City of Fallen Angels

City of Fallen Angels
Cover of the Book released in December 2010
Author(s)	Cassandra Clare
Country	United States
Language	English
Series	The Mortal Instruments Series
Genre(s)	Young adult
Preceded by	City of Glass
Followed by	City of Lost Souls

City of Fallen Angels is the fourth book in the Mortal Instruments series by Cassandra Clare. The series was meant to end with City of Glass, but it was announced that in March 2010 that a fourth book would be added. The book was released on April 5, 2011.^[1] The fourth installment will equally follow the stories of Clary Morgenstern, Jace Lightwood, and Simon Lewis,^[2] despite rumors that the novel would only feature Simon as the main character. When asked about the change in point of view for the next novel Clare replied, “Simon has always been one of my favorite characters to write about, and I’m excited to get the chance to tell his story while revisiting some of the other characters that I love from The Mortal Instruments series. The enthusiasm for telling Simon’s story that I’ve received from the team at McElderry Books and Simon & Schuster has been great, and I’m excited to be working with them to bring a fourth book to the series.”

Clare describes the next book by saying, "City of Fallen Angels takes place after the events of City of Glass. It splits its focus between Jace and Clary and Clary’s best friend, Simon, and how he adjusts to life as a vampire, but it’s still an ensemble-cast story, and all the characters from the Mortal Instruments series appear in it: Isabelle, Alec, Magnus, Luke, Jocelyn, Maia, and many more. (It even helps to have read Clockwork Angel before you read City of Fallen Angels, because some of the characters from The Infernal Devices series do show up in it. However, it isn’t required).

In City of Fallen Angels, someone has been killing the Shadowhunters who used to be in Valentine’s Circle and leaving their bodies around New York City in a manner designed to provoke hostility between Downworlders and Shadowhunters. Internecine warfare among vampires is ripping 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. Meanwhile, Jace and Clary investigate a mystery that has deeply personal consequences for them — consequences that may strengthen their relationship, or rip it apart forever. Love, blood, betrayal and revenge: the stakes are higher than ever in City of Fallen Angels."^[3]

It was later announced that there will be two more installments now following City of Fallen Angels, titled 'City of Lost Souls', and 'City of Heavenly Fire'.

Plot

The book follows Simon's difficult transition into vampirism, but equally shows us more about Jace and Clary's relationship. Simon receives an offer from a vampire named Camille Belcourt who claims to have been usurped by Raphael. She says that if Simon joins her side as the Daylighter, then he will finally earn his place in vampire society. After his meeting with Camille, he returns home worried about what his mother will think as she has been suspicious since he went to Idris (City of Glass) and did not return for a few days. Although Magnus erased memories of his absence, she has been sub-consciously suspicious about everything from his whereabouts to his friends as to opposed to before when she was less strict. As Simon tries to adjust to life as a vampire, with the Mark of Cain, he is attacked numerous times and each time the Mark's curse works and the attackers are killed (including the time when on his way home in which two strange looking hooded muggers try to overtake to which one of them quickly meets his graphic and bloody demise through on biblical proportions because of the mark of Cain which disturbs Simon whereas the other muggers flee in terror).

Meanwhile, Jace has dreams in which he murders Clary by stabbing her or choking her which previous has led to stress between the two of them. Clary's mother, Jocelyn, is having difficulty adjusting to Jace as Clary's boyfriend when he reminds her so much of Valentine. Clary and her mother also discover that someone is trying to make more children like Jonathan, which again Jocelyn has trouble coming to terms with.

At one of Simon's band's gigs, Simon runs off stage ill (mostly due to his lack of blood consumption). Maureen, the band's only fan, follows Simon and asks for his picture. Halfway through taking it, Simon bites her and drinks her blood, interrupted just in time by Jordan. The day after, they receive a message saying someone was holding Simon's girlfriend hostage, and he should go to save her. Calling up Clary, Isabelle and Maia, Simon determines it was a joke, only to find it was actually Maureen who had been kidnapped and had been killed.

Jace and Clary have an intimate moment in one of the spare rooms in the Institute where Clary is healing from the scars she had gotten when fighting a Hydra demon at the Church of Talto. He kisses her passionately all over and it progresses into something more passionate. They are close to having sex when Jace injures Clary with a knife. Disturbed by his recent nightmares, Jace poured out all his nightmares and the reason he is avoiding Clary. Clary then offered to help Jace by taking him to the Silent City where the Silent Brothers tell them that the nightmares Jace is having is due to his vulnerability to demonic influence. Jace agrees to stay in one of the cells of the Silent City for one night in order for the Silent Brothers to help him. When he slept that night, he dreams about Max. He cuts his arms after Max persuades him to do so in his dreams, and with his blood, Max, who is actually the demon Lilith, drew a rune on his chest which makes him under Lilith's possession now.

Jocelyn and Luke (now engaged) attend an engagement party organized by Luke's werewolf pack, in which Simon disappears. Clary also disappears after being kidnapped by Jace to which Clary does not know about yet. He has lied to Clary about leaving the silent brothers early (though he doesn't lie about how he wants to be bound her as the possession has not affected his feelings for her). Jace tells Clary about rune that binds them to one another for forever and Clary accepts and hands him her stele. He begins to draw a rune but Clary finds out too late that this not the rune he told her about as she begins to fall unconscious. Jace carries her away. Simon is led away from the party by Maureen, now a vampire, and is taken to Lilith, the creator of all demons, who has been alive since the beginning of time, who turned up at one of Simon's bands gigs and introduced herself as a promoter called Satrina (one of 17 names given to Lilith). She explains that she needs him to resurrect Sebastian from the dead. When he tells her he cannot bring the dead back to life, she tells him that he has had that power since he became a Daylighter. In order to persuade him to resurrect Jonathan, she possesses Jace, through his dreams (a matter of a protective ritual performed when a Shadowhunter is born; When Jace died in Idris and was resurrected by the Angel, this ritual was undone, leaving Jace vulnerable to possession) and orders him to kidnap Clary. Jace brings Clary to Lilith and she orders him to kill her if Simon does not resurrect Sebastian. Simon bites him and drains some of his blood. This poisons him because Sebastian has demon blood.

Isabelle, Alec, Maia, and Jordan follow Simon using a business card they found in his wallet in order to find him. When they get to the building, they check every floor until they find him. However, instead of finding Simon, they find the place that Lilith used as her nursery, with all the children dead. Everyone of them had clawed hands and black eyes, like the one Clary and her mom saw at the hospital. The babies were the outcome of Lilith trying to make half-demon children like Sebastian. While going through the room, Isabelle notices a being in the corner and attacks it, but it turns out to be a mother of one of the babies who then tells them the story of what was happening.

Meanwhile, Clary tricks Jace by saying how she does not wish to watch and he embraces her (as the possession has not affected his feelings for her, including his concern for her well-being, as seen when he later asks if she is cold). She then grabs Jace's knife and cuts the rune that Lilith is using to possess him on his chest, causing the real Jace to awaken and help to kill Lilith. However, Simon kills Lilith by throwing himself in between Lilith and Clary, having the Mark of Cain. This makes Lilith's murderous actions come back onto her sevenfold. The Clave appears at the scene, and Isabelle tells them the story of what happened downstairs while Jace is waiting for them upstairs. Jace and Clary share an intimate moment up on the roof before she goes down to the lobby to meet her mother and Luke while Simon, Maia, Alec, Magnus and Isabelle are also down there. The book ends with Jace's rune healing, hearing Sebastian's voice in his head, and with Sebastian/Jonathan now in control of Jace, Jace is forced to finish the awakening ritual on Sebastian, who is now wholly alive.

Cover

The cover features Clary Fray, adorned in Shadowhunter runes wearing the golden silk dress which she wore to the engagement party and the Morgenstern Ring on her necklace which Jace gave to her, and the Daylighter, Simon Lewis. The cover was revealed on Cassandra Clare's blog in December 2010.

References

1. ^ [1], Amazon - City of Fallen Angels.
2. ^ http://www.cassandraclare.com/cms/faqs#jaceclary
3. ^ http://www.cassandraclare.com/cms/faqs#fallen