#1 City of Bones ★★★★☆
#2 City of Ashes ★★★☆☆
#3 City of Glass ★★★★☆
#4 City of Fallen Angels ★★★★★
#5 City of Lost Souls ★★★★★
#6 City of Heavenly Fire

You know how, sometimes, you pick up a series that’s already popular, and everyone tells you, “Book ___ is the best!” and “Book ___ is the worst!”, and so you set up these weird sorts of expectations in your subconscious, and then you go into the one that everyone tells you is the “worst” and you’re like… “holy crap, this book is amazing”?

No? Just me?

“Hearts are breakable,” Isabelle said. “And I think even when you heal, you’re never what you were before.”

Jokes aside, I went into this book unsure of what to expect, but I was completely blown away. I thought the pacing in the story was excellent, the plot kept me intrigued without a dull moment (which I can’t say for any of the previous books or Clockwork Angel), and the character development was more than I could’ve asked for.

“What’s the point in wasting a perfectly good brick wall when you have someone to throw against it, that’s what I always say.”

The star of the character development in this installment was Isabelle, for me. I never disliked her, but she didn’t feel fleshed out to me until this book, when I suddenly found myself absolutely loving every single scene she existed in. Of course, that’s not to dim the fact that I still love and cherish my sweet angst-baby Jace, or my sweet, sad little bisexual warlock Magnus. I just want to protect all of them.

“I’m always so glad I have no idea what you’re vacantly chattering about,” said Jace. “It fills me with a sense of peace and well-being.”

Another facet to Fallen Angels that I loved was the development in the Downworlders’ section of things, with learning about the Praetor Lupus, politics in the world of vampires, the creation of warlocks, and more. Many of these were things that were touched on in the first three books, but it felt to me like a lot of world-building was caught up on in this installment.

“If love were food, I would have starved on the bones you gave me.”

Of course, a book in this series would be nothing without its angst and heartache, and I can’t help but eat up every last bite. I’m a sucker for drama in a story like this, and I have come to realize that I’m not sure if I believe any author can do such a wonderful job of creating mountains out of molehills as Cassandra Clare does. Between that and how much I love her characters, I feel like this installment is a good time to say that it’s official: I am ridiculously hooked on her writing, and can’t imagine not following this universe of stories (however many series it may be) all the way to the end.

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