Title: City of Bones
Author: Cassandra Clare
Series: The Mortal Instruments
Pages: 453
Publisher: Margaret K. McElderry Books
Synopsis: A young girl named Clary, discovers that the world she has always known isn’t as simple as it seems. After going to a night club where she witnesses a murder by a group of teenagers that only she can see, Clary gets thrown into a world of demons and demon hunters that call themselves “Shadowhunters”. She would like nothing more than to go back to her perfect world before demons. But, when her mother gets kidnapped and a demon is sent to attack Clary, she has no choice but to seek help from the kids that she saw at the night club. Within a 24 hour period Clary, is sucked into the shadowhunters world, befriending the 3 teenagers Jace, Isabelle and Alec and discovering that she may just have more in common with them than she thinks.
Review: I have read this book twice, I have very mixed feelings on this book. This is the first book in a series so, it was a little slow as it through out a lot information at the reader regarding the characters, and the back story of the world building that Cassandra Clare does.
Clary, our main character I found to be a little whinny and annoying throughout the novel, least to say she wasn’t my favorite character and I had a hard time connecting with her. She seemed a little clueless and lost even with the most trivial things.The characters are phenomenal, they really make the world of the shadowhunters come alive. Jace, is witty and has a hard shell exterior about him, but throughout the novel it makes you wonder if someone or something will break him. He is a strong warrior as well.
Alec and Isabelle were great and interesting background characters in the novel. They really tied in all the lose ends that revolved around Clary and Jace. It was great and entertaining to witness the teamwork that Alec, Isabelle and Jace have together and the compassion they share for one another.
My favorite character was Simon, who is Clary’s best friend. I loved him because I could totally see my self being friends with him and through out the novel I would just get giggly with how funny and such a boy next door feel he gave me.
Within the good guys there were the bad guys, our main antagonist Valentine, was purely and evil genius. He wanted to steal the mortal cup in order to make more shadowhunters. He was such a perfect evil character because he truly believes in the cause that he is trying to succeed in. There is a lot of mystery surrounding him and he has the power to connect all the characters together. I thought that his character was very well written.
Overall, I gave this book a 4/5 stars as it captivated my attention, and connected to most of the characters. It had me rooting at the edge of the seat. Be prepared that it is a little slow at the beginning as it is filling you in on the world that the reader is about to enter.
marinainw0nderland 