Title: City of Heavenly Fire (The Mortal Instruments #6)
Author: Cassandra Clare
Published: May, 2014 by Margaret K. McElderry
Pages: 725
Rating:  
Purchase: The Book Depository

Shadowhunters and demons square off for the final showdown in the spellbinding, seductive conclusion to the #1 New York Times bestselling Mortal Instruments series.

Darkness has descended on the Shadowhunter world. Chaos and destruction overwhelm the Nephilim as Clary, Jace, Simon, and their friends band together to fight the greatest evil they have ever faced: Clary’s own brother. Sebastian Morgenstern is on the move, systematically turning Shadowhunter against Shadowhunter. Bearing the Infernal Cup, he transforms Shadowhunters into creatures of nightmare, tearing apart families and lovers as the ranks of his Endarkened army swell. Nothing in this world can defeat Sebastian, but if they journey to the realm of demons, they just might have a chance.

Lives will be lost, love sacrificed, and the whole world will change. Who will survive the explosive sixth and final installment of the Mortal Instruments series?

Final Thoughts:
This book ate my whole weekend. It was just so long. I’ve spent the past six hours on my couch getting through the last 300 pages, feeling like I just wanted it to end. Don’t get me wrong, it was a great book, a great end to the series, but it was just so…I guess ‘tiring’ is the word. All of the characters get a look in, with most getting a fair share of the time spent exploring and wrapping up their plots, but in doing this, it really slowed down the pacing with all of the jumping back and forth to all of the different perspectives. It’s probably a good thing for people who are sick of certain characters, but I just wanted to get to the end and put the heavy (you could use it as a brick) book down.

Title: Guardian Of The Dead
Author: Karen Healey
Published: August, 2010 by Little, Brown Books
Pages: 333
Rating:  
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Seventeen-year-old Ellie Spencer is just like any other teenager at her boarding school. She hangs out with her best friend Kevin, she obsesses over Mark, a cute and mysterious bad boy, and her biggest worry is her paper deadline.

But then everything changes. The news headlines are all abuzz about a local string of serial killings that all share the same morbid trademark: the victims were discovered with their eyes missing. Then a beautiful yet eerie woman enters Ellie’s circle of friends and develops an unhealthy fascination with Kevin, and a crazed old man grabs Ellie in a public square and shoves a tattered Bible into her hands, exclaiming, “You need it. It will save your soul.” Soon, Ellie finds herself plunged into a haunting world of vengeful fairies, Māori mythology, romance, betrayal, and an epic battle for immortality.

Final Thoughts:
Admittedly, this wasn’t my favourite book. I liked the characters, even found myself letting out sharp bursts of laughter, but the plot dragged. It really felt like a chore getting through it. Being a standalone, I had expected this to be fast-paced, full of action from the get-go. Instead, we spent chapters upon chapters with the characters practicing for a university theatre production which really did nothing for the plot except in showing us how creepy one of the characters was. And with the lengthy, overly-descriptive chapters, it just kept leaving me with the feeling of wanting to put the book down and do something else.

Title: The Iron King (The Iron Fey #1)
Author: Julie Kagawa
Published: February, 2010 by Harlequin Teen
Pages: 363
Rating:  
Purchase: The Book Depository

Something has always felt slightly off in Meghan’s life, ever since her father disappeared before her eyes when she was six. She has never quite fit in at school or at home.

When a dark stranger begins watching her from afar, and her prankster best friend becomes strangely protective of her, Meghan senses that everything she’s known is about to change.

But she could never have guessed the truth – that she is the daughter of a mythical faery king and is a pawn in a deadly war. Now Meghan will learn just how far she’ll go to save someone she cares about, to stop a mysterious evil, no faery creature dare face; and to find love with a young prince who might rather see her dead than let her touch his icy heart.

Final Thoughts:
I think I may have left this one a little too late. I’ve heard people rave about this faery series, putting it up there as one of the best. But, for me, I just couldn’t seem to connect with it. I found myself rushing through it just because I wanted to get to the next book on my to-read list—not a good feeling. I couldn’t find fault with the characters—I wasn’t annoyed by them, they weren’t stupid—the story just didn’t grip me. I wish it had, because it was a wonderfully descriptive and well developed world. So that, again, makes me wonder whether I would have enjoyed this book more had I read it a few years back.

Title: City Of Lost Souls (Mortal Instruments #5)
Author: Cassandra Clare
Published: May, 2012 by Simon & Schuster
Pages: 534
Rating:  
Purchase: The Book Depository

The demon Lilith has been destroyed and Jace has been freed from her captivity. But when the Shadowhunters arrive to rescue him, they find only blood and broken glass. Not only is the boy Clary loves missing–but so is the boy she hates, Sebastian, the son of her father Valentine: a son determined to succeed where their father failed, and bring the Shadowhunters to their knees.

No magic the Clave can summon can locate either boy, but Jace cannot stay away—not from Clary. When they meet again Clary discovers the horror Lilith’s dying magic has wrought—Jace is no longer the boy she loved. He and Sebastian are now bound to each other, and Jace has become what he most feared: a true servant of Valentine’s evil. The Clave is determined to destroy Sebastian, but there is no way to harm one boy without destroying the other. Will the Shadowhunters hesitate to kill one of their own?

Final Thoughts:
This book just went on and on. Don’t get me wrong—it was definitely a solid four stars, but it did have me constantly checking if I was getting any closer to the end. I think a nice, thin book is in order to cleanse the palette after the ten plus hours I spent lying on the couch today, clutching my hardcover of City Of Lost Souls. I found improvements in this instalment over the previous incarnate, the second half of the series finally forming a distinctive plot with some actual tension. However, I found the overuse of alternating point of views detracted from my enjoyment. With over ten different perspectives, they seemed to be used more to create suspense by jarring us out of situations just as they were getting interesting, rather than to give extra insight into these other characters.

Title: Endure (Need #4)
Author: Carrie Jones
Published: May, 2012 by Bloomsbury
Pages: 262
Rating:  
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It’s all-out war (and no-holds-barred romance) in the climactic conclusion to Carrie Jones’s bestselling series.

Zara is at the center of an impending apocalypse. True, she’s successfully rescued Nick from Valhalla, but it simply isn’t enough. Evil pixies are ravaging Bedford, and they need much more than one great warrior; they need an army. Zara isn’t sure what her role is anymore. She’s not just fighting for her friends; she’s also a pixie queen. And to align her team of pixies with the humans she loves will be one of her greatest battles yet. Especially since she can’t even reconcile her growing feelings for her pixie king . . .

Unexpected turns, surprising revelations, and one utterly satisfying romantic finale make Endure a thrilling end to this series of bestsellers.

Final Thoughts:
I’ve been stuck on this one for a while, and it’s slowed down my reviewing because of it. Something must have changed in my tastes since I read the last one because I just couldn’t get into Endure. It took me what felt like ages to get through Zara’s often immature inner monologues and barely plotted journey. It really felt like there was nothing happening. The characters went places, sought out things, even brought together a large scale battle, but it still felt like there was very little to the story. The romantic aspect was especially lacking, even though there was a love triangle. Neither boy brought much in the way of swoon-worthiness, leaving me wondering why I even bothered with this book.

Title: Ballad (Books Of Faerie #2)
Author: Maggie Stiefvater
Published: October, 2009 by Scholastic
Pages: 386
Rating:  
Purchase: The Book Depository

When his best friend, Dee, fell in love with a faerie, James realized she’d never feel the same way about him.

Trying to escape into music, James joins a private conservatory for musicians. James’ musical talent attracts Nuala, a soul-snatching faerie muse who fosters and feeds on the creative energies of exceptional humans until they die. Before he knows it, James is trapped in a dangerous game. One where the only way to win is to betray the one you love…

Final Thoughts:
Ballad feels more like a companion novel rather than a sequel. Sure it follows on from the aftermath of Lament, although it does so in a way that reinvents the world in which we’ve grown accustomed to. Dee is no longer in control as her best friend, James, takes the lead. In fact, Dee is barely visible now and when she is, she’s utterly frustrating. With James’s POV, we get to experience a witty character from the inside. Someone who was once an endless supply of one-liners is now full of struggles and emotion. Rest assured though that there is still enough romance going on, only in a different way.

Title: Lament (Books Of Faerie #1)
Author: Maggie Stiefvater
Published: October, 2008 by Scholastic
Pages: 356
Rating:  
Purchase: The Book Depository

Sixteen-year-old Dee is a cloverhand—someone who can see faeries. When she finds herself irresistibly drawn to beautiful, mysterious Luke, Dee senses that he wants something more dangerous than a summer romance.

But Dee doesn’t realise that Luke is an assassin from the faerie world.

And she is his next target.

Final Thoughts:
I haven’t read a lot of faerie based books yet, so I I’m not as well versed in the faerie lore. That being said, I did find the world of Lament easy enough to follow. It’s not a book centering on the fae politics, rather it takes to the characters on the fringe of that world, exploring the undeniable chemistry between a pair of, and I hate to phrase it like this but, ‘star-crossed’ individuals. A little cliché? Yes I suppose. Anyway, ignoring that fact, the romance here is addictive, and the characters tortured. Sounds like another bout of Maggie Stiefvater fun to me.