Review: City of Bones (The Mortal Instruments #1) by Cassandra Clare

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Title: City of Bones (The Mortal Instruments #1)
Author: Cassandra Clare
Publisher: Walker Books
Genre: Adventure, Young Adult: Paranormal, Young Adult: Fantasy
Format: Paperback
Buy: Amazon | Barnes and Noble | The Book Depository



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. . . .

Exotic and gritty, exhilarating and utterly gripping, Cassandra Clare's ferociously entertaining fantasy takes readers on a wild ride that they will never want to end.

I've been meaning to start reading this series since... umm... 2010. But I didn't feel it when I did pick it up for the first time, and I had to put the book back down. Then finally, two years later, I got the chance to sit still and finish the entire book without falling asleep.

There is a lot of hype about this series and yes, my expectations were pretty high the first time I picked it up. But the second time around, I was passive about it. I didn't really know what I would like about the book. At the moment, I still feel pretty emotionless and neutral to the entire storyline and characters.

Let's start with the beginning. As much as I'd say it was a good start to the book, I felt indifferent to it. It was something I've read in Urban Fantasies or Adult Paranormal Books. In adult paranormal books, they seem to all start with a club scene. I guessed Clare mixed things up to be unique.

When the characters came in, the only thought I had was that Simon is sweet, and Jace is hot, I disliked Isabelle and Clary. Clary because she tends to use Simon ALOT. And Isabelle because her mood swings are intolerable. I'm waiting for the part in the series when I start liking and falling in love with each good character in the story. At the moment, my favorites are Luke and Simon. Jace is just an idiot towards the end.

Now, lets talk about the storyline/plot. As much as I'd like to say that it was awesome, it wasn't to me. I don't know why this book has driven me to be utterly emotionless about it. The storyline kept me turning pages thats for sure. It was like a mixture of predictability and originality. But then it's sometimes not original at all. I guess, Clare put in a WHOLE mixture of everything to confuse us, so we'll just settle on calling the series unique.

Aside from that confusion, the book had a collection of the usual paranormal creatures like, warlocks, shadowhunters (demon hunters), feys, vampires, werewolves, witches, nixies and a whole lot more of creatures of the night that I have yet to understand and read about.

Finally, the ending of the book was disturbing, irritating and it makes me feel so happy that I have the rest of the series waiting to be read on my shelf, so all my doubts and fears can be written out.

Overall, the book was good, page-turning but not as awesome as I thought it would be. I'm not disappointed but simply, apathetic to the whole thing. I'm curious on how the movie will be like. And curious if the rest of the series will manage to make me fall in love with it.