Have you finished City of Fallen Angels yet?!?

OMGG!! ( I realize, I start a lot of posts with OMG) I finished Cassandra Clare's City of Fallen Angels last night, and it was PURE AWESOME!!! It took me around four hours to finish because I read every single world twice. This post is gonna be a blend between a review/fan reaction :P So as you might or might not know, I went to Cassandra's book tour/signing on April 5th, and she gave away some AWESOME book swag including post cards from Magnus and Alec's trip around the world, and a sneak preview of the next installment in her prequel series, Clockwork Prince. JEALOUS?!?!? Yes, be jealous. I wish I could show you all the postcards (they're SO cute!!!!!), but sadly, I don't have a scanner with me. Who knows, maybe I'll just type up all the text from the postcards in another post :)

Anyways, CoFA was absolutely heart-stopping! It's the best book I've read in a long time! It's such a beautiful blend of dynamic romances between Jace/Clary, Simon/Maia/Isabelle, Jordan/Maia, Simon/Isabelle, Luke/Jocelyn, that you'll never know what's going to happen next in their whirlwind of a world. The first 3/4 of the book dealt with how all the old characters were dealing with their new lifestyle and coping with loss and more change. Usually, I hate it when authors whip up new characters and toss them in during the fourth or fifth book, but Cassandra made the interactions with both the new and old characters very smooth. I'm thrilled to say that reading from Simon's point of view also felt very natural, but Jace's felt a bit vague and foggy. Even after four books, it's hard to tell what he's thinking, but that's what makes him sexy. The last quarter of the book was where the story kicked into high-gear. Everything leading up to those last few moments felt trivial compared to the intensity and mind-blowing complexity of the end! It made Valentine's war look like a ripple in the ocean as this new plot line came crashing down on me like a wave! Right when I think I've got a grip on the story, the next paragraph throws me completely off balance! I have to admit I was a bit skeptical about how Cassandra was going to come up with an equally engrossing plot as the first three books, but the fourth book completely blinded me with awesomeness. Yeah, it was THAT good. The transition between the old plot into the new plot was subtle, and completely refreshing. It's entirely clever and I'm thoroughly impressed by how the author was able to turn the smallest detail into the greatest weapon. The mark of Cain is EPIC. The only thing I wasn't too enthusiastic about was Jace's MAJOR slight identity crisis. It becomes slightly repetitive since this issue is a reoccurring theme that was supposed to be dealt with in the third book. I thought he had come to terms with himself, but I guess not. Throughout the book he's completely depressed and starts to emotionally and physically deteriorate from morbid nightmares and demon possessions. His relationship with Clary is on thin ice, even when Clary tries her best to understand and hope for the best. She's the superior one in the relationship during this book, and has matured and developed immensely as a character.

Just for the fun of it, I created a list of names/identities that represent Jace:

1. Jace Wayland
2. Jace Morgenstern
3. Jonathan Wayland
4. Jonathan Christopher Morgenstern
5. Jace Lightwood
6. Jace Herondale
7. The Love of My Life

Even though the identity crisis is a little overdone, I can certainly understand why Jace is distraught. It's not everyday you encounter a boy with 6 (possibly more) names that are actually legitimate. And is it just me, or do you find it weird that Valentine was Jace's fake father who was pretending to be a fake father when he posed as Michael Wayland? Haha, this is just confusing.