Life of Bry

I had so many thoughts on City of Lost Souls, that I’ve decided to split it into two posts. In Part 1, I covered Sizzy, Isabelle opening her heart up, a real tear-inducing scene between Alec and Magnus and so much more.

Here are the rest of my thoughts on City of Lost Souls.

Ya almost had me, Sebastian 

You guys … I have so much to say about Clary, Sebastian and Jace in this book that I could probably write an entire blog post solely on them. The week Clary spends in this interdimensional traveling apartment is my absolute favorite part of the entire series. These three have so much in common that it’s unsettling, and Sebastian almost had me believing he was on Team Good.

We’ll start there. Sebastian obviously needs Jace with him no matter what his plans are for a few reasons.

1. They’re connected, so he can’t let Jace out of his grasp or else he risks the Shadowhunters finding a way to sever their bond.
2. He controls Jace, which means he can sit back, negotiate with demons and then let his adoptive brother do the dirty work.
3. Jace is THE most talented Shadowhunter of his generation (multiple sources throughout the series have confirmed this), he’s the guy you want on your side during a war.
4. Sebastian is selfish. He’s using Jace to lure Clary in while also fulfilling the weird fantasy he has of proving he’s better than the Angel boy his father raised alongside him.

In the bonus excerpt at the back of the book, Clare gives us the moment that Jonathan kills the real Sebastian Verlac. Here it’s revealed just how jealous Jonathan was of Jace. Yes, he wants Clary because she’s the only true family he has left (he hates Jocelyn with a passion for good reason), but he has a point to prove to Jace — where Jace failed Valentine in the quest to raise the perfect warrior, Jonathan succeeded with flying colors.

“The other Jonathan, being raised not so far away, in a house just like his, visited by his father. Daddy’s little angel … A child with demon blood and a child with angel blood — raise both boys as yours and see who makes Daddy proud … And his only interest in the other Jonathan was to prove how superior he was: Father’s real son, by blood, and with the strength of demons and chaos in that blood as well.”  

Becoming Sebastian Verlac

However, Sebastian really put forward a strong facade for Clary that he was hatching a plan to help Shadowhunters win a war against demons.

He consistently goes out of his way to prove to Clary that he’s changed. He’s not the same guy who took down Alicante’s wards, stabbed Luke and murdered Max. He makes the case that just as the Mark has given Jace some of Sebastian’s cruelty, there’s a chance it has also made Sebastian more human.

When Clary wakes up to find the hallway covered in blood, she thinks the worse for the human girl she saw with Sebastian the previous night, but he’s there to tell her that the girl is sound asleep in his bed and Clary’s free to check for herself. (Looking back on it, that girl is definitely dead, right?) He saves Clary’s life when she gets attacked by demons despite her sneaking out of the apartment to follow him. Sebastian has the same witty sarcasm as Jace, they go for walks and they drink hot chocolate, and he even talks to her about their family history. He seems to be the first person willing and able to answer her questions. 

In this conversation about family, Sebastian serves up a slice of humble pie. Clary thinks she is a better person than her brother because he has demon blood and was raised by Valentine, but Sebastian is quick to remind her that Jocelyn wasn’t an innocent bystander in the Circle and Clarissa has made her own share of cruel decisions.

“Jocelyn Fairchild is ruthless. She always has been. She pretended to love our father for months, years maybe, so she could gather enough information on him to betray him. She engineered the Uprising and watched all her husband’s friends slaughtered. She stole your memories. Have you forgiven her? And when she ran from Idris, do you honestly think she ever planned to take me with her? … You have ruthlessness in your bones and ice in your heart, Clarissa. Don’t tell me any differently.”

Sebastian to Clary, Page 369-371

Clary is also the reason Valentine was killed, and she didn’t mourn the loss of their father. She didn’t even attend his funeral.

“Valentine beat Jace bloody for the first ten years of his life, and Jace still misses him. Grieved for him, though they share no blood at all. But he was your father and you killed him and you’ve never missed a night of sleep over it.”

Sebastian to Clary, Page 368

That’s pretty brutal, Clarissa.

The comparisons don’t stop at Clary and Sebastian — it expands to Jace. Valentine taught Jace about music, art, literature and language, along with how to fight and be a soldier. Sebastian told Clary that this was Jocelyn’s influence on their father, but he didn’t extend it to his blood son. 

“‘I learned to play the instruments of war,’ he said, ‘ and paint in blood. I am not like Jace.’”

Sebastian to Clary, Page 364

This is where I started slipping — falling for Sebestian’s obvious trap. It’s easy to feel pity for the guy. His mother despised him, considered him a monster from birth and was all too ready to abandon him. His father experimented on him, abused him and raised him as a warrior without the warm aspects that softened Jace — like birthdays that consisted of spaghetti baths.

It made me question why Valentine kept these things from Sebastian when it was his mother who insisted that fine art was just as imperative as combat. Was it because he felt that Sebastian wasn’t capable of appreciating and excelling at these things due to his demon nature? Did he not want to risk his perfect warrior becoming weak? Were these things something he simply wanted to share with Jace and no one else because he became fond of the boy he saved? Or is Sebastian lying about this altogether? He seems pretty knowledgeable on literature and language to me.

We have a case of psychological warfare on our hands, and I love it. 

Of course we know now that Sebastian hasn’t changed at all and is just taking on Jace’s persona to seem more personable while configuring his evil plan to make dark Shadowhunters. But he almost had me.

Dear World, Leave Jace Alone

While we’re on the topic, let’s stop and look at Jace and Clary. 

Simon points out to Clary that while love may not be moral or immoral, the acts we take for the sake of love are. We see this play out massively throughout Clary’s storyline with Jace. 

What is she willing to do to save the boy she loves and will those actions be against her nature?

She’s willing to steal the Seelie rings from the Institute, escape Magnus’s apartment and flee from her mother, lie to her brother and Jace about her true intentions of joining them, help kill the demon shopkeeper in Prague for the adamas, and a few other questionable deeds that we’ll get to in a little bit.

Jace is essentially a shell of himself as he’s controlled by Sebastian, but Clary does everything on her own free will in her desperate efforts to save Jace. 

When Jace’s Mark is burned while killing the Iron Sister Magdalena and he’s finally himself, he wants to turn himself into the Clave because he’d rather die than be a slave to Sebastain and all his evil plans. Clary takes this choice away from him by calling for Sebastain to iratze him and heal the wound.

The moment leading up to Clary calling for Sebastian is the other time this book made me cry.

Jace is incredibly vulnerable in this scene. He’s just killed a person — not a demon, not a rogue Downworlder … an innocent human being, an Iron Sister. He’s terrified of what he’s done and what Sebastian will make him do next. He misses his family and his old life, but he also believes that the only way to stop what Sebastian is doing is to turn himself over. 

“As a good Shadowhunter I ought to volunteer to die to stop what Sebastian is going to do. As a good Shadowhunter, I would.”

Jace, Page 418

It was painful to read. Jace has no control over himself as long as the Mark is intact. He’s essentially a prisoner in his own mind and body. Even worse, he feels guilty because traveling the world with Clary and getting to live with her is something he’s always wanted.

“And, Clary, I know it doesn’t make sense, but I remember it — I remember all of it. I remember walking with you in Venice, and that night at the club, and sleeping in this bed with you, and don’t you get it? I wanted this. This is all I ever wanted, to live with you like this, be with you like this. What am I supposed to think, when the worst thing that has ever happened to me gives me exactly what I want? Maybe Jace Lightwood can see all the ways this is wrong and messed-up, but Jace Wayland, Valentine’s son … loves this life.”

Jace, Page 419

This coincides with Clary’s contemplations of whether she was actually saving Jace because of how happy he seemed at the apartment with Sebastian. He no longer had dark circles under his eyes, he didn’t look sick, he was eating, he was cracking jokes and being carefree — hell, he was even cooking breakfast at one point. But now she knows that’s not the case, and it’s the difference maker in Clary’s decision to drive Glorious into Jace’s chest, knowing it could kill him.

Luckily the outcome is pretty favorable. Jace lives and his bond with Sebastian is severed, though he now has a bit of heaven’s fire in his system. 

All-in-all, Clary and Jace learned a valuable lesson on what it means to love. To love someone is to let them be themselves and protect each other from everything but the truth. 

“We’re reckless. We don’t think before we act. We’ll do anything for the people we love. And I never thought how scary that was for the people who loved me until I saw it in you and it terrified me. How could I protect you if you wouldn’t let me? … I fell in love with you because you were one of the bravest people I’d ever known. So how could I ask you to stop being brave just because I loved you?”

Jace to Clary, Page 535

Gotta love that ✨growth ✨.

*Sidenote! I absolutely love the Bone Chandelier scene, from the imagery of the faerie drugs dripping from the ceiling, Jace and Clary’s need to be “happy for no reason”, Clary’s trip gone wrong, and the eerie conversation between the Morgenstern siblings. It was all breathtaking to read.

Jocelyn Doesn’t Pass the Vibe Check

I get it … In most YA books, the trope is that adults are corrupt, evil, clueless and just suck. It’s teens that rise up to topple governments, upend societies, defeat the villains and save the day. And Jocelyn isn’t necessarily any of these things. She’s not evil or corrupt, she’s just super annoying. After all Clary did to save Jocelyn’s life, you’d think she’d be a little more grateful. Instead, she’s bringing nothing but bad vibes.

While at Magnus’s after Jace and Sebastian first try to get Clary to go with them, Jocelyn unnecessarily flips on her daughter for simply wanting to help after two weeks of being sidelined due to the Clave’s trial.

“God, Clary, look at the evidence. You thought you and Jace were brother and sister! You sacrificed everything to save his life, and a Greater Demon used him to get to you! When are you going to face the fact that the two of you are not meant to be together.”

Jocelyn to Clary, Page 132

It made me so unbelievably angry for Jocelyn to say this to Clary right in front of Alec. She prefaced this rant with saying that there’s already a slim chance to save Jace, so Clary shouldn’t be putting herself at any more risk. From a human perspective, it’s just a shitty thing to say. Not only that, Jocelyn acts as if Jace is the only reason Clary has ever been in danger, when that’s simply not true.

Jocelyn made the decision to steal Clary’s memories and shield her from the Shadow World, which led to her being incredibly unprepared for the moment when she could no longer remain hidden. And Jocelyn had to have known that there’d come a day when that would happen. She was Valentine’s wife, she was hiding the Mortal Cup and she had enough sense to have a spell ready to put her in a coma if Valentine ever came back for her.

I was so happy when Izzy stuck up for Simon after agreeing to help with Clary’s Seelie ring suicide mission. Once again, there’s no reason for Jocelyn to take her frustrations out on Simon — a literal teenager. He had no choice but to help Clary or she would’ve done it all alone and they wouldn’t have a way to contact her at all.

“Maybe if you hadn’t protected her so much, she would know more about what is dangerous and what isn’t, and be a little less secretive — and less reckless!”

Izzy to Jocelyn, Page 225

Jocelyn even threatens to tell the Clave about Jace if Simon doesn’t give her daily updates on Clary — and telling the Clave would mean them putting a kill warrant out on both Sebastian and Jace. 

I understand that Jocelyn is upset because her daughter is in danger, but she needs to realize that Jace is someone’s son. Just as she wants to protect Clary, Maryse wants to find her boy. 

*Side note! There’s a very brief scene where Maryse tells Brother Zachariah that all Circle members were marked by Valentine in order to be tracked and that she believes that Jace was also marked. She noticed that Jace’s cuff lights up along with a point on a map in the Institute’s library, and when it flares, she knows her son is alive.

“Try not to let fear for Jace devour you. He is a Herondale, and they are survivors —

‘He is not a Herondale. He is a Lightwood. Jace Lightwood. He’s my son.’”

Maryse, Page 289

Back to Jocelyn. My humble opinion is that she’s so frustrated with Clary because she’s facing what every mother fears — a daughter exactly like her.

“Jocelyn, your daughter isn’t stupid, and she does what she thinks is right. You can’t stop her. No one can stop her. She is a great deal like her mother.”

Magnus, Page 224

“I don’t think [Clary] doesn’t believe she can die. I think, just like you always did, she believes there are things worth dying for.”

Luke, Page 342

Conclusion

This was my favorite book of the series. It blew City of Glass, my previous favorite, straight out of the water. I loved the way the plot unfolded and led up to the transformation of the dark Shadowhunters and the battle in Ireland. Clare also did a great job at making Sebastian a multidimensional villain, something I think Valentine lacked. Despite doing the most heinous things, I found myself sympathizing with Sebastian and the awful hand that life dealt him. 

Overall, our band of characters grew, which is super important to me. Characters need to learn and grow from their experiences or everything that happens to push the plot is worthless. Clary finally stepped into her birthright of Shadowhunting, Izzy is beginning to open up emotionally, Jace learns that his constant death wish hurts those around him, Simon is accepting his new life as a vampire and Alec is continuing his journey of discovering himself. 

I’m both extremely excited to see where Clare is taking this story in City of Heavenly Fire, but also sad because it’s the end of this series. I think I really needed a good series to get myself back into reading, and The Mortal Instruments has been such a soul soother for me. I don’t want it to end. I’m glad that there’s a billion other books in the Shadowhunters Chronicles to keep me invested in this world, which reminds me that I need to figure out which Clare books I need to buy next. Any help is appreciated.

City of Lost Souls gets a 10 out of 5 stars from me. Onto City of Heavenly Fire. 

Bonus Quotes

These are the quotes that I loved, but didn’t feel the need to dive deeper into.

“He’d burn the whole world down till he could dig you out of the ashes.”

Alec, Page 30

“The only way you could raise enough money to hire Magnus by selling lemonade is if you put meth in it.”

Alec, Page 81

“‘You only fell because you wanted to. I know you … You never slip.’

‘I may not slip, but I fall.’”

Clary & Jace, Page 239

“With his free hand he traced her cheekbone gently. She had missed that, his gentleness. It was one of the things that had made her fall in love with him in the first place — realizing that this scarred, sarcastic boy was gentle with the things he loved.”

Clary about Jace, Page 408

“‘Flectere si nequeo superos, Acheronta movebo.’ ‘If I cannot move Heaven, I will raise Hell.’”

Clary translating Sebastian’s bracelet, Page 466

“She hadn’t listened to what he’d wanted. She had made the choice for him — in a moment of flight and panic, but she had made it — not realizing that her Jace would rather die than be like this, and that she’d been not so much saving his life as damning him to an existence he would despise.”

Clary, Page 488

“Magnus had lived so long. He was permanent. A fixture. In no world Alec’s imagination could conjure did Magnus die before he did.”

Alec, Page 503

“He was thinking that it was right, somehow, that he have a scar: that he should be marked by what had happened to him, physically as well as mentally. He had almost lost his soul, and the scar would serve to remind him of the fragility of will, and the difficulty of goodness.”

Jace, Page 511

“It’s like there’s always been a piece of my soul missing, and it’s inside you, Clary. I know I told you once that whether God exists or not, we’re on our own. But when I’m with you, I’m not.”

Jace to Clary, Page 544