Author: Cassandra Clare
Publisher: Margaret K. McElderry Books
Publication Date: 2007
I had been planning to start The Mortal Instruments series for a while now, and I have finally gotten to reading and finishing the first book. I began The Infernal Devices series last year and have yet to read Clockwork Princess, but I finished the other two fairly quickly and fell in love with the world that the books brought me to. So, after reading the series that precedes this one, I felt it necessary to one day read City of Bones. The day has come! I have very little complaints and very many words of praise so lets begin with the review.
To begin with the cover art - it's awesome. I bought my copy of the book from Barnes & Noble and got the paperback version and although I wish I had gotten the hardcover (because my copy got a little beat up) I am still able to enjoy the very captivating cover. It gives you glimpses of the setting and one of our main characters but without blatantly revealing it all - it sparks the imagination just enough. It's a pretty thick book, I will say, and I found it hard to hold while reading sometimes because it wasn't sturdy enough to hold regularly, but it wasn't "bendy" enough to fold over in the usual "paperback book fashion." But oh well, enough about aesthetics, on with the summary/review.
City of Bones introduces us to the world of Shadowhunters - a world I admittedly would love to be a part of. In this book we meet Clarissa "Clary" Fray, who is all of a sudden propelled into this world after coming across Jace Wayland, Isabelle Lightwood, and Alec Lightwood one night in New York City. We learn, as the story goes on that this encounter is not a simple coincidence, but it must've been fate. For, Clary plays a much bigger role in the world of these three young Shadowhunters than she could have ever imagined. I don't want to give much away, and the summary that Cassandra Clare herself wanted to reveal can be found on/in any copy of the book. But let me just say this is the kind of book where I just want to fly through the rest of the series right away and take in all of the information about this storyline as I can. The book offers readers romance, suspense, action, moments where you'll want to be crying and other where you'll be laughing aloud. It truly captivated me and once I got to the third part of the book I found myself putting off reading any further because I wasn't quite ready to finish the story. It sounds silly, but this is definitely one of the books that you will read and get invested in. And it will certainly be a tough time sitting in the movie theaters come August 23 if the movie ruins any parts of this beautifully written piece of literature because there is so much that I feel could be left out even though to me, and probably to many other readers, it's important.
I fell completely in love with Jace Waylan, one of our leading males, while reading this book. And the plot twists with his character's story line left me speechless and wanting more. Although I know the true star of this first book is Clary, Jace just tugged on my heartstrings. But the great thing about this book is that every character stands out - no matter how small. And even chapters ahead I can remember their names and their roles in the events leading up to the current story. That is always important to me when reading a book because I hate having to flip back all of the time to refresh my own memory so that what I am currently reading makes sense. Clare does a good job of writing in a memorable way and really grabbing your attention. She makes her characters understandable but the text isn't so simple that it feels childish or boring at any point. She also did a good job of leaving us with a resolution while leaving some things left unsaid. So, while there was no big cliffhanger & I'm not angry because I feel like I got jipped once I got to the end, I still am so excited just to find out what happens next. I couldn't even bring myself to read the first small portion of Book Two that is included in the back of my copy because I knew if I did read it I would have to go out right away and grab City of Ashes even though I have three books at home waiting to be read next.
You can probably tell how much I enjoyed this book by my rambling on in the previous paragraphs, but the bottom line is: this book is a super enjoyable read and really gets you excited about everything that's in it. I highly recommend reading it - especially before the movie comes out! If you have any specific questions or a question about something I didn't address in this post, feel free to ask and I'll be sure to get back to you! If you've been wondering about this book or if you've been searching for a new book to read, I hope this helped!
Sincerely,
Spenser Lee & Simply Lovely Lit
