City of Bones

Title:  City of Bones

Author:  Cassandra Clare

Publisher:  Simon & Schuster

Publish Date:  27 March 2007

Pages: 485

ISBN:  978-1-4169-5507-8

Source:  bought

Genre:  YA, angels, demons, romance

Series:  The Mortal Instruments

Other books in series:  City of Ashes, City of Glass, City of Fallen Angels, City of Lost Souls, City of Heavenly Fire (no set release date)

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.

When Clarissa aka Clary went to the club, Pandemonium, with her best friend, Simon, she never expected her world to change.  She just thought that Simon and she would have a good time.  Then she saw the boy on the dance floor and followed him because she thought there would be trouble.  Little did she know what she was getting herself into.

Clary was thrown into the world of the Shadowhunters.  She met Isabelle, Alec Lightwood and Jace Wayland at the club.  She didn’t believe in this world at first because she couldn’t believe that her mother would hide it from her.  Then her mother ends up missing and it is up to Clary, Simon and the other Shadowhunters to find her.  Why has someone kidnapped her mother?  What are “the Mortal Instruments” and what do they have to do with this book?

After reading The Infernal Devices series by Clare, I jumped right into this series because I was so hooked on the Shadowhunters.   It may seem like this is a re-telling of the same story, but that is not the case.   Infernal Devices was set in the 1800s in London.  The Mortal Instruments is set in today’s time in New York City.  There are different things involved and advances made.  I fell in love with these characters just as much as I did with the characters of The Infernal Devices.  After reading City of Bones, I couldn’t wait to read the rest of the books in the series.

On the cover, you see the skyline of New York City and a picture of a male, Jace Wayland. It shows him shirtless and you can see his rune tattoos.  I like that this says “book one” on the cover.  I cannot tell you how many times I will buy a series of books and then have to look up which order they are in.  This makes it easy.

•Clarissa Fray.  She is the main character of the book.  She is the one who is a Shadowhunter by blood, but it was kept from her.  She shows great strength in this book while she is looking for her mother.  Strange things happen that are beyond her control, but she doesn’t let them get in the way of her goal.

•Jace Wayland.  Since I first read about Jace, he reminded me of Will Herondale because he has the same air to him, and thus I instantly liked him.  I read The Infernal Devices before this series and so, it was kind of backwards in the way that they were written, but time-wise, it was right.  Anyway, Jace.  He is arrogant, self-less and vulnerable – the same characterstics that I recognized in Will.  How could you not like someone like that?  He also is sarcastic and has “bad-boy” written all over him.

•Simon Lewis.  He is Clary’s best friend and has been for a long time. They always have looked out for each other.  This didn’t change when Clary was suddenly thrust into the Shadowhunter world.  Although Simon felt left out at times because he is a “mundane,” he never let Clary down.

•Isabelle Lightwood.  She is the sister of Alec, Max and Jace.  She lives in the Institute with them.  Isabelle is known for liking the bad boys, or the boys that her parents wouldn’t approve of.  You find out a little more about why in the later books, but suffice it to say that she made a habit out of dating downworlders.  She is a spitfire and will help defend those she loves.

•Alec Lightwood.  He is the brother of Isabelle, Max and Jace.  He is also Jace’s parabatai.  He is the more serious one of the group.  He is the oldest and the only one of the “kids” who is legally an adult.  The rest are considered children by Shadowhunter standards, even though most of the books are about them.  At the beginning of the book, he doesn’t like Clary very much.  The rationale for that comes out later.

•Luke Garroway.  This is Clary’s mother’s closest friend.  He is like a step-father to Clary.  There are some moments in the book where you think that he is not a nice person, but overall, I put him in the like category.

 

•Valentine Morgenstern.  You hear about him throughout the book and his connection to the “circle.”  He doesn’t like the Accords and thinks that they should not be written.  The Accords are the agreements made between the Shadowhunters and the Downworlders.