Alright I finished "City of Lost Souls" today. What I'm enjoying as this series goes on is that the story doesn't just focus on what's going on with the main couple or characters (Jace and Clary) but the reader gets to feel like he or she knows all of these characters intimately, which is a quality I loved in Stephen King's "It."
Also, Clare really has a knack for making the endings move quickly. She packs so much into the last few chapters of the book. I found myself lazily moving through the story until I was approaching the end and all of the sudden it was like AH HELP CAN'T STOP MUST FIND OUT WHAT HAPPENS!!!!!
I really admire the way Clare writes her battle scenes. Particularly I loved this scene she wrote with Clary, Jace, and Sebastian (aka Jonathan) and Clary feels the adrenaline high from battle for the first time. I thought this scene was detailed really well. Clary kind of sums it all up when she says, "I feel good."
However much I love this series and was happy with this book, I do have a few bones to pick. The young couples in the novel all generally have sexy, detailed, intimate scenes where they generally just make out. Every touch and the feeling it evokes is described in a really lovely way. I love to see the dynamics and differences in each relationship. Jace and Clary are always sweet and slow with one another, Simon and Isabelle have some hesitations (and then there's the biting), Jordan and Maia are aggressive and passionate. I've noticed that Mangus and Alec don't really get these kind of detailed scenes. Sure, there are parts where they kiss but none of the intimacy or details are put into their scenes. I'd like to see some of that for them in the next book.
Another thing I had issue with was when Clary went to go help Jace while he was basically being controlled by Sebastian. I found parts of her being there a bit confusing. I know that she went to find out what they were planning but it didn't really seem like she made any real moves to find out what was going on. There were moments when she seemed to preoccupied by making out with Jace or being confused by her brother. Maybe parts of this section of the book were confusing since she was confused most of the time while she was with them. So maybe it's confusing on purpose NEVER MIND.
Overall, I'm in love with this series and I can't wait for the next one.
P.S. I really love this symbol and kind of want it (tattooed) on my body ugh okay bye
