Publisher: Margaret K. McElderry Books
Publish Date: March 27th, 2007
Source: Purchased
Goodreads

Rating: 3/5 Shadowhunters

Synopsis: 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. . .  -Goodreads

Review: City of Bones is the first book in The Mortal Instruments trilogy, and is about to be made into a movie. There has been hype around this series for quite some time, and I was disappointed after not loving it the first time I read it about two years ago. With the movie announcement, I had to give it a second chance and I’m really glad I did. While I am still not head over heals for the series, I got much more engrossed in it this time around, and will definitely be reading the second book.

Jace has to be my absolute favorite part of this book, as I’m sure he was for a lot of readers. Mmm, I lurve him. If you haven’t read any of these books yet, let me assure you that he is SO much fun to read and makes for a great book boyfriend. He’s snarky, arrogant and can be pretty difficult but this guy is all bad-boy charm, with a hint of something more underneath the surface.

Of course, I should probably mention that the main character Clary is great as well. She handles learning about the supernatural side of the world she knows in a believable way and is easy to relate to as a reader, despite having very little in common with her. She has a lot to learn about the world she’s discovered but she’s quick and funny throughout all of it. The rest of the characters were hit and miss for me, but I’m willing to see how they grow into themselves as the series progresses.

It kind of bothered me that the title City of Bones, was only relevant for a small part of the story. The title seems like it was chosen more for the ability to mimic it throughout the series and because it sounds cool. Small pet peeve, I’ll get past it. There were also a few points where the story dragged in the middle for me, and it seemed like some mishaps the characters (mainly Simon) got into should have been skipped all together. This is a fairly big read and it didn’t quite offer enough to keep me hooked right from start to finish.

I’m guessing I didn’t make it to the end the first time I read the book as I’m sure I would have remembered that particular plot twist. I’m guessing things are going to get all kinds of convoluted in order to reverse it, but we’ll see. Overall, I’m curious to see how the lore and overall arc comes together to create a series that everyone keeps talking about. I’ll wait a month or so to read the next book, but I will definitely try it out eventually.

Buy City of Bones
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Second Opinions:
@My Book Journey
@Justin’s Book Blog
@Libby Blog