City of Lost Souls

About City of Lost Souls

City of Lost Souls is the fifth entry in Cassandra Clare's The Mortal Instruments, and it is the series at its most emotionally fraught. Jace has been bound to Sebastian—the villain who is also Clary's brother—through a demonic ritual that makes them virtually inseparable and aligns Jace's loyalty with Sebastian's will. Clary must enter the enemy's circle to stay close to Jace and find a way to sever the bond before Sebastian can use Jace to build an army and ignite a war. The forbidden romance element is pushed to its extreme: Clary loves Jace, but she cannot fully trust the person before her, and every intimate moment is shadowed by the question of what is real and what is compelled. Hidden identity runs through the book at multiple levels—Sebastian has crafted a version of himself designed to deceive, and Jace's inner self is buried beneath an enchantment that readers hope to see break through. Clare handles the horror of watching a beloved character trapped inside a corrupted version of themselves with skill, keeping the tension between the Jace Clary knows and the Jace she is watching with growing dread. The found family structure is tested here more than anywhere else in the series. When Jace is gone in all the ways that matter, the group must hold together through grief and uncertainty. Simon, Isabelle, Alec, and Magnus each carry more of the narrative weight than before, and their individual coming-of-age struggles—learning what they will sacrifice and what they won't—are as engaging as the central plot. City of Lost Souls raises the stakes of the series to their highest point before the finale, delivering the kind of breathless, emotionally exhausting installment that Clare's best work achieves. It is essential reading for anyone following the Shadowhunter Chronicles and proves that the series' expansion beyond its original trilogy was entirely justified.

Tropes & Themes