City of Bones (The Mortal Instruments, Book 1)

I started out really enjoying City of Bones. Unfortunately, when I was about halfway through I realized how similar the storyline and characters are to some of the Harry Potter books. Once I noticed this similarity I could not help but compare the two series and that resulted in my picking apart

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City of Bones much more than I normally would have.

Here are just a few of the similarities I noticed:

Main character Clary Fray knows nothing of demons, Shadowhunters, werewolves, vampires or any other fairy creature, although they apparently live alongside us hidden by a glamor. Harry Potter knows nothing of the magical, wizarding world of Hogwarts even though it exists alongside us hidden by a glamor. Both characters also have difficult family histories that they do not fully understand and learning about their family is central to the story lines of the books.

In City of Bones the bad guy, Valentine, has loyal followers, the Circle, and is presumed dead. In the Harry Potter books, Voldemort has loyal followers, the Deatheaters, and is presumed dead.

Even some of the character names in City of Bones reminded me of names in the Harry Potter books. Of course, both series also revolve around children facing dangers and truths that the adults are not willing to face.

I think that I would have enjoyed City of Bones much more if I'd not read the Harry Potter books because then I wouldn't have been constantly comparing them after I first started picking out the similarities. However, I also feel that Cassandra Clare tried to pack a bit too much information into this first book in the series. There were too many subplots and it was easy to get distracted by them.

With all of that said, I do plan to read the next book in the series to see if Clare can take the series in its own direction and tighten up her writing.

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There are so many urban young adult books these days about vampires, werewolves and magical creatures inhabiting our world but unseen to the normal eye so I was pleasantly surprised when this series really held together.

The writing is slightly better than average, which makes for a better story. I

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love how the characters interact with one another. In the end the premise is pretty simple, a bit similar to Harry Potter in that the main character doesn't know she has magical abilities until she finds out rather abruptly. And then she has a pedigree that cannot be paralleled.

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There are several words I could use for this novel, among them are: formulaic, entertaining, predictable, and interesting. Just to name a few and not necesarrily in that order, either. Cassandra Clare, somehow, manages to make this book both stand-out and sit-back in the pecking order of young

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adult novels.

While at times, I found 'City of Bones' to be highly entertaining (tried and true jokes, funny character moments,etc.), I also found it to be so predictable that it was easy to guess what was around every corner (if you could bring yourself to believe there were any corners at all). There is, however, something to be said for the familiar and predictable. No nasty surprises hanging about, ready to spring on you and make you hurl the book away in disgust.

Overall, I'd say that Ms. Clare did a decent if not easy-to-read through job with this. Which, depending on your stand point, can be a good or bad thing. For myself, it was comfortable read (a LOT of reference back to Harry Potter, Star Wars, and many others could be interjected right here) and I'm looking forward to seeing where this author goes with this.

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I have yet to read "City of Heavenly Fire" but thats only because my library has a back log of 43 people wanting to get their hands on it. Otherwise I'd be devouring it right now.

If you're going back and forth between wanting to read this series or not, based on the reviews below... I'd say read

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it. Don't let other opinions turn you off of something you might enjoy.

But as a warning... the best way to read the series is as follows

City of Bones (The Mortal Instruments)
City of Ashes (TMI)
City of Glass (TMI)
Clockwork Angel (THE INFERNAL DEVICES, yes it's a different series in the same universe, but frankly it needs to be read here.)
City of Fallen Angels (TMI)
Clockwork Prince (TIF, yes, once again step to the side and read this before moving on)
City of Lost Souls (TMI)
Clockwork Princess (TIF, this is the last book in the spin off series and... be prepared to cry uncontrollably. I shan't tell you now if they will be happy or sad tears)
City of Heavenly Fire (TMI)

This order is SO IMPORTANT I cannot stress that enough. When you first start it feels so WEIRD to get into a whole other set of characters lives before you're done with Clary and Jace... But you'll thank me in the end. There were so many "AHA" moments (good and bad and heart stoppingly sad) that just fit when read this way.

Trust me.

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This book was great! I couldn't put it down.. but then the author went and did something right near the end that I just didn't like. For the rest of the book, right up until the very last paragraph I was hoping she would fix it for me but no.. sadly... So I have to deduct a star for that. Still

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would recommend it as a good read, because for some perhaps it wouldn't be as disappointing. (Don't want to mention details as I don't want to spoil anything)

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I thought this book looked and sounded interesting. I read a lot of paranormal young adult books and was excited to see if this was a good series. I listened to this on audio book. The quality of the audio book was okay. The lady who read it had kind of a teenage know-it-all twang to her reading

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that tainted all of the voices for the characters; this may have contributed a little to how little I enjoyed this book.

In this book Clary sees some people luring a young man into a storage closet; when she follows them in there she sees that the three youngsters are attacking the young man. Her friend Simon runs for help but when the police show up; Clary is the only one who can see the group of attackers and the victim. As if this isn't weird enough Clary's mom suddenly wants them to move out of the city and out to the countryside. Clary and her mom argue and Clary leaves angry. When she returns her mom is gone and horrible creatures are in wait for her. Clary finds out that she can see the true world; which is composed not only of humans but also Downworlders and Shadowhunters. She ends up in a house full of Shadowhunters and tries to help them find the Mortal Cup in an effort to find her mother.

This book was just awkward. It's kind of done in third person but everyone talks in first person and everything is from Clary's point of view. It was a weird way to write it; it would have been a more pleasant read had it been written in first person from Clary's point of view. If this was the only problem of the book then I could live with that. Unfortunately it gets worse.

Most of the characters are pretty stereotypical. The banter between the characters, especially Jace and Clary, is meant to be witty and funny but comes off as unnatural and overly contrived. Clary's character is very inconsistent; at times she shows incredibly keen insight and at times she is incredibly dense. Most of all though Clary stumbles around causing trouble and relies on someone to come and save her. She is not the type of lead character I enjoy reading about.

The unseen magic world is very stereotypical. The relationships between werewolves and vampires are similar to everything else you've read. The plot was slow moving and predictable. I mean I figured out who Clary's father was pretty much right away. I figured out who Jace's father was mid book; and I was disappointed to find out that I was right. I don't like it when authors assume their readers are stupid and throw out some many clues that nothings ends up being a surprise.

The book ends at an odd spot. Her and Jace leave to take a ride somewhere to do something important ; then the book ends mid-ride. That was also irritating. Overall I thought the book was poorly written, paranormal drivel. The book tries, oh so very hard to beGothic. The Gothic clothing and piercings and hair styles are described with such detail it's like the book is trying to force itself to be creepy and Gothic; the effort makes the book feel fake.

I usually try to point out some good things about a book too. I guess the Shadowhunter culture is kind of interesting and the use of tattoos as magic is interesting (although done before). Strangely enough I thought the plot was similar in a lot of ways to The Signs of the Zodiac by Vicki Pettersson; The Signs of the Zodiac is not a young adult series but many aspects of the plot of the Signs of the Zodiac series are seen here.

I won't be reading anymore of this series. I just can't stomach more of this. I never understand how some of these books sell so well; they are so many really good young adult urban fantasy books out there. Check out Holly Black's Modern Fairy Tale series for some truly high quality young adult urban fantasy.

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I wasn't super impressed with City of Bones but it is a page turner. However, I had some major reservations about this book. Firstly, Clare stole from just about EVERY major fandom. Did anyone else feel that this was Harry Potter and Star Wars combined? Jace has Draco written all over him down to

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the blonde hair and snarky attitude and the whole "I am your father" plot was predictable and a bit of a cop-out. Secondly, the story felt disjointed and never really flowed. I never felt confused just curious as to why Clare wrote it this way. Overall, I was not impressed with City of Bones and will not continue reading the series. It was sort of fun to read but there are things I can't ignore that would drive me crazy if I tried to continue reading this series.

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Clary is an ordinary teenager living an ordinary life until the night she meets a trio of demon hunters. They are just as surprised to see her as she is, since they are usually invisible to mundanes. She barely has time to get used to the idea of demons being real before her mother is attacked by

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one. With the help of shadow hunter Jace, Clary begins the search for her mother and answers to questions about her past. The writing is nothing special - things land "with a dull thud" and people let out breaths they didn't know they were holding - and I saw every single plot twist coming a mile away. But the characters are fun and the world building clearly extensive. I admit, I was a little put off at first by the main character sharing a name (and hair color) with the author. Luckily, Clary didn't come across as too glaring of an author insertion. I've heard the series goes downhill after a few books, but I think I'll at least give it one more volume. This world is way too much fun to give up just yet.

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A good read, although many plot elements seemed to have been borrowed from other books. The writing was a bit florid in places, but was enjoyable nevertheless.

Enjoying this! It's the first that I've read of her own characters, having avidly read and enjoyed her fanfic some years ago. Does not disappoint - good characters, setting, and wit. Love the pop-cultural refs scattered throughout, too. She's not above making a sneaky little ref to her earlier

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stuff, either: such as a badge with the text "Still not king" from her LOTR spoof diary way back.

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This book was better than I expected. I found that some of the parts were a little predictible, but I did not mind that since the story really pulled me through. This story has it all, magic, vampires, werewolves, demons, demon-hunters, you name it ~ it's there! This story has turned into one that

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I will follow through the next book(s) in the series.

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My thoughts on City of Bones: I LOVED it with a capital L-O-V-E-D. It was hilarious and witty but also really serious and action-packed and adventurous and fantastical (fantasy-ish...I guess the word is fantastical, anyway).

Basically it's about a girl named Clary Fray who goes to the Pandemonium

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Club in NYC with her best friend Simon and witnesses a murder. Except that she's the only one who can see the murderers and the body disappears into thin air. The murderers are Shadowhunters - demon killers. They're really shocked that Clary can see them, and they want to take her back to the Institute - pretty much their home base in NY. Except then Clary's mother gets kidnapped by a Ravener demon, and Clary almost gets killed. The Shadowhunters - Jace, Alec, Isabelle, and Hodge - bring Clary and Simon to their Institute, and there's a whole lot of adventures and excitement and mystery and action and it was completely amazing and everyone should read it.

Yes, I'm ranting. Just a little. But that's because it's an awesome book.

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Clary Fray is a normal teenage girl living in New York City until the night she goes to the Pandemonium Club with her best friend, Simon, and sees three teens murder another boy. She quickly learns that all is not as it seems and is drawn into the world of Shadowhunters and Downworlders in her

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efforts to find her mother who has disappeared. In the process, she learns more about herself than she bargained for.

This is a re-read for me. I blitzed through the Mortal Instruments series a couple weeks before Christmas last year and liked it enough that I bought my own copies which I now had to read to make sure nothing's wrong with them (I blame my paranoia on If On a Winter's Night a Traveler). The story is just as enjoyable the second time around, maybe even slightly more as I know the ultimate resolution so I can see hints of future developments Clare included in the first book.

The book creates a wonderful world in which Clare includes Nephilim, werewolves, vampires, fairies, and demons that all exist outside the awareness of mundanes (regular people). Her characters are vivid (mmm, Jace), the plot is well-paced, and she includes some wonderfully sarcastic humour as well. My favourite line talking about a Latin motto:

It means "Shadowhunters: Looking Better in Black Than the Widows of Our Enemies Since 1234."

A fun YA urban fantasy, slightly reminiscent of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, the first novel in the series sets up the trilogy well while also having a well-contained narrative of its own.

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I picked this up totally by chance and was thoroughly captured. The characters were fun to read, if a little unbelievable sometimes. For urban fantasy, it was precious. I look forward to the next one.

DNF
I really tried to read it but after four days I'm only halfway in. I just couldn't get into it, (IMO) Clary is TSTL, Jace is a prepotent jerk, Simon is king of lame & I care even less about the rest of the cast.

Summary: Clary Fray is your average New York City teenager, living what she thinks of as a pretty ordinary life, until one night when out with her friends, she sees a bunch of strangely tattooed youths kill someone in a crowded club... without anyone else around them noticing. Soon after that, she

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runs into one of them again - an attractive but cocky young man named Jayce - only to return home to find her mother missing, and a terrifying monster waiting in their apartment. Clary soon comes to realize that there are things in the world beyond what ordinary people can see, and she must rely on Jayce and his friends - a group of demon hunters known as the Nephilim - for help. Because the person who has kidnapped her mother is an enemy of the Nephilim who was thought long dead, and in order to get her back, they must figure out what he wants with her... and with Clary.

Review: After reading only this book and Clockwork Angel, I can pretty safely say that Cassandra Clare has a formula. Take one down-to-earth ordinary girl who has extra-ordinary powers and doesn't know much about her past or her parents (and has a last name spelled _ray), put her in danger from dark supernatural forces, have her be rescued by a Shadow Hunter who is sarcastic and cocky but is only that way as a means of masking his true feelings and secret pain, add in a best-friend-like-a-brother Shadow Hunter who's keeping a big secret, a beautiful but tough female Shadow Hunter, some well-meaning but mostly peripheral adults, and a bad guy with some nefarious plans involving demons, et voila! YA paranormal romance to go. Had I read these in publication order, I wouldn't have noticed so much... but then I probably would have been making these same points in my review of Clockwork Angel.

However, the fact that there are so very many similarities isn't necessarily a bad thing. Some formulas work because they're good formulas, and even though I rolled my eyes the teensiest bit every time I recognized another parallel, I still enjoyed listening to this book. The similarities are primarily in the set-up and the characters anyways; the main plot arcs are quite different, and I suspect that they'll be developed in distinct directions as the two series progress. There were plenty of twists and turns in City of Bones that I didn't see coming, even with having read Clockwork Angel. The story kept me interested and involved, and a number of the secondary characters were unique and memorable. It's just that I had a bit of a hard time investing in Jayce as a romantic lead; apparently my heart only has room for one snarky jerkface-on-the-outside-sensitive-on-the-inside demon-fighting Nephilim, and that spot is already taken by Mr. Will Herondale. Plus, one of the plot twists near the end of the book kind of soured me on the romance angle that takes up a large part of this story (no elaborations for fear of spoilers); I'll be interested to see how Clare deals with that in future books.

The pacing in this book was better than Clockwork Angel - not so draggy in the middle - although it still could have used some tightening. It was also wonderfully wittily funny in places; Jayce may not by my ideal romantic lead, but he can certainly make me laugh. I wasn't crazy about Ari Graynor's narration - she didn't do a particularly good job with distinguishing the voices, and her male voice was not so much deeper as just louder. Overall, though, I did have fun listening to this book, and will be continuing on with the series. 3.5 out of 5 stars.

Recommendation: If YA paranormal romance is your thing, this is a fun example of the genre that incorporates a lot of urban fantasy elements with a snarky sense of humor. If YA paranormal romance is not your thing, I don't know if this is the book that will make you change your mind.

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I’ve seen these Mortal Instruments books mentioned everywhere and decided to try them. It seems that nearly every new or popular YA paranormal series gets labeled “the next Twilight” at some point. I’m beginning to suspect it is because they all begin to run together after a while –

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especially the love triangle bit. Our heroine Clary falls in love with Jace, a shadowhunter. Her human best friend, Simon, is in love with her. While the author does a lot of detailed world-building in this novel, and begins to develop the three-book story arc, that triangle is the focus. And it bored me.

The world-building is good, and would have been excellent if it hadn’t overly relied on information dumps. There were times where the author spent pages and pages doing so. There are a lot of familiar tropes, but also fresh ideas to make them feel new. There is a secret world humanity does not see, and needs protecting from. Shadowhunters, descended from a mix of human and angel blood, are the guardians. But, they’re not really protecting us from the vampires and werewolves, but from interdimensional demons. There are some interesting and dynamic characters (I love Magnus, the High Warlock of Brooklyn). My problem is the romance, which overwhelms the characters. In the midst of mind-blowing revelations about a secret world, her heritage and outright danger our heroine spends too much time consumed by thoughts of Jace and Simon. Her mother may be tortured and she wonders how she didn’t see that Simon loved her? I understand that teens can be a little single-minded, but really?

Overall, I felt that main teen characters were two-dimensional, but the supporting cast and world building were above average. The book did finally pull me in toward the end, and was interesting enough that I started book two. I hope it’s better.

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I had heard such great things about this book and all about the wonderful Jace and maybe this series and him get better as the series go along but as of right now I’m in no hurry to run out and read the next book.

Maybe, I wasn’t in the right mood or I’m burnt out on the formula which this one

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had, Clary & Jace fell in love so fast which was a bad thing when you get to the possible eww factor at the end of the book.

I guess I’m just saying I’ve read this book before it was same ol’ same ol’. I know there is a formula out there that is selling books but some writers do better than others and this one just fell flat for me. I may read the rest of the series as I have heard they get better but I won’t be rushing out to do it.

2 ½ stars

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This one grabbed me from the get-go. I love Urban Fantasy anyway and this is a great addition to the UF fam. There are demons out there and half humans like werewolves and vampires....and there are the Shadowhunters tasked to eradicate the world of the bad ones. Except that there are some

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Shadowhunters who think that all non-full human are bad and are out to clear them all out.
And then there's Clary who is thrown into the Shadowhunter/demon/vampire/werewolf/etc world and is not sure she wants to stay. But she meets a boy.....and her mom disappears...and her world gets turned completely upside down.
There's fierce fighting, jealousy, small bits of happiness, surprise, friendship, love, all that comes with a well told story.
My favorite character was Simon who takes everything with a grain of paranormal salt and rolls with the flow. He absolutely loves Clary and will do anything for her, but he is not a sap.
Five shadowy beans......

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This is the first book in the Mortal Instruments series and is an urban-fantasy story about Shadowhunters who secretly fight demons and supernatural beings. Demons, Faeries, Vampires – what more could you want?! This has been on my wish list for a while now and I was not disappointed.

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Supernatural books really grab my attention and let my imagination run wild, something other books generally fail to do. It only took me 2 days to read this as I enjoyed it so much and although the story-line isn’t particularly unique and has all the usual characters, it is an attention grabbing, can’t put down book. I liked how all the characters fitted together and how at the same time you could both love and hate them. It had the right amount of tension, drama, mystery, romance and laughs to keep me hooked until the end. Speaking of the end, I did not like the outcome (I won’t spoil it) and although I could see it coming I was not happy about it. But these series have a way of finding a loop-hole and I am curious to see what happens in the next book, City of Ashes.

Favourite Quotes:
NEPHILIM: FACSICIL DESCENSUS AVERNI – The descent to Hell is easy.
"Talk to her, Jocelyn." Luke's voice was firm. "I mean it." He reached for the doorknob. The door flew open. Jocelyn gave a little scream. "Jesus!" Luke exclaimed. "Actually, it's just me," said Simon. "Although I've been told the resemblance is startling."

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Enchanting, Enticing, Enthralling

I cannot get enough of Cassandra Clare's series! This has to be one of my absolute (if not my absolute) favorite book series.

I love the prose that Clare uses--so full of detail and life; I feel like I am right there with Clary as she faces demons, and the even

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more blood-pounding Jace. When Clary blushed, I blushed, when she panicked, I panicked! It's a rollercoaster of action that I will never forget!

And Jace....oh Jace, please love me forever, because I love you! If you are a lover of paranormal romances, then this is your book!!! It will captivate you from the very first line! Jace is dark, mysterious, sexy, and a bit eccentric--just how I like them. I don't care how messed up or psychotic he may be, he still has my heart!

This is a MUST READ for lovers of the paranormal

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City of Bones- The Mortal Instrumets Series

City of Bones is the first book of the highly captivating series, The Mortal Instruments. Cassandra Clare was able to hold my attention word for word, page by page. I was never able to put it down. If you like a troubled romance, that can never be, or if

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you are into fantasy and demons, this is the book for you!

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At some point you just need to give up on a book. I generally finish every book I start and could probably count those that I've stopped reading on one hand. This will be added to them. It was just SO cliched and predictable. The writing wasn't very good either. The main character seemed to have no

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personality, and the love interest was another of those characters who is an *ssh*l* but everyone falls instantly in love with him. I made it to halfway but it took me three weeks of forcing myself to read to get there. Ugh. I'm happy to move on.

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*MY THOUGHTS*
At first I wasn't sure how I felt about it, but everytime I decided I didn't like it, something else weird happened and I wanted to know why. Clary's world was amazing to dive into. All the different paranormal creatures made it such an interesting read. Then I began to get impatient

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because of the romance I had heard about in the book took FOREVER to get there. Finally the romance came and then the explanation of the "mortal instruments" came right after that and I was dragged deeper into the book. As it went on, there was so much that blew my mind.... Like Luke and Jace and Valentine.... Gah talk about a weird triangle! Speaking of which, I am very upset about Clary and Jace's connection... Now I guess she'll have to be with her best friend, but I for one think he is a wimp lol (I know that was mean...) I'd MUCH rather have a strong Shadowhunter as a boyfriend rather than a small geeky boy in a band. I'm just saying... I found myself asking outloud if they did "Shadowhunter DNA tests "so we could find out for sure haha But as for Jace I felt so sorry for him. He wanted so bad to believe in something, to have a "real" family, but everything he had kept falling apart. I loved how the book turned out and by the end I was ready to write the review prematurely for fear that I would leave something out. Now I have finished it and am very happy I finally picked up the book. I know I'm late on finding this treasure, but better late than never right? Now I'm ready to enjoy the rest of the series.
Overall I give it **** (4 out of 5)

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