The Mortal Instruments, part 4: City of Fallen Angels
i (almost) give up
Welcome back to my Shadowhunters Explained Series, where I explain the plot of each book in Cassandra Clare’s Shadowhunter Chronicles and I share my thoughts on them. In case you missed the previous entries, you can check them out here: Part 1, City of Bones, Part 2, City of Ashes and Part 3, City of Glass.
I have to be honest, this is the worst book in the series, and I don’t think Cassandra Clare could ever top it. City of Fallen Angels was so bad, that it made the previous three books look like masterpieces, and reading this made me reconsider this entire project. I’ll be brief, so we don’t waste more brain cells than necessary on this mess. I’m saving you from so many scenes of Simon Lewis being the worst character to ever come out of the entire YA romance genre.
Trigger Warning: Grooming.
Recap.
It’s been 6 weeks since the events of City of Glass. Valentine is very dead, Sebastian (a.k.a. the Real Jonathan) is supposedly dead, and there’s peace between Shadowhunters and Downworlders. The main characters are back in New York, and our main couple, Clary and Jace, finally found out they are not related and they can be together.
City of Fallen Angels, Abridged.
Part 1: Exterminating Angels.
We start the book with Simon Lewis, the day lighter vampire. He’s on a café date with the stunning Isabelle Lightwood, who could do much better than him. Nevertheless, we find out that these two have been in a situationship for the past month and a half. They have not talked about being exclusive, so Simon, like the sleazy and disgusting idiot he is, has also been seeing the beautiful Maia Roberts, a werewolf girl that also deserves better than Simon. Neither of the girls knows about this, obviously, but Simon is starting to get worried because they are all going to Luke and Jocelyn’s wedding and the date is fast approaching. Anyway, Simon and Isabelle’s date is interrupted when a weird pair of men asks Simon to go with them to see their master. Isabelle recognizes these men as vampire servants, humans who have not been fully turned but are bonded to a vampire. Simon assumes that these men work for Raphael Santiago, the leader of the New York coven.
Simon agrees to go, and the men take him to a restaurant. There, he finds out their mysterious master was a whole new character, the ancient Camille Belcourt. Camille was the previous leader of the New York vampires, but she was usurped by Raphael and exiled. She has returned to take back her position, and she wants to enlist Simon’s help. The Mark of Cain that Clary gave to Simon in the last book, makes it so anyone who harms him will be punished by Heaven, and that, plus his ability to walk on the sun, makes him a valuable asset. Simon is unsure about this alliance, so he asks for some time to think about it.
This is not important, but just to highlight just how much Simon sucks as a boyfriend, Isabelle asked him to call her as soon as he finished his meeting, and he forgot. Instead, he called Clary.
Anyway, it’s time to check in with the supposed main character of the series, Clary Fray. She has started her Shadowhunter training at the Institute, and her boyfriend Jace Lightwood has been helping her. Everything should be perfect between them, but Jace is acting a little aloof and distant recently. During their training session, Isabelle comes in and informs them that a dead Shadowhunter has been found in Brooklyn.
Next, Simon is practicing with his band. He’s had a band this whole time, which I have not mentioned until now because they have only been used for a running gag about how they can’t pick a name. By the way, Simon told his friends about being a vampire, because he’s dumb like that. A guy comes in out of nowhere and presents himself as Kyle. He asks to join the band as their vocalist, and the band agrees. On his way home, Simon gets jumped by a man, but the moment the man tries to stab Simon, the Mark of Cain blows him up. Literally.
Simon arrives home deeply affected by this, and then his mom starts demanding that he tells her the truth, because she found his bottled blood. He tries to tell her, but she freaks out, so he’s forced to use his vampire hypnotism to make her forget all about it. Shaken by all these events, Simon runs away from home.
We cut to Jace. He has a nightmare about killing Clary, and it turns out that the reason he’s been weird lately is that he’s had the same nightmare every night for weeks.
The next day, Clary and Jace are training together in Central Park. They are approached by the Seelie Queen, who tells them another dead Shadowhunter has been found, and she teases Clary before leaving.
Back to Simon, he’s been looking for a place to stay. Kyle, the new member of his band, offers to let him live with him in his apartment. Simon recognizes that staying with someone he barely knows is insane, but since he’s a vampire and has the Mark of Cain, he thinks there’s no danger and agrees to become Kyle’s roomie. He tells Kyle about his stupid relationship drama and they become besties.
Clary, Simon and her parents go shopping for the wedding. After that, they go to a dinner, and they see the news about an abandoned baby found in a hospital. Simon goes back to Kyle’s apartment, and two men attack him on the way, but the Mark of Cain explodes one of them and the other is scared off by Jace, who has been tailing Simon for no particular reason. He’s also avoiding Clary.
Meanwhile, Clary went to the Institute and found out that there are more dead Shadowhunters. Clary does her “rune ex machina” thing and comes up with a rune that lets them speak with the dead, and they go to the Silent City where they meet Brother Zachariah, a surprisingly handsome Silent Brother. He will be important in the future but not in this book. Clary’s rune goes wrong and the only information they get is the name Camille.
Simon and Jace go to Kyle’s place, and Jace immediately realizes that Kyle is a werewolf. He comes clean and reveals that he’s part of a secret organization called Praetor Lupus, a group of Downworlders who try to help newly turned vampires and werewolves. Kyle was assigned to Simon, which is why he joined the band. Cassandra Clare 100% came up with this concept on the spot. Now that Kyle has opened up, him and Jace also become besties.
Anyway, Jocelyn has been very interested in the abandoned baby case, so her and Clary go to the hospital. Catarina Loss, a warlock friend of Jocelyn, tells them the baby died and lets them see the body. The baby has claws and Jocelyn realizes that someone is injecting demon blood into babies, just like Valentine did to her son Jonathan/Sebastian.
Simon decides to lure in the people who are attacking him by doing a show with his band. Jace goes along as his bodyguard.
And then shit goes down.
Isabelle and Clary are there, Simon didn’t invite Maia to avoid complications. A mysterious woman is also there; she claims to be a band promoter and gives Simon her card. Clary tries to confront Jace about him avoiding her, and he acts like an idiot and refuses to communicate what’s happening to him. Simon, another idiot, hasn’t been drinking blood, so he gets sick and goes backstage. There, he loses control and drinks the blood of Maureen Brown. She’s a 14-year-old girl who’s a fan of their band and always tells people that she’s Simon’s girlfriend. Remember that.
Maureen barely survives and is put on a taxi by Kyle. At the same time, Jace and Clary have an angry make out session. Suddenly, Jace runs off. Then, Simon and Kyle get back inside, and it turns out Maia went to the event as a surprise for Simon. The whole situation with Isabelle and Maia blows up in Simon’s face, but before they can beat him up, Maia sees Kyle and jumps at his throat like he’s her personal archenemy. Maia calls him “Jordan”, which happens to be the name of her abusive ex-boyfriend who turned her into a werewolf.
End of part 1!
Part 2: For Every Life.
Isabelle manages to stop Maia before she kills Kyle, and him and Simon get back to the apartment. There, Kyle confesses that his real name is Jordan Kyle and that he’s Maia’s ex. He explains that his abusive behavior towards her was because he had recently been turned into a werewolf himself and the transformation made him violent. He feels guilty for hurting Maia, and he joined the Praetor Lupus to make sure no other kid goes through the same. He also wanted to be assigned to Simon so he could get closer to Maia, which is not creepy at all. Then, someone rings at the door and they find a note saying that Simon’s girlfriend has been kidnapped, and she will be killed if Simon doesn’t go to a certain church.
He doesn’t know which girlfriend they are talking about tho, so he calls Clary, Maia and Isabelle to make sure they are all okay. The girls are fine, so he assumes the note was just a lie to scare him. This will come back. Jace arrives at the apartment and tells Simon to go to the Institute for a meeting regarding vampire politics.
Meanwhile, Clary goes on her own to check out a church that is related to the dead baby incident. It’s also the same church in the note that was sent to Simon. She calls Isabelle for back-up, and they fight some demons together. Girl power! Then, Clary pulls one of her trademark “epic misogyny moments” and gets annoyed by Isabelle because she’s upset that Simon cheated on her. Oh, Clary, I missed you. The girls go back to the Institute.
Back to Simon (ugh). He makes a plan with the Shadowhunters to trick Camille. They are able to capture her, and she’s taken to the Institute while her servants are killed. Camille refuses to cooperate unless she’s able to talk with Magnus Bane, who along with Alec Lightwood have been absent this whole time because they went on a romantic trip through Europe1. Magnus and Alec use a Portal to get there, and it’s revealed that Magnus and Camille used to be lovers, which makes Alec really upset.
From this point onwards, every time Alec appears, he gets more and more angry at Magnus for the grave crime of having relationships before meeting him. I know this makes him sound toxic, but please remember that ALEC IS 18!! Magnus is HUNDREDS OF YEARS OLD. Alec JUST came out to his family, and Magnus is his FIRST boyfriend. This is a deeply messed up relationship, and of course Alec is very immature. This is grooming, bro.
Camille asks Magnus to get her a softer sentence, and reveals she’s working under someone else. She doesn’t give him a name, so he says that he will try his best but can’t make promises.
While this is happening, Clary finally gets to talk with Jace. He apologizes for avoiding her, and they start making out, again, but suddenly Jace pulls out a knife and cuts Clary. Vibe ruined. He’s then forced to tell her about his dreams where he kills her, and she’s surprisingly understanding and nice about almost getting stabbed, and tells him that someone is probably messing with his head, and it’s not his fault. She has no proof about this, but she’s obviously right. Jace is going through a lot (when is he not?), but they agree to communicate more and decide that he should go see the Silent Brothers so they can take a look inside his head.
They go to the Silent City and the Brothers tell Jace that yes, someone is messing with him. Turns out that when Clary brought Jace back from the dead, all the protective spells that are put on Shadowhunters when they are babies were erased, and new ones should have been placed on him so he wouldn’t be vulnerable to demonic influences. Unfortunately, Clary and Jace kept the fact that Jace was resurrected a secret, so nothing was done, and now he’s easy prey for demons. Jace agrees to stay in the Silent City so they can put new spells on him, and Clary goes back home.
I like it when actions have consequences. That’s writing 101, baby!
The next day, Simon hears the news that Maureen Brown has been found dead. He realizes that she’s the “girlfriend” that got kidnapped and feels really shitty about it. As he should.
Jace is sleeping, and he gets a dream of Max, the little Lightwood child that was killed by Jonathan/Sebastian in the last book. Max tells Jace that he’s hurting everyone he loves and that there’s something rotten in him, and then marks Jace with a rune.
Nobody has bothered to let Jocelyn and Luke know about all that’s been happening, so the happy couple hosts a party to celebrate their engagement. At the party, Clary gets approached by a fairy who brings her a gift from the Seelie Queen. Clary refuses, but the fairy still gives her a bell, which if rung will take Clary to the Seelie Court. Everyone goes to the party, except Jace. Magnus and Alec are there, and they are introduced to Jordan, which prompts another fit of jealousy from Alec. They start fighting about whether their relationship could ever work considering Magnus is immortal. In the middle of all the relationship drama, Clary sees Jace arrive and goes to talk with him.
Jace says that the Silent Brothers released him already and that everything is fine, but he acts very weird. He asks Clary if she would still love him if he was like Valentine or Jonathan/Sebastian, and she starts to get worried.
He starts pressuring her to get a permanent rune, which is the equivalent of getting married, and she reluctantly accepts. Never let your partner pressure you into something you don’t want to do, kids! He draws a rune in her arm, and she realizes that it’s an evil rune right before she passes out.
Magnus is summoned to the Institute because Camille has escaped. Meanwhile, Simon goes outside for a bit and is greeted by Maureen Brown, who has been turned into a vampire. Feeling guilty of what happened to her, Simon agrees to go with Maureen to meet someone. Maureen takes Simon to a building where he sees the woman that presented herself as a band promoter during his show, and it turns out she’s the demon Lilith, the mother of all warlocks. She dismisses Maureen and proceeds to explain her plan to use Simon’s blood to revive Jonathan/Sebastian. I will call him Sebastian from here on because nobody calls him Jonathan except for Lilith.
Sebastian’s body is in a glass coffin, like an evil Snow White.
Isabelle, Jordan and Maia finally notice Simon’s missing, so they go search for him. They bring Alec along because he has nothing better to do. He figures out that the promoter was Lilith pretty easily.
Lilith explains that she gave her blood to Valentine to turn Sebastian into a half-demon, so she’s her “demon mother”, and she saved Sebastian’s body from rotting away after he died. She needs Simon’s blood to bring him back, for reasons, but the Mark of Cain doesn’t let her harm Simon directly. To force him to cooperate, she shows him that Jace is also there, holding a knife to Clary’s throat, and reveals that she’s the one that has been messing with his head. Her control over Jace is absolute now, because of the rune that “Max” gave him in his dream. Lilith also says that this situation is ultimately Clary’s fault, because bringing Jace back from the dead created an imbalance between the forces of good and evil, and for balance to be restored Sebastian needs to be resurrected as well. It’s a cool reveal, and again, I like that Clary’s decision in the last book is what causes all this trouble.
Simon accepts to perform the ritual to protect Clary.
Isabelle and her group make it to the building. They find a room with a bunch of dead babies that were also given demon blood, and then fight some of Lilith’s worshipers. Alec gets separated from the group and finds Camille tied up in another room. Turns out Camille had been killing Shadowhunters under Lilith’s orders. She manipulates Alec into freeing her by playing into his insecurities regarding Magnus, which allows her to escape.
Clary manages to destroy the rune that Lilith put on Jace to control him, and interrupts the resurrection ritual. Jace, Simon and Clary fight off Lilith, who can’t kill Simon because of the Mark of Cain and also can’t kill Jace because Jace is the “tether” that allows her to bring Sebastian back, or whatever. She focuses on attacking Clary, but then Simon gets in the middle and Lilith accidentally hits him, activating the curse of Cain and causing Lilith to explode.
Isabelle’s group finally makes it to where the others are. Because Jace and Sebastian’s souls are tied, they can’t finish off Sebastian. Everyone leaves, except Clary and Jace, who finally get a proper conversation. For the hundredth time, Clary reassures Jace that he’s good and that he belongs with the people he loves. Everything seems to be alright now, but Jace asks for some time alone to think.
A bunch of Shadowhunters arrive at the building along with Magnus. Alec and Magnus reconcile, to some extent, as well as Simon and Isabelle, because despite everything, Isabelle likes him. It makes no sense to me, he’s so annoying and stupid all the time. Maia and Jordan kiss, because she realizes it wasn’t his fault that he was violent to her and turned her into a werewolf.
Of course, Jace is not actually fine. Lilith’s rune heals, and he hears Sebastian’s voice in his head, which compels him to give Sebastian his own blood. The ritual is finished, and Sebastian comes back, with Jace under his control.
The end!
Relationship Chart.
Jace is under Sebastian’s power, so even though him and Clary made up, it’s not looking good for Clace.
Simon and Isabelle have a weird situationship going on, but it’s clear that they are set up to be one of the main couples. His thing with Maia is completely over, so Sizzy is winning, unfortunately.
Maia and Jordan are getting closer again. I don’t know if they have a ship name, but it doesn’t matter, because this won’t end well.
Malec is in trouble, which is the direct consequence of Magnus deciding it was OK to date a minor with no dating experience and who’s still coming to terms with his sexuality. I know I’m supposed to root for them, but I wish he would let Alec alone. Get a job! Stay away from him!
Final Thoughts.
I hate Simon. I hate that he gets really cool and well-written story lines while being insufferably sexist and annoying the entire time. If Cassandra Clare put a fraction of the effort she puts into writing him into giving Maia some proper development, I would almost forgive her for making me read about Simon and his stupid band. Almost.
I find the way that Cassandra Clare writes people of color mediocre at best, and insulting at worst. Maia is the token Black girl (and she’s half-white, like every person of color in this series), and she completely fades into the background until there’s a battle. Despite being supposedly one of Simon’s romantic interests, he hardly thinks about her at all. He thinks about Isabelle at length, about how beautiful and charming she is, but Maia is barely mentioned and when he does, it’s really vague, like he doesn’t know much about her to begin with. This is because Maia doesn’t have a consistent personality or anything that defines her as her own character. Not only that, but the book ends with her seemingly forgiving her abuser and hinting that they are going to be back together. I think it could be possible to make this story line interesting and to handle this situation in a sensitive and mature way, but Cassandra Clare always dumbs down her story in order to fit in another forced romance. It would be interesting to see Maia forgive Jordan for what happened and see her deal with her trauma, but the moment it becomes a story about these two falling in love again, it just strips this conflict of any nuance. Not everyone needs to be paired up! People are allowed to have complicated and diverse relationships with others, Cassandra.
Another issue that becomes more and more apparent as the series goes on is that not only every character needs to be paired up, but also they can’t be in a normal and healthy relationship because Cassandra Clare has no idea how to write established relationships (at least at this point, I believe it gets better in latter entries in the universe). Clary and Jace’s lack of communication is ridiculous, and Jace refusing to simply say what’s happening to him really drags down the book. I love Jace, I think he’s one of the best written characters in this mess, but this book really made him look dumb and silly. Also, how many times does he have to go through the same arc about realizing that people love him. Give him a new conflict, please!
The one thing I did enjoy about this book was the vampire lore. I love the concept of the servants, humans who are stuck in the middle of the turning process. They are immortal, and they feed on blood, but they become mindless lackey to their vampire master. Also, the vampire political intrigue is fun, and I hope we see more of that.
The Future of this Series.
Something that I didn’t expect when I started this book was the sheer amount of references to The Infernal Devices, a prequel trilogy that released alongside the final three entries in The Mortal Instruments. The first book in that trilogy, Clockwork Angel, came out in 2010, one year before this one. I was originally going to cover The Infernal Devices after being done with The Mortal Instruments, but now I have decided to go by release order, and alternate one TMI book with one TID book. This should also make it more enjoyable, because I remember TID to be a better trilogy overall. I hope that isn’t nostalgia.
On that topic, the next post in this series will take a while to come out. When I started this project, I had planned to cover one book per month in order to get them all done before The Wicked Powers, the last trilogy, releases. The first Wicked Powers book will come out in early 2026, so I still have plenty of time. Because of how difficult it was to finish Fallen Angels, I’m taking a break and will probably come back to this around November. Thank you for reading so far! This is a bit of a silly project that I started on a whim, but I want to keep doing it and to keep having fun with it.
There’s a whole book about their trip, “The Red Scrolls of Magic”, which I won’t bother reading because I don’t care about this couple. That book is part of an un-finished trilogy that focuses on Magnus and Alec going on side quests.