The fourth book of The Mortal Instruments series released yesterday, and Caitlin and I were chomping at the bit to read it. We got through it in one day so that we could talk about it with y’all! So join us as we discuss what we liked and didn’t like about City of Fallen Angels.
Caitlin: After all this waiting, we finally have it! Clary, Simon, and Jace are back!
Before I can talk about the plot at all, I must bring up the most important thing. The cover. Simon is there in a hoodie, wearing a quiver of arrows on his back. No one uses arrows in this book, and it is specifically mentioned that Simon has stopped wearing hoodies. Who is this man on the cover???
Christine: I hold to the theory that it’s Kyle. Or maybe it’s possibly Luke?
Caitlin: No one used arrows.
Christine: True. This is a grievous error. They need to change this cover immediately since every cover ever used has always matched what the book is about or the characters.
Caitlin: Shush you.
Christine: Mwahahahhaha. It’s an ugly cover. You’re going to have to get used to it.
Let’s talk about the plot now! Vaguely spoilerish like things from here on!
Caitlin: You know what I liked? I liked the amount of making out in this book.
Christine: Me too! This level of making out is the new bar for Cassandra. She can go no lower than the number of make-out scenes included in this book from now on.
Caitlin: There was a very high percentage of making out versus action. And it was all very plot heavy, and not gratuitous. So, it was good for two reasons. And, I’m not going to say who, but you got to see your favorite couple make out and I got to see mine, so all is well for us.
Christine: There weren’t as many action scenes (as in fighting, not physical) as the other books in this series. But honestly, they’ve done the fighting. We’re over the fighting. This book is about the characters we’ve come to love and what’s going on with them after the war in Idris.
And yes, I got to read about my favorite couple making out. Well worth the read just for that, in my opinion. Although the ending! I’m very frustrated with the ending.
Caitlin: I liked it. It was very clear that the story was original planned as a stand alone, so a lot of things were nicely tied up. Then there was that ONE THING that made everything a cliffhanger.
Christine: That one thing is going to be a major story arc for the next two books. I just know it.
Caitlin: Well, I’m hoping it is solved at the beginning of the next book…or at least that one aspect of it is.
Christine: I’ll bet you a billion dollars it’s not. Because otherwise, why even write another two books after this one? It’s going to become a big thing and somehow push apart the two people who should be together, even though one of them is a gigantic moron.
Caitlin: Oh, well, don’t hold your feelings in, Christine.
Christine: It’s glaringly obvious that this person makes moronic choices.
Caitlin: But he’s pretty.
Christine: Pretty does not equal smart. We all know this.
Can I talk about one little thing that I thought was weird for Cassandra to point out?
Caitlin: Yes.
Christine: It’s bugging me that during the scene in the Silent Brothers’ place, Cassandra makes the character there note a ‘JG’ carved above the bed. It has to have significance.
Caitlin: Oh yes! I’m thinking that character misread the G…it was actually a C and it stands for Jem Carstairs.
Christine: Oh! I didn’t think of that. I figured it was someone related to Tessa, for the G in Gray.
Caitlin: That’s my fall back position. Especially as Cassandra Clare has said that there is a reason Gray and Fray are so similar. So, there is a reason that Jocelyn chose the last name Fray when hiding from the shadowhunters.
Christine: I’m sure all will be revealed… in a couple years when the last book comes out.
Caitlin: I don’t know how I’m going to wait two years. I might go insane for awhile. That’ll make the time go by faster.
Christine: Or you could move in next door to Cassandra, slowly gain her trust and then hypnotize her one night when she’s over for drinks and get her to divulge every little single thing you’ve ever wanted to know about TMI and TID.
Caitlin: It’s difficult to immigrate to the USA, and expensive to live in New York. *Sigh*
Christine: I’m just saying, you have options. Anyway…
Caitlin: Wait! We must revisit our old Will vs. Jem argument. Did you notice how often Will was brought up in this book? And Jem wasn’t mentioned at all?
Christine: I hate you for reminding me of this.
Caitlin: And how they never, not once, actually said he was dead.
Christine: No! I refuse to listen to you right now. I’m literally sticking my fingers in my ears and going ‘la la la la la la’.
Caitlin: But, you’re reading my words. You’d have to stick your fingers in your eyes.
Christine: Fine! I’m sticking my fingers in my eyes.
Caitlin: Point for team Will.
Christine: Regardless of where my fingers are (and you don’t get a point because this doesn’t count!), Tess ends up with Jem because he’s clearly the best choice and Will is a stupid head who dies in a horribly tragic way, which is why no one talks about his death. Because bringing it up is traumatic. The end.
Caitlin: Keep telling yourself that.
Christine: I will. And I hate you for pointing this out to me and I slightly hate Cassandra for doing this to me. I’ll remember this when you’re under my hypnosis one day, Cassandra.
Caitlin: Alright, so, back to City of Fallen Angels, what was your favorite part?
Christine: Hmm. I’m going to say the scene with very few clothes and the ones from Magnus’s POV were a tie. What was yours?
Caitlin: The very few clothes one was very good. I did love all the making out. But, I think, my favourite was when Simon, Jace, and Kyle were all in the same room and had battles of who could be the most sarcastic. Cassandra Clare writes the second best sarcasm of all time.
Christine: Who writes the best sarcasm of all time?
Caitlin: Joss Whedon, of course. No one can beat the master.
Christine: That’s some high praise. She did have a couple good quips in there. There was one thing that Simon said early on in the book that I absolutely loved. It was, “Oh, good. You’re starting to talk about yourself in the third person. That’s not a sign of impending megalomania or anything.” For some reason, I just really liked that.
Caitlin: I recall enjoying that one as well. So, I feel the consensus is that we need the rest of the books now, and drat Cassandra Clare and her relationship drama.
Christine: Yes. We also need Clockwork Prince to see if Jem ever stays with the Silent Brothers and carves his initials into the wall (and how him and Tessa get together and poor Will cries his eyes out because he’s a stupid head).
Caitlin: Or something like that, yes. Clockwork Prince, we are looking ahead to you with hope in our eyes.
Possibly, I should stop talking to books, especially that ones that don’t exist yet.
Christine: But what fun is that?
Caitlin: True.
We had to stop there because it just became ugly when Caitlin brought up Will to me again.
So, since this was more a discussion than a review, y’all should weigh in with what you thought about the book as well. Do so in the doobly-do, a.k.a the comments section.
(And if you can tell me where “doobly-do” comes from, you get a gold star.)