City of Heavenly Fire by Cassandra Clare-Review

City of Heavenly Fire by Cassandra Clare

My rating: 5/5 Stars

Publisher: Margaret K. McElderry (2014)

Length: 725 pgs

Series: The Mortal Instruments #6

Format: Hardcover, purchased Barnes & Noble (online)

Goodreads 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!

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.