‘City of Heavenly Fire’ – Review
A Battle of Heaven and Hell
The final battle looms ahead, it’s heaven versus hell in the City of Heavenly Fire by Cassandra Clare. Our protagonist Clary and her crew square off against Sebastian and his army of corrupted Shadowhunters. The end of the fifth book concluded with Sebastian, the demon brother of Clary, our heroine, sent an intense message stating he was coming for the Shadowhunters. Well from the prologue onward the actions doesn’t stop, of course except for the romantic sub plots. When we last left Jace, he had heavenly fire in his veins, now he has to control it because if he doesn’t he might kill himself or Clary. It’s a race against time to save the world from Sebastain and his army of “the Endarkened”.
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2F8DklyA-UA]
Battle, Romance and Everything in Between
The chapters in City of Heavenly Fire are decently long, mostly because there are multiple groups of people in various locations: Alicante, headquarters of the Shadowhunter, Edom, a demon dimension and New York City. Many characters are axed and some are those you wouldn’t expect, similar to something like George R.R. Martin. All of the relationship drama that has been building up from the first book is finally addressed: Simon and Isabelle’s undefined relationship and Magnus and Alec’s breakup. There are betrayals, battles and discoveries in every chapter that answer questions that have been posed in the story one way or another. The chapters are longer in order to accommodate the various different viewpoints, which is a bit of a hindrance, but each chapter ends with a cliffhanger that urges the reader to start the next one. Eventually our usual group of Shadowhunters travel to Edom, the demon dimension that is Sebastian’s headquarters. Edom is a place where surviving each day is the goal for our team of heroes, as well as rescuing the prisoners that Sebastian has kidnapped. As if that wasn’t enough, there was a specific time limit before Sebastian destroys all of the Shadowhunters. The best thing is that City of Heavenly Fire contains all the lighthearted comedy, touching moments and awkward moments that the sries has a whole is known for. Basically
Relations to Other Books
City of Heavenly Fire connects to the Infernal Devices, a prequel series to the Mortal Instruments in multiple points in the book. There are multiple references to Tessa, the main character of the Infernal Devices series as well as the connection between the Infernal Devices and the mysterious Brother Zachariah. The are a couple of new characters introduced in the novel such as Emma Carstairs and her close friend, Julian Blackthorn. Both of them help Clary and the cast of main characters one way or another. It has been revealed that Emma and Julian will be the main characters in the upcoming Dark Artifices series, which will take place five years after the Mortal Instruments. These connections to the prequel and sequel series really connects the three series and connects all three in ways that seems natural and logical.
The Final Word
Safe to say City of Heavenly Fire is the finale the fans of The Mortal Instruments have wanted. It ties up the loose ends, has a spectacular plot and chapters that keep you on the edge of your seat and even connects to the other series that share it’s universe. Many character’s back stories, motivations and relationships are all given depth and expanded on and Clare still keeps the action and fighting going. It is a fantastic installation in the series and an amazing book overall and I’d recommend it to anyone who loves fantasy series like Harry Potter and Percy Jackson, although you might want to read the other five books before you start on this one.