City of Heavenly Fire

Title : City of Heavenly Fire (The Mortal Instruments #6)

Writer : Cassandra Clare

Number of Page : 752

Publisher : Walker Books

Sebastian Morgenstern is on the move, systematically turning Shadowhunter against Shadowhunter. When one of the greatest betrayals the Nephilim have ever known is revealed, Clary, Jace, Isabelle, Simon and Alec must flee - even if their journey takes them deep into the demon realms, where no Shadowhunters has set foot before, and from which no human being has ever returned. Love will be sacrificed and lives lost in the thrilling and long-awaited final instalment of the bestselling and acclaimed Mortal Instruments.

Review:

At last, I finished the journey of The Mortal Instruments. I was kinda proud able to finish this thick book. 

It's going to be a long review. *sigh 

Warning: Spoiler!

One thing about this book. It should be at least 100 pages shorter. There were certain scenes which could be cut and omitted without changing the story at all. I still enjoyed the story although I still felt that there were too many couples. Jace-Clary, Isabelle-Simon, Alec-Magnus. In the middle of adventures, every single couples had chance to talk about relationship and love. I like romance in fantasy books, but not that much. I couldn't help myself to cringe every time the characters started to kiss and declared their love to each other.

Despite that, the story itself was very good. I was surprised because Cassandra Clare was not hesitate to kill important characters, especially one that I grew on liking since the first book. It gave the jolt and made me eager to continue reading. 

The book began with the story of Emma Carstairs and her childhood friend, Julian. Emma had lost her parents and lived with Julian's family ever since. I did not know the importance of these characters until I read Cassandra's website. It turns out they are going to be the main characters in the next book series. Yeah, smart move from Cassandra to earn  more money. In this book, Emma became a witness of Sebastian's evil deeds when he came to Julian's house and killed Julian's parents. Not killing, actually. Julian's parents were turned into Dark Shadowhunter. Sebastian also kidnapped the eldest son, Mark, who had blood of half Faerie and half Shadowhunter. Emma, Julian, and the younger siblings successfully ran away through portal. 

The Clave was still confused with Sebastian. They did not believe in Sebastian's power because in the previous book they did not see him with their own eyes. They could only rely on Clary and her friends' statements. The only proof from the previous encounter with Sebastian was Jace. Jace was stabbed by the Angel sword and now there was heavenly fire in his blood. He had to control his emotion or else the heavenly fire would lash out and burn everything. This meant that he could not touch Clary too long and got excited from that. 

Sebastian was powerful, much more powerful than the normal Shadowhunter. He even had the army of Dark Shadowhunter who bore the face of Shadowhunter's family, friends, colleagues. When Sebastian attacked Idris the first time, the Clave underestimated him, resulting in great lost. Sebastian was stopped only because Jace was there. Jace was wounded and Sebastian touched his blood. The heavenly fire burn Sebastian's hand. 

The main adventures happened when Clary realized that Sebastian was hiding in other world dimension. That's why the Clave could not track him anywhere. By that time, Sebastian had kidnapped Magnus, Jocelyn, Luke, and Rafael. Sebastian gave the Clave choice: giving up Clary and Jace or let the prisoners die. The Clave did not know what to do because if they chose to let the prisoners die, the Downworlder would hate them more and probably declared a war. 

Clary, Simon, Jace, Isabelle, and Alec decided to go to demon dimension to save the prisoners before The Clave made any decisions. They went to Faerie world and found out that the Faeries had betrayed The Shadowhunter by helping Sebastian. Then, they went to hell without knowing how to go back.

I was fascinated by the dark demon world. Cassandra was very good in describing the setting. It was scary and depressing. I understand why suddenly the five characters started talking about love. They thought they were going to die.

The climax of this story happened in two worlds. Faeries and Dark Shadowhunter attacked Idris for the second time, while Clary and her friends had to face Sebastian and his demon army. It was cool and I could imagine the scenes like a movie. This was the best thing about the third POV. I could see everything and experience the story from many angles. 

Throughout the book, I kinda hoped that Sebastian would not die. He was evil because of the demon blood. It was not his fault. I saw how attached he was to Jace and Clary because those two were the only ones he considered as family. What Sebastian needed was love. He was wounded when Jocelyn did not want to admit him as her son (Yes, I blame you, Jocelyn. You were the perfect example of a bad mother, you should have protected your son from Valentine). But of course, he did too much damage to be forgiven. I cried when he was dying. He was never given a chance to live as a normal human being. The demon blood destroyed him.

"I dream sometimes, of a boy with green eyes, a boy who was never poisoned with demon blood, a boy who could laugh and love and be human, and that is the boy I wept over, but that boy never existed."

After Sebastian died, I already wanted to give this book five stars. Especially when the demon who owned the dimension emerged. He demanded immortality in exchange with ticket to the mortal world. Magnus was going to sacrifice his immortality and his lives (since he was hundreds years old, his body would definitely withered and died), but Simon offered himself. Simon always hated his life as a vampire anyway. However, the demon also wanted memories. My heart was broken. Simon was my favorite character and he would forget everyone he loved, including his best friend Clary. But, I was also happy because I thought the ending would be bittersweet. Simon was going to be a normal happy guy, clueless about the life he had known before. It was achingly sad when Clary approached him at school, trying very hard not to cry while Simon didn't recognize her at all. I also felt bad for Isabelle. 

"I know there was no other way it could have played out. I keep trying to imagine one, but I can't think of anything. We had to go after Sebastian, and we had to get out of Edom or we all would have died anyway, but I just miss Simon. I miss him all the time, and I came here because you're the only one who misses him as much I do."

"It's almost worse," Isabelle said. "Than if he were dead. If he were dead, I could grieve, but I don't know what to think--he's safe, he's alive, I should be grateful. He isn't a vampire anymore, and he hated being a vampire. I should be happy. But I'm not happy. He told me he loved me. He told me he loved me, Clary, and now he doesn't even know who I am. If I were standing in front of him, he wouldn't recognize my face. It feels like I never mattered. None of it ever mattered or ever happened. He never loved me at all." She swiped angrily at her face. "I hate it!" she broke out suddenly. "I hate this feeling, like there's something sitting on my chest."

"Missing someone?"

"Yes," Isabelle said. "I'd never thought I'd feel it about some boy."

However, the book was written for those who loved the characters and Cassandra decided to make a perfect ending. It was Vampire Academy all over again. Ugh. I prefer Simon as vampire, not Shadowhunter. Yay! The geek boy got the hot girl. -.- 

"Simon just stared. It was entirely out of the realm of anything he had ever imagined that a girl who looked like this would ever say his name like that. Like it was the only name that mattered."

I planned to decrease the rating, but I was reminded with the time I spent to read this series. I do not like Jace and Clary, but I like Simon, Alec and Magnus (if only Alec and Magnus were not together, I like them as individual not a couple). I like the interaction between the characters. Funny, amusing, and quotable sometimes. Yes, the series felt empty and soulless because there were too many characters to be explained. Not all characters had a chance to shine, making them look like a background and two dimensional. But, I like the world building and the concept of Shadowhunter and Downworlder. So, I think the book was like a friend who's not perfect. 

At the end of the book, I came across with Tessa, an immortal warlock who had lost a lot of people in her lives. I always like the lonely character. Although she only appeared briefly, I already sympathized with her. I also felt intrigued because she knew Brother Zachariah very close. And both of them are the main characters in The Infernal Devices series by the same author. Damn you, Cassandra Clare! I was curious right now. It was said that Brother Zachariah had lost his parabatai before he became one of the Silent Brothers. In this book, he was changed back to his original form by Jace's heavenly fire. Oh, my. The bonus comic about Zachariah-Tessa's wedding at the end of this book also didn't help at all. Now I am agitated, want to start reading The Infernal Devices. And The Dark Artifices, too. Emma and Julian are also interesting. Really, books are poison to me.

The Mortal Instruments Series:

1. City of Bones

2. City of Ashes

3. City of Glass

4. City of Fallen Angels

5. City of Lost Souls

6. City of Heavenly Fire

5/5