Waaaahh I can't believe The Mortal Instruments series is over! But good news, there's a new series coming out in 2015 called The Dark Artifices and we are going to see our beloved characters again! Yay!!
City of Heavenly Fire was one of my favorite books from The Mortal Instruments series. All of the characters really shined. The story was exciting from the get go. In some of the books there would be a few chapters where things would get kind of boring and slow, kind of stop and go. But in this last book, things were go, go, go the whole time. It stayed interesting and fun, and I really liked how the chapters seemed to go back and forth to all the different story lines going on.
My absolute favorite thing about this book was the tie-in to The Infernal Devices. If you have read the first five books in The Mortal Instruments series, but have not read The Infernal Devices or City of Heavenly Fire, then absolutely do not read City of Heavenly Fire first! You have to read The Infernal Devices series before you read City of Heavenly Fire to fully understand what is going on.
We lost a lot of people in this book, but that was expected. Jordan died early on in the book, Maia became a complete badass and killed Maureen, grumpy Raphael was killed because *gasp* he actually showed some feelings and refused to kill Magnus, and Sebastian, along with all the Endarkened and fellow Shadowhunters, died at the very end. I was not expecting Jonathan Morgenstern to surface once Clary stabbed Sebastian. I was really glad that happened though because it allowed Clary and Jocelyn to have at least some kind of closure.
Not only did a lot of characters die, but Simon had quite the journey.... He was kidnapped right after the Shadowhunters went to Alicante and crazy vampire Maureen locked him in a cage and dressed him up in leather pants and a billowy shirt. Simon is freaking out thinking about how he's going to get out of there when, out of all people, Rafael shows up and helps him escape. He takes him to Alicante to help him represent the Vampires. I started to think that maybe Rafael was starting to be nicer to Simon, until he gave him drugged blood and Simon embarrassed himself to no end. Simon eventually goes to Edom with his crew to help stop Sebastian and he practically is starving the entire time.
Poor Simon, he was really put through the ringer. You think Simon's bad luck is over until Magnus summons his demon father to help them out of Edom. Magnus's dad wants Magnus's immortality as a price for getting them safely out of Edom. By giving his dad his immortality, Magnus would die immediately because he is over 400 years old and his body would just wither away to nothing. Simon steps up and offers his immortality instead not thinking it through that he too would die immediately because he's undead. The demon says that Simon can live without his immortality, but he has to give up his memories. He would have no memories of his friends, of magic, or of the Shadowhunter world. Once I read that I was like "Noooo!". It was so sad! I've always liked Simon's character, so when they were all going to have to live without him it was just terrible. In the Epilogue, when Clary, Isabelle, and Magnus are waiting for Simon at his school and Clary ends up having a conversation with Simon, he ends it with giving her a flier for his bands concert. When it showed what was on the flier, I did a double take! I got really excited because I just knew they all couldn't just move on
without Simon. I'm really excited to see how all of their stories progress in The Dark Artifices!
We can't forget about the Faeries. Those dang, evil Faeries. I was pretty shocked at the scene where Sebastian was in bed with the Seelie Queen, because I didn't see it coming! I've been reading, and watching, City of Heavenly Fire book reviews, and the best theory for The Dark Artifices I have heard thus far is that the Seelie Queen is going to wind up pregnant with Sebastian's baby, and that's who is going to be the new villain in The Dark Artifices. Holy moly! Let that one sink it for just a minute.
We were introduced to new characters, which are going to be the main characters in The Dark Artifices series. Emma Carstairs is going to be the new heroin in the upcoming series, along with the Blackthorn children. I really like how Cassandra Clare not only introduced them in this final book, but she gave them a pretty good sized role, making it nearly impossible to not want to read the new series. Talk about hook, line, and sinker! Not only do we know that Emma and the Blackthorns are going to be in the new series, but Jem and Tessa are going to be in it too! Emma thinks she is the only Carstairs left, so I'm really excited to see how Jem is going to tell her that she is not alone, and that he too is a Carstairs. Not only are the Carstairs going to be making a comeback in The Dark Artifices, but Jace has decided to take on the Herondale name! Get it? Will, Tessa, Jem... Jem Carstairs and Will Herondale... So not only will Emma find out she's not the only Carstairs left, but it looks like Jace is finally going to get some good news and learn more about his family through Tessa, since she married Will in The Infernal Devices and they had a family of their own. CAN'T - FREAKIN' - WAIT!
I really enjoyed City of Heavenly Fire. Cassandra Clare did such a wonderful job with both The Mortal Instruments and The Infernal Devices, that I know The Dark Artifices will not disappoint.
I would love to know all of your thoughts on these series and all of the books. What was your favorite series and what are your theories for the next series?
xoxo,
Casey
