Book Review: City of Bones

When fifteen-year-old Clary Fray heads out to the Pandemonium Club in New York city, she hardly expects to witness a murder - much less a murder committed by three teenagers covered with strange tattoos and brandishing bizarre weapons. then the body disappears into think air. It's hard to call the police when the murderers are invisible to everyone else and when there is nothing - not even a smear of blood - to show that a boy has died. Or was he a boy? This is Clary's first meeting with the Shadowhunters, warriors dedicated to riding the earth of demons. It's also her first encounter with Jace, a Shadowhunter who looks a little like an angel and acts a lot like a jerk. Within twenty-four hours Clary is pulled into Jace's world with a vengeance, when her mother disappears and Claryherself is attacked by a demon. but why would demons be interested in ordinary mundanes like suddenly get the Sight? The Shadowhunters would like to know......

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For those who have NOT read The Mortal Instruments series this review contains spoilers!

Awwww the Mortal Instruments. Before entering the blogosphere I had never even heard of this series. I don't even remember seeing these books at Borders though I probably did and just brushed them off as creepy paranormal stuff. The shirtless guy on the cover wouldn't really help in that respect.... But anyway since everyone seems to love these books so much I decided to give the first one a read. I think this is one of the first, if not THE first, paranormal book I've ever read. Twilight kind of caused me to avoid the paranormal genre like the plague...... That being said I liked The City of Bones. It certainly hasn't made me want to run out and read a million other paranormal books, but it has helped me realize that the genre isn't all romance and sparkling vampires.

I can't help but wonder if everyone loves this series merely for Jace. Everytime I ask someone why the like The Mortal Instruments they say "Well.... Jace is hot!!!" Jace is your classic egotistical blonde. Obsessed with his own looks, but secretly a sad and tormented soul. Ohhh how stereotypical. I'm gonna be honest and say Jace did nothing for me. I didn't find him hot. But I didn't expect to. He's totally not my type. That being said I still found him entertaining. While his character is definitely one I've seen before (think Anakin in Star Wars. :P) I do think that Cassie Clare was able to make Jace unique in his own right. I just loved his sarcastic humor and great one liners about his own good looks. He never failed to crack me up! XD

Sarcasm, sarcasm sarcasm. This seems to be Cassandra Clare's go to dialogue. Nearly every character in City of Bones was hugely sarcastic. At first it worked but then I was just like "Seriously? This is getting really old, really fast...." Jace's sarcasm was the only thing that really worked for me. And sometimes Simon. Everyone else? Ehhhh just TOO MUCH.

The overall story was a bit predictable. Its the classic character who discovers their unexpected past story complete with awkward possible brother/sister romance (*cough* Star Wars *cough*) and a father who turns out to be alive after all but is actually evil (yet again, Star Wars! Maybe Cassie Clare just REALLY likes Star Wars....). I could pretty much see everything coming. Especially the whole "Oh my gosh Jace is your brother! (but not really)" thing. As soon as they revealed Clary had a brother who died I was like "Oh man its going to end up that the brother supposedly survived and its Jace!" and it totally happened! Of course I know they're not really brother and sister since they end up together later in the series but I still felt awkwarded out by the whole Clary/Jace thing. Kissing your supposed sibling? Even if you don't know its your supposed sibling? CREEPY!!!! I'm definitely interested to see how they find out Jace isn't really Clary's brother. I am right in thinking that he isn't really Clary's brother right? Because that would just be beyond disturbing otherwise......

Favorite character? Simon. Yeah he's a little lame, and he spends a lot of the story as a rat but still. Cute best guy friend? YES! Anyone who has read my favorite literary guys post knows that I'm always a sucker for the best guy friend in books. Hehe. >.<

The best part about City of Bones was how kick ass it was. There was tons of action. It seemed that every other page someone was beating the crap out of someone else! LOVED IT! Wow that statement totally makes me sound like some sort of violence loving freak.... That's not it at all! I was just pleasantly surprised that the main focus of the story WASN'T the romance. Like I said before, Twilight kind of misconstrued my idea of all paranormal books. I liked that City of Bones had more diverse subject matter then just love.

City of Bones has proven to me that not all paranormal books are of the Twilight breed. I need to start giving them a chance because some are definitely made of awesome! While I found the story to be a bit predictable and the overuse of sarcasm annoying I still was able to enjoy this book. City of Bones gets 4 out of 5 ice cream cones!

Can't wait to get started on the rest of this series. This book left so many unanswered questions! When will Clary and Jace realize they aren't really related? Will Clary's mom ever wake up? And most importantly, will Simon ever get a girlfriend? XD

5 Words to Describe this Book
Kickass shadowhunters save the world!!!!


Julia :)