3.5/5 —

That was a good read.
It was different from the previous books. The relationships were way more developed than everything, which resulted in less « action » in my opinion. I'm also really pleased of the new character additions in this book.

I enjoyed seeing a lot more of Simon, and this time on his own —and by « on his own », I mean not constantly paired up with Clary, with was starting to be a little annoying—. In this fourth book, Simon as his own plot line. We see him struggling with his identity: he's a vampire, moreover a daylighter, his friends are either shadowhunters, humans or werewolves. He doesn't befriend with vampires and he ends up feeling like he fits nowhere. He still wants to have a « normal » life, but he'll eventually learned that normal is not something possible for him anymore. This inner conflict he's facing is also represented in his « love life », through his relationship with Maia and Isabelle.

Jace and Simon started to befriend a little more, and let me just say that I'm all for this friendship. I loved seeing them together. Their interactions were always interesting and funny; and I feel like they started to respect each other way more than in the previous books. Yes, they are still bickering sometimes. But something changed in the way they saw each other. At least that's what I've felt.

If there's something I didn't enjoy however, it's the same mistakes that the characters are making over and over again. They never talk to each other, and it always end up bad. I'm not going to tell you I've never facepalmed myself reading this book, because that would be a lie, but yeah...

Clary was a tiny bit annoying sometimes. Like she said, if she had spoke up sooner, maybe none of this would have happened.

And finally: the villain.

Lilith was amazing. I didn't get if she was really dead or they thought she was dead, but she's evil and I loved it. Bringing back Sebastian was also really nice: he's a character that I love to hate, and I'm excited to see what will bring this new bond between him and Jace... Something not very good apparently, since this bond they have seem to be stronger then the one created by Lilith. This time, we see Jace conscious, but unable to fight it.

It's promising for the next part, but I'm bracing myself because I think it's going to break my little heart.

Overall, I enjoyed this reading. It was quite fast, interesting and I thought it gave a new perspective on some of the characters. There were quite a few plot-twits, and I would never have expected it to end like that.