(4) YA Mortal Instruments series. Clary joins Team Evil to be near her beloved Jace, who has been bound in body, will, and soul to Clary's demonic brother Sebastian. If her friends can't divide them, can Clary sacrifice Jace to save the world? More a series of incidents than a full-fledged story, the book's main pleasure is in following the continuing adventures of these familiar characters.

Reviewer: Amy Bennett-Zendzian

(4) YA Mortal Instruments series. Now that Valentine is dead, Shadowhunter Clary and company face a new threat: a demonic cult that's killing human infants. Meanwhile, Jace has violent dreams about hurting Clary, and Simon is having trouble adapting to life as a vampire. The reliance on grandiloquent literary devices and overblown romantic anguish distracts from (and inflates) this otherwise absorbing urban fantasy.

Reviewer: Rachel L. Smith

(4) YA Mortal Instruments series. Demon-fighting teens Clary and Jace, with a large supporting cast of friends and family, climactically defeat their murderous archvillain father. In this exhilarating trilogy ender, Clare relies less on fantasy clichés and hip banter; instead, her characters drive the breakneck story, as does the love between Clary and Jace (who, luckily, aren't really siblings after all!). A scintillating, if bloated, page-turner.

Reviewer: Amy Lee Bennett

(4) YA Mortal Instruments series. The breathless adventures of fledgling demon-fighter Clary, her newfound brother Jace, and their friends continue in another battle with Valentine, the child-murdering archvillain who's also the siblings' father. Self-consciously hip banter and florid clichés sometimes take precedence over fully realized individual characters' voices. Clary and Jace's incestuous attraction is the romantic heart of this glittering urban fantasy.

Reviewer: Amy Lee Bennett

(4) YA Mortal Instruments series. Fifteen-year-old Clary Fray's ordinary life turns upside down when she begins seeing demons, her mother is kidnapped, and Clary is taken in by Shadowhunters, demon-fighters as astonished by her newfound abilities as she is. Despite recycled material and purple prose, the snappy dialogue and striking details in this hip, sprawling urban fantasy keep the convoluted series opener entertaining.

Reviewer: Amy Lee Bennett