City of Bones

Much better than I expected, even for a YA urban fantasy romance. There are a lot of schlocky books out there in this genre, but this one is better than most. Of course it remains replete with the cliches of the genre, but it's much better managed than most.

Perhaps the most egarious feature is the central heroine sharing a name with the author. Clary is just another girl in New York going to a 'young persons' night club with her male friend "but he's only a friend" Simon, when she sees something weird. Being of a slightly pushy personality she investigates and discovers a group of people attempting to kill a blue haired boy. It turns out the boy isn't human at all but a demon preying on humans, and the killers call themselves show more Shadowhunters. They are somewhat surprised to learn the Clary can see them. Returning home to cope with what she's learned, Clary finds her mother's been a attacked and disappeared. The attacker is still in the flat, and Clary is injured in the fight, but saved by 'our hero' Jace - one fo the shadowhunters - to takes her back to their Institute to recover and offer aid. Simon is left on the fringes. Thereafter is gets more complicated in a search for parents, and the consequences of finding them.

The world is well imagined, based on traditional concepts but tweaked a bit to make it interesting. Good and evil aren't as clearly defined as might be the case, werewolves and vampires, as well as the fae (whodon't feature much) being neutral in the dispute between Angelic shadowhunters and their demon prey. However as the shadowhunters are also part human, they are far from perfect. What is more surprising is that religion and the presence of god is equally ambiguous. There are many other suble comments that can be interpreted as commentary on moder life - for example not regarding everyone as members of their tribe, but seeing them as indiviuals. These are not blatent but well crafted into the storyline.

The characters are a bit predictabe, but fairly welldescribed, the romance isn't larded on too thickly, given that they are all only 16 or so, and in places such as 'the first kiss' almost touchingly described. Fortunetly remains a minor component to the story, allowing character development - it will be intersting to see how the uthor handles this in the future episodes of the series. Throughout the writing is well constructed and edited. Moments of high tension are offset by Jace's humour and other characters sarcasm.

Really enjoyable, and a must for all urban fantasy fans. Even those who aren't keen on YA will probably enjoy this well told tale. show less

4 Stars! (4.5 for the world, 4 for the story)

Now that I’ve arrived fashionably late to the party, I think I’ve begun to notice the signs of becoming a fan of this series.

While reading/listening I caught myself:
- Searching Etsy for Shadowhunter themed merch
- Browsing Tumblr for Shadowhunter fanart
- Googling characters while *ducks* dodging spoilers like raindrops (who am I kidding, half the series has already been “spoiled” for me but I ain’t even mad)

Seriously though, my own MOTHER tried to get me to read this series like five years ago and I was like, “Meh, I’ll get to it,” because I was terrified it was just going to be another Twilight. Sure, sure, it has some of your typical YA tropes, but this book was also written show more over TEN years ago (I feel old) when many of those tropes weren’t popular.

Anyway, I really enjoy the world Clare has created and am looking forward to learning more about it in future books. I’m terribly glad to find an urban fantasy that doesn’t focus solely on vampires or werewolves, but has a whole world of fantastical beings.

The story itself left something to be desired (but I still loved it!), though I’m not sure what. The situation we are left in, especially with Clary and Jace, is crazy and I’m preparing myself for the angst fest that is the next couple of books. Perhaps the story wasn’t as hard hitting for me because I know a small amount about what happens in later books (including what is true and what isn’t)? We will say that’s it. I’ve heard the later books are leaps and bounds better (as is usually the case with series like these). I’ll be starting City of Ashes today! show less

Just gripping enough to lead me to read five hundred pages in a day -- but it ends, not in the kind of cliffhanger that makes one feel anxious or eager to learn What Happens Next, but completely unresolved. The obligatory fantasy Wonderful Artifact of Magic has been recovered and lost again, etc etc. I don't feel motivated to read another five hundred pages of ups and downs to get to nowhere again and another two thousand (six volumes of this!) to achieve some resolution.

Though I am not in the target demographic by more than a few years, I do enjoy reading a lot of YA fiction. The Gone novels by Michael Grant being a particular favorite of mine, and I have read Harry Potter and Twilight (talk about going from one extreme to the other). I picked up the first book in Cassandra Clare’s Mortal Instruments series, CITY OF BONES, because it had some plot elements that appealed to me, namely old school supernatural monsters like vampires and werewolves, not to mention warlocks, spells and magic. I went into this series cold, not having seen any of the TV and screen adaptations, and with no knowledge of the controversy surrounding the author with charges of outright plagiarism, not to mention a general show more reputation for very unoriginal writing.

That CITY OF BONES cribs most of its plot, characters, and themes, from Harry Potter and Star Wars is evident before the half way mark. The central character is Clary Fray, a fifteen year old girl who is drawn into the paranormal world of the Shadowhunters, an ancient society of warriors who battle monsters and demons who escape to earth from Downworld. As the story unfolds, Clary becomes aware that she has more than a passing connection to these Shadowhunters and the teenage boy, Jace Wayland, who leads the group she falls in with. Jace seems to be a dreamier version of Draco Malfoy, and there are other characters who are equal parts knock off versions of Hermione Granger, Ron and Ginny Weasley, Lupin and Snape, Peter Pettigrew and Sirius Black, not to mention Padme and Professor X for good measure. The Big Bad of the story is named Valentine, whose name shares a first letter of the alphabet with Voldemort and Darth Vader, and whose motivation is very similar to Magneto’s. Simon, Clary’s muggle—I mean mundane—best friend, who is obviously in love with her even if she doesn’t notice it, bares more than a passing resemblance to Xander from Buffy the Vampire Slayer. There’s a plot twist near the end of the book involving Clary, Jace, and Valentine that would make even George Lucas groan. Bottom line, the whole book felt like a huge cut and paste job from the most popular pop culture phenomenas of the past few decades.

All that being said, I certainly didn’t hate CITY OF BONES in the way that other reviewers who poured their wrath and venom on the book, as most YA fiction, especially when it comes to the paranormal, are hardly original. I think Cassandra Clare was just a little more blatant about it, and her past FF writing didn’t endear her to many readers. As unoriginal as it might be, CITY OF BONES held my interest, and I kept turning the pages to see what happened next. My biggest complaint is that Clare wrote the book from Clary’s POV through a shaky 3rd person when the story would have been much better served by having told in 1st person with Clary’s voice clear and present. But that leads to another problem in that Clary, as written, comes off as vague and generic when she needs to be distinct and unique. CITY OF BONES was written in the mid 2000s, back before the insufferable teenage girl had become such a trope, but a little more attitude it would have helped her character a lot. I kept thinking that the story would have been so much better if it had been told from the POV of Jace, or Alec and Isabelle Lightwood, even Simon, all of whom had some real personality.

As the first book in a series, the finale of CITY OF BONES felt very anticlimactic, with dangling plot threads in all directions, and for that reason, I am going to give Cassandra Clare, and CITY OF ASHES, a chance. show less

Puntuación: 8.00 / 10.00
Muy fan de la trama y los personajes. A pesar de que en ocasiones no entiendo las escenas de peleas (y me pierdo releyendolas), resulta interesante ver cómo la historia avanza rápido y eficientemente. Clary me parece un personaje con bastante inseguridad en si misma (de ahí sus celos y constantes comparaciones) pero con tremenda fuerza de voluntad y carácter. Su valentía es digna de admirar así como su forma de defender sus opiniones. La considero una protagonista bastante interesante, así como Jace. Considero que él es una persona muy leal, tanto así que no deja lugar a la razón cuando se trata de las personas que quiere. Y eso, es un arma de doble filo. Tiene tendencias suicidas, se valora muy poco a show more si mismo y a su vida, pero lo esconde en una fachada de narcisismo y sarcasmo. Es encantador, divertido e inteligente, valiente y honorable. Pero no me quedan dudas de que necesita terapia. Amo la trama y sus personajes por su complejidad. No hay buenos o malos, no hay elecciones basadas en blanco o negro. Hay matices de gris. Hay puntos medios. Y eso me encanta. show less

I’ll admit, I wasn’t sure what to expect with City of Bones. But wow, I was hooked right away. Clary Fray is just an ordinary girl in New York City—until she witnesses a murder that changes everything. Turns out, the killers are Shadowhunters, warriors who protect humans from demons, and Clary gets thrown into a hidden world full of magic, creatures, and danger.

What really sold me on this book was the characters. Clary is relatable—confused, scared, but also pretty brave. And Jace? He’s the sarcastic, brooding fae prince with more than a few secrets, and his chemistry with Clary is off the charts. Their banter kept me laughing, even during the intense parts.

The plot is fast-paced, with tons of action, surprises, and twists. show more It’s got magic, romance, and a great mix of humor and darker moments. The world-building is solid, and I was completely pulled into this hidden world of demons, warlocks, and faeries.

If you like urban fantasy with a lot of heart, action, and humor, give this book a try. It’ll keep you turning the pages, and trust me, you’ll be eager for the next book.

Rating: 5/5 stars. It was a fun, fast read, and I can’t wait to see what happens next! show less

Bad writing, grammar, punctuation, characters, plot, there was almost nothing this story had to offer that didn`t make me want to tear it to pieces and set the pieces on fire.

Cassandra Clare writes like she`s writing fanfiction and this is her magnum opus that`s going to be like a hundred chapters long and over a hundred thousand words but then she runs out of plot halfway through and just goes back and inserts descriptions of her main characters hotness to fill up word count. It`s horrendous. There are comparisons such as, "eyes like golden syrup" and that's just weird. It honestly reads like self-insert fanfiction that somehow made its way into a stack of legitimate manuscripts and then got published anyway.

The characters are also show more paper-thin. They are: protagonist Mary Sue, nerdy best friend, hot boyfriend, hot action girl, gay sidekick, Mary Sue`s mom, mom`s boyfriend who is trying to escape his past, flamboyant magician, and evil villain who is secretly the Mary Sue`s dad.
Add in some stern authority figures, demons, and a possessed palm-reader, and there are the characters.

Plus the UST. Can`t possibly forget all of the unresolved relationships here. You have Clary/Simon (which Simon is hoping for but Clary just leads him on for no reason), Clary/Jace (which is awkward as hell considering they find out they're siblings), Alec/Jace (which the book makes pretty clear is just so Clary can find out Alec's gay, because it's almost immediately dropped once Alec meets Magnus), Alec/Magnus (basically the only semi-normal relationship but still weird because Alec is 17 and Magnus is immortal), Jocelyn/Valentine (abusive to the max with some attempted murder, medical experimentation, and cult-creating added in), Jocelyn/Luke (actually one of the best in the book (which isn't saying much in and of itself), but the fact that Luke makes it sound like he was in love with Valentine instead of Jocelyn the entire time he's telling his backstory raises some questions), Isabelle/Simon (Simon is using Isabelle to make Clary jealous so she'll date him which is all kinds of NOT OKAY), and Isabelle/Meliorn (which is just standard teenage-rebellion-by-dating-a-not-approved-party (in this case a fairy) trope). In short, everyone has a screwed up version of love and attraction in this series, and it's very creepy.

The only thing that redeems this series from getting zero stars is because the Shadowhunters universe is interesting, and a world I would like to see developed better in the hands of a better author. The dynamics between different magical groups and how that plays out in relation to the human world would be interesting.

Instead, we get human-bashing, magical racism, weird sexual tension, bad writing, unlikeable characters, and maybe enough of actual interest to hold together a story for about eleven chapters. show less