The Mortal Instruments 4 & 5

 City of Fallen Angels
Cassandra Clare

City of Fallen Angels takes place two months after the events of City of Glass. In it, a mysterious someone’s killing the Shadowhunters who used to be in Valentine’s Circle and displaying their bodies around New York City in a manner designed to provoke hostility between Downworlders and Shadowhunters, leaving tensions running high in the city and disrupting Clary’s plan to lead as normal a life as she can — training to be a Shadowhunter, and pursuing her relationship with Jace. As Jace and Clary delve into the issue of the murdered Shadowhunters, they discover a mystery that has deeply personal consequences for them — consequences that may strengthen their relationship, or rip it apart forever. Meanwhile, internecine warfare among vampires is tearing the Downworld community apart, and only Simon — the Daylighter who everyone wants on their side — can decide the outcome; too bad he wants nothing to do with Downworld politics. Love, blood, betrayal and revenge: the stakes are higher than ever in City of Fallen Angels.

I had a really hard time with this book. This took me forever to get through because it is my least favorite of the series. The only interesting parts of this book were in the last half of it--maybe even the last quarter. I could have done without all of the "Does he love me, or love me not?" nonsense. And then it took forever for Jace to tel her. What a healthy relationship. I did want to know why someone was trying to go after Simon, but I lost interest after the fact that he didn't appear to be in that much danger. So three people with dark hoodies go after him and that's it. I get that they're scared of being turned into salt, but c'mon. Things should have moved faster than they did if Lilith really wanted to bring Sebastian back.

 City of Lost Souls

The demon Lilith has been destroyed and Jace has been freed from her captivity. But when the Shadowhunters arrive to rescue him, they find only blood and broken glass. Not only is the boy Clary loves missing–but so is the boy she hates, Sebastian, the son of her father Valentine: a son determined to succeed where their father failed, and bring the Shadowhunters to their knees.

No magic the Clave can summon can locate either boy, but Jace cannot stay away—not from Clary. When they meet again Clary discovers the horror Lilith’s dying magic has wrought—Jace is no longer the boy she loved. He and Sebastian are now bound to each other, and Jace has become what he most feared: a true servant of Valentine’s evil. The Clave is determined to destroy Sebastian, but there is no way to harm one boy without destroying the other. Will the Shadowhunters hesitate to kill one of their own?

Only a small band of Clary and Jace’s friends and family believe that Jace can still be saved — and that the fate of the Shadowhunters’ future may hinge on that salvation. They must defy the Clave and strike out on their own. Alec, Magnus, Simon and Isabelle must work together to save Jace: bargaining with the sinister Faerie Queen, contemplating deals with demons, and turning at last to the Iron Sisters, the reclusive and merciless weapons makers for the Shadowhunters, who tell them that no weapon on this earth can sever the bond between Sebastian and Jace. Their only chance of cutting Jace free is to challenge Heaven and Hell — a risk that could claim any, or all, of their lives.

And they must do it without Clary. For Clary has gone into the heart of darkness, to play a dangerous game utterly alone. The price of losing the game is not just her own life, but Jace’s soul. She’s willing to do anything for Jace, but can she even still trust him? Or is he truly lost? What price is too high to pay, even for love?

Darkness threatens to claim the Shadowhunters in the harrowing fifth book of the Mortal Instruments series.

This one took me a while, too. I still had the taste in my mouth from the last one, and felt like the characters were being idiots for most of the book. Yeah, let's leave the impulsive Clary alone. There's no way she'll portal herself out to get to the boy she loves. Not like she hasn't done that before but for another person she loves. It wasn't until later on that I realized that I started feeling sad or mad at things that were happening to the characters. I think that's it's because I have read five books with these characters and I couldn't help but be a little attached.

I'm going to finish the series when the last book comes out, but I don't think that I'll continue on with Clare's books. Someone would really have to convince me to venture out again.