City of Fallen Angels

City of Fallen Angels by Cassandra Clare is the fourth book in the Mortal Instruments series. In it, Simon Lewis tries to get used to his new life as a vampire, while Clary seeks to establish a steady relationship with Jace. Lilith, a demon, seeks power in New York. The book opens with Simon at the age of sixteen. It’s been two months since he was turned into a vampire, and he’s learning to control his blood lust, while also trying to live the life of a typical teenager. For him, this means continuing to play bass in his band. Almost all the other band members know that Simon is a vampire, which helps. The only one who doesn’t know is the new vocalist, Jordan Kyle. Unfortunately for Simon, his mother finds out about his condition. Her reaction prompts him to leave home and live with Jordan. Simon is also torn between two girls—a Dayhunter named Isabelle Lightwood, and a werewolf named Maia Roberts. He’s hesitant to dump either of them because he doesn’t want to hurt their feelings, but he can’t keep his double-dealing a secret forever, and the girls find out about each other at one of the band's gigs. Maia and Isabelle are both angry, especially when Maia finds out that Simon is living with her ex-boyfriend—Jordan, who happens to be a werewolf. Because Simon bears the Mark of the Wanderer, also known as the Curse of Cain, he is protected by God’s wrath against harm from others. This knowledge becomes important later in the story. Meanwhile, Camille Belcourt—another New York vampire—becomes interested in Simon. She promises that, in exchange for his help reclaiming command of the New York vampire clan, which was stolen by Raphael Santiago, she will help Simon adjust to his new vampire lifestyle. She gives him five days to decide.

Meanwhile, Clary has troubles of her own. Her boyfriend, Jace, is a Dayhunter. He’s been suffering from nightmares that feature him stabbing and killing Clary. Taking these dreams as a warning, he keeps his distance from her. This separation is hurtful to Clary, who tries again and again to close the gap between them. Jace finally confesses to Clary the reason he’s been avoiding her, and that confession helps Clary to determine that Jace is being messed with by a demon. To help rid him of his nightmares—and save their relationship—Jace and Clary go to see the Brothers of the Silent City. The Brothers reveal that by bringing Jace back from the dead—an event which occurred in an earlier installment of the series—Clary created an imbalance between life and death. The Brothers confirm that a demon’s interference is causing the nightmares, and because his resurrection stripped away the protective spells Jace had carried since infancy, he needs new spells in order to overcome his present predicament. The demon tormenting Jace happens to be Lilith, who manipulates him to lure Clary to a high-rise condo under construction.

At the same time, Simon is led there too by a human named Maureen, whose blood tempts him to the point of turning her into a vampire. On the roof of this high-rise building, Simon and Clary discover Lilith’s intentions—to get Simon to feed on Sebastian long enough to revive him, and then to provide his own blood to strengthen him. After this, Sebastian will be able to spawn a race of hybrid demons that with powers unlike any demons have seen before. Lilith also binds Jace and Sebastian, so that if Sebastian is harmed, then Jace will be too. Jace tries to fight Lilith, but to no avail—in fact, the fight doesn’t reveal any victor. Lilith tries to kill Clary, but Simon gets in the way. God intervenes, because of Simon’s protection, and kills Lilith, transforming her into a pillar of salt. At the end of City of Fallen Angels, Jace is controlled by Sebastian, and feeds him his blood.



Important themes in City of Fallen Angels are love, friendship, the past, redemption, and balance. Originally, the Mortal Instruments series was meant to be three books long, ending with City of Glass, but Clare decided that she would write an additional three books in the series, viewing it as two trilogies. City of Fallen Angels thus represents the first book of the second trilogy in the series. Published in 2011, City of Fallen Angels is followed by City of Lost Souls and City of Heavenly Fire. City of Fallen Angels received mixed reviews, earning four stars from Common Sense Media and comments from the Manila Bulletin that the story weakens when it diverts from Simon’s plot. Cassandra Clare was born Judith Remelt in 1973. Her books sometimes mention characters contained in Holly Black’s works, and vice versa. The first book of the series was made into a film titled The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones but subsequent films were cancelled following disappointing box office sales. The television series, Shadowhunters, is based on Clare’s books.