City of Heavenly Fire: Volume 6 (Mortal Instruments, #6)

by Cassandra Clare

"Darkness has descended on the Shadowhunter world. Chaos and destruction overwhelm the Nephilim as Clary, Jace, Simon, and their friends band together to fight the greatest evil they have ever faced: Clary's own brother. Nothing in this world can defeat Sebastian--but if they journey to the realm of demons, they just might have a chance."--

• ISBN10: 1442416890
• ISBN13: 9781442416895
• Publish Date: 27 May 2014
• Publish Status: Active
• Imprint: Margaret K. McElderry Books
• Format: Hardcover
• Pages: 752
• Language: English

Reviews

[Sam@WLABB]

5-Gold Stars for Cassandra Clare

I feel this is more like a love letter to Ms. Clare.

1. Thank you. It was a beautiful ending to a beautiful series. You tied up so many stories and planted new ones...(BIG smile)

2. I love your beautiful mind and the stories it crafts. The new, the old and the current were woven so beautifully together.

3. I appreciate how you were able to maintain the integrity of our favorite characters. Everything I love about TMI is ever-present. I smiled, I gasped, I face planted, I sighed in satisfaction.

4. You revisited the Infernal Devices and filled in some gaps. You did it beautifully, I must say.

5. I LOVE Emma and Jules. I will await their saga with baited breath.

Thank you for not disappointing me with this beautiful story.

[girlinthepages]

This review was actually really hard for me to write, because I’ve been a fan of the original Shadowhunter series for many years and it’s hard to witness the end of a beloved series. I’ve let it settle for about a week and I’ve realized that I was really impressed by Clare’s last installment, not just because it’s the resolution of The Mortal Instruments series, but because it addresses the notion of war- and its repercussions- in a realistic and multi-facted way, and true to the endings of real wars, not everything is cleanly wrapped up in a unanimous resolution at the end of the novel.

Firstly and fore-mostly, it’s important to mention that CoHF is the book where Clare really ties all of the threads from all three of her series together (The Mortal Instruments, The Infernal Devices, and The Dark Artifices). Readers are introduced to Shadowhunter families that had been mentioned in other generations, such as the Blackthorns and the Carstairs, and the conflicts among and between the Shadowhunters themselves and between Nephilim and demons are cross-generational, and if you’ve read Clare’s other series it all comes together beautifully.

This is a book about war. There is tragedy, death, and anticipation, and readers will be holding their breath throughout it (in the same way readers held their breath during Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, knowing that important characters were going to die). This anxiety-ridden atmosphere leads to an intensity in the investment of the outcome of many of the relationships in the series, and there is resolution one way or another (whether good or bad) for all of the romantic pairings. I was satisfied by Clare’s handling of Jace and Clary’s relationship in particular, and she also introduces another LGTBQ couple and touches upon how members of the Shadowhunter world react to differences in sexuality, which was fascinating. I love that Clare writes her couples as very real, tackling real issues of intimacy, communication, conflict, etc rather than “watering down” the interactions because it’s a young adult audience.

What I love about Clare is that she pulls from a myraid of religious, mythological, and fantasy influences. Readers get to travel between the mundane world, the Fairie realm, Idris, (and for the first time) the demon realms. Religious dogma and influences are drawn from both Eastern and Western traditions, and the possibility of dimensional travel and parallel universes are introduced. There’s also a really fantastic scene in which each characters deepest, selfish desires are realized due to a demon’s influence, and seeing the fallout from that really shows how the characters have grown over the course of the series.

Clare creates an atmosphere in which the toll of death and destruction can not be resolved and soothed solely by victory. The book does not have a clean ending, rather the aftereffects of war are causing problems and tension that will no doubt carry on to The Dark Artifices series. I know there’s been mixed opinions from readers about Clare continuing to write in the Shadowhunter world, but I enjoy reading new narratives within a universe that I’ve come to understand and I believe it will be fascinating to see how (what’s left of) the Shadowhunters rebuild after the devastating war. I think her ambiguous ending with how the Shadow world and everyone within it will move forward is a true reflection of the decades-long rebuilding process that follow wars in the real world.

What I Loved:

A lot of character development! From the Lightwood’s dealing with their grief over the death of Max to Simon’s integration amongst the group to understanding more about Jocelyn’s relationship with Sebastian to learning so much more about Magnus!
There’s very real biases and ideological divisions amongst the Shadowhunters: it’s fascinating to see their prejudices, especially regarding Shadowhunters of “mixed blood” (part Downworlder, part Shadowhunter)
Full integration of story lines/characters from The Infernal Devices and the upcoming Dark Artifices.
A really interesting look at Downworld and Clave politics, and how they oppress and rebel against one another.
Learning more about the Iron Sisters and Silent Brothers.

What Didn’t Impress Me:

The book foll0wed many characters perspectives, with shifts in each chapter. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but sometimes I would be anxious to get back to one storyline but then I had to read about one that I didn’t find as interesting (such as about Mia, who has become a third person POV character).

Overall: This book was a really great ending to The Mortal Instruments series, and it came full circle in integrating its prequel series as well as introducing its successor. This book delves deeper than ever into Clave politics, the treatment of Downworlders, and the relationships of characters, as well as exposes the tensions and biases that underlie the Shadowhunter world. There’s a lot of action, a lot of characters that are followed, new realms explored, unexpected betrayal, and deaths to be sure, but the series ends delightfully open-ended to allow the next series by Clare to explore the very realistic fallout from the war and to watch and see how each magical group rebuilds and carries forward. Much as I want to, it’s hard to say anything else without giving away spoilers!

Read more of my reviews at Girl in the Pages

[Stephanie]

This series and I have a love/hate relationship. My biggest issue: please focus on the characters of this series instead of spending an jaggedly unbalanced amount of time on characters who are going to have their own book series after this one. Thanks.

[ellieroth]

Publicado originalmente: El Extraño Gato del Cuento

No sé si fue el exceso de publicidad que tuve con el libro, no sé si fue el que últimamente muy poco me da esa sensación de shock en historias épicas como ésta. ¿Qué esperaba del libro? Aunque quizá les parezca un poco raro, no estaba del todo metida en cuanto la expectativa con este último libro, no sé por qué exactamente. Pero esperaba acción por montones, esperaba tensión, esperaba más protagonismo de los personajes centrales. Esperaba más.

Voy a decirlo directamente: Este libro es solo una gran propaganda para la siguiente saga de Cassandra Clare. Una serie por la cuál me sentía muy emocionada hasta que leí City of Heavenly Fire, porque lo único que ha hecho es molestarme y darme muy pocas ganas de leer a estos nuevos Shadowhunters. Entiendo por qué en algunas escenas era necesario que Emma y compañía aparecieran (no es un secreto quienes serán los nuevos protagonistas), pero hubo otros completamente innecesarios, escenas que pudieron ser hechas por personajes que sólo han estado de relleno, personajes que pudieron darle quizá un carga más emocional a la historia.

Y ¡Por el Ángel, el libro es larguísimo! Saben que soy una lectora perezosa pero no recordaba que Cassandra se tomará el tiempo para describir tanto, voy confesar que leí el libro saltándome párrafos enteros, sobre todo las que incluían a Emma y demás porque no sentía que me aportarán nada argumental, solo descripción tras descripción. Además que el libro ha dado vuelta tras vuelta, no avanza al ritmo que me hubiera gustado. O el hecho que utilizara la palabra "Burn" demasiado, o sea, entiendo por qué y todo eso, pero ¿tres veces en un mismo párrafo? Incluso algunas de las bromas las sentí repetitivas.

Sobre las muertes taaaaaaan aterradas, casi nada qué decir, no me sorprendieron nada, ya las sabía. Y no es porque me crea demasiado inteligente ni nada, es solo la ventaja de no ser una persona emocional xD

No todo es negativo. Hubo algo que supe desde hace un tiempo sobre el libro: que iba a ser muy cruel con un personaje. Uno que he visto mencionar poquísimas veces en los comentarios tipo "Si le haces algo a tal personaje, te odiaré toda mi vida Cassie", creo que sólo he visto una sola vez un comentario así sobre este personaje en particular. Fueron dos escenas con este personajes que no diré nombre porque es spoiler, dos escenas que le dieron, según mi opinión, al fin algo de emoción y angustia que me esperaba. Lástima que el primero haya sido como entre la página 500 y 600. Larga espera.

Otro punto positivo son los personajes traídos de The Infernal Devices, ellos aparecieron muy poquito pero su participación fue notable, a diferencia de los que ya mencioné fue innecesaria. Y cómo todo libro de Cassandra Clare, me ha dejado con una cantidad importante de citas.

Lamento decir que para mí fue un libro con recursos desaprovechados, puedes ver el potencial ahí ahí, o sea, sabes que Cassandra Clare puede darte algo mejor, todo esa promoción "el final más tristemente feliz" no. El libro está "bien", no es algo épico ni súper mega emocionante pero tampoco es el peor libro del mundo. Sólo siento que pudo haber sido mejor.

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[tweetybugshouse]

Wow i been looking forward to reading this so much i had it on pre-order for my kindle and kept refreshing and checking come on give me the book. I devoured it in about 3 days it was action packed, intense and a great way to end a wonderful series. I leave it that so as not to spoil it for the rest of you but wow wow wow.

[Chelsea]

Cover

I really like these covers. I'm glad that both series match.

Initial Thoughts

I'm sure anyone going into this book had high expectations. Clockwork Princess was an excellent final book so I was expecting something along those lines. I didn't really have any ideas about what was going to happen in this book, only the usual huge battle at the end. I was also expecting a lot of death with such a big battle on the way.

My New BFF

I love both Clary and Isabelle. Isabelle is just so awesome and badass and stays cool in every situation. She's always around to back up her friends. Clary is really smart. She knows what she has to do and does it without complaining. Both of them are great heroines that I'd love to get to know.

My Crush

Jace and Magnus. Obviously, I can't have Magnus but he's such a cool character! I love his crazy style and attitude. I also really enjoy that Cassandra Clare put a gay character in her book. It's a nice change from all the typical girl/guy relationships we read about all the time. I love Jace for obvious reasons. I found he was a little sappy in this book though. It made his character a little off. He didn't have as many good lines as he did in the other books.

Writing Style

The writing style was the same as the other books except for the characters. It almost felt like she forgot who her characters were. Maybe that was just me but I found Jace wasn't as funny, Clary didn't think things through as much, Isabelle didn't care about a whole lot, Alec was whinny, and Simon was just kind of around. I know their situation changed but I felt like they should have stayed mostly the same. There's character development and then there's not knowing your characters.

The plot was good but it got too predictable. I was expecting a lot more surprises, instead it was the same ending as every series before it.

Closing Thoughts

I was disappointed. I'm upset that I feel that way. I tried so hard to love this book like everyone else and it didn't happen. I couldn't do anything after finishing it, the disappointment was too intense. It was a good book, I'm not saying don't read it. I was just expecting so much more from her. I see the potential for an awesome ending and it wasn't anywhere close. I was expecting at least some death or something that would make me cry. Nope. Nothing. I felt like she cheated her way out of an ending. Instead of killing someone off she did something else. I just really hate when authors are too afraid to kill off characters. She needs some lessons from George R.R. Martin.