کتاب City of Heavenly fire 6

I went into "City of Heavenly Fire" with low expectations. The second trilogy of "The Mortal Instruments" has thus far proven to be drawn-out, underwhelming, and has felt less like an attempt at telling a compelling story than it has a way for Clare to line her pockets. Going into the sixth and final book, I hoped that it would at the very least provide an ending to this mess and, fueled perhaps by the knowledge that whatever the quality of the book, it would be the last one, was cautiously optimistic that it would provide a more satisfying reading experience than the previous two installments. I'll give the book this: it's an improvement over the fourth and fifth novels...but that's not really saying a lot. Spoilers follow.

Sebastian is at large with his newly-created Endarkened to support him. His willingness to strike against both Downworlders and Shadowhunters alike points to the inevitable: devastating war. As the Clave prepares for an all-out battle, Clary, Jace, Simon, Alec, and Isabelle are focused only on how they can stop Sebastian before he can carry out his deadly plans. The stakes are high. The risks are unimaginable. If they succeed, the threat will be vanquished and order restored. If they fail, the world as they know it will be obliterated, everyone they love destroyed. Can they defeat Sebastian or will he succeed in unleashing an evil upon the world that has never been seen before?

I'll start with a positive: stuff actually happens and the plot moves forward. It's an improvement over the last couple books for that reason alone. The last two books seem like mostly filler since all the "big" stuff happens in this one. There's a decent story in here...if you can slog through all the unnecessary fluff and subplots to find it. Sadly, this book is plagued by the same disease as the others in the second trilogy: there's so much filler and romance drama that the main plot becomes broken up and lost. Much like with the last book, I found myself skimming or sometimes even skipping whole sections because they were unneeded and detracted from the story I wanted to read: that of Clary, Jace, Simon, Alec, and Isabelle taking on Sebastian. Doing this convinced me that at least a third of this large book could have been comfortably shaved off and would have actually improved the quality of the story overall. The subplots are many, they're unnecessary, and they waste space in an already bloated book. To give you an idea of how much filler that's unrelated to the main premise this book contains, I'll list out the stuff that should have been edited down or cut completely:

Emma Carstairs, Jules Blackthorne, and his many siblings. This is perhaps my biggest beef with "City of Heavenly Fire." For those not in the know, Cassandra Clare will be releasing another Shadowhunter trilogy ("The Dark Artifices") that takes place at the LA Institute and features Emma Carstairs and Jules Blackthorne. When these characters were featured in the 25 page prologue, I actually didn't mind. The destruction of the LA Institute was mentioned at the end of the last book, so it was a relevant event to focus on, and it was kind of refreshing to see some new characters being affected by the events of the last book (Sebastian's plans are toted as being deadly to the Shadowhunter world as a whole, so it's about time we see them affect someone other than Clary, Jace, and friends). When it became apparent that Clare was just using this book to both set up all the groundwork and act as a teaser for the next trilogy, thus making it almost dominate the main story, I quickly became annoyed. I'll be honest, I don't care about Emma and Jules. They're boring rehashes of already existing characters (Emma is essentially the female version of Jace). I don't care about them wanting to become parabatai - that's something for the next book. With the exception of Mark, I don't care about the Blackthorne siblings and what becomes of them. Again, that's something for the next book. I picked up "City of Heavenly Fire" to read the end of "The Mortal Instruments" story, not a forced trailer for the next series that I probably won't buy. Emma is featured way too prominently and it takes away from the real story, slowing down the pace and completely ruining the flow of events. There are already too many characters in this series: we don't need the POV of someone whose only role is to tell Clary about Edom and set up the next books. I started skipping her sections almost completely.

The inclusion of Clare's other works in general is incredibly frustrating. The characters from "The Infernal Devices" are also given too many pages and don't do much of importance (and why did Jem have to become young, hot, and mortal again? It felt very random and was ultimately confusing if you haven't read his trilogy). "The Bane Chronicles" are also given too many nods and references. I've read "The Bane Chronicles," but I haven't read "The Infernal Devices" and, really, I shouldn't need to in order to understand what's going on in a book about completely different characters. It makes "City of Heavenly Fire" feel less like the conclusion of "The Mortal Instruments" and more like a pathetic attempt by Clare to advertise every other Shadowhunter book she's written. I'm glad that she's put a lot of thought into how everything is connected, but I don't care enough about it to want to read about it at length in a novel that's supposed to be doing something else. The characters and events referenced aren't even explained because Clare assumes you've read her other books. The roles these superfluous characters play aren't even key to the story...again, you can skip them and not miss anything.

Maia and the werewolf pack. Maia in general is all over the place in this book. Despite being madly in love with Jordan in the last book, she decides she wants to break up with him in this one (perhaps Clare reacting to the backlash this couple received?)...but he dies before she can do it. Then she's completely cold and uncaring about his death (I don't care if she was going to break up with him; she should have felt something in response to his sudden end). She then decides she has a thing for one of her former flames and stand-in leader of the pack in Luke's absence, Bat (because God forbid anyone remain single in these books). Then she takes over leadership of the pack, warns Alicante of Sebastian's attack, and is later granted a seat on the council (as an aside, it's completely unrealistic that a teenager would be granted permanent leadership and a council position when a perfectly capable adult - Luke - is still in the picture). I don't think Clare ever quit figured out what she wanted to do with Maia, which leads to a horribly inconsistent character and story. Plot-wise, Maia's sections have almost nothing to do with the overall story. It's all filler; if Clare was that intent on writing about what Maia was up to, why not publish it as a novella? In this book, all it does is pull the reader away from the story that matters to focus on something very minor. I did a lot of skimming through Maia's POV, and it affected nothing.

On a random, Maia-related note, the inclusion of the "black Barbie/birthday party" paragraph was completely cringe-worthy. Let me make myself clear, I don't have a problem with books addressing legitimate social issues, but I was very put off by how sudden and forced this vignette was...and how it was brushed aside and ultimately forgotten immediately after it was mentioned. To give this some context, Maia is talking to Bat during the funeral for Jordan and the other members of the Praetor Lupus when she tells a story about how her mother threw a birthday party for her, but since they don't make party supplies for the black Barbie doll (her words) she had to use normal Barbie party décor...and everyone laughed at her for it. This leads into (in the same paragraph) a rant about how, as a person of mixed race, she felt under-represented and never felt beautiful or appreciated. Then the conversation moves on and this is never referenced again. I've noticed that Clare likes to pat herself on the back for including "edgy" progressive stuff in her books: two same-sex couples (one male and one female), incest with Jace and Clary and then Clary and Sebastian, "killing" (not really) main characters, and now social issues relating to race. I applauded her for having a same sex couple in the forefront in the first trilogy, but I'm starting to think that she just has a checklist of controversial things she wants to put in her books strictly for the sake of saying she did it. The problem with this is that none of the topics she touches on are given adequate attention; they feel simply like they're included for the sake of proving how "unafraid" she is to "go there" and are then promptly forgotten.

Jia Penhallow and the Clave. This isn't featured as heavily as the first two, but when it is, it's exceedingly boring. There's no reason we need to sit through entire Clave meetings with Clary, and once the teens go to Edom, there's no reason to revisit Jia and the Clave at all. The action is in Edom; the big story is taking place in Edom...don't break away from it to show what a big, uninteresting governing body is up to (which is, as seems to be the theme with these subplots, not much of relevance). Also, just in general, I don't like the Clave...not because it's corrupt, as Clare wants to portray it (more on that in a bit), but because it seems horribly ineffective and stupidly arbitrary and harsh. It's a sloppily written institution that is so bad at getting stuff done that a group of teenagers is better equipped to move things forward. How have the Shadowhunters lasted as long as they have as a unified group? Like the other subplots, I skimmed and sometimes just completely skipped these scenes because of how little value they added.

The councilors being held prisoner by Sebastian. Most of the other characters that we've seen in the other books (Luke, Jocelyn, Magnus, and Raphael) are captured by Sebastian and held in Edom. Every now and then, the POV switches to them...and they really don't need a POV save one specific event when someone dies. Most of the time, they see something that we've already experienced through a different POV, wonder what it was, contemplate what Valentine is up to, and then it cuts away from them. They don't add much and spend most of the book languishing in prison - a convenient way to get all of the capable adults out of the picture so the teenagers can save the day. I didn't skim or skip their parts because there are relatively few of them, but you probably could if you wanted (again, with the exception of one event).

If the useless subplots didn't already bog down the book, the writing certainly would. I actually don't mind Clare's writing; her prose typically flows very well and she's great at describing scenes and events. In this book, however, she just went overboard and the prose became very...purple. Characters' clothing and general appearance is described in excruciating detail (though, thankfully, she didn't feel the need to describe Jace as being golden/like a lion/like an avenging angel/smelling of salt etc. every time he appeared). I don't mind getting an idea of what duds the characters are sporting, but I ultimately care more about what they do than their choice in fashion. The biggest issue in this book, however, is probably the author's tendency to hold up the story to explore the characters' thoughts. I love a book that delves into a character's mind to let the reader see who they really are, but it can be tough to do that without halting the story progression...and Clare sadly doesn't have the talent needed in this area to pull it off. Pretty much every thought one of the main characters has is expanded upon; we know what they're thinking, why they're thinking it, and how they fee about thinking it...and most of the time, it falls into the category of "Who the Hell cares?" A majority of such thoughts are related to the character's relationship and the few that don't do not really need to be explored to be understood. This heavy, long-winded prose combined with the excessive subplots turns a book that should be fast-paced, exciting, and conclusive into a torturous slog through a swamp of unneeded elements and sloppy writing that should have been given the editor's axe.

With those issues out of the way, let's talk about the stuff I liked...because unlike the previous two installments, there were actually things I thought were well done. For starters, I enjoyed the alliance between Sebastian and the fey. The Seelie Court has always been something of an unknown in these books; they don't particularly go out of their way to hide their duplicitous and conniving nature, yet they keep their true intentions to themselves. I've liked the consistently dark portrayal of all things fey and therefore found the union and its potential consequences to be intriguing. Of course, since the fey versus Clave conflict will be featured in the next trilogy, it isn't really resolved here (sure, the Clave deals out a harsh punishment at the end...but it's pretty obvious that the fey aren't going to just take it), but what we see is certainly interesting. Indeed, the fey could make a formidable enemy on their own since they have resources and freedoms that other Downworlder races simply don't. The alliance makes a lot of sense given what we've seen of both Sebastian and the fey to this point, and I really wish some of those subplots had been cut out to explore this dynamic a bit more fully.

Speaking of Sebastian, while I've never liked him as a villain (more on the later), I found his end to be satisfying. Some readers have complained that his death was too anticlimactic or that the big moment should have come in a brutal showdown between Sebastian and Jace, but I think Sebastian's demise worked pretty well. I always sort of assumed that the final "battle" would be between Sebastian and Clary - though Jace has been wronged by Sebastian, Clare's been pushing the whole sibling thing too much for Jace to deal the killing blow - and with Clary not being able to match Sebastian in terms of physical prowess, a quiet, sneakier death was essential. From a story standpoint, it worked well with Sebastian's motive du jour: his desire to have his sister by his side. Though I expected the lead up to be something very similar to what actually happens (Clary feigns loyalty to him in order to get close), I didn't foresee her just sort of quietly stabbing him in the back (literally). Perhaps I also liked that the story took a different turn than many readers seemed to expect. And as annoyed as I've become with Clary, it's nice to see her stand up for herself and use her unique ability to defeat the villain without relying on Jace to save her.

Ok, so I've said this in every review for these books, but Clare is a very predictable writer. She tries pretty hard to keep her hand hidden, but ends up smoking out her own twists by keeping the questions burning a little too long. This book is no exception. I figured out pretty bloody quickly that the Heavenly Fire was transferred from Jace to Glorious, that it was being contained by a rune of some sort, and that the plan was to stab Sebastian with it. And honestly, I don't care that it was painfully obvious...I enjoyed it anyway. Some readers have complained that it's too similar to what happened to Jace in the previous book; my argument would be that the previous book should never have happened...or at the very least that Jace shouldn't have been subjected to the Heavenly Fire. It's a weapon that's meant to take out Sebastian, its divine nature destroying everything infernal about Sebastian's. That's what it does, and given the themes of the books thus far, it makes sense that it's the only thing that can stop Sebastian. Its use was cheapened in "City of Lost Souls," but it demonstrated its full potential in "City of Heavenly Fire." I also enjoyed seeing what was left of Sebastian after the Heavenly Fire stripped him of everything evil. He was basically a broken version of the son/brother that he should have been had Valentine not experimented on him. Some have taken issue with this as an attempt to humanize or redeem the antagonist, but since one of my primary complaints with Sebastian is that he's simply too evil, I appreciated seeing another (short lived) side of him. If I had any complaints about Sebastian's end, it would be that he wasn't left alive; I think it would have been incredibly interesting to have Clary, Jocelyn, and the others be forced to reconcile what Sebastian was with the completely different person he became.

Finally, there's the subject of Simon's memory loss. It's the one twist I didn't see coming. I'm not a terribly emotional reader, especially when the plot twists and "big" moments can be seen from miles away, but I got a little teary when Simon willingly offered to give up memories of his friends, the Shadowhunter world, Isabelle, and everything that had happened to him (also his immortality, but he didn't seem too sad to lose that), particularly when he takes one last, long look at them, remembering past times with his friends and silently mourning what could have been with Isabelle. It's a wonderfully emotional moment. Unfortunately, Clare cheapened Simon's selfless sacrifice by having his memories restored in the epilogue...and making him a Shadowhunter. It's a disgustingly convenient way to give him everything he wanted when his sacrifice was meant to show that he was willing to give up everything he wanted for the sake of his friends. If this indicates anything, it's that Clare really won't let anything bad happen to her main characters.

And that brings me to my problems with "City of Heavenly Fire" as the concluding novel of this series. As I just mentioned, Clare isn't willing to let anything bad happen to the main characters. She likes to pretend she is; she brags about being willing to "go there" and take risks, and this book was touted as being dark with important characters meeting their end. I'll say it up front: no one important dies. The following characters meet their demise: Jordan (did anyone really care about him? Even his friends don't seem too upset), Maureen (who cares?), Raphael (ok, I was a bit sad about Raphael, but he's still more of a side character than a main), Meliorn (who cares?), Amatis (who cares?), and Sebastian (obviously). These aren't important characters...most are side characters that we haven't even seen consistently. The death count seemed to be more about quantity over quality, and it's completely unbelievable that the core group of teens (and their parents, lovers, and close friends) all survived...especially when faced with Edom. Not only do they survive, they all get a "happily ever after" sort of ending: everyone is with their significant other, everyone has made peace with their families, everyone gets exactly what they want. There's no sacrifice (and the epilogue completely voids out any sacrifice that was previously made...really, was that huge epilogue necessary?). As for a couple other brief annoyances: Clary and Sebastian having matching blades was way too similar to Harry Potter and Voldemort having twin wands; the skeptron was entirely too convenient a way to clear out the ultra-powerful demons in the final big battle; and Asmodeus as Magnus's father was really, really obvious...was anyone surprised?

One of the other big issues with the book overall is the focus on the romance. This has been a reoccurring theme with the second trilogy: the plot gets pushed aside and sometimes lost amongst the never ending relationship drama. There isn't as much romantic melodrama here as there was in the last book, but it's still enough to detract from the story. I often found myself wondering if the characters really understood the seriousness of what was going on: their entire world was being threatened - if they failed, not only would they likely die, the Shadowhunters, Mundanes, and Downworlders would be left unprotected and at Sebastian's mercy - and yet their primary concern was usually their significant other. Way to keep your priorities straight, guys. It's incredibly frustrating and eats up entirely too many pages (because, again, all of their thoughts on this subject are painfully expanded upon).

That being said, however, I was pleased to note that there was a lot less romance-induced angst...especially with Clary and Jace. I maintain that it's a shame the Clare decided to focus on these two because they're probably the most boring couple portrayed, but in "City of Heavenly Fire," they stop fighting and angsting over one another and actually start to work as a team...and they make a pretty good one if they can stay focused on the task at hand. Oh, and they finally do the deed. On the one hand, once they've consummated their relationship, they're suddenly not quite so obsessed with touching and kissing, which is certainly a welcome reprieve. On the other hand...did everyone forget that they're 16 and have only been together for, what, 6 months max? I get that sex happens with teenagers and I don't necessarily mind it popping up in YA novels, but it should be remembered that these are still kids who really haven't known each other that long (when the biggest/only compliment you can give your boyfriend is that he's hot, you really haven't gotten to know each other well enough to get it on). And of course, their part of the book ends with Jace pontificating about their relationship and the pair thinking about marriage...at 16...after dating for about 6 months.

Speaking of marriage, Jocelyn and Luke finally get to have their wedding...good for them! All of the other couples end up about as you'd expect them to. Alec and Magnus get back together. They've always been my favourite couple, so I'm glad they reconciled their mistakes and reunited. I'm not even bothered that Magnus forgave Alec for his heinous actions in the last book because, hey, sometimes relationships are about forgiveness (and I enjoyed Magnus's little speech about how the years are starting to have an impact on him). Simon and Isabelle also end up together, despite Simon's memory loss. While I find them to also be a little dull at times, one has to admit that they have chemistry and manage to bring out the best in one another without copious amounts of angst. I was also pleased to see that Sebastian isn't quite as incest-y with Clary this time 'round, but there's still enough to be needlessly creepy and, again, make me wonder why it was necessary to include at all. Also, no one is single - Clare likes to play matchmaker with her characters and everyone ends up with their soul mate. I was really hoping we'd get at least one character that didn't end up in a relationship, but, alas, it was not meant to be.

Moving on to characters, Clary is an insanely annoying protagonist. There are a few reasons for this. First, she's getting to Bella Swan levels of obsession with her boyfriend. Though she is able to focus on more pressing issues, Jace is still usually at the forefront of her mind. I suppose we're meant to think this is romantic? It makes Clary seem really shallow and insipid. She needs another interest...any other interest besides Jace. This leads into my second problem with Clary: her point of view is remarkably dull. Even though she's had 6 books to develop, she's a flatter character now than she was at the beginning. Her point of view is flat, sterile, and offers nothing in terms of a unique voice or bias. I understood why she was the main character in the first trilogy, but why does she still hold that position? Her character has stagnated and ceased developing three books ago, which makes her seem very one-dimensional compared to some of the other characters. Third, she's always convinced that she's right, and we're just supposed to believe it. I've mentioned in my reviews for some of the other books that she always runs headlong into danger without thinking of the consequences for herself or her friends; this issue is along those same lines. I'll give a couple examples. She's very insistent that the Endarkened cannot be redeemed or turned (before the Silent Brothers prove this to be the case) and advocates just killing them with no exceptions because there's no good left in them. Of course, in the last book, when this same argument was made about Jace, Clary was adamant that Jace was different and special because he was Jace, so an exception should be made. Apparently other Shadowhunters aren't worth exceptions. And we're just supposed to believe her on this because she was there when they were created and therefore knows absolutely everything about the Endarkened...because teenagers always know everything about everything. Another example would be the portrayal of the Clave. As I mentioned earlier, Clare wants the Clave to come off as corrupt, and she tends to do this largely through Clary's (and sometimes the other teen characters') point of view. This results in the adult members of the Clave going about their business (often not very efficiently, but I've already addressed that) with Clary going on about how unfair their laws and processes are. As I mentioned earlier, the Clave has plenty of problems, but trying to portray the corruption in this manner doesn't come off as a legitimate critique, as it's meant to...instead, it comes off more like, well, Clary just whining because she isn't getting what she wants. And as I've stated in other reviews, this wouldn't be a problem if it was presented as a character flaw that Clary needed to overcome, but it isn't! She's always right and everyone either believes her or brushes her actions off as "Oh, that Clary!" I'm glad this is the last book; I don't think I could bear to read about Clary for another installment.

With the exception of Clary, most of the other characters were more on pointe in this book. I've mentioned that this trilogy has felt very phoned in with regards to the characters' personalities. Here, I was delighted to see that the humour, sarcasm, quirkiness, and general spark of life in the characters was back in full swing. Jace is his bitingly sarcastic self and everyone else is able to hold their own against him in terms of wit. Some comments fall painfully flat (and a lot of them come from Simon), but it feels oddly natural. Not every quip can be hilarious and well timed. Also, a lot of the other characters demonstrated character growth. Jace, Simon, Isabelle, and Alec have all overcome their personal obstacles and become better people for it. Granted, a lot of their struggles dealt with their relationships, but next to the stagnant puddle that is Clary, I was pleased to see any sort of development from the rest of the cast.

The other notable exception is, of course, Sebastian. He's one of if not the most inconsistent villain I've run across. What exactly does he want? He's gone from wanting to rule the world, to planning on letting demons run amock, to wanting to destroy the Shadowhunters with his own race of supernaturally-powered beings, to wanting to rape his sister, to wanting to force the Shadowhunters into submission and possibly turn them into Endarkened, and then in the middle of this book he decides he just wants to rule Edom with Clary at his side and is content to let the Shadowhunters live on in their realm. A good antagonist needs a clear motive, and Sebastian just doesn't have one. He just comes off as being crazy...and not in the way that a satisfying villain can be scarily crazy and demented, but more in the me scratching my head while thinking "what does this guy even want?" crazy. Valentine made for a good antagonist because, despite his questionable ideas, he was right about a lot of things concerning the Clave. There were shades of grey to him. Sebastian seems to be something of an exercise in how evil, creepy, and underdeveloped a villain can possibly be. He isn't a well-rounded, developed character and therefore isn't a good antagonist in any sense of the word: you can't love to hate him because his nefarious goals are never really put forth in a consistent manner and you can't sympathize with or understand him on any level because he's so shallow and lacks growth.

There's the potential for a decent story hidden in "City of Heavily Fire," but it's hard to find it under the mountains of unnecessary padding. The best way to get through this while trying to enjoy the ending of Clary, Jace, and friends' journey is to just skip the parts that don't deal with it. Skip Emma Carstairs and Jules Blackthorne. They're getting their own trilogy, so you can catch up with them there. Skip Maia and the werewolves. Skip Jia Penhallow and the dealings of the Clave, and skip the imprisoned council members. The book is bloated with stuff that shouldn't be there, and it only serves to drag down the story and make the final book a slog rather than a conclusion with a bang. I may read "The Infernal Devices," but I don't think I'll be touching "The Dark Artifices," or any of Clare's other future series. If "The Mortal Instruments" has demonstrated anything, it's that Clare has become untouchable as far as editors are concerned...and that certainly isn't a good thing because she doesn't know when to stop and cut things out for the sake of telling a better story. "City of Heavenly Fire" gets two stars from me. It's better than the previous two books, but still a weak novel overall in a series that should have ended 3 books ago.