Book Reviews, Uncategorized

Book Review: City of Heavenly Fire by Cassandra Clare

City of Heavenly Fire by Cassandra Clare

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Synopsis: 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 betrayals 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 word in the thrilling final installment of the classic urban fantasy series The Mortal Instruments!

Publication Date: May 27th 2014

Publisher: Margaret K. McElderry Books

Series: The Mortal Instruments #6

Rating: Image result for 4 out of 5 stars

Links: Amazon/Book Depository/Goodreads

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My Review:

Contains spoilers for Clockwork Angel, Clockwork Prince, Clockwork Princess, City of Bones, City of Ashes, City of Glass, City of Fallen Angels, City of Lost Souls

“Heroes aren’t always the ones who win,” she said. “They’re the ones who lose, sometimes. But they keep fighting, they keep coming back. They don’t give up. That’s what makes them heroes.”

Is anyone proud of me that I have finally reviewed this series. It took me ages, and honestly it was kinda what I needed, now that I’m thinking about. I’ve been going through this anxiety stage (or whatever it’s called), and these books just help. It’s almost like welcoming a long lost friend when I read these books, because these books have always been here for me. 

This series has been a somewhat enjoyable-frustrating to end ride, now that I think about it. It wasn’t the best series I have read overall, but this book was just a really good. It wrapped up this trilogy nicely and the series nicely. And I know that there are like fifty books out there and I only have to review 5 books by her right now. 

City of Heavenly Fire has always been one of my favorites. There’s just something about it that just makes this ending epic. Maybe it’s because the Blackthorns are introduced in this book-and this book sets up the Dark Artifices trilogy. The Dark Artifices is my second to favorite series by her!!! 

I love the Blackthorns with all my heart. They’re just one of my favorite characters and I just really love Emma. She’s my second favorite protagonist-the first being Tessa, from the protagonists that Cassie created. There is just something them that I love and it probably doesn’t help if their family was really close. It’s something I wish my family has, because we’re not close (maybe if we were, my parents would probably notice that I’m not doing okay.)

The Blackthorns are a lovely family and we’re seeing how different their family is. I’m not going to say much about them because most of it would be spoilers for the book. It’s just honestly just really refreshing to see a beautiful friendship showed on page like that, with not much screen-time.

There is this one moment where I just wanted to cry. Cassie had a little bit of homophobia added in City of Fallen Angels. Also, I’m kinda pretending that book didn’t really existed. But honestly, this was one of the most real Queer things that actually happens in real life. 

I’m not actually going to say what was said; frankly, since I don’t remember what was said. All I know there was one part of the book, where Alec explains that ‘just because he is gay didn’t mean he was attracted to all guys’. That is true. Gay people often get a labeled that they’re immediately attracted to every person who was in the same gender as them. But the fact that CC wrote in that was just so beautiful. 

And also we have some powerful queer relationships going on!! Aah, we not only have Magnus and Alec being together! But we also have a side f/f relationship going on. Aline and Helen are together since the fifth book I believe, but it’s just really nice and a lovely addition. Though Aline and Helen romance sucks now that I think about it with how that ended. 

And the romance. Like as;djklfasdlkfj. The romance pulled on my heartstrings and now I’m left wondering how do I put it into words.

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Woah, who am I and have I done with my normal hating romance self? Romance doesn’t have me this weak unless it deals with queer relationships that that wrecks me. Magnus and Alec are seriously one of the cutest couples ever, and honestly I just can’t get enough of them. Why do they have to be so cute first of all???

I wouldn’t mind finding someone like that, but it’d probably not happen for a few reasons; one, I can’t understand romance, two, I can’t fall in love with someone. I’m not attracted to anyone, three, those type of people only exist in fiction.  Let’s face it, I’d probably die alone or I’d get extremely lucky and win the love game where I could possibly find someone. 

Clary and Jace: I haven’t been a huge fan of their characters throughout the series, very less on the romance-but I have to admit during the later part of the book. Like yes, we need that in fiction since accidents are prone to happen and the fact that Jace was prepared like damn. Can we get more of that in YA, please.

Maia & Jordan: Thank god that finally ended. I’m just seriously so glad to see the one thing I absolutely hated by CC threatening incest at times (ew) have it. Their relationship was entirely abusive, and I hated how CC had a redemption storyline for him. But the ending for them. Like I actually liked the ending for them because it was good.

Simon and Isabelle: I’m really liking their relationship. Their relationship is flourishing, and honestly it was Rso hard not to love them. I feel like they’re the only relationship in this series that isn’t toxic really (and is shown). I feel like they’re one of my favorite couples minus Malec of course!

And the ending. If I wasn’t in a rush of reading the ending, I probably would have end up crying. The ending was so heartbreaking 😭😭😭. Like how was I supposed to survive that ending because it still wrecks me even after moving onto Lady Midnight.

There were a few things I really hated about it, and I honestly would love to discuss it in this review, because it was NOT cool. The only chance I had at rep. which I finally knew about it was gone because killing off a certain character who also turned out to POC. CC really did that. That wasn’t cool at all.


This book really wrecked me mostly and still remains to be one of my favorite endings of a series. I love what CC did with introducing the Blackthorns and could I say, the Blackthorns are one of my favorite families ever. I appreciated with a little bit of the queer stuff that CC wrote in, minus the one rep. I’m talking about which wasn’t cool at all. And somehow, this book brought out my feelings on the romance in the book and somehow ended up making me…love it especially with how most of them ended. 

TW: for attempted rape, assault, captivity, attempted/desired incest, self-harm, violence, blood depiction, death, murder, loss of a loved one, abandonment, drugging, and war themes.

Rep: Black gay side character, bisexual side-character, biracial Asian (half-Indonesian+Dutch) side character, m/m background romance, black side character, Jewish side character, latinx side character, Queer Asian character, Off-Page Ace/Aro character

Recommendable: Yes

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About the Author:

Bio: Cassandra Clare was born to American parents in Teheran, Iran and spent much of her childhood traveling the world with her family. She lived in France, England and Switzerland before she was ten years old. Since her family moved around so much she found familiarity in books and went everywhere with a book under her arm. She spent her high school years in Los Angeles where she used to write stories to amuse her classmates, including an epic novel called “The Beautiful Cassandra” based on the eponymous Jane Austen short story (and from which she later took her current pen name).

After college, Cassie lived in Los Angeles and New York where she worked at various entertainment magazines and even some rather suspect tabloids. She started working on her YA novel, City of Bones, in 2004, inspired by the urban landscape of Manhattan, her favorite city.

In 2007, the first book in the Mortal Instruments series, City of Bones, introduced the world to Shadowhunters. The Mortal Instruments concluded in 2014, and includes City of Ashes, City of Glass, City of Fallen Angels, City of Lost Souls, and City of Heavenly Fire. She also created a prequel series, inspired by A Tale of Two Cities and set in Victorian London. This series, The Infernal Devices, follows bookworm Tessa Gray as she discovers the London Institute in Clockwork Angel, Clockwork Prince, and Clockwork Princess.

Following the success of the novel, The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones was made into a film in 2013, it’s been ordered to series by ABC Family. And the sequel series to The Mortal Instruments, The Dark Artifices, debuts March 8, 2016 with Lady Midnight, as the Shadowhunters take on Los Angeles.

Other books in the Shadowhunters series include The Bane Chronicles, Tales from the Shadowhunter Academy, and The Shadowhunter’s Codex. 

Her books have more than 36 million copies in print worldwide and have been translated into more than thirty-five languages. Visit her at CassandraClare.com.

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Have you read this book? What did you think of the book? What do you think of the Mortal Instruments as a series overall?  Tell me in the comments!

About the Blogger:

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Hey everyone! I’m Lori and I have been ranting about books for a while, so I decided to make a blog. I’m a teen blogger in high school who has no life so she just reads books, and rants about her problems on her blog and to her cat. I’m a feminist, LGBTQ+ person, and someone who supports anything diverse.

You can find me on: Twitter/Instagram/Goodreads

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