It's finally here!! City of Heavenly Fire is out in the world and I for one can not wait to read it. It will be a bitter sweet read. One of my all time favorite series is coming to an end. *sniff, sniff* And, with this ending, I know from past reading experiences with Cassie's books, that this ending will be bitters sweet, as not every character will make it. I'm looking forward to finding out what happens with Jace & Clary, and each of the other characters I've come to love.
Recently I asked Cassie a few questions about the series and City of Heavenly Fire. Before I share her answers, here is a little bit about City of Heavenly Fire.
By: Cassandra Clare
Published by: Margaret McElderry Books
Released on: TODAY (May 27, 2014)
Series: The Mortal Instruments #6
Purchase from: Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Books of Wonder
Add it Goodreads
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. 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?
Gah, lives will be lost and love sacrificed. I am just going to pretend that this series has a Disney fairytale like ending, and everyone goes off into the sunset happily ever after.
Well, I’m more prepared for the end than anyone else, because it’s something I’ve been working towards for years. Endings are always bittersweet, but I’ve worked hard to give these characters a resolution that’s worthy of them, so it’s also exciting to send them off into the rest of their lives. I guess I feel a bit like a parent sending a child off to college. “Okay, I’ve done what I can, hopefully you’re ready for the world now.”
There are so many fabulous characters in TMI series. I've enjoyed seeing how each of them has grown and changed. Through out the entire series, which character or characters surprised you the most in regards to the changes and choices they made from the first draft, to the end of the published copy of City of Heavenly Fire?
Certainly Magnus, since he was initially supposed to be a minor character. He had other ideas about that! I think every character does a few zigs and zags from my initial plans for them. I would say that what goes on with Simon in CoHf and the choices he makes take him extremely far away from the way he was first introduced, as this very boyish, sincere, innocent character who exemplified what it meant to be human in this treacherous supernatural world. He’s really been through the fire.
I'm asking you these questions prior to City of Heavenly Fire's release, so I've not read the book yet, but I have to know, what's a favorite line or scene from the book that you can share with us?
There’s a bit on page 515 of my copy, where Jace and Alec are interacting. I wanted to do some work to explore what it means to them to be parabatai when they’ve both changed so much since the beginning of the books. And Alec says “Thank you for seeing me.” I liked that, because to me that’s what most important fictional relationships, whether they are romantic or platonic, are about. We all want someone who sees us.
Let's talk about the ending. Is the end of City of Heavenly Fire, the conclusion you always knew would happen for The Mortal Instruments series/characters, or did the end change through out the course of writing CoHF?
It’s the ending I planned when I outlined the final three books. Initially I had a different idea how I was going to spin off the story after City of Glass, but when I realized it was essentially going to be a second trilogy, I outlined it very sharply because I intended to braid it into the story of the Infernal Devices. And for that I had to be very careful! The endings had to work together thematically, and also temporally — the epilogue of Clockwork Princess actually takes place during the events of City of Heavenly Fire. Reading The Mortal Instruments had to reward readers of The Infernal Devices but also not punish those who hadn’t read it! So I hope it does both, and I do think the ending of CoFA is the right ending for the series — it’s certainly the ending that was always planned.
Clary will always have a special place in my favorite fictional character heart. She was one of the first YA heroines I read and fell in love with. How would you describe the Clary we first meet in City of Bones, to the Clary we see in City of Heavenly Fire?
I love how Clary evolves. When I set out to write TMI, I wanted to write an epic hero narrative where the hero is a girl, and a relatively ordinary-seeming girl at that. The series is structured on the hero’s journey to the Underworld — the theme of the first book is descent, the theme of the second is hell or the underworld, and the third book’s theme is ascent or heaven. As for the second trilogy, the themes are temptation ("Fallen Angels"); the fall ("Lost Souls"); and redemption ("Heavenly Fire."). The Clary we meet in City of Bones is mostly concerned with her day-to-day life: her art, her relationships with Jocelyn and Luke and Simon. The Clary we meet in City of Heavenly Fire is a warrior. She knows what she needs to do, and she’s prepared to go to great lengths and make sacrifices in order to do it. But one thing both of them share is that neither of them accepts failure. They’re both determined to fight, against any odds.
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Check out where you can find Cassie this week!
About Cassie
Cassandra Clare was born to American parents in Teheran, Iran and spent much of her childhood travelling the world with her family, including one trek through the Himalayas as a toddler where she spent a month living in her father’s backpack. She lived in 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. She spent her high school years in Los Angeles where she used to write stories to amuse her classmates, including an epic novel called “The Beautiful Cassandra” based on a Jane Austen short story of the same name (and which later inspired her current pen name).
After college, 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 humor fantasy. 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.
You can find me online at her Website | Twitter | Tumblr | Facebook
You can find Cassie at the following places this week (US Tour stops):
Wellesley, MA
When: May 27 @ 7 PM
Where: Wellesley Middle School
50 Kingsburg Street
Get more info HERE
West Chester, PA
When: May 30 @ 6:30 PM
Where: Stetson Middle School
1060 Wilmington Pike
West Chester, PA 19382
1060 Wilmington Pike
West Chester, PA 19382
Get more info HERE
Cassie will be signing at BEA on SATURDAY from 10-11 am at Table 1 in the Author Signing Area. Stop by! I'll see you there ;)
She'll also be signing with Holly Black on Saturday from 11:30-12:30 at table 3 in the Author Signing Area.
The Giveaway
Thank you to Simon & Schuster, I've got a SIGNED copy of City of Heavenly Fire and a Shadowhunter hoodie to giveaway to 1 lucky winner! To enter, please fill out the form below *US residents only
Good luck!