City of Bones (The Mortal Instruments, #1) in Around the World in 80 Books

Sep 04, 2014 Pam rated it really liked it

Shelves: ya-fiction

AUTHOR: CLARE, Cassandra
TITLE: CITY OF BONES
DATE READ: 08/29/14
RATING: 4/B
GENRE/PUB DATE/PUBLISHER/# OF PGS YA/2007/Margaret K. McElderry Books/485 pgs
SERIES/STAND-ALONE: #1 in series
TIME/PLACE: Present/NY
CHARACTERS: Clary Fray/ teenager; Simon her friend and a band of Shadowhunters including Jace, Isabelle, Alec
FIRST LINES: "You've got to be kidding me," the bouncer said, folding his arms across his massive chest. He stared down at the boy in the red zip-up jacket and shook his shaved head.
AUTHOR: CLARE, Cassandra
TITLE: CITY OF BONES
DATE READ: 08/29/14
RATING: 4/B
GENRE/PUB DATE/PUBLISHER/# OF PGS YA/2007/Margaret K. McElderry Books/485 pgs
SERIES/STAND-ALONE: #1 in series
TIME/PLACE: Present/NY
CHARACTERS: Clary Fray/ teenager; Simon her friend and a band of Shadowhunters including Jace, Isabelle, Alec
FIRST LINES: "You've got to be kidding me," the bouncer said, folding his arms across his massive chest. He stared down at the boy in the red zip-up jacket and shook his shaved head.
COMMENTS: I chose this book for several reasons … one I had started it a few times & it just never had the time for it. I saw this listed in a group of YA books classified as Dystopian & thought this was my chance to read it. LOL After reading it my first response is this is not dystopian & why did someone list it as such… oh well. I guess there are so many YA books out right now reflecting the bleakness of the times -- ergo, Dystopian fiction -- that sometimes they are just all jumbled together. In a dystopian novel there is a sense of hopelessness & negativity and overbearing control, loss of individualism, freedom etc. (at least that is the way I see it). I think w/ Urban Fantasy -- there is a belief in a rightness/ justice and a sense of order where Good can overcome Bad. Thus… the Shadowhunters in this book are the warriors fighting the demons w/ a sense that they will w/o a doubt have battles and losses but WILL overcome! This book is the 1st in a series and there are prequels and sequels -- I think I will be going on. I liked the characters, the plotting was imaginative and didn't feel I was in a totally strange world -- that is when I do not like the fantasy books when I feel that disconnect and I am thrown into too strange of another world -- at least here there are very familiar aspects being in NY, etc altho' there are parts that are other-worldly -- this is fine for me as long as the whole thing isn't entirely fabricated. I suppose it shouldn't make a difference but I guess I just need something that I can connect to as a reference to really get my reading rhythm flowing.
In this first book of the The Mortal Instruments we are introduced to Clary Fray an average teenaged girl living w/ her Mom in Brooklyn. She goes to a club, Pandemonium, and starts seeing things/people that mere mortals/mundanes cannot see. She is not aware of anything different about her until now. She is unaware that her mother has hidden from her the true beginnings of her life -- she grew up on Idris -- a world between worlds -- invisible to the mundanes. A world inhabited by Shadowhunters who rid the world of the demons -- werewolves & vampires are not demons but not a mundane being either and one that usually can be used as an ally w/ the Shadowhunters. The mortal instruments consist of a cup, a sword and mirror -- these were tools given by an angel to the order of nephillium (Shadowhunters) to use as tools to make the world right from demons. As this story goes… the focus is on the search for the Mortal Cup. And quite an entertaining and clever romp it is to find the cup. Clary begins to recognize qualities in her that set her apart from the mundane but her mind has been "controlled" and there are certain things blocked off to her that she has no memory of. Her mother wanted to make sure when she departed from Idris pregnant w/ Clary that Clary would grow up mundane and not have to know about the world of demons, etc. However, when Clary's mother is kidnapped…that all changes and Clary has to connect to her true self (nephillium) in order to rescue her mother.
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Jul 24, 2013 Laura (booksnob) rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: 2013, young-adult, books-into-film

In case you have been living under a rock and didn't know it yet, the first book in the Mortal Instruments series, City of Bones, is a new film expected to be released in August. Knowing this information for about a year, I decided, as I often do, that I needed to read the book first before I saw the movie. So I received this book for Christmas from a fellow book blogger and finally read it last month. Phew! There are five books in the series, which is a huge commitment I believe I am planning t In case you have been living under a rock and didn't know it yet, the first book in the Mortal Instruments series, City of Bones, is a new film expected to be released in August. Knowing this information for about a year, I decided, as I often do, that I needed to read the book first before I saw the movie. So I received this book for Christmas from a fellow book blogger and finally read it last month. Phew! There are five books in the series, which is a huge commitment I believe I am planning to make. Oh boy!

Clary and her best friend Simon go clubbing one night at a place called Pandemonium and Clary witnesses a murder. Not just any ordinary murder, but one involving vampires and tattooed shadow hunters and she wonders why she can see them and Simon cannot. When she gets home late at night, shaken to her core, her mom plans to ground her for the rest of her life. Except Clary and her mom get into a big fight and the next thing you know her mom calls her on her cell phone, sounding panicked and breathless, and makes Clary promise never to come home. Clary's mom doesn't answer her phone when she calls her back and she fears something horrible has happened to her.

So of course Clary goes home by herself to try and locate her mom. Her apartment is in disarray and a huge demonic bug looking creature tries to eat her for dinner. Basically she kills the monster size bug demon by herself. Girl Power! But the demon has injected her with his venom and now she is getting very sleepy. Luckily she ran into Jace, the shadow hunter she met the night before, and he rescues her before she perishes and whisks her away to "the Institute". This all happens in the first four chapters!!

City of Bones is an action packed adventure and a page turning fast read. It is melodramatic, and fantastical and just plain fun to read. Cassandra Clare is a writer who knows who to keep the reader turning the pages and guessing as to what is really going on. There was a few times I exclaimed, WHAT?! She didn't!, etc. I tried to predict what was going to happen and was unable to. To me, that is one sign of a good writer.

Cassandra Clare has created a unique fantasy world within our own, a sort of shadow world that only some people can see. Everyone else, basic human types, are called Mundanes. The main character, Clary, straddles both of these worlds. What is cool about this shadow world is it contains multiple types of fantastical beings in it like werewolves, vampires, fairies, demons, including a whole new set of creatures you will want to learn more about like shadow hunters. Very creative fantasy world.

I have to say I really enjoyed this book, and will probably continue reading the series. I predict the world to go, goo goo, ga ga, over these new movies being produced.
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May 12, 2017 Jen Pratt rated it liked it

This is a pretty interesting introduction into a world with vampires, demons, fairies and other magical creatures living amidst the humans who are mostly unaware. I intend to keep reading the series.

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Jul 10, 2013 Samantha rated it really liked it · review of another edition

I rather enjoyed this. Supernatural monsters, angels and demons and a funky bunch of teenagers out there, fighting the bad. In a world full of bad, sloppily written paranormal YA, this stands out as something better.

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Jan 18, 2017 Grace rated it it was ok

Pros: Fast paced. The story was engaging. I have to give the author credit for interesting plot twists.

Cons: Fast paced. The characters were not particularly likeable. One of the plot twists was kinda gross, so it's almost predictable that it will twist again in future books.

I read The Infernal Devices first (written after this book) and it is nice to see that the author's writing improves with experience. ...more

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