I don’t really think I need to warn you but I’m going to do it anyway because I know people just don’t pay attention.
This entire post is literally spoilers for City of Heavenly Fire. If you havent’ finished the book, buy more about or don’t want to be spoiled, sildenafil please turn back now!
Okay, buy information pills jumping in. With both of my spoiler filled vlog and my spoiler free review here on the blog, I tried to be as vague as possible, to talk about as much as I could in a short amount of time and space. So I wasn’t really able to get into all my favorite and least favorite parts. That’s the purpose of this post, to share exactly what I loved and what I didn’t.
I hope you’ll share yours as well!
FAVORITE:
Isabelle’s Vision
When Jace, Clary, Alec, Isabelle and Simon enter into the demon realm to rescue Luke, Jocelyn, Magnus and Raphael, and find Sebastian, they are immediately stopped by a demon that force them to see sort of visions. Clary sees the family that she could have had: Jocelyn married to Luke, a real brother in Jonathan, a little sister. Alec sees himself as loved by everyone that he’s wanted to love him, to be appreciated and praised, and to be the person that is the center of attention. Isabelle’s is the most heartbreaking because its the one that you honestly wish was real. Its her birthday and Simon has thrown her a party, and at her party is Max. Max, frozen at 9 years old, when he died. And I lost it. I couldn’t stop crying. I was so heartbroken. Max’s death has been the most hard hitting in all six books for me, and it hurts when you know how much he is missed and how responsible Isabelle feels for his death. It was beautiful.
Simon’s Band Name
Simon’s memories have been taken from Magnus’ father, as payment for them returning to their world. Its heartbreaking (until you read the epilogue), but when you see the flyer for Simon’s band’s show…I just had this half laugh, half sob thing going on, because I thought it was SO funny and so awesome. His band name? The Mortal Instruments. It was too perfect. It’s been a fan theory for so long and its one of those things that I was actually kind of glad made it into the book.
Jace and Clary-Cave Scene
Um, can we say about time? I mean, I know, they’re like 17 years old, and that’s not exactly old or anything but we’ve all been hoping for some steamy Clace sex for six books now and I’m glad it finally happened and IN A CAVE. The first thing I thought of when they had sex in the cave was…did they really just have sex in a cave like the way Will and Tessa did in Clockwork Princess. Plus it was just beautiful. It was the right moment for it to happen. The world was falling apart around them, and they could die at any moment, and they truly love each other, and it was perfect. I could never write a scene like that, and that’s okay. My sex scenes are going to be a bit rougher, realistic, but Cassie’s are beautiful and I loved every detail of it.
Sebastian’s Redemption
I didn’t expect that, and while it was cheesy, I actually liked it. When Clary stabs Sebastian with the sword that contains the heavenly fire, and Sebastian momentarily becomes Jonathan Morgenstern, complete with green eyes. He expresses his grief, his wish that he hadn’t been born with the demon blood and his hope that there would be another dimension where he was the good son and brother. It was SO cheesy but I actually kind of liked it. It was sweet, and sad, and it was another blow of loss to Jocelyn and to Clary, of what could have been. It was both expected and unexpected and I enjoyed it.
Jem and Jace Talking For the First Time
I LOVED THIS. I had to stop and breathe in and out about this. I loved hearing Jem talk about his past, the people in his life, and all of that. If I had thought for even a moment that I was okay with the feels that Clockwork Princess had brought me, I was so very wrong. All the feelings from just the CP2 epilogue alone came rushing back, and it was beautiful to see him again. I loved his reuniting with Tessa and their appearance and Luke and Jocelyn’s wedding. Just all those feels from Clockwork Princess. I couldn’t handle it.
Maia’s Transformation
I was talking to a few people and they weren’t happy with the Maia thing in the book. I do admit, her relationship with Jordan was weird, especially since he died, and she appeared to be making something happening with Bat, but I was just proud of her as a character. Having the guts to take over the NY wolf pack, and to lead it, and to inform the Shadowhunters of the plans going down. I was really proud of her, and the way she stepped up and became a force to be reckoned with. I think Maia has always been sort of a background character but she really proved herself in this book and I honestly really loved it.
Jem Stealing Church
You don’t really need to go further than that. I honestly just couldn’t stop laughing. It was such perfection.
Clary and Jace Fighting Side by Side
I LOVE THIS. Before this, Clary and Jace had an inequality about them. Jace was an amazing Shadowhunter, Clary had her rune powers but there was always something kind of separating them in the Shadowhunter world. But watching them fight side by side, was just truly beautiful. I really felt like…its not about Jace protecting Clary physically or Clary using her powers to save Jace…they’re equals and fighting together and taking on the world together. They can protect each other. They recognize the strengths in each other and I think its awesome. There no angst, none of that struggle. They had finally reached a balance in their relationship and it was all about keeping themselves safe while taking Sebastian down.
Simon’s Sacrifice
I really liked this part, until the epilogue, which you’ll see later. By the time we had gotten to this part, I was kind of disappointed that no one had died. Again, see later. But when Simon steps up to sacrifice not only his immortality as a vampire, and his memories of everything of the shadow world, I was heartbroken. This, to me, was even worse than death. Simon had found his confidence in being part of that world. He would never remember his absolute best friend, Clary. He wouldn’t remember the girl he loved, Isabelle. That would be all gone. What a fate to fall upon one of the best characters in this series.
Anytime Emma is On the Page
OHMYGOD. I am absolutely adoring of Emma. I have been excited for so long for The Dark Artifices. This is the Shadowhunter world in Los Angeles, the place that I love. This is my home. Of course, I am so excited about it. But now after reading CoHF, I’m even more excited about it. We got to see so much of Emma, Julian and the Blackthorn children and so many hints at what to expect in TDA. I adore Emma. She’s a little spitfire and she’s going to be a great Shadowhunter and I want to see her climb rooftops again…haha. I can’t wait to see her grown up in TDA. I eagerly await it.
LEAST FAVORITE:
Lack of Deaths
Seriously? Who dies? WHO DIES? No one really. Jordan. Maureen. Amatis. Raphael. Andrew Blackthorn. Sebastian. All sad deaths, to be honest. Well, not Maureen. She was just insane. But none that hit me. None that made me feel heartbroken. I felt…like Cassie went way too safe with this ending. They were in the demons realms, there was Endarkened EVERYWHERE, and no one hugely important died? That bothered me. A really good author knows when to make a good sacrifice. Look at JK Rowling. Its war, and the deaths that she did: Sirius, Dumbledore, Mad-Eye, Fred, Tonks, Lupin, Colin Creevy, Hedwig. All important deaths that make cringe just typing them.
But Cassie went super safe and that made me sad. I wanted to feel the heartbreak, I wanted to feel the true loss of war. People lose friends, family members, lovers when there is war, and no one really had that. I honestly felt that Jocelyn, Luke, Jace, Clary, Alec, Magnus, Simon, Isabelle…one or two of those people should have died. It would have made the story that much better.
Simon’s Memories Coming Back
Which brings me back to Simon. I was feeling the disappointment in the lack of sacrifice in this book, when Simon decides to give up his memories and I almost felt like that was worse than death. Simon is one of the VERY first characters you meet, right after Clary. He’s important, and to have him lost to them, and have him lose all memories…it was heartbreaking. It was perfect. Then I read the epilogue, and I was disappointed again. I could see Simon having some memories buried deep, look what happened with Clary and her memories. But the idea of Simon ascending and suddenly remembering a good amount of Clary, Jace and Isabelle just kind of bothered me. It was TOO happy. It was a great sacrifice that was wasted by being wrapped up too quickly.
Magnus’ Dad
Did anyone expect way more than what he was? I expected this big scary guy that was mean, someone that Magnus didn’t want to claim himself to, someone that he was afraid of but it didn’t really turn out that way. He was just kind of silly, and Magnus seemed more annoyed with him than frightened. So that was a slight letdown.
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So what do you guys think? Share your favorite and least favorite moments in the comments! I love to hear from you but BE NICE. No hating on anyone for anything. Remember rule #1!
We have already discussed this, but I’ll put it out in public. I was HIGHLY disappointed in the lack of deaths. They led us to believe 6 deaths of people we knew, it was cheap. It is war, people die in war, none of that happened. I’m sorry, these were not deaths of consequence. Some of them hardly registered on my radar.
Simon-Yes, he needs a whole paragraph, did the most amazing and beautifully selfless thing for his love, his ‘sister,” and his friends and that heroism was ripped out of his hands. There is no way he should have been regulated to a “work in process” remembering. This made him a fool not a hero. I was so disappointed.
The ending was safe, all the ships are still intact. I wish Cassandra Clare had worried less about making everyone happy and more about being true to the story. Sadly, it made me think back on CP2 and become sad at that ending also. I hope with the future series we have more risk and less trying to please everyone!
On a side note: Jem taking off with Church could not have been funnier. Highlight of the book! Well, that and Emma! EMMA is going to rock as a full blown shadowhunter!
I just read Sebastian’ s death scene and my sister literally came upstairs to me bawling. I have such a bad headache now. It might have been cliche but I still found in heartbreaking and tragic.
AHHHHHH1 NoNoNOOOOO! Caandra Clare is ruining me i mean come on im only in 7th grade!
Happy endings make for good rereads.
I agree with you all actually thought that they were going to die at least two main characters but also wanted that did not happen, the sacrifice of simon really broke my heart and really hoped that in the end he remember something because I felt terrible about isabelle because they all had their happy ending unless she , and the big moment CLACE I think we can be satisfied that finally happen and I can not wait for TDA because I really love emma and Julian!!!
I also agree about the lack of deaths. I mentally prepared myself for my heart to be ripped out and then no one really important died. Lots of great moments though. I really liked the way Alec’s character developed, he was so sassy and bold!!
OMG finally someone said it!!! I was SO disappointed by the final ending purely because no one died. They only non-evil characters that died were pretty minor characters. I think out of the main 8, at least one should have died. It would have made the ending much more powerful and I LIKE to cry and have feels at the end of a series, but here I justs didn’t. Too safe, unfortunately but the rest was AMAZING. I agree with all your points.
I was the exact same!! This book was excellent and probably one of my favourite books of the series after City of Glass, but before I was reading all these spoilers on who’s going to die and just nobody died! Like nobody. A few minor characters, Maureen the insane creepy fangirl and Jordan. Although I was angry with Jordan… I loved Jordan. But even then, that was it… I was more upset when Jace’s grandmother died in book 3…
My personal favourite moment in COHF is when they’re in the cave and Simon has to drink from Alec. (drink FROM Alec? Drink Alec? Sip on Alec?) That whole fantastically awkward “I swear I’m not attracted to you” scene was just amazing! Not only was it the funniest part of the book but also it shows how the characters have grown. Alec is more comfortable in his sexuality, Simon was coming to terms with who he is, Alec and Simons relationship was more defined, Alec being more accepting of people and Simon being accepted as part of them. It was a real scene of growth and I loved every single second of it. Only in The Mortal Instruments could you ever pull off an tense vampire feeding scene with a gay shadowhunter and have it be the funniest scene ever!! Eugh I love it!!
This is why however I was so upset about the epilogue. For me, then Simons memories were wiped I took him to be all but dead. Isabelle and Clary mourned for him, there was an obvious loss in the group, if anything he was worse then dead for them because Clary could still see him but never be able to speak to him. He was like a ghost, always there but just out of reach. In my opinion this is a more heartbreaking ending than death. It should have ended there. What is dead should stay dead. Him being brought back at the end was just confusing. I didn’t know what he remembered, if he would ever be back to normal, what would happen to him. I was left confused and angry and I didn’t like it…
Something else that annoyed me was this Parabatai thing. For me, the whole book there seemed to be a fear that either Jace or Alec would die, everytime one got hurt the other would immediately go to his Parabatai rune to see if they were ok. Then there was that scene with your fella killing his Parabatai before commiting suicide. With this big build up I was expecting at least something to happen to at least one of them,or someones parabatai but nothing really did… There was a lot of talk with Jem about Will but Will died of old age right? He lived a good happy life, the loss was hard but not unexpected. It just felt like a lost build up to me…
On the subject of Jem, WHY COULDN’T TESSA HAVE CALLED ZACHARIA “JEM”!!! Just once!! Or even mentioned Will by name?? I was waiting for one of them to call eachother by they’re proper name but it never happened! I would have loved a big conversation with Tessa and Jem about Will Herondale, just so Jem could talk about how brave his great great (great?) granddad was and how proud he is of taking the name. I really hope someone writes that, the day Jace truly finds out who he is. I think he deserves that….
I have to say I liked Magnus’s dad! Simply because he reminded me of Lucifer in Supernatural. That whole evil but charming and fair kinda thing. Because of Supernatural thats how I imagine all these evil fallen Angels so I was very pleased. He was cruel in subtly, he was going to kill his own son, leave Alec alone and grieving, and Magnus would have done it willingly. He took Simon away from them, never to be reached again by those who loved him (AS IT SHOULD HAVE STAYED!) He was evil at heart. Devils don’t have to be scary, they just have to be feared.
Overall I was satisfied, very satisfied. I would have liked a bit more bravery on Cassandra’s part in being slightly more brutal with her characters. But I think that she wanted the series to end fairly happy. All her characters are paired off, Clace, Malec, Sizzy, Lucylyn, if she had killed off any one of them then the other would be alone and grieving and I dont think she could have done that. So overall, happy.
Cant wait for the Dark Artifices now!! (Sorry… this is longer than I expected it to be…)
Omg this is the best book ever I cryed so many times like at the part when Sebastian is normal and looks like he would if he didn’t have demon blood I was wishing there was some was to save him like Clary would make some type of rune or something but his death was perfect. I was dreading reading this book cause all the speculation about how have and Clary would die I was very relieved to find then alive in the end but when Simons memories were erased I cryed again I think I was crying more for clary and Isabelle cause they would never forget him but was glad he got what he wanted a normal non vampire life. And I think that I’m with u on Emma she was so cute she was just as stubborn as Clary and as difficult and smart mouthed as jace. It broke my heart when Julian asked her to be her parabatai. I’m just curious on how they are going to handle that in the dark artifacts cause u can tell that she likes him as more than a friend so its just so nerve racking lol can’t wait!
great book is it?
I just finished this today (I’m ashamed that it took me this long, butttt) and I was really disappointed with the lack of deaths. I guess this just proves that authors can’t win with killing off/not killing of characters. I’m looking at you Veronica
I’m glad I am not the only one who felt like that.
you just had to.
Im actually not disappointed at the lack of deaths im grateful! after 5 books I almost didn’t read, well couldn’t read the 6 one because I didn’t want anyone one to die. It hit me the death of Amatis and Sebastian, and specially Jordan’s so I’m really grateful no one else died because I don’t think I could had handle it…
I so agree!i just finished it except for the last piece of the epilogue(I know pathetic) but honestly I was relieved that no one I loved really died,like I was expecting almost anyone to die&i was so happy that no one I was really attached to(Jace Clary Simon Izzy)did.it was sad when Jordan died especially after Maia saying she didn’t love him,I was disappointed in Maia for that,that’s one of the things I hated in the book.And I get kinda grossed out in any sexy scenes in books,wish she had skipped that but otherwise I loved it!!!!!
omg this book is so amazing!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!jace and clary sex scene was awesome
Like you said its disappointing, I want some important ppl to die but i guess Cassie lied about that but Jace and Clary sex scene was amazing.
I don’t think more people needed to die it just needed to have a more emotional ending! I just rushed through the end so that I could rant about how disappointed I was! I feel like the Simon thing was just not right, and even Tessa wasn’t the same as she was in Clockwork, it was just a disappointing ending. I feel like it should have ended with Jace and Clary getting married or having kids. It just wasn’t sad or happy enough and I was disappointed.
I actually really liked when Simon got his memories back because he has always been my favourite character so to see him lose all his memories and everyone he loved was worse than any death would have been. If you finished champion, from the legend series, *CHAMPION SPOILERS* this has a similar ending, like when Day lost his memories but in that epilogue it just was not enough to whipe the tears away when day and June saw he each other and he didn’t even remember her. It was too much to handle , like Simons would have been so I’m really happy that happened. Also, now it has been revealed that Cassie is writing novellas about Simon at the shadowhunter academy so that should be exciting.
I also agree with the concern about a lack of deaths. The only one that really hit me was Raphael because I had just started liking him for the first time web cause of how he helped Simon escape to idris from Maureen. I still would have liked more , like I think Robert or maryse Lightwood should have dies or maybe even Luke. I don’t agree that any of the main five characters (clary, jace, Simon, izzy and alec) or Magnus should have died because feel that it is just a universal rule that you can’t kill a main character. (I’m still mad at Veronica roth). I would not have been able to handle it at all because I am so in love with these characters and I would not be able to see them go. We should just be thankful we didn’t get a blood of olympus ending!
I agree with mostly of you about the lack of deaths, but someone asked Cassie in her tumblr and she gave a pretty good response. She said no one died because it wasn’t necessary, that she thought she’d put the characters through enough and did not see the point in killing them just to kill (here’s the blog post: http://cassandraclare.tumblr.com/post/89652571804/on-death)
On another note, I am really excited that Simon gets his memories back, but not too glad that he’ll become a Shadowhunter, anyone agrees?
I was also dissapointed that no one mentioned Will in the entire book, I was looking forward to Tessa telling Jace that she’s her grand grand grandmother or something like that
Alright.
I agree with the 3rd thing, in a way, and it Was about time. I also agree with most of the others. But the 1st one of not likes, are you implying that Sebastian’s death was not sad?
I was HEARTBROKEN. Good thing no one was home to hear me flip my shit.
He was my favorite character throughout the series, and i loved him and i stayed by his side. I mean i completely agree that it was perfect; He’s the bad guy. He can’t be around for long. His death kind of tied it together. But when he died, so did i. I think if like a not-so-important character like Izzy or Alec died, that would be interesting.
Think about it. a protagonist, someone you stuck with through the whole series, and have learned to love died, wouldn’t it be a great ending? Now, if Jace or Clary or Simon died, THAT would be too much. and tbh, we all saw maureen’s death coming. I just wasn’t sure how they would kill her. But i knew that She would kill her off eventually.
Ok i just wanted to say that, even though there was absolutely no point for it whatsoever.
so alec doesn’t die?