Raphael and Simon arrive in Alicante while all the hoo-haa is still going on.  They decide to stand around going “huh, that’s odd” for a little while.

Simon wondered how old he’d been when he’d been Turned. Fourteen? Fifteen? Only a little older than Maureen.

Well now wait one goldurned minute.  How is it that being young when she turned made Maureen brain-friend, but apparently Raphael is in the same boat but perfectly fine?

Or did you just forget that you said that and now you’re reverting back to demon torture as the reason?

Isabelle shows up.

And that’s literally all that happens.

Wow, wasn’t that so riveting?

Over to Magnus, who is sitting at home with Jocelyn and inspecting the silver box that Jonathan left for her.  Magnus is checking it over for booby traps, but while he’s doing that, here, have a hundred-word backstory on the fucking table that they’re sitting at.

Apparently the box is fine and they go back to talking about the London Institute and what magical something or other protected it.  Magnus reveals that it was probably their resident ghost, and probably a shout-out to some character from The Infernal Devices.  Which is all well and good, but this is the fourth or fifth time that they’ve brought up the matter only to say “what could it be?”  And to find out the answer is just an in-joke?  JFC, at least make the reference relevant, not just “yup, that happened.”  That’s a lot of page time building up to what’s essentially a throw-away line.

Really, a throw-away line, because right after that they shrug and move on to talking about the attack at the Preator House. 

You know, this book would actually have a pretty quick plot if people would just stop talking everything to death.  Magnus says he’ll spread Jonathan’s message – “I’ll leave you alone if you don’t bother with the me/Shadowhunter fight.” – at the fairy dinner that they’re all going to, because he doesn’t want to share it with the Shadowhunters themselves.  Not their decision, and Magnus doesn’t have first loyalty to them anyway. 

Jocelyn tries to basically blackmail him into siding with the Shadowhunters anyway.

“The Clave is not forgiving. They are more unforgiving than God himself.”

Yup, and that is totally why Robert was once part of a genocidal group, and all he got was banishment for it, and now even that’s forgotten and he’s one of their high officers.

Then again, the God of the New Testament is pretty forgiving as long as you ask right. So maybe that’s just a meaningless statement instead of a nonsensical one.

Maia wakes up back with her werewolf friends, and they spend yet another few pages talking about the attack on all the werewolves.  Maia is still in shock from Jordan being dead, which is done rather nicely, it’s just…well, personal preference, I guess, I but I dislike “in shock” characters as the POV.  They’re more interesting from the outside because, by definition, they don’t really have much to say in their own heads.

Then we get some new information!  One of the survivors from the Preator attack is saying that he should be the new pack leader instead of Luke.

“And he’s been talking to the others about Luke. Saying that he’s more of a Shadowhunter than a lycanthrope, that he doesn’t have pack loyalty, that the pack needs a new leader now.”

I’d like to take this moment to remind everyone that the first time we ever saw this werewolf pack, it was when Luke decided to wantonly murder the old pack leader so that he could then throw furry bodies  at an army all in a bid to save his girlfriend.  He didn’t have anything to do with them until he needed them to go be cannon fodder.  Absolutely he cares more about Shadowhunters than he does about werewolves.

For some reason, though, Maia is just shocked that anyone is listening to this Rufus guy.

Back with Simon and Isabelle.  They chat idly for a bit, then Isabelle turns mocking his outfit into a silly sort of flirting by pretending to be a damsel in a cheesy romance novel.  It’s cute. 🙂

Simon decided this was a lot like role-playing in D&D, but potentially much more fun.

And then you had to go and ruin it.

Hasn’t Simon already gotten way past this base?  What’s with the “lol, nerds never get laid” jokes?

And has Simon ever actually played D&D in these books?  They keep bringing it up in a slightly mocking tone, but how can you mock someone for something they never do?

Before their sexy times can progress past the perfect awkward moment for someone to walk in…someone walks in.  It’s Alec!  He’s there, first to mock them, then to tell them that the big wigs are opening another portal to get everyone back home.  Jesus, didn’t that happen like 50 pages ago?  That’s not over yet?

Alec also offers up the information that Jace isn’t dead, because he would have felt that through their bond.

Wow, just so fucking informative this section.  I know when I pick up a book, I want to read about people talking about things that I already know which are happening somewhere else to someone else. 

…holy shit, this book is 700 pages of literal gossip.

Simon is confused by the conversation and Alec realizes that Isabelle went straight past informative and on to kissy times, so that probably means she was trying to use Simon to suppress/ignore her own emotional hurt.

I’m really digging Isabelle’s squishy-human-fallible-ness, because it’s surprisingly awesome and well done, but it makes her stick out so hard in a group of people who have only perfectly-dramatic drama.  (Well, Alec’s whole “curiosity about how to kill my boyfriend got the best of me” from last book had its high moments, too.)  The fact that Isabelle is the only one who gets to stick her foot in her mouth like this only serves to highlight how much the author is shielding her pet characters from doing the same.

It’s pretty clear that the book wants everyone to be screwing up like this, it wants everyone to be fallible and drama filled, but for most the characters it can’t manage it.  They aren’t allowed to truly do anything bad, so all of their drama comes from “fate” or assorted other outside sources.  Isabelle is the only one who’s drama is caused and/or heightened by her own actions.  And that’s sort of sad.  (Well, not for me, I like Izzy the best already.)

Then Alec almost faints, and his parabati rune starts smudging.  Dun dun dun.

They run off to the square where all the people have returned, and Alec and Izzy go to the hospital while saying “Shadowhunters Only.”

Simon wanted to say something to him, wanted to say that his best friend had also gone into the battle and was also missing, wanted to say that he understood. But maybe you could only understand parabatai if you were a Shadowhunter.

Mmmm, I’m gonna go ahead and guess that that’s just a copout for why no one has bothered to explain this stupid friendship bond thinking.  “You just aren’t magical enough to understand!”

Raphael shows up to be randomly creepy and ominous, and somehow knows what’s going on because…he’s a plot dispensing tool instead of a character.  Either way, he takes Simon to Clary.

When they get there, Clary is unconscious, pale, and being tended to by Magnus while Jocelyn and Luke stand by.  For some reason, they spend an entire page establishing that she’s okay, she’s just used up too much life force (or whatever).

And then Luke decides this is just the most perfect time ever to tell Simon that Jordan is dead.  He also gives Simon Jordan’s pendant, which Maia said to do…about two scene changes ago.

I’m so confused about time in this book.  If all of this is running roughly concurrently, like Alec’s appearance suggests, then when did Maia have time to tell Magnus to do that?  And hadn’t he already left by the time she woke up?  Or did she actually wake up long before this and the book just didn’t mention it until now?