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

 City of Bones by Cassandra Clare 

Book 1 in The Mortal Instruments Series 

Publisher: McElderry Books

Release: March 27th 2007

Genre: YA Urban Fantasy

Source: Bought 

Goodreads Summary: 

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.

My Review: 

If I was to describe City of Bones, I would say that it is the lovechild of Harry Potter and Twilight. Why do I say this? Well, I feel that City of Bones could appeal to both the Harry Potter and Twilight fandoms. Harry Potter fans would love to read City of Bones because like Harry Potter, City of Bones has intricate world-building. Twilight fans would love to read City of Bones because it has the complex-love-triangle-romance dynamic that so characteristically defines Twilight. In addition, City of Bones has a lot of paranormal and fantasy elements. Within this book you will find vampires, werewolves, pixies, magical elements and newly created creatures, lands, and groups of people who live in a secret world totally unknown to humans (whom Cassie Clare has dubbed 'mundanes')


What I liked about City of Bones was learning about this whole  new world Cassie Clare has beautifully created where you have shadowhunters (humans who hunt demons and have angel blood in their veins) and downworlders (who are hybrids of humans and demons and include: werewolves, vampires, faries, warlocks etc). Clary the main character, suddenly finds herself being a part of this world by a series of events which change her life forever. Clary is a likeable main character. She is clever, artistic, and strong willed. She also has a secret past that not even she is aware of and it was great to go along with her on her journey to discovering who she truly is.


The best thing about City of Bones are the secondary characters. They are all very well developed and all have very unique personalities. For instance, you have Jace Wayland, a shadowhunter teenager, who is so sarcastic and funny. He's your typical bad boy but he insists on doing the right thing. You also have Simon, who is Clary's best friend and he is just a delight to read. He is so witty and smart. Loved him. Magnus the warlock - oh there are no words. He is so awesome. He has so much personality and so much fun to read. Also, the villain in this book is just wow - there are no words for how evil and twisted he is. And those are just a list of some of the characters. There's much more and they are all very unique and fun to read.

City of Bones is really action packed which I loved. You also have a complicated love triangle and Cassie Clare throws such a big twist towards the end of the book. And, I was not expecting it at ALL. I felt like I got book smacked when I read it. Way to surprise us Cassie. Such a huge cliffhanger, can't wait to see what happens in the rest of the series. Overall, you can't go wrong with this book. Its a a great read. 


And what I loved the most in City of Bones, I have to say, is Cassie Clare's word usage. She just uses the most interesting words I have to admit that I had a dictionary next to me the whole time while I was reading this book. That never happened to me even in college, and I read some tough stuff in college (Anyone up for reading a Saskia Sassen essay? Yea I wouldn't like to be in that spot again either). But yea I kinda loved the word usage of Cassie Clare. I learned a bunch of words I have never heard of in my life before. I was kinda always looking forward to the next cool word Cassie would use. And that may be a geeky confession but I like to keep it real. So there you go :D


Rating: 4/5