Book Review – City of Heavenly Fire by Cassandra Clare

TITLE: City of Heavenly Fire (The Mortal Instruments #6)
AUTHOR: Cassandra Clare
PAGES:  725 pages
PUBLISHED: May 27th 2014
PUBLISHER: Margaret K. McElderry
GENRE: Young Adult, Fantasy, Paranormal/Urban-Fantasy

MY RATING: 4/5 birds

SUMMARY:

This is the long-awaited and final epic instalment of the Mortal Instruments series, which first began with City of Bones, published in 2007.

Sebastian Morgenstern, Clary’s brother, is using the Infernal Cup to create evil Shadowhunters, known as his Endarkened army, that do his bidding and threatened the lives of everyone around him. No one can stop Sebastian and when the ultimate betrayal is revealed, Clary, Jace, Isabelle, Simon and Alex must find a way to stop Sebastian before he tears the world apart.

MY REVIEW

In the words of Frodo Baggins “It’s done. It’s over.”

I put off reading the final book of the Mortal Instrument series because I have a bad habit of starting and not finishing series and as time went on I forgot some of the characters and the plot of the previous books. Although I find the TV series is pretty bad, watching a few episodes actually helped me remember a lot. It is always difficult when a series spans five years to recall every detail and character but Cassandra Clare did a great job of drawing me back in even after all this time.

I still think the third book is the best. I think this book was way too long and I admit I was bored at a few points. I also didn’t like how everything with Sebastian turned out. I was expecting more, you know? And it was so disappointing that even after everything the Clave had been through they literally did not learn a single thing. Peace is obviously not going to last very long in this world…

And Simon’s fate was really heartbreaking but I am really looking forward to reading Welcome to Shadowhunter Academy and also Emma’s story in Lady Midnight.

Overall this has truly been a great series! I definitely will re-read it at some point (at least the first three) and although I don’t think this was the strongest ending, especially if you compare it to The Infernal Devices ending, it is a fantastic series and I would recommend to anyone!

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Book Review – Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea (Between #1)

TITLE: Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea
AUTHOR: April Genevieve Tucholke
PAGES: 360
PUBLISHED: August 15th 2013
PUBLISHER: Dial
GENRE: Young Adult, Fantasy, Gothic, Paranormal, and Horror.

MY RATING:

SUMMARY:

Nothing much exciting rolls through Violet White’s sleepy, seaside town… until River West comes along. River rents the guest house behind Violet’s crumbling estate, and as eerie, grim things start to happen, Violet begins to wonder about the boy living in her backyard.

Is River just a crooked-smiling liar with pretty eyes and a mysterious past? Or could he be something more?

Violet’s grandmother always warned her about the Devil, but she never said he could be a dark-haired boy who takes naps in the sun, who likes coffee, who kisses you in a cemetery… who makes you want to kiss back.

Violet’s already so knee-deep in love, she can’t see straight. And that’s just how River likes it.

MY REVIEW:

You stop fearing the devil when you’re holding his hand…

I LOVED this! It was beyond creepy! The characters were all so amazing and well-written. If you like gothic novels this is definitely for you. The build up with Freddie and her stories about the devil completely had me. Violet is one of the best characters I have read in a while. I actually enjoyed that she was a recluse instead of it being a typical cliche “oh woe is me I have no friends” – but with Violet that description made sense to me. Her old Victorian house did too, everything just fit.

I also enjoyed the romance – well if you could call it that. Basically I am not sure if Violet even likes River, and visa versa. Was it just the glow? Is River capable of loving someone? He was completely untrustworthy the whole novel and a breathe of fresh air from reading novels with perfect boyfriends who never do anything wrong (or if they do it is for a stupid reason, like they love the main character too much or something). It was a bit frustrating when Violet would touch him even though he was manipulating her – and she knew it. but oh well, she is a teenager. stuff happens.

I am verrry curious what happens with (SPOILER) Neely! I feel like Violet and him are destine to fall in love while River is away hunting down his devil-brother and what not. He is like the nice, perfect version of River…we’ll see what happens!!

Book Review – The Summoning by Kelley Armstrong

TITLE: The Summoning (Darkest Powers #1)
AUTHOR: Kelley Armstrong
PAGES: 390 pages
EXPECTED PUBLICATION: July 1st 2008
PUBLISHER: HarperCollins
GENRE: Young Adult, Paranormal, Urban Fantasy

MY RATING: 4/5 birds

SUMMARY:

Chloe Saunders a regular 15 year old girl who just happens to see ghosts. She goes from being just an ordinary teenager to being taken away and locked up in a mental hospital called the Lyle House.

There she meets Liz, Rae, Simon and Derek. Everyone has something “special” about them that is keeping them in the Lyle House and Chloe started to investigate what danger lies not only in the mental hospital but with her new housemates.

MY REVIEW:

This book was surprisingly good! What I meant by surprising is the first 100 or more pages were honestly kind of boring and I wasn’t sure where this book was heading. Chloe, the main character, gets sent to a “group home” or mental hospital because she can see ghosts and the first half of the book was mainly her going back and forth between believing in her sights and powers and telling herself she is just crazy. The book suddenly picks up though and gets SUPER CREEPY and after that, I just couldn’t put it down!

Not to mention Derek. I know he was described as being really ugly and was pretty scary in the beginning when he hurt Chloe (by accident) and we didn’t know what the hell he was but by the end I really really liked him. He actually was a huge reason why I couldn’t put the book down. Even though Simon might be the one Chloe ends up with (it was hard to tell if he even liked her, he kind of left it open for interpretation at the end before they ran away) I actually hope Chloe ends up with Derek. She spent way more time with him in the novel than anyone else, he always was there to rescue her and I think it would be amazing if the female main character didn’t always fall for the sexy predictable guy, right? Derek seems like he cares for Chloe but he just can’t show it.

Anyways I am definitely going to pick up the rest of this series!
ps. I only gave it 4/5 instead of full ratings because the beginning was really boring for me, I almost didn’t want to continue reading it, but I’m so glad I did! I think the next book will be even better

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