PUBLICATION DATE: May 8, 2012

ity of Lost Souls, by Cassandra Clare is book five in her Mortal Instruments series. Shadowhunter Jace and evil Sebastian are bound together. Cut one, and they both bleed. Sebastian takes Jace away to live and plot the future demise of the shadowhunter race, and ultimately, flip the human race on its end. Clary chases after Jace, only to find that her Jace is no longer there. Sebastian is too much a part of him, and therefore, the real Jace does not exist. Sebastian gets the life he wants: a buddy in Jace, a sister in Clary, and a world ripe for the destroying. Simon, Isabel, Alec and Magnus all fight to bring Jace back to them, and back to himself. In the end, the ties that have bound them all linger in question.

City of Lost Souls took everything that’s been in the previous Mortal Instruments books, and turned them up. The passion was no longer on hold, the murder was taken off mute, and the evil was dialed up to a noticeable level. My main issues with the previous books were that Clare would build us to a fever pitch, and then throw in a twist so we couldn’t root for the solutions and conflicts we’d been hoping for. There are plenty of twists in this book, but it’s far more adult.

I enjoyed seeing Clary as a warrior. Watching Jace be companionable and light-hearted was interesting and a bit unnerving. I liked the tension Clare built, and this time, she did not shy away from making the reader uncomfortable. There was no panning away of the literary camera when moments got too heated. You had to deal with the mess and watch it implode.

I’ll say it. Alec annoys me. It’s the whining and constant sniping that gets me. Finally he’s held accountable for how poorly he treats Magnus, and for that, I’m glad. How many books can you sulk through, Alec?

I love the complexity of Sebastian, and if you’re anything like me, you’re happy to see him so often in this book. Instead of living in the past, this book looks forward towards future battle plans away from the Clave. I’m excited to see where the series will go from here.