City of Heavenly Fire

That's it. I have finished Cassandra Clare's The Mortal Instruments series. City of Heavenly Fire is the sixth and final book. It was full of excitement and adventure. It took Clary, Jace and their friends to places I didn't expect. I'm not sure how I feel about the story though. I really enjoyed it up until the end.  I had the same issue with the final book in Clare's The Infernal Devices trilogy. 

Spoilers...

The ending of City of Heavenly Fire was too perfect. Like Clockwork Princess, I found that it was written to make the fans happy, the epilogue especially.  Every reader's hopes and wishes for the characters were there on the pages.  Maybe I've just become a cynic over the years.  I just expected a little more of the unexpected, a little more shock and awe.

I also felt like there was a little too much setup for Clare's next series, The Dark Artifices.  I understand and even appreciate a little setup.  I loved Emma Carstairs and the Blackthorns.  I loved Brother Zachariah.  However, I don't think we needed to see that Carstairs file.  It could have been part of the prologue of the next book or something.  It just took too much away from the main story, because even though the contents of the file are brought to our attention, what happens after will only be known if you read the next Shadowhunter series.

Spoilers End...

Even though I didn't really like everything about the epilogue, I enjoyed the book as a whole.  I liked Edom, the way that the group got to see the consequences if everything went wrong.  I loved the characters growing up, understanding themselves and each other.  I loved Magnus.  I wish I could have seen Magnus speak with Zachariah, but maybe in other book. So, while I wasn't entirely happy with the ending, I still very much enjoyed the book and the entire Mortal Instruments series.  I'm interested to see where the Shadowhunters take us next.