City of Bones by Cassandra Clare
Series: The Mortal Instruments, #1
Published March 27th 2007 by Margaret K. McElderry Books
Genre: Romance, New Adult, Contemporary
485 pages
Format: eBook
Source: Purchased
Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
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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 thin 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 ridding 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 Clary herself is attacked by a demon. But why would demons be interested in ordinary mundanes like Clary and her mother? And how did Clary suddenly get the Sight? The Shadowhunters would like to know…
Review
This series, The Mortal Instruments has been in my TBR since forever but I’ve just read it now, *wink. I remember how popular it was a few years ago especially when the movie was out, which I haven’t watched yet. Then just now, I found out there’s a tv series which I am yet to check out.
Since it’s been a pretty long time since I’ve read the sypnosis and watched the film trailer, I honestly forgot what this book is all about, that’s why I was kind of excited when I started it. Sometimes, it takes me a chapter to know if I will enjoy a story or not. And City of Bones started really well. It’s my first time from Cassandra Clare so I wasn’t sure if I’m going to enjoy this one or not.
Looking at the cover, I really thought it’s NA so I was surprised when the main characters we’re introduced. I usually prefer YA especially when it’s in this genre, so that’s really good….until I came to the love triangle part lol. I don’t usually like triad but there were some that I really enjoyed. For this one, hmmm, I’m not really sure. All I know is that Jace is hot (not hot hot hot though) and Simon is a perfect boyfriend material, so I guess all’s good.
Main Characters:
For Clary, she wasn’t really what I expected. I expected an angsty 16 year old but so far, her character didn’t annoy me at all. And she was actually pretty tough considering her life just changed drastically after she saw the incident in the Pandemonium club involving a demon and three teenagers who call themselves as shadowhunter.
And for Clary’s bff Simon, as I’ve said above, I really adore his character. He’s this dependable friend you can always count on and is kind of funny, really. His most memorable part for me was when he turned into a rat, that was a pain in the ass moment, lol.
And for Jace. Well, I always thought he’s this hot shadowhunter until I came to the revelation part. It’s not really funny but whenever I remember that scene, I just can’t help but suppress a laugh. But overall, I guess he’s a pretty decent kid.
Plot
I honestly don’t fully understand the whole plot yet and I have to say that I’m still digesting what I’ve just read. I don’t find anything about this story that will give a week’s hangover but I still think it’s a decent read, it just didn’t appeal to me that much. I guess it was because of my mood when I read it. You see, I’ve been like a walking zombie this past few days so I guess the reason why I didn’t enjoy this story that much was partly because of that.
In the second half, I already felt the tension as some of the puzzles were slowly back into their proper places. But when they face Valentine, there’s just something off about it. I dunno, I just had this idea that Valentine is like Voldemort in Idris, so I was expecting a really powerful ex-shadowhunter. And ofcourse it didn’t help that Jace was so convinced about his story and then suddenly was on his side. Then a miracle happened and he just came back to his senses. I dunno. It’s just that switching sides wasn’t that convincing for me.
But overall, I still think that City of Bones is a pretty decent read even if I was in such a not-so-good mood when I read it. That said, I’m still planning to read the other books in the series.
Challenges
- 2017 New To Me
- 2017 Mount TBR Reading
- 2017 eBooks Reading
- 2017 You Read How Many Books?
- 2017 Review Writing
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I read and loved this at the time (years ago) but then I got bored with the series and there were so many similar kinds of books that I got burned out.
Yeah, Valentine was a bit of a letdown but I do love Simon.
For What It’s Worth
I’m still not sure when I could proceed with the next book though, but hopefully I will be able to enjoy it.
Simon is definitely a sweetheart 🙂
I hope you enjoy the rest of the books if you decide to continue. I started this series years ago but never finished it or kept up with it.
Yep, I’m hoping too. But I’m not yet sure when I could get on with the next books though hehe
My daughter read this book and loved it so when the movie came out we watched it together and we both loved it. Now we’re both watching the show.
I am planning to watch the movie though, because Lily is so pretty in there and I think she’s a perfect Clary. Not sure with Jace though, but well, let’s see hehe. What can you say about the show Mary, is it good or better than the movie?
I’ve debated if I should read this series or not
I’ve read a lot of positive feedback about this series so maybe you wanna try, especially if you love YA 🙂
I did give the tv series one ep…haha, no
Oh no. It wasn’t that good?
I have this one, I need to try it
I hope you’ll enjoy this one more than I did Melliane 🙂
I hope I’ll enjoy the next installment more. Thanks Geybie. Have a great weekend!
I love his series, my bff who doesn’t read that much is literally obsessed 🙂
Yay! I hope I could feel the same too when I decided to read the next books 🙂
So not bad but not perfect. I have had this series on my tbr pile for so long, too.
Yep, the first book for me is like in the middle but hopefully the next book will be better 🙂
I read this one years ago…and haven’t went any further in the series. I liked it well enough but didn’t love it.
I guess we have the same feeling about the first book Carole. Hopefully it gets better on the next books 🙂
I enjoyed this series. I enjoyed the movie which seemed to flop (I don’t know why though!) and I enjoy the TV series. The books have issues and they can be frustrating but they just work for me… Even when they seem to dive down the proverbial rabbit hole!
I hope they get better for you as you continue reading. 🙂
Haven’t watched the movie yet but I am planning too as well as the TV series. Yes, I’m hoping I’ll enjoy the next installment too. Thank you 🙂