City of Lost Souls by Cassandra Clare

About the book 
City of Lost Souls (CoLS) is the fifth book in The Mortal Instruments series by Cassandra Clare. The book was released on 8th May by Walker and it is 560 pages long. 

Plot 
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? 

What I thought 
Cassandra Clare is one of my favourite Young Adult authors in general but this is also one of my favourite series of all time. From the moment I picked up the first book, I was hooked and wanted more. Thankfully, so is my boyfriend so he bought this one for us both not long after it was released. This review will try to be as spoiler free as possible although it might contains some for the previous books in the series. 

Something that Cassandra Clare has mastered the art of is throwing massive twists into her stories. Never do I see anything coming and I always find her twists to be shocking and very inventive, which is a big part of why I love this series so much. After five books, I thought that the series might have started to get a bit predictable but Clare proves me wrong. Not much is predictable about this book. I loved the way that the story was taken and also where it is headed now - which could be anywhere actually. 

Clary and Jace are two of my favourite YA characters, not just in this series but altogether. I was a little worried about Jace being taken away with Sebastian and what this would mean for their relationship/ the time spent with these characters but I needn't have worried. A way around the distance is found and explained extremely well. I liked how Clare managed to get these two characters back together again but still keeping with the direction of the plot. Due to the nature of the plot, character development is very strong. I didn't think that there could be much more to learn about both Clary and Jace but there is... a lot more. 

I loved Sebastian as the villain in this instalment. He is quite different from others that we have seen in the past and really stood out for me. Sebastian is an extremely interesting character all on his own but paired with Jace and their new bond, he is given a whole other load of dimensions. Being secretive and dark, Sebastian is someone who I never really knew what to think of. I could never tell if he was being truthful or sincere but the possibility was always there. Then, there was also the possibility that he was completely evil and a liar but you never really knew. This is what made him stand out for me because he was never truly placed into the villain stereotype. 

In true Cassandra Clare style, this book is full on tension and action and this is something that also makes it really well marketed towards boys as well as girls. I love the action scenes and discovering where the characters will end up or what danger they will face next. Clare's books are always so exciting that I can never put them down. As Shadowhunters are demon killers, you can always expect some quite intense fight scenes in these books which only adds to the tension of the plot. CoLS is fast paced for the most part but also slows down for some more tender and meaningful moments which was a nice change. The romance, not only between Clary and Jace but other characters too, is always amazingly written. However, in this book I felt that it was stepped up a notch. Other character's relationships are developed more and this meant that everything was not always about Clary and Jace, which I liked. 

I completely loved CoLS and it is one of my favourites in the series. The way that Clare managed to keep the protagonist's story central while also keeping secondary characters important meant that this was some of her best writing yet. I'm dying for the sixth book already and it's going to be a long wait for it!