City of Lost Souls by Cassandra Clare

Title: City of Lost Souls 
Author: Cassandra Clare 
Type: Young Adult Novel
Genre: Fantasy 
Series: The Mortal Instruments Book Five 
Copyright: 2012 
Publisher: Simon Pulse 
Rating: 2.5 out of 5

Summary: from Good Reads
What price is too high to pay, even for love? When Jace and Clary meet again, Clary is horrified to discover that the demon Lilith’s magic has bound her beloved Jace together with her evil brother Sebastian, and that Jace has become a servant of evil. The Clave is out to destroy Sebastian, but there is no way to harm one boy without destroying the other. As Alec, Magnus, Simon, and Isabelle wheedle and bargain with Seelies, demons, and the merciless Iron Sisters to try to save Jace, Clary plays a dangerous game of her own. The price of losing is not just her own life, but Jace’s soul. She’s willing to do anything for Jace, but can she still trust him? Or is he truly lost?

Love. Blood. Betrayal. Revenge. Darkness threatens to claim the Shadowhunters in the harrowing fifth book of the Mortal Instruments series.

Feelings:
I did think that after the fourth book I might stop reading because it seemed a little bit pointless to me. This book is better than the fourth in that there is really something that happens. I have yet to be convinced that the series should have been continued past the third book. I have a feeling that the reason the series has been continued is because Jace and Clary have yet to have sex. This is really the only logical reason I can come up with for it to be going into a sixth book.

This book wasn't all bad and it did bring in some new elements, Simon played a more important role in this story as did other characters besides Jace and Clary. I think the thing that helped this book the most was the fact that Jace and Clary were not the only characters that were the focus. Alec and Magnus had their own story happening as did Isabelle and Simon, Maia and Jordan, and to a smaller extent Luke and Jocelyn.

"The horrible vision of a drunk Isabelle waking up Jocelyn and Luke floated through Jordan's head. ... 'I think I'm changing my mind about you,' she said in a semi-threatening tone that would have been more frightening if she'd been able to focus her eyes on him directly. 'I don't think I like you so much after all.' She stood up, looked down at her feet with a surprised expression--and fell over backward. Only Jordan's quick reflexes allowed him to catch her before she hit the floor." (p. 135)

This may be one of the best senses in the book as it is very like Isabelle and very not like her to act like this.

Sebastian is back again in this book and he has taken Jace (Not a spoiler if the book description says it.) and they are connected in a way that Jace has lost his free will. It takes a while for them to show up in the book for the first part there is a lot of speculation about what is happening. I have to admit pretty easy to guess because if it wasn't the way it is there would be any story. Much of the book felt predictable, this isn't always a bad thing but in this case I'm not sure it is good. The end of this book is another cliff hanger. I'm wondering how many more books there are supposed to be because I don't know if I will read any more of them. When the next one is published I guess I will see then but I have a feeling that by that point I may have forgotten about the series.