Book Review – City of Bones by Cassandra Clare

City of Bones is the first book in The Mortal Instruments written by Cassandra Clare. While this may not have been one of my favorite books, I was still able to enjoy some parts in this story. And having said that, I’m still open to try the other books in the series as I believe (and hope) that it will get better on the next installment.

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
Buy: Book Depository, Amazon
Find on Goodreads

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 too.

Since it’s been a pretty long time since I’ve read the sypnosis and watch 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 good. 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 surprise 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 are ofcourse some that I enjoy. For this one, hmmm, I’m 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 (super saisan 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 changes drastically after she saw the incident in the Pandemonium club involving a demon and three teenagers who calls 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 think 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.

On the second half, I felt the tension as some of the puzzle were slowly back into their proper places. But when they faced 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 happen and he just came back to his senses. I dunno. It’s just that the 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

Other Books In The Series

Movie Trailer

Preview & About The Author

Cassandra Clare was born overseas and spent her early years traveling around the world with her family and several trunks of fantasy books. Cassandra worked for several years as an entertainment journalist for the Hollywood Reporter before turning her attention to fiction. She is the author of City of Bones, the first book in the Mortal Instruments trilogy and a New York Times bestseller. Cassandra lives with her fiance and their two cats in Massachusetts.

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