The Mortal Instruments Book 4 City of Fallen Angels

The Mortal Instruments Book 4 City of Fallen Angels

Love, blood, betrayal and revenge - the stakes are higher than ever in the fourth book in the bestselling Mortal Instruments sequence.

Simon Lewis is having some trouble adjusting to his new life as a vampire, especially now that he hardly sees his best friend Clary, who is caught up in training to be a Shadowhunter - and spending time with her new boyfriend, Jace. Simon decides he needs a break and heads out of the city - only to discover that sinister events are following him. Realising that the war they thought they'd won might not yet be over, Simon has to call on his Shadowhunter friends to save the day - if they can put their own splintering relationships on hold long enough to rise to the challenge.

Cassandra Clare spent much of her childhood travelling the world with her family. She lived in Iran (where she was born), France, England and Switzerland before she was ten years old. Since her family moved around so much, she found familiarity in books and went everywhere with a book under her arm.

After her school and university years in the US, Cassie lived in Los Angeles and New York where she worked at various entertainment magazines and even some rather suspect tabloids where she reported on Brad and Angelina's world travels and Britney Spears' wardrobe malfunctions. She started working on her YA novel, City of Bones, in 2004, inspired by the urban landscape of Manhattan, her favourite city. She turned to writing fantasy fiction full-time in 2006 and hopes never to have to write about Paris Hilton again.

Cassie's first professional writing sale was a short story called The Girl's Guide to Defeating the Dark Lord in a Baen anthology of humour fantasy. Now residing in Boston, Cassie hates working at home alone because she always gets distracted by reality TV shows and the antics of her two cats, so she usually sets out to write in local coffee shops and restaurants. She likes to work in the company of her friends, who see that she sticks to her deadlines.

City of Bones was her first novel that started the internationally bestselling series The Mortal Instruments which continues with the longawaited, worldwide release on April 2011 of Book 4: City of Fallen Angels. Cassandra has also recently penned another series, The Infernal Devices, which is a prequel to The Mortal Instruments, this time set in Victorian England, starting withBook 1: Clockwork Angel.

The Mortal Instruments Book 4: City of Fallen Angels
Walker Books
Author: Cassandra Clare
ISBN: 9781406328660
Price: $27.95

Interview with Cassandra Clare

Question: How has the popularity of The Mortal Instruments changed your life as a writer?

Cassandra Clare: Well, it changed my life because now this is my job - I can write full-time! It allowed me to quit a job I didn't really enjoy and dedicate myself to what I am passionate about. It also means I get to meet the writers I've admired all my life and talk to them as a colleague, although I still get starstruck.


Question: What originally inspired you to begin writing the The Mortal Instruments series?

Cassandra Clare: I was in a tattoo shop in the East Village with a friend who was trying to convince me to get a tattoo. I didn't wind up getting one, but I did get the idea for a secret world of demon hunters whose magic system was based on tattoos. From that, I developed the world and the story.


Question: Who is your favourite character in The Mortal Instruments series?

Cassandra Clare: Well, I don't really have favorites, but Simon is the most like me, and Magnus is the most fun to write.


Question: How does the City of Fallen Angels differ from the other three books in The Mortal Instruments series?

Cassandra Clare: It's darker. The other books were a great deal about these teens coping with an exterior threat, and this book is a lot more about the threats that come from within: our weaknesses, our temptations, our fears. Not to say there isn't a devious villain with a terrible plan of course, that comes with the territory!


Question: What advice do you have for aspiring writers?

Cassandra Clare: Read. Try to read 60-70 books a year. Read outside the genres you like. Experiment with other genres, other types of books. I get emails all the time from people who say they don't like to read, but they want to learn how to write. But we learn by example. You have to do the first to learn the second.


Interview by Brooke Hunter