City of Fallen Angels [4th book of Mortal Instruments Series]

The Review City of Fallen Angels is the fourth novel in the popular Mortal Instruments young adult urban fantasy series by Cassandra Clare. This is a fairly complex fantasy series so it’s really necessary to have read the previous books in the series before starting this one. The Mortal Instruments books follow the adventures of Clary a teenaged girl from New York who discovers that a supernatural world exists and she is a part of it. Along the way it is revealed that her mother is a shadowhunter, her to-be step-father a werewolf and her best friend Simon (a nice normal Jewish boy) gets turned into a vampire. Clary met Jace and fell instantly in love with him, only he turned out to be her long-lost brother – and then he wasn’t – so it all turned out okay in the end! It’s safe to say there has been no shortage of excitement or drama in the series so far. The storyline in City of Fallen Angels take place a few weeks after the events in book three, City of Glass. City of Glass had a grand finale. All secrets were finally revealed. The bad guys were slain. The world was saved. That book felt like the end of the series and I liked it. There were some questions left about Simon, such as how would he cope with being a vampire in the long term but for the most part everything was fairly well wrapped up. So what ground is left to cover City of Fallen Angels? Well, sadly, nothing new. Instead of focusing on a new plot line and maybe a new romance for secondary characters, the author drags out more of the same tired issues that readers saw resolved in City of Glass. Clary and Jace are together but the happy couple aren’t happy. Jace is withdrawn and Clary is anguished. Oh no, they can’t be together even though they love each other soooooo much. In the previous books this plotline worked because Clary and Jace’s forbidden love (they thought they were brother and sister) gave a huge amount of soap-opera style drama to the story. In City of Fallen Angels it feels like the author decided that Clary and Jace’s relationship angst worked so well for the first three books that it would serve as the plotline for this book too – but unfortunately she forgot to supply a real, solid, reason for them not to be happy. She also lazily recycled the previously vanquished (dead) villain – why couldn’t we have a new bad guy? To me the problem with City of Fallen Angles was that the Mortal Instruments series was originally planned to be a trilogy – a story of three parts – but like all popular fantasy books that sell well the author was soon contracted for further instalments. I love the Mortal Instruments world, its characters and its stories – so this should be a cause for celebration but (as with a lot of the fantasy series that I have enjoyed over the years… Laurell K. Hamilton, Christine Feehan etc.) I’m fast coming to the conclusion that you can have too much of a good thing. If an author has nothing new to add to the story then maybe they should decline the offer to write more. City of Fallen Angels is one of the most tedious books I’ve read in a long while. No real drama. Tired recycled plotlines and villains. Frankly this book is just dull – disappointingly so when you consider how much better the author can usually write. At times I could have easily given up on finishing City of Fallen Angels altogether but I stuck with it for Simon. Somehow I’m sure that there is a fascinating story in here somewhere about a sweet and nerdy vegetarian Jewish boy who got unexpectedly turned into a vampire, then cursed with the freaky power to literally bring the wrath of God down upon those who would harm him. To my way of thinking this would make a much better story than “Clary and Jace love each other but can’t be together, part 2.” In summing-up, City of Fallen Angels is for completists only… who will probably read it with fingers crossed that this series gets better next instalment.

Blogging My Journey

Learning with technology...
[PROJECT BASED-LEARNING]

At first the whole model of PBL (Project Based-Learning) was quite vague to me,

I was nearly asked myself

like what it was all about, but as the discussion went on,

I was able to have the knowledge about the concept of Project Based- Learning,

I discovered that as a future teacher,

I should know how to employ the Project Based Learning as an approach to each student,

so as to fill the gap, for the understanding in the development of their 21st century skills.

Assigning projects to students would be a great help in developing their 21st century skills,

because Primarily PBL (Project Based-Learning) is oriented in student-centred view including;

that knowledge is constructed by students and that the teacher is a facilitator

rather than a presenter of information. I can meet the development of their 21st century

skills in assigning projects, because it includes certain strategies to keep all students

without the needs of their various learning styles. They will be able to improve these tenets

such as:

-the reliance on active rather than passive learning,

-an emphasis on deep learning and understanding,

-increased responsibility and accountability on the part of the student,

-an increased sense of autonomy in each student

-an interdependence between teacher and learner,

-mutual respect within the learner teacher relationship,

(on the situation where in the teacher gives the guide for their project)

-and a reflexive approach to the teaching and learning process on the part of both teacher and learner.

The use of project will be a good springboard for the teacher

in the enhancement of the learning of students. Because in projects,

they are called upon by the teacher to make many decisions for the

betterment of the project, to work collaboratively as expected,

to take initiative when needed, to make public presentations, and in

many circumstances, to have their own knowledge. Of course, at first this would

be a challenge for the students, some of them may find it very difficult,

but in the latter part of creating the project, most of them will find

the project work very interesting, because it is meaningful,

relevant to their lives. Thus, they will be more motivated, perform better

and the new learning will remain in their lives.

At the end I find the whole concept of Project Based Learning

in action was interesting.