Review: City of Lost Souls

Title: City of Lost Souls

Author: Cassandra Clare

Pages: 544

City of Lost Souls is the fifth book in The Mortal Instruments series by Cassandra Clare. The series follows Clary in her discovery of an entirely different world: that of shadowhunters, werewolves, vampires, and more. 

Originally, the author had planned this series to be a trilogy. Just like all true fans, I was over the moon to find out that there was going to be a fourth. However, as I grew older, I disliked the books more and more. When I wanted to start City of Lost Souls one or two years ago, I decided to reread the first four books, because I felt I didn't remember enough of them. When I did, however, I found out I no longer liked Clare's writing style, nor was the story very interesting. So I took a brake. 

A while ago, the sixth and - this time for real - final book came out: City of Heavenly Fire. I decided to start reading City of Lost Souls again and then finish off the series. I first read summaries of the previous books, and I - quite hesitantly - embarked on the journey in City of Lost Souls. 

I must say I was pleasently surprised. Clearly, Clare's writing is focussed on a younger audience - people who do not yet notice bad writing. However, the story was quite interesting and very fast paced. I flew through  it. Although a lot was quite predictable, there were some unexpected turns. The characters are all very well developed, but that is only to be expected when you're so far along in a series. 

Clare's writing is not all bad. The way in which she writes dialogues or other conversations is hilarious and realistic. This is one of the main reasons why the novel is highly entertaining, and why you will keep reading - unfortunately, the story does not truly do that - knowing not all will be solved because there will be another beast of a sequel. 

It's certainly a vast improvement when comparing it to the fourth novel in the series, and it did make me curious to read the next book. Unfortunately, I recently found out that City of Heavenly Fire will be much more fun if you have read the entire Infernal Devices series (another series by Cassandra Clare, set in the same world but in another time) as some of the story lines will intertwine. This means I still have to read another book and a half before I can tackle the final book. Most likely, I will thus not finish the series any time soon.