Review: City of Heavenly Fire by Cassandra Clare

*NO SPOILERS*

As this is the last book in the series it is a bit hard to review without spoiling the other books which is why I will write a spoiler edition.  For now I will try my best not to spoil anything too important. 

City of Heavenly Fire is the sixth and final book in The Mortal Instruments series that follows Clary Fray; a young girl who discovers she is part of a race called Shadowhunters.  The series is a good example of fantasy meeting real world as, to my relief, it actually explains how normal humans or 'mundanes' can't see any of the supernatural creatures/events.  This made me like the book as I am not a giant fan of full on fantasy books that completely disregard society as we know it. In saying this The Mortal Instruments series still contain amazing and magical creatures including vampires, werewolves, faeries, warlocks and demons.  But not zombies; they don't exist.

As this is the last book in the series it is a bit hard to review without spoiling the other books which is why I will write a spoiler edition.  For now I will try my best not to spoil anything too important.  I found this book really good in the first chapter or so but it the pace slowed down until about halfway, where most of the action really began.  In the slow bits it did feel a little like a fanfiction with the relationships being highlighted and exaggerated for quite a long time but by the end you realised that because of this relationship building you felt for the characters more.  The chapters also contain lots of exerts from different perspectives which I liked because it made some of the dragging bits feel faster.  It also made me want to continue reading as Cassandra Clare is really good at changing pov when something exciting is about to happen to someone.  I really enjoyed the tension that she built in doing this but also found that I loved some perspectives more than others.  I would find myself waiting for my favourite character's pov which made me restless at times but also kept me reading.

I said in the about me that I love series because I enjoy reading about the same characters and The Mortal Instruments series had many wonderful characters with a range of different personalities.  There was Clary, who was small and fragile looking but brave and willing to risk it all for those she loved,  Jace, who was cool and full of himself on the outside yet tearing himself apart inside and one of my personal favourites Isabelle, who was pretty bad ass when it came to fighting but was kind and trustworthy if you got into her heart.  I would talk about some of the evil guys but that would spoil some pretty important things in the series so instead I will just comment that Clare makes you hate them and feel pity for them at the same time which I really enjoyed about the book.  It made me wonder how it could possibly end and if she was going to rip our hearts out or not.

All in all City of Heavenly Fire was a good end to The Mortal Instruments and a good lead into another series- The Dark Artifices.  I reckon it could have done with a bit more action but if you enjoy a fun fantasy book with strong characters and relationships then you will enjoy The Mortal Instruments.

I may be more inclined to give this book a higher rating because I have read the others in the series and have loved them all.  As a series I would rate it 4 out of 5 stars but as just the book itself I would rate City of Heavenly fire a 3 out of 5 stars.