Shadowhunters Saturday – City of Lost Souls

What ELLIE Thought About the Plot

Jace and Sebastian have disappeared – the Clave give up looking for them as a priority

When the last book ended, I had no idea how this one was going to open, but I was not expecting that the Clave would basically abandon looking for Jace. Stop looking for Sebastian I can understand in a way but, he is their biggest threat and has “captured” one of the best Shadowhunters there ever was, and they just gave up. URGH, frustration! 

Clary and Isabelle get a lot closer 

Just like Erika said, I liked this part of the book a lot. I always found Izzy to be a bit hard to like and I could tell that Clary felt that way about her too, but it was nice to see these two characters get closer, it was really sweet.

Jace and Sebastian go to get Clary – Luke gets injured 

I was not okay when this happened and I was genuinely scared because Clare has a habit of killing off characters I love, so I was worried Luke would die. Still not sure he is out of the woods to be honest. I also thought this was such a creepy moment because it was evident that Jace was being controlled somewhat by Sebastian, but also that he seemed to be himself. 

Clary and her mum have to leave Luke’s house – they take Luke to the station so the werewolves can help him 

This was a tense moment and I didn’t really know what would happen. The book seemed to really speed up at this point as well. 

Maia and Jordan leave for the Praetor Lupus to help Luke since he can’t heal on his own – they get close ! 

I liked this part actually. I usually get frustrated when the story diverts from what is happening with Clary and Jace, but I liked to see Maia and Jordan since they are starting to become important characters. And I kind of guessed that something would happen between them, so it wasn’t very much of a surprise. 

Maia and Jordan “get back together” – the Praetor Lupus find a way to help heal Luke 

Like I just mentioned, I wasn’t surprised when Maia and Jordan got together, but I found that the whole “get back together” part went really fast and there was a tonne of sexual tension in this book which did surprise me because Clare hadn’t really added much in previous books. I was also so relieved when the Praetor Lupus could help Luke, I genuinely thought he was going to die. 

The Praetor Lupus learns from Raphael that Maureen has gone rogue 

I agree with Erika, I was worried and concerned because I had totally forgotten about Maureen and she went rogue really fast. I still have no idea what will happen, but that ending freaked me out, it was so creepy. 

Clary goes to see the Seelie Queen – they decide on a deal

I am so suspicious of the Seelie Queen and I have never liked her. I love fae in books because of their trickster side, but I honestly don’t like it here as it makes me nervous. I knew something bad would happen and that the deal would be more beneficial for the Queen than Clary. 

Clary goes to steal the rings the Seelie Queen wants – she witnesses Jace and Sebastian in the library and overhears them 

I was so nervous in this part because I was sure that Sebastian would know that Clary was there or that she would make a noise by dropping something and that they would kidnap her. This is the scene where I started really thinking that Jace was just as bad as Sebastian and my brain was working overtime to try to understand how and why. This book was definitely a lot darker than the previous ones. 

Alec keeps visiting the vampire Camille, Magnus’s ex lover

Omg this annoyed me so much, I knew nothing good could come of it and I just wanted to shake Alec!!! I can understand that he kept going back to see Camille because she knew Magnus and they could understand each other somewhat. You can tell how young Alec is in these moments I think, and I also just wanted to hug him. But only after shaking him!  

Alec, Simon, Clary, Isabelle and Magnus try to find a way to find Jace 

This was great and I really enjoyed reading these parts and seeing them all come together. I love these characters and I love how they came together to try to save Clary and Jace and how they did it without looking back or doubting themselves. These scene showed how far they’ve come through the series and I love their team work. It was also a great way to see them as just their usual selves and not Shadowhunters but also friends and siblings wanting to save the other. 

Clary portals to where Jace and Sebastian are 

I could just tell this was going to happen when we found out that Jace and Sebastian were still missing and that the Clave had basically given up on them. Clary is so determined, but I was also so worried that she would get stuck in the other dimension or she wouldn’t be able to save Jace. I feel like she has come so far and while she is reckless, she is also very brave I think. 

Clary lives with Jace and Sebastian: they go to the club where things get dark and creepy 

Oh goodness me… The club scene is where I found this book to get very dark and even a tad oppressive. I felt not okay reading the club scene because you could tell Jace was not really Jace, he was coming on kind of strong with Clary and that made me uncomfortable, but also with what happened at the end, the “hallucination” Clary had (I’m still not convinced it wasn’t real), was so so so so creepy. REALLY creepy. 

The fight at the demon shop 

This was another good fight scene. I think that Clare has gotten better at writing her battle scenes and this one felt really intense. I love that Clary has gotten better with her fighting abilities and is able to fend for herself. I was proud of her! 

Clary tries to run away, but ends up following Sebastian (fight with demons, he saves her, they go to see an Iron Sister) 

I think for this whole scene I was going “no, no, Clary turn back, no stop walking” ahaha! But then when she was overhearing the things the demons were saying I could tell that something would happen. When Sebastian saved her from the venom and they spent time together after, it was unsettling because we all know he is bad, but he also kind of started to show Clary more to himself. I was not expecting them to head off to an Iron Sister, that was a surprise and I liked that we got to see the Iron Sister’s castle/church beforehand with Izzy and Jocelyn. 

Jace goes to collect the second Mortal Cup created by the Iron Sister – he kills her and he remembers his real self through the injury inflicted by her. Jace wants to give himself up to the Clave but Clary gets in the way 

I think this was a good bit of writing from Clare because she made my heart hurt for Jace and Clary. I have appreciated Jace as a character more in the recent books because of all the awful things he goes through and just how much he has to fight to be himself and be with Clary. I loved this scene because I thought it was both sweet and sad and I just wanted Jace to remember himself for longer or be completely disconnected from Sebastian for good. 

Sebastian and Jace intend to raise Lilith and completely destroy earth with a new dark Nephilim race

We have always known that Sebastian is seriously evil and that he was going to do something really bad, but I didn’t for a minute expect him to create a dark Nephilim race. I was annoyed at Clary for stopping Jace from going to the Silent Brothers and hand himself over to the Clave and I was seriously creeped out when he forgot himself again and was totally okay with the plan they were about to try to pull off. 

Simon, Magnus, Izzy and Alec head to Luke’s farm and Simon calls on the Angel who gives him a sword to separate Sebastian and Jace – The Angel takes away the Mark of Cain 

This was another good piece of writing from Cassandra Clare and I thought that Simon was really brave in this scene. I had a lot of respect for him and how he was going to try to help Clary and save Jace all while risking his life. You can tell how much he cares for Clary and for her happiness. This scene was great in showing how far Simon has come in the series. 

Clary manages to get in contact with Simon through the rings, tell him Sebastian and Jace’s plan. Izzy, Simon, Alec and Magnus head off to find reinforcements and to go help Clary save Jace

I was so annoyed when Clary found out that Sebastian and the Seelie Queen has been in contact from the start and kind of knew what everyone was doing. I am so glad that Clary had just enough time to explain everything to Simon and that they then went off to try to find reinforcements and get Clary and Jace back. Go team!! 

Clary and Sebastian fight – she wounds him and Jace because of their bond – TW for threatened / attempted sexual assault 

This was…. How to put it… actually really disturbing. It was a very intense scene and I was trying to close my eyes and not look but I also just needed to find out what the hell was going to happen. Sebastian scared me a lot at this point because I think he is definitely capable of really hurting Clary and I was just hoping it wouldn’t happen. I’m also proud of how Clary fought him off, even though it was wounding Jace in the process. 

Sebastian brings Clary to the island where his followers have gathered. Sebastian calls on Lilith who puts her blood in the Cup – he makes Amatis drink from the Cup and she is turned into dark Nephilim 

This was one of those moments where you can see just how ruthless Clare can be with her characters and I was NOT okay that Amatis got dragged into it. I’m sure it’s because she loved Jace’s dad and is Luke’s sister – which will hurt Luke, and Jocelyn, and Clary! This was just a moment of “oh my god, no!”

Izzy, Alec, Magnus, Simon, the wolves and some other Shadowhunters turn up – battle ensues – Magnus gets wounded 

I liked how intense this scene was because I was hooked and I literally couldn’t stop reading, but I also nearly went to pieces when I thought Magnus had been killed, that was not an okay moment. I loved how the wolves and the Shadowhunters stormed the place and came in all guns – or should I say arrows – blazing, it was a great entrance from Alec! 

Clary stabs Jace with Glorious (the Angel Michael’s sword), he catches on fire and the bond between him and Sebastian is broken 

Oh goodness me, I did not expect Clary to stab Jace. I was hoping she was going to get through all the fighting and stab Sebastian but when she was forced to stab Jace I was so worried, but I also thought that was the moment where Clary showed how brave she can be. This was a really great scene for how it was written, as I mentioned above, it was just so vivid and when Jace caught on fire, I was breathless and couldn’t read fast enough. I liked that Clary didn’t only think of herself, but also of Jace and what he would want her to do, which really portrayed their love and her devotion to him and his wishes. Our little Clary is growing up!! 

Another really long epilogue in which many awful and heartbreaking things happen – Please don’t let Malec be really over. Jace has Heavenly fire inside him. 

I don’t think the last book actually had an epilogue so when there was one at the end of this book, I knew it was going to be long. Clare has a thing for really long epilogues in which all hell breaks loose, although this time, my heart broke. I had to hold the tears back when Magnus followed Alec to Camille’s hide-out and he broke up with him. That was a really difficult scene to read because a) I couldn’t see through my tears, and b) it was just very poignant and very heartbreaking because you can see how much Magnus loves Alec, but he just can’t go through that. And then when Jace woke up, and Clary could finally see him, it was a sweet moment after some tears. Although how it ended with Jace carrying heavenly fire inside him was really surprising and I think that the final book is going to be literal chaos and heartbreak throughout.