Finally this series is getting a bit more dark. There’s a hell of a lot going on in this book, and thankfully we seem to not be solely focusing on Clary and her endless teenage moping.

In fact, we spend much of the first part of the book focused on Simon. He’d just about got to grips with the fact that he was a vampire, when Clary gave him the Mark of Cain to save his life during the big battle in the last book. But this Mark has consequences that neither Clary or Simon considered. And although Simon is now pretty much invincible since anyone who tries to harm him has the punishment inflicted sevenfold, it has drawn interest from some unwanted parties.

Now it wouldn’t seem like the same series if we didn’t have some Clary/Jace shenanigans going on, and in this book, Jace seems to be pushing Clary away for reasons that she can’t fathom. And every time she thinks she’s getting closer to him, he withdraws further into himself. We are shown Jace having nightmares, and they take a sinister turn when it turns out that he’s being posessed by a greater demon, determined to use Clary to get at Jace in any way that she can. Way darker and more twisted than the previous three books, and much more exciting!

The book makes you think quite deeply about death and mortality and relationships, and did seem a lot more thoughtfully written than the start of the series. It ends on a massive cliffhanger, leaving me yearning for more. In fact, as soon as I finish writing this, I’ll be picking up the next book and digging straight in, I just can’t wait to see what happens!