City of Bones by Cassandra Clare ★★★☆☆

I have already purchased the next books in the series.

Fiction – YA - Urban Fantasy

Reading Level: Ages 14-up   Grade 8 Up
485 pages

Publication Date:  2007

The Mortal Instruments #1

Literary Awards: South Carolina Book Award Nominee for Young Adult Book Award (2010), ALA Teens' Top Ten (2008), Georgia Peach Honor Book Award (2009), Abraham Lincoln Award (2010)

Clary Fray and her friend Simon are out on a typical night in New York City when Clary observers a bizarre trio of tattooed teenagers carrying unusual weapons.  Following them while Simon gets some help Clary witnesses a murder, but when the body disappears and no one else, including Simon, can even see the tattooed teenagers right in front of them who would ever believe her. 

Soon Clary wishes that her biggest problem was being crazy.  The tattooed teenagers are warriors known as Shadowhunters and she soon learns way more about their world than she ever wanted.  With the disappearance of her mother and an attack against her by a real live demon, Clary has no choice but to delve into the mysteries that are supposed to be held secret from “mundanes” like her in order to locate her mother and find out why she can see what is supposed to be hidden.

I read and finished this book on a rare day of complete freedom with no kids, no responsibilities, no need to do anything or be anywhere – it’s been a long time since I could indulge in that sort of luxury so trust when I say it was blissful.  Beyond the day off I treated myself to a brand new virgin addition of this book.  Gently opening the book so as to not put undue stress on the spine I breathed in the smell of new book and turned the fresh, crisp unsoiled pages of clear not yet blurred text.  With the lovely anticipation of a new world to discover, I felt excited and yet at peace as I made myself comfortable and dove in.  Like I said bliss!  So, as you can see, my state of mind was very bent toward savoring and appreciating this book even before I started.

The title has always been very intriguing to me and with all of the hype of the movie coming out I decided it was time try it out- though I have to say the title only applied to a small portion of the book.  The premise of a race of superhumans protecting the rest of us from a demon incursion was very interesting with a lot of potential for the future.  The mythology was creative, though, doled out to the reader in long bits of explanation, but if you are used to the genre you won’t think twice about it.  The execution, however, did leave a bit to be desire.  I found the beginning really awkward and a bit off putting.  Some of the writing really could have been smoothed out a little more with some help from the editors.  The action did make up for shortcomings some.  But again, like with her Infernal Devices Series, I felt the character development and action weren’t very well balanced. Eventually, I got past the rough beginning and then the story trotted along at a very nice pace with only few other places of awkwardness to slow it down.

The characters were a rather mixed bag.  I liked Simon and found him very lovely; his feelings for Clary seemed very natural and I also got why she had never really considered him before.  At the beginning I wasn’t particularly thrilled with Clary; it took a while for her to grow on me and to be honest I can’t quite pinpoint when I started to like her.  Jace was arrogant and not very likable and I really couldn’t connect to his feelings when he encountered Valentine which really injured the climax.  I did like the interplay between Jace and Clary and found their chemistry compelling and was dismayed at the obstacles thrown in their way even at the cost of Simon’s happiness.  Luke was the character I found the most comfortable, in the sense he seemed very fleshed out and well-constructed, his back story was provocative and his actions reasonable.

Like I said before the climax was a little disappointing and there was a very little resolution to the story.  I am okay with how little resolution there was only because the next four are already out and in my possession as a result of book-buying-fever.

Not a master piece, but overall I did like reading it enough to purchase the rest.  Hopefully the flaws will be ironed out some in the next one.

ISBN-10: 9781416955078