The Mortal Instruments (series)

The Mortal Instruments

City of Bones City of Ashes City of Glass City of Fallen Angels City of Lost Souls City of Heavenly Fire
Author	Cassandra Clare
Country	United States
Language	English
Genre	Fantasy, young-adult fiction, urban fantasy
Publisher	Margaret K. McElderry (US) Walker Books (UK, Australia, New Zealand) Arena Verlag (Germany) Univers Poche (France)
Published	March 27, 2007 – March 11, 2011
Media type	Print (hardcover and paperback) Audiobook
Followed by	The Infernal Devices

The Mortal Instruments is a series of four young adult science fiction and fantasy novels by author Cassandra Clare including City of Bones, City of Ashes, City of Glass, and City of Fallen Angels.^[1]

Publication history

The books in the series so far are City of Bones (published March 27, 2007), City of Ashes (published March 25, 2008) and City of Glass (published March 24, 2009), followed by City of Fallen Angels,^[1][2] which was published April 5, 2011, and switched the series' focus from Clary Fray, Jace Wayland, and Simon Lewis evenly.

On August 4, 2010, Clare announced in a live webcast that there will be three further books in the series. City of Fallen Angels was released on April 5, 2011, City of Lost Souls is set for publication in May 2012, and City of Heavenly Fire is scheduled for September 2013.^[3]

Plot

City of Ashes

Events take place directly after where the story in City of Bones finished. The story is told in third person and mostly from the perspective of Clary, including her confusion over her relationship with her new found brother and her feelings for Simon.

Clary Fray starts to wish for her life to go back to normal.[2] But her life is far from it as a demon-slaying Shadowhunter.

The story starts with a brief scene of Valentine who has paid a warlock to summon the Demon of Fear who kills the warlock. Valentine raised the Mortal Cup which gives him absolute power over the Greater Demon. Then it cuts to Clary whose mother still hasn't woken up, and she is living at Luke's house. Simon gets sick, which makes Clary startled and then he kisses her in the kitchen, and later calls her his girlfriend. Jace is sent from home by Alec's parents. He goes to a bar and picks a fight with a werewolf pack, after it is revealed that there was a were child slain in the alley way. Jace was asked to help, and he had seemed indifferent of the situation, causing the pack to attack. Luke later saves him and calls Clary. The three of them go to the Institute and confront Alec's mother (Maryse) who explains that the Inquisitor is coming to talk with Jace and she was trying to spare him. Clary goes back home to Luke's with Simon and he stays over. She gets up to go fix herself up in the bathroom when she received a text message from Isabelle. When the Inquisitor arrived to Institute, Jace, using his so-called charm, angers the Inquisitor and she locks him in the Silent City. That night, sitting in the cell of the Silent City, Jace hears the screams of the Silent Brothers as something is attacking everyone. He finds out that Valentine kills the Silent Brothers to get the Soul-Sword (Second of the Mortal Instruments). Clary comes to the Institute where Isabelle and Alec explain that Jace was thrown in the prison. A distress call goes out to the Institute from the Silent City, but the adult Shadowhunters were called to the park where a Faerie Child was killed and were not available at the moment. Isabelle and Alec decide to go find Jace and Clary tags along to go to save Jace, since she is the only person who knows the entrance. They discover all of the brothers have been killed, locate Jace, and when they emerge, they see a group of shadowhunters (including Maryse and the Inquisitor). The Inquisitor believes that Jace might have had a hand in the killing because the Soul-Sword is the only instrument to use against the Shadowhunter to prove if he is lying or telling the truth. Then Magnus Bane appears offering his apartment to take Jace as a prisoner. Later on, Alec, Clary and Simon goes to Magnus' apartment to visit Jace and found out about Valentine's possible plans

They go to The Fairy Realm and Clary was told to stay as she was tricked into taking fairy food. However, the Queen said that "the kiss the girl most desires" will allow Clary to leave, leading Clary to kiss Jace in front of the whole Court. Simon storms off when they leave the realm. Clary, Jace and Isabelle go back to the Institution taking advantage that no one is in there. Clary and Jace have a fight about each other feelings and the fact that they are siblings in Jace's room. Later Raphael shows up at the Institute with Simon dying in his arms, with the only choice left for him to become a vampire. Raphael explained that Simon believed that he was already turning into a vampire because he had bitten Raphael in rat form during City of Bones. Because he entered on his own free will, he was considered "free game" and was drained and also given vampire blood. They bury his dead body in a Jewish cemetery, as requested by Clary, and Simon is reborn. After this Clary had ignored Jace as a punishment to herself because she feels guilty about Simon. Clary and Simon meets at Luke's house and talk about if whether Simon is going to tell his mother about his new condition, when Luke brings Maia who has been hurt. Luke goes outside after helping Maia saying he can't do much and need a warlock. Simon and Clary call Jace to tell them about the incident, and appears moments later with Alec and Magnus. While Magnus is healing Maia, Jace, Simon, and Clary get involve in a fight outside with demons and find Luke injured. They bring him inside the house and Magnus heals him too. Jace says he knows Magnus is dating a friend of his, making Alec nervous and making it seem he is the one dating Magnus. At Clary's room Jace tells her that he wishes he could hate her. They go after the demons and that night Jace goes to visit Valentine (his father) on a boat in the river. The Inquisitor shows up the next morning and claims Jace was with Valentine and plans to threaten Jace's life unless Valentine returns the Mortal Instruments. She places him in a magically electrified cell in the training room of the institute, and tells him that she is going to trade his life for the Mortal Instruments. He tries to explain to her that it will not work, but she does not believe him. At this time, Maia leaves Luke's apartment to travel to see Simon because she wanted to apologize to him for the names she called him after she was attacked and she realized that he was a vampire. On the way, she is attacked by the Demon of Fear, which she interprets as her older brother who tortured her while he was still alive. Valentine kidnaps her shortly afterward.

Later, Luke and Clary realize Maia is missing, as she had left a note stating that she was going to make amends. Clary realizes that she means Simon, and calls Simon even though it is daytime. He answers and tells her that Maia never made it to the house, and then hears someone breaking in. Clary and Luke jump into the car to go rescue him but Valentine finds him before they can get there in time. Later Alec convinces Jace to find a way out, and suggests he should escape the cell by leaping out of the cage (which only has four walls). There, he calls Clary and she reveals that Simon and Maia were captured by Valentine. He tells her to bring Luke to the Institute, and wait outside for him. Jace tells Alec to call Magnus because he, Clary and Luke are going to need him. He then escapes through Isabelle's window and waits at the roof of the institute. Luke and Clary arrive at the Institute and Clary sees Jace jump from the roof and land safely on the ground. It is revealed that this is the ability of the Angel given to Jace by Valentine. Clary discovers that she can create new runes(her ability of the angel) including the rune "fearlessness". Simon and Maia are currently alive on the boat when Valentine arrives. He then precedes to throw silver dust on Maia, hurting her. He then tells Simon he is going to kill him, and asks him if he has any last words. Simon replies, "Clary," and Valentine proceeds to slash his neck. Jace finds Simon dead and feeds him his blood to return him to life. Later on Jace fights a demon which he is sure he cannot win and the Inquisitor appears and sees the star shaped scar Jaces has. She then kills the demon for Jace and dies leaving Jace very puzzled. Clary confronts Valentine on the boat and she draws the an "open" rune she created which tears the boat apart. Clary falls into the river but is saved by the group by being pulled onto a truck enchanted by Magnus to "drive" on water. While they are on the truck, the sun begins to rise, creating a deadly problem for Simon, who is also on the truck. Simon and Clary share a moment, believing he is about to die but, miraculously, he doesn't: a permanent side effect caused from ingesting Jace's blood, making him a "Daylighter". Later on Clary and Jace talk and he tells her that he will be and act as her brother from then on. A devastated Clary then meets a woman named Madeleine who tells Clary that she knows a way to wake her mother.

City of Glass

As the Lightwoods, Jace and Clary prepare to leave for Alicante, the Institute is attacked by Forsaken, forcing the others to leave without Clary, and take Simon with them. While the others meet up with Aline and her cousin Sebastian, Clary, stranded in New York, creates her own Portal to the city and travels there with Luke. They arrive in Lake Lyn, where the cursed water makes Clary ill, and Luke takes her to his sister Amatis to recover. Alec is ordered to bring Simon to the new Inquisitor, who wishes to know why a Downworlder is in Alicante. Under the ruse that Simon is being sent home, the Clave secretly interrogate and imprison him.

Clary sneaks out to visit the Lightwoods, but argues with Jace and storms out. After leaving, Clary meets Sebastian, and tells him about her mother's coma and her need to find the warlock Ragnor Fell. Sebastian takes her to Ragnor's house, but Ragnor is dead and Magnus is there in his place. Magnus temporarily freezes Sebastian so that he cannot hear and tells Clary to bring him a spell book from the Wayland country home, and she convinces Jace to take her there. Together, they find Valentine's underground lab, where a dying angel tells them that Jace was imbued with demon .

Valentine gives the Clave until midnight the next day to surrender; if they do not, he will kill every Shadowhunter left. He kills the Inquisitor before leaving. Jace comes to meet Clary in her room at Amatis's where they talk and Jace tells Clary that he loves her. Believing find Sebastian. Clary's mother arrives, woken from her coma, and they argue, Clary being angry that her mother lied to her her whole life about being a Shadowhunter and having a brother. Clary storms out, and goes to a hill where Simon finds her. From there they see the Clave preparing to surrender. Clary remembers a rune the dying angel showed her, which can be used to bind a Downworlder and a Shadowhunter so that they share each others' powers and she also knows a partner rune. She tells the Clave, and Shadowhunters and Downworlders begin bonding, including Alec and Magnus, who reveal that they have been having a relationship.

Jocelyn tells Clary that Clary can create new runes, and also that Sebastian(Jonathan), not Jace, is the brother who was given demon blood. Jace is not Clary's brother, but he was given angel blood, like Clary, so he has abilities to make him a more skilled fighter. Meanwhile, Raphael agrees with the Clave that the vampires will fight if the Clave give them Simon; Simon agrees, but first Clary marks him with the first Mark ever made: the Mark of Cain. Raphael cannot kill Simon as he plans to as it will rebound on him seven-fold, although this means Simon will have to fight in the coming battle. Jace overhears Valentine and Sebastian talking, and learns that Valentine plans to summon Raziel at Lake Lyn. After Valentine leaves, the two boys fight, and Sebastian tells Jace that he is Clary's brother, not Jace. Sebastian almost kills Jace, but Isabelle arrives to help Jace kill Sebastian, though his body is never recovered after it falls in the water, so they assumed he was dead. Also, Isabelle confirms that Jace is not Clary's brother.

Clary travels by portal to Lake Lyn to stop Valentine from summoning Raziel but is knocked out on the way. Valentine binds and silences her with runes, then tries to kill her. The book ends with all of the remaining main and recurring characters sitting in Alicante watching a fireworks show, which Clary thinks look like falling angels, while in the arms of Jace.

City of Fallen Angels

City of Fallen Angels takes place after the events of City of Glass. It shifts its focus between Jace and Clary and Clary's best friend, Simon, and how he adjusts to life as a vampire. From the August 2nd press release: "I initially envisioned City of Fallen Angels as an ending to the story begun in City of Bones, but I soon realized that in fact where my pen was taking me was into a new trilogy, one even more epic, dark and passionate than the first. In the first three Mortal Instruments books the fate of the Shadowhunters hung in the balance; now it's the fate of the world. I can't wait to share this journey with my readers as familiar characters are deepened, new faces introduced and relationships tested like never before."^[4]

While City of Fallen Angels was originally intended to focus more on Simon, Clare later changed her mind: "As I sat down to write CoFA, and realized it was a much bigger story than I had thought, the focus shifted off Simon and more onto the rest of the characters. Magnus and Alec, who originally were not going to be in the book at all, now have a major role to play. Clary and Jace have a central role to play. That stuff about Simon leaving town? Not happening; the major action takes place in NYC. While I did try to preserve a strong plotline for Simon, in which he is more than an adjunct to the larger drama surrounding Jace and Clary, it would now be very misleading to refer to it as 'Simon's book' or indicate that it is mainly about him. It is not."^[5]

In her own words, Clare summarizes City of Fallen Angels: "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: Jace, Isabelle, Alec, Magnus, Luke, Jocelyn, Maia, and many more. (It even helps to have read The 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's 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."

Many readers, however, have complained about the focus switching to Simon, wrongly believing that the book will not include Jace or Clary, to which Clare replied: "What I want to know is, where did this rumor start that they aren’t? Every description I’ve ever given of City of Fallen Angels includes the information that Jace and Clary will be in it, and be in it plenty. And yet I get this question every day. I’d love to know why!"

City of Fallen Angels is set to be released on April 5, 2011. It is an embargoed book, meaning no review copies will be available before its release date. However, Clare has released some "teasers" on her website.

City of Lost Souls

Release date has been confirmed to be May 1, 2012.

Release Of Spoilers and Teasers

Cassandra Clare has recently  released spoilers from  City  Of Souls.   Additionally,  an excerpt  entitled "Dirty Sexy Club Scene" was 

also released and while it will be in the book, it has been stated that it will be paired down.

City of Heavenly Fire

Expected for release in September 1, 2013

Characters

Main article: List of The Mortal Instruments characters

• Clarissa "Clary" Fray/Morgenstern/Fairchild
• Jonathon "Jace" Wayland/Morgenstern/Herondale/Lightwood
• Valentine Morgenstern
• Isabelle "Izzy" Lightwood
• Alexander "Alec" Lightwood
• Simon Lewis
• Magnus Bane
• Lucian "Luke" Graymark
• Hodge Starkweather
• Sebastian Verlac/Jonathan Christopher Morgenstern
• Jocelyn Morgenstern/Fairchild/Fray/Graymark/Garroway
• Maia Roberts

Critical reception

City of Bones was highly popular at the time of release, reaching #8 on the New York Times Best Seller list (Children's books) in April 2007.^[6] Publishers Weekly commented that it "is a sprawling urban fantasy packed with just about every type of creature known to the genre".^[7] Locus praised the book as "a highly readable first novel".^[8] A review in the School Library Journal noted that the book contained a variety of narrative flaws including characters that were "sporadically characterized" and whose behavior was predictable. In spite of this they noted that the book was entertaining and would leave readers anticipating the next installment.^[9] Holly Black, best-selling author of the books The Spiderwick Chronicles and Tithe: A Modern Faerie Tale, stated that City of Bones was, "Funny, dark, and sexy. One of my favorite books." ^[10] Author Kelly Link said, "It's vampires versus werewolves in Harlem, while sexy demon hunters prowl through downtown clubs and Brooklyn coffeehouses—City of Bones is epic urban fantasy at its demented, delightful best. Cassandra Clare is a genius."^[11]

City of Ashes has been nominated for the 2009 ALA Teen's Top Ten, a vote for the best ten teen books of the year,^[12] an award in which City of Bones achieved 6th place in 2008.^[13]

City of Glass was also reviewed favourably, with Booklist saying that there was "plenty of romance, loss, honor, and betrayal to make the journey worthwhile. An experienced storyteller, Clare moves the plot quickly to a satisfying end."^[14] School Library Journal said "Though the story is hampered by predictability and overblown writing, Clare continues her talent for mixing hip, modern humor with traditional fantasy, and fans eagerly awaiting the series conclusion should come away more than satisfied."^[14]

Popular culture references

In City of Ashes, the Faerie Realm and its inhabitants are characters from Holly Black's faerie series, beginning with Tithe: A Modern Faerie Tale. Also, the characters Val and Luis from Valiant : A Modern Tale of Faerie appear in another scene in that book. Within Holly Black's third book, Ironside: A Modern Faery's Tale, there is a reference to the Mortal Cup mentioned in the Mortal Instruments series.

Prequels

Cassandra Clare has announced a new series of prequels called The Infernal Devices set in the same universe as The Mortal Instruments, but in the Victorian era. This series is planned to consist of three books: Clockwork Angel, published on August 31, 2010, Clockwork Prince, to be on published December 6, 2011, and Clockwork Princess, to be published September 2012.^[15]

Sequels

Cassandra Clare has announced a new series of sequels called The Dark Artifices set in the same universe as The Mortal Instruments, but five years in the future i.e. 2012. This series will be a trilogy with all new characters and the focus will shift from New York to the Los Angeles Institute.

Film adaptation

On June 10, 2010, Screen Gems announced that they were going into production on a Mortal Instruments film, based on City of Bones, with a script written by Jessica Postigo. On December 10, 2010, it was officially announced that Lily Collins has been cast as Clary Fray and that Scott Stewart would be directing. In March 2011 a twitter account @lilyasclaryfray was set up for Lily to tweet as Clary Fray to connect with fans during the film's production. As of June 2011, Jamie Campbell Bower has been cast to play the role of Jace Wayland.

References

1. ^ ^{a b} "City of Fallen Angels (Mortal Instruments, #4)". goodreads.com. 2009. http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6752378-city-of-fallen-angels. Retrieved 23 September 2009. 
2. ^ http://www.mortalinstruments.com/mortalfaq.html
3. ^ The official Mortal Instruments website: http://www.mortalinstruments.com/mortalseries.html
4. ^ Press Release, August 2, 2010
5. ^ Cassandra Clare Livejournal post, August 8, 2010
6. ^ "Children's Books". nytimes.com. April 22, 2007. http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/22/books/bestseller/0422bestchildren.html?_r=1&ei=5070&en=50e6ceb14582ff92&ex=1188273600&adxnnl=1&adxnnlx=1188156394-wqKXqPItjj/gAbYrhqCGQA&oref=slogin. Retrieved 2008-07-10. 
7. ^ "Children's Book Reviews: Week of 4/9/2007". Publishers Weekly. 2007-04-09. http://www.publishersweekly.com/article/CA6430601.html. Retrieved 2008-01-11. ^{[dead link]}
8. ^ Locus - "The Mortal Instruments, Book One: City of Bones", Faren Miller, June 2007
9. ^ "Clare, Cassandra. City of Bones.(Brief article)(Children's review)(Book review)". School Library Journal. 2007-05-01. http://www.accessmylibrary.com/coms2/summary_0286-32541706_ITM. Retrieved 2008-01-11. 
10. ^ "City of Bones (Mortal Instruments #1)". Powells.com. http://www.powells.com/biblio?show=hardcover:sale:9781416914280:12.59. Retrieved 2008-07-10. 
11. ^ "City of Bones Reviews". MortalInstruments.com. http://www.mortalinstruments.com/COBreviews.html. Retrieved 2008-07-14. 
12. ^ ALA Teen's Top Ten 2009
13. ^ ALA Teen's Top Ten 2008
14. ^ ^{a b} http://www.amazon.com/dp/1416914307
15. ^ "The Infernal Devices: FAQ". 2009. http://theinfernaldevices.com/infernalfaq/. Retrieved 23 September 2009.