who have died "permanently", but they're not main characters and readers obviously don't care about them as much. I'm not saying that I WANT all of the main characters to die or anything, but CC should either put up or shut up. And she needs to stop killing her characters and bringing them back. Either kill them or don't, but don't try to have your cake and eat it, too.

Another problem with this book is that Clary, as the main protagonist, is rather unlikable and incredibly self-centered. Everything she does has to do with what she wants, and what she wants is Jace. Unlikable protagonists by themselves aren't necessarily an issue; there are plenty of books featuring unlikable characters. But the issue here is that we're not supposed to see Clary that way. She's stupid and runs into danger without thinking, disregarding what anyone else tells her, but we're meant to think that she's headstrong and fiesty. She's also selfish when it comes to Jace - she actually sells him out and betrays him to Sebastian to keep him from turning himself into the Clave, even though doing so would save countless lives. Fortunately, she apologizes later and does in a sense make up for it when she is willing to put a sword through Jace to cut him off from Sebastian. It's still troubling that she goes there in the first place, but, of course, we're meant to see this as an indication of how true her love is for him.

And Clary's selfishness isn't a new development, either. In City of Glass, Clary is granted one wish when she summons an Angel. What does she wish for? To have Jace back. She tries to justify and rationalize it by saying that maybe it's not right to wish for something like world peace (fair enough), but all I could think was: What about Max, who was, you know, brutally murdered not all that long ago? The one who, as Isabelle points out to Clary, was NOT a solider, unlike Jace, but an innocent 9-year-old child? What makes his life more forfeit than Jace's? Oh, right, because Clary didn't have a thing for Max.

The reason I'm giving this book two stars instead of one is because, unlike the previous book, things at least happen in this book. City of Fallen Angels was basically nothing but Clary and Jace angsting and mooning over each other. Here, there's more action, although I agree with other reviewers that the pacing was terribly slow; there was no reason for the book to be as long as it was.

Another plus: although Clary might be a frustrating character, the good thing about this book is that we don't spend as much time with her as we have previously. CC spreads the wealth a bit as we spend a lot more time with people like Isabelle, Maia, and Simon. I always liked Isabelle and Maia more than Clary; I hated Simon in the first book, but since then he's turned into a decent character. So, all things considered, I figure that's worth an extra star, but my standards might be low.

Also, this series has got to be one of the worst cases of trilogy creep ever. Read more ›

More About the Author

Cassandra Clare is the author of City of Bones, the first book in the Mortal Instruments trilogy and a New York Times bestseller. She was born overseas and spent her early years traveling around the world with her family and several trunks of books. Cassandra lives in Brooklyn with her boyfriend, their two cats, and these days, even more books.

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#28 Overall (See top 100 authors)

#4 in Books > Teens

#28 in Kindle eBooks

#32 in Books

#4 in Books > Teens

#28 in Kindle eBooks

#32 in Books