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Hallie's review

City of Bones (Mortal Instruments, Book 1)
by Cassandra Clare

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<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/256683.City_of_Bones?utm_medium=api&amp;utm_source=blog_review" style="float: left; padding-right: 20px"><img alt="City of Bones (Mortal Instruments, Book 1)" border="0" src="http://s3.amazonaws.com/photo.goodreads.com/books/1173203910m/256683.jpg" /></a> <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/256683.City_of_Bones?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_review">City of Bones</a> by <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/150038.Cassandra_Clare">Cassandra Clare</a> 
 <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/21766400?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_review"><h3>My review</h3></a>
 rating: 4 of 5 stars I'd probably be happier if I could qualify those four stars as 'really enjoyed it', or 'maybe it was the right time and I might be more critical another (or had I not sort of been reading A Great and Terrible Beauty at the same time, as that makes a lot of things look better'... But anyway, I did enjoy it! I'd heard all the stuff about Claire/Clare, though I'd never read any of her fanfic, but was convinced to try the book myself when Sherwood Smith highly recommended the sequel, City of Ashes, which she said is even better. It's quite likely that my lack of fanfic reading helped me enjoy this, judging by some of the reviews from people who read a ton of it.
 
 But really, for me, the combination of a complex urban fantasy setting, enough angst (Oh, poor --! Oh no - now poor --!) without a killing overload, and a good dollop of humour, kept me reading very happily. I liked the fascistic bad guy too. I mean, I didn't like him, but thought he was a convincing baddie. Clary might have been a bit dim sometimes, but things were nicely enough mixed up between her not seeing the big twist the reader saw coming a long way away, her not seeing for a reason that hadn't been obvious but made perfect sense, and the reader sometimes getting it wrong too, that it remained interesting. (And when I think of some of the teen heroines of urban fantasy ...! Did I hear someone say Bella??) There were a few minor plot-holes left in all the twists and turns, but nothing outrageous. And I will definitely be reading the sequel soon.
 <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/list/1145657?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_review">View all my reviews.</a>

Hallie's review
rating:
bookshelves: fantasy, ya

I'd probably be happier if I could qualify those four stars as 'really enjoyed it', or 'maybe it was the right time and I might be more critical another (or had I not sort of been reading A Great and Terrible Beauty at the same time, as that makes a lot of things look better'... But anyway, I did enjoy it! I'd heard all the stuff about Claire/Clare, though I'd never read any of her fanfic, but was convinced to try the book myself when Sherwood Smith highly recommended the sequel, City of Ashes, which she said is even better. It's quite likely that my lack of fanfic reading helped me enjoy this, judging by some of the reviews from people who read a ton of it.

But really, for me, the combination of a complex urban fantasy setting, enough angst (Oh, poor --! Oh no - now poor --!) without a killing overload, and a good dollop of humour, kept me reading very happily. I liked the fascistic bad guy too. I mean, I didn't like him, but thought he was a convincing baddie. ...more

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message 1: by Hirondelle

05/07/2008 04:57AM

Oh, I meant to ask what CoB were you reading. I heard of this one, but the amazon reviews of this one ( while a lot of fun) did not make it sound quite like my thing. I am curious of your opinion!