City of Heavenly Fire (6) (The Mortal Instruments)

I can hardly believe that I only started The Mortal Instruments series last year. I feel like it's been much longer, because I have formed an immensely deep attachment to Cassandra Clare's characters.After I finished City of Lost Souls, I just couldn't wait any longer. I had to know the fates of the Shadowhunters of the New York Institute. And, with City of Heavenly Fire, Clare went above and beyond my expectations; this lady knows how to effectively end a series.I'll try to be objective in this review, but I should go ahead and admit that this final installment of The Mortal Instruments was very bittersweet and emotional for me.Here are the five reasons why I gave City of Heavenly Fire 5 out of 5 stars:★ NEW CHARACTERSI was quite surprised to find that Clare was bringing new main characters into CoHF. Who does that? I mean, it's the end of the series. There's way too much going on with the characters I already know and love for me to care about new people. Right? Wrong. So very wrong.When you first open CoHF, you'll find the prologue. This is where readers are introduced to Emma Carstairs, a student of The Los Angeles Institute. And, trust me: you will quickly fall in love with her.Now, I should warn you that this prologue can be overwhelming due to the number of new characters Clare throws into our laps at once. All ll I could think was: "Who the dickens are all of these people?" So, allow me to break it down for you: Emma is best friends with Julian Blackthorn whose family resides at the Institute. Julian Blackthorn is one of seven children; there is Helen, Mark, Julian, Tiberius, Livia, Drusilla, and Octavian.Make a chart or do whatever you need to help you take all of this new information in stride, because these characters are very important. Not only do they remain with us throughout the book, but Emma Carstairs and the residents of The Los Angeles Institute will be the main characters of Clare's next series, The Dark Artifices.These new characters were a pleasant surprise and an intriguing addition to CoHF. Their presence in the book is the perfect setup for their series, which I can't wait to delve into next year.★ CHARACTER DEVELOPMENTBeing that this is the final installment of The Mortal Instruments, I think that it would be difficult not to talk about the development we have seen Clare's characters undergo since Book One, City of Bones.Throughout Clare's six books, we see her characters mature and become different people because of the relationships they form and the situations they have to deal with. And, I don't think that their transformations are as evident in any of Clare's books as they are in CoHF.In CoHF, we witness characters who have learned to open their hearts up to raw emotion--to love, lust, bravery, honesty. Clary exhibits courage and selflessness; Jace has learned the values of self-love as well as those that come with loving and opening up to others; Alec displays more confidence in himself; Isabelle has finally opened her heart; Simon has learned to push boundaries in order to find his place in the world; and Magnus has learned to love again.All of these characters have become people who are willing to die for each other, not just because they are fighters in the midst of war and that would be the noble and honorable thing to do, but because they have developed deep bonds with one another. They love each other. And, I think it's interesting to consider how in City of Bones, these people were complete strangers, and now they have become a family.Call me crazy, but by the end of this series I found that these characters were not just fictional people who only exist within the confines of this book. They have become a part of me, they are my friends. I will never forget them.And, I have always found that any book you walk away from with the feeling that you've gained something--that's a great book.★ HUMOROne of the things that I love about Clare's writing is her propensity to make me laugh. Even when characters are heading towards a deadly situation, and even when I just finished a heartbreaking passage she manages to get a smile out of me.Jace is definitely my favorite in the humor department; he has so many witty, sarcastic one-liners.Here's one where he's talking to Simon after a near-death experience with the Heavenly Fire:"I don't care if I did just set myself on fire. I'm not hugging you."And then there's this one:Clary: "We are not going to have sex. At all." Jace: "But 'at all' is my favorite way to have sex."And, one more:"I have an idea," Simon said. "Remember how before, I was talking about Dungeons and Dragons?" "Vividly," Jace said. "It was a dark time."The humor of these stories makes all of the emotions and heartache more easily bearable. And, speaking of emotions...★ ALL THE FEELSI made it through most of this book without crying. But, the epilogue will get you.I cried so hard. It was 2am and I was sitting in my bed with tears rolling down my eyes and a terrible headache.Not many books make me cry. I hadn't cried over a book since I read The Fault In Our Stars more than a year ago.I will not tell you whether my tears were tears of joy or sadness, but I will tell you that the ending of CoHF is very satisfying. For some series like The Hunger Games and Divergent, I had mixed feelings about the endings (esp. Divergent. I mean, Allegiant was quite a doozy to get through). But, I would not change a thing about the end of City of Heavenly Fire.It is perfection.★ NO LOOSE ENDSWith CoHF, all of Clare's loose ends have been tied up perfectly into a tight, rune-decorated bow.There are those book series that keep you going by throwing more questions at you, and then they sloppily try to answer them in the finale (that's how I'm feeling about The Maze Runner series right now). But, Clare's books are different. The questions about the plot aren't what keep readers reading. I think more than anything, the intrigue of her books are the character relationships.As I stated before, I think that the ending of City of Heavenly Fire was very pleasing. And, to know that readers will likely be seeing the residents of the New York Institute again in The Dark Artifices makes finishing this series all the more bittersweet.***Overall, I absolutely loved City of Heavenly Fire.If you've been reading this series and you haven't gotten a chance to get your hands on CoHF yet I suggest you hurry yourself over to the store and get it. Like, NOW.And, if you haven't started this series at all, please do. Because, if you love YA, and you love fantasy and sci-fi, this is the series for you.

***************** MAY BE SPOILERS *****************OH MY GOSH........ I mean OH MY GOSH!!!!! 752 pages of pure AWESOMENESS! First, lets start with that cover. Can you say "AWESOME"? I was so afraid and excited to get this little gem in the mail. I have had a few series end so badly lately that it kind of left a sour taste in my mouth. To me (personally) if a series ends bad, it ruins the whole thing for me. Then I am just sad.Lets just say that this book did NOT leave a sour taste! I cannot even tell you in words how much I loved this book. I don't even know where to start. Honestly. I just loved every thing about this book. Everything.I love how everything came together. The Mortal Instruments, and The Infernal Devices. Seriously, I had a smile my face a the end of this book from ear to ear. I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE it when books / series end in a pretty little bow. Some people may not like that, but I LOVE it. I don't know if I mentioned it earlier but I LOVE it ;). I read books for pretty little bows. Even a scary book can end up all nice and neat.This book was exciting and sad, and awesome. I mean, just awesome. Magnus is just as funny and ornery in this book as he has been in all of them. Jace was funny just like he always has been. I love it. I love that this book has it all. Love, friendship, family, excitement, sadness, joy...everything. It's amazing. I cannot thank Clare enough for this series. Thank you for ending it well. Thank you for making me fall in love with so many characters.This is probably a spoiler - When everyone is in the demon world, some things happen there that made me super sad. Each person saw what they thought their heart desired. You would think that would be awesome, but when they have to find a way to return to Idris life changes in the blink of an eye. My heart ached so much for Simon and Isabelle and Clary. It was a heartbreaking moment. It was absolutely fabulous. I know that probably sounds like an oxymoron but it was. The way Clare brought emotions out of me was just top notch.I do not want to ruin too much for people, but if you have not read both of these series...The Mortal Instruments, and The Infernal Devices...you are missing out. These two will go down as one of my favorite series of all time. Along with Harry Potter. I have loved a lot of books, but these have been such fantastic books from beginning to end.Clare's writing is amazing. I loved every page. Even when something "bad" was happening, her writing is beautiful.Okay, I could go on and on, and I want to! There are so many wonderful things that happen in this book, that even as I type I am still smiling. There are so many connections made in this book, and that just made it even more fun to read.This book has a lot of pages, and I can honestly say I am so glad it does. The book was paced well, and the story never got boring. It took all of those pages to end a beautiful story!If you have not read this series, you need to stop what you are doing and go buy it right now :). Okay, that may be a bit hasty...but seriously, that is how much I loved it.Thanks Cassandra Clare....It was simply beautiful!

I gave this series 5 stars, it took me 5 week's to read the 6 books and I literally could not put it down. These books are for young and old, great seamless transition from one to the other, fabulous story line and awesome reading performance, I totally enjoyed everything about the series, highly recommend if you love fantasy!

livro veio como descrito, demorou bastante mas culpa dos correios.

The media could not be loaded. Quality of book was good and the story was too..I am kind a sad as the series ends with this book...loved every character... Cassandra Clare knows how to weave an enchanting story...and we, Fans of her loved to get mesmerized nd lost in her books ❤️

Sin hablar del contenido del libro en sí para no generar spoilers a los que no han leído la historia... el libro es majestuoso y de una calidad impresionante, ¡parece un ladrillo! Cassandra Clare siempre nos ha dicho que adora los libros grandes y vaya que City of Heavently Fire lo es, el libro llegó impecable y sin ningún rasguño, además ADORE que al reverso de la cubierta viniera un poster ilustrado de los personajes, lástima que no se pueda colgar ya que está al reverso de la portada pero aún así, creo que es un gran detalle para los fans y más los coleccionistas de este gran universo que es Cazadores de sombras.Me he quedado impresionada por dos razones, la primera fue la calidad antes mencionada y la segunda fue porque encontré el libro a un precio de infarto, aproveché puesto que los libros de Cassandra son muy costosos, no importa el idioma en que lo busques, así que si, fue una ganga y estoy más que lista para recibir a los nuevos personajes de la saga de Lady Midnight, los cuales también compré a un super precio.

Alright, after so long the final book is here and it is as cheesy as you can possibly imagine. There's a huge war brewing, the battle against Sebastian coming to its climax. Prepare for some surprises and a couple of plot twists.Cassandra did her best to focus on all the main characters in the series, giving them the time they deserve for character development. Sometimes however, i think that she should have left some characters out instead of focusing on them for the sake of it. Furthermore, beware of the insane amount of teen romance on this book. For some reason I have been craving for this sort of melodrama and this book just hit the spot. I really did enjoy it and finished it in a few days.The ending was incredibly atmospheric and it was cute, although unrealistic and a little too sugary. The whole book revolves around the universe bending to suit Jace & Clary's every wish and it does become annoying, but by this point we as readers are used to it.Also i loved the set up for the newest series and the participation of characters from the Infernal Devices just melted my heart.If you're looking for teen drama, this book is it. Also, if you've been keeping up with the mortal instruments, you might as well finish it, no?-SPOILERS FROM HERE-Sebastian, probably the best villain i have come across in a while (at least in teen fiction books) is a crazy bastard and his relationship with the fair folk came as a surprise to me, although his motives still made no sense to me. He wanted to rule over a barren wasteland? Right.Cassandra's focus on every character was welcome as the whole Clary & Jace thing becomes sickening after you read about them for over 3 books, specially in this one, it seems like the world will simply bend to make their every wishes come true , that for sure becomes annoying. Yet it is interesting how Cassandra finally approaches the climax of their relationship. I thought it was sensible and a nice way to write about their intimate moment. The focus on other relationships, specially Magnus and Alec was a nice touch. However the way she wrote Alec's feelings about everyone coming to terms with his sexuality were a bit forced. Nevertheless it's nice to see a book with not just hetero relationships.The final fight with Sebastian was a little underwhelming but i can think of no other way to go about it. I personally loved him and when he was purified and turned into Jonathan I did grieve. Cassandra's portrayal of Jocelyn dealing with her grievances was well done in my opinion.Also, the characters that died were handpicked because they were disposable. Did anyone really, honestly care for Raphael, Maureen or Amatis? In such a decisive war people needed to die and Cassandra took the easy way out and picked the disposable ones.When I thought Simon was gone, I thought it was heartbreaking, but it made sense that at least in some way the protagonists were gonna have to suffer a personal loss. But nah, in the end of course they get everything they want, It was nice, albeit a little exhausting. Lastly, the moment were Clary and Tessa come together felt right, i was almost proud to see these two girls whom i've followed for a while come together, and to see Tessa and *cough*bestcharacter*cough* Jem together really wrapped it up for me.The book definitely has flaws, but i'm not gonna lie, I'll miss these characters and look forward to cameos in the newest series.