City of Heavenly Fire by Cassandra Clare

725 pages

"In this dazzling and long-awaited conclusion to the acclaimed Mortal Instruments series, Clary and her friends fight the greatest evil they have ever faced: Clary's own brother.

Sebastian Morgenstern is on the move systematically turning Shadowhunter against Shadowhunter. Bearing the Infernal Cup, he transforms Shadowhunters into creatures out of nightmare, tearing apart families and lovers as the ranks of his Endarkened army swell.

The embattled Shadowhunters withdraw to Idris--but not even the famed demon towers of Alicante can keep Sebastian at bay. And with the Nephilim trapped in Idris, who will guard the world against demons?

When one of the greatest betrays the Nephilim have ever known is revealed, Clary, Jace, Isabelle, Simon, and Alec must flee--even if their journey takes them deep into the demon realms, where no Shadowhunter has set foot before, and from which no human being has ever returned...

Love will be sacrificed and lives lost in the terrible battle for the fate of the world in the thrilling final installment of the classic urban fantasy series The Mortal Instruments!" -Dust Jacket

Okay, so it's been more than a year's wait for this "conclusion" to the Mortal Instruments. I was a big fan of the first three books, although the whole Clary & Jace are brother and sister bit was so disturbing that you knew it couldn't be true. I'd have to say that this series has gone about three books too long. After City of Glass, I thought that the author was continuing on so that Jace could finally get over his self-doubt but he continues to struggle with it. So you had a crappy, evil father--be better than he was and get over it. He's still probably my favorite character just because of his snarkiness, but seriously, the whole idea of characters being together and then something keeping them apart, then being together, and back and forth, was very overused in this series. They can't be together because they think they're brother and sister, then they find out they're not and are back together, then Jace is possessed and goes off with Sebastian, then they get him back, then they can't be together because Jace is full of heavenly fire, then he's not.

This is not a series I would necessarily recommend. Insert rationalization: These books are long and I've been invested for a few years, but there really are some objectionable elements to this story. As much as I love Alec and Magnus individually, I don't like their relationship. I also thought it was lame {spoiler alert} that when Jace & Clary finally get together in that way, it's in a demon realm and he's just happened to bring protection along. Seriously? I like that they stay true to each other throughout the series and are always fighting for the other person, but that whole thing could have been much more romantic--say maybe preceded by a Shadowhunter wedding?

Now, to the part that bugged me the very most. Sometimes series need to continue for the sake of the story, and sometimes an author just publishes more books to make money. I feel like the latter is true in this case. I read the first book in The Infernal Devices series and felt like it was regurgitation of The Mortal Instruments--different characters, same storyline--so I didn't read the others, although I hear it's better than The Mortal Instruments. Then some of those characters show up in City of Heavenly Fire and some new characters are introduced for the author's new series The Dark Artifices. I'm okay with even all of that, but she should have let Jace & Clary's story end instead of inserting some cliffhangers about them right at the very end of this book. I really don't want to have to start the next series to see Jace & Clary have their happily ever after...or not. She's always messing with Jace. Hasn't he been through enough in over 2,000 pages?

{Spoiler alert} I get attached to characters easily. I don't like to see the main characters die (Tris in Divergent for example) but if you're going to have an epic battle against "the greatest evil they have ever faced" you'd think there'd be some fallout and sacrifice from it besides just Simon having to trade his immortality and memories so they could all get out of the demon realm. Had Simon's memory not been partially restored by Magnus at the very end I would have felt like there was a great enough sacrifice for victory but everything's so neat and tidy at the end. It sort of leaves you feeling a little shorted. I thought about the Beyonders series. Really great characters died in their fight against evil and it made it seem worth it. This victory was just sort of hollow. Their fight with Valentine was more exciting. So, I'm still a fan but a mediocre one who'd love for these characters' stories to finally come to an end.