Title: City Of Bones
(The Mortal Instruments Series #1)
Author: Cassandra Clare
Genre: YA, Fantasy, Paranormal, Romance
First published: 2007
Finished reading: September 20th 2014
Pages: 485
“The boy never cried again, and he never forgot what he’d learned: that to love is to destroy, and that to be loved is to be the one destroyed.”
Somehow I feel like I’m about the last person on earth to have finished reading City Of Bones. Cassandra Clare is a very popular YA author, and I don’t now why I have been putting off reading one of her books for so long. I guess I was afraid of the hype around her work and the mixed reviews out there… But now I’ve read the first book of The Mortal Instruments series, I can see why she is so popular. While City Of Bones might not have the perfect prose, the story itself just worked for me. And although the start was a bit slow, I was sucked into the story soon enough. It was hard to lay the book down and I probably could have finished this book days before I did if it weren’t for non-reading activities. Sure, the actions of Clary, Jace and especially Isabelle were annoying sometimes, as was the prose. But I just couldn’t get enough of it anyway; the story itself is highly entertaining. To give an indication of how much I enjoyed this book: immediately after finishing City Of Bones, I went and got book number two, three and four as well. I will be reading the next three books in The Mortal Instruments series VERY soon…
When Clary entered the Pandemonium Club with her friend Simon, she thought she was having a great time. But things change drastically when she witnesses a murder. The worst part: the killers with strange markings on their bodies cannot be seen by others… Soon her world as she knows it turns upside down as her mother is attacked by demons and she is let to the Institute where some of the so-called Shadowhunters live. It turns out she has ‘the sight’ and she isn’t just another ‘mundane’; unfortunately her memory seems to be blocked and she cannot remember anything that will help her understanding her past.
Her mother wasn’t just another normal human being as she thought, and her father turns out to be someone completely unexpected. The leader of the bad guys, Valentine, is not dead as they all thought and he is looking for a cup Clary’s mother has hidden from him to build himself a new army. The Shadowhunters are trying to stop Valentine, but Valentine is holding her mother as a hostage, and has some very interesting secrets of his own to reveal… Will Clary discover the truth and save the world by preventing Valentine’s rise to power?
I have to admit the characters of The Mortal Instruments series bare a lot of similarities to those in the Harry Potter series. Harry, Ginny, Hermione, Draco and even Voldemort; they all sound similar to the characters in City Of Bones. I myself wasn’t as bothered with that as some others, but it does make you wonder about the originality of Clare‘s story. The overkill in similes did affect my reading pleasure, and I know that a lot of people have had similar problems with this. I don’t mind the use of similes as long as they are used properly and not too often. Unfortunately Clare seems to think similes are as necessary in life as air and water… Still, I think the storyline in general makes up for those annoyances, and I’m definitely going to read the rest of this series. It is an entertaining read as long as you don’t expect too much of the prose itself.
I like the new format to your reviews! 🙂 I didn’t read Mortal Instruments until this year either, but I really liked it too. The world and the characters are what make her books, even if she does get a bit long in descriptions.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thanks! I’m trying to revamp them so they are easier to read… Although it will take some time to change all of my reviews. 😉 The storyline itself just made you want to continue reading; it is just such an entertaining read!
LikeLike
I just finished reading this series about a month or so ago. I found myself drifting during some parts of each book because Clare is a little long winded when it comes to descriptions, but overall found the entire series to be pretty enjoyable – though nothing can truly top the Harry Potter series in my opinion.
LikeLike
I can understand where you are going with that; I was getting distracted during some parts as well. City Of Bones is an entertaining read, but it doesn’t get anywhere close to the greatness of the HP series.
LikeLike
I am so glad I read this! I just recently bought the whole series, but I have too been very scared to start City of Bones because of the hype. I’m so worried I might not like it and then I’d feel like some kind of freak lol. But this review makes me want to go open it right now!
LikeLiked by 1 person
It is definitely worth the try, especially if you have bought the series already. Some people seem to absolutely hate the series, but I myself found at least the first book an entertaining read. Don’t expect a literary masterpiece, but it does the job. 😉
LikeLike
Loving the new format of your reviews! Well the addition of the headings!
Is it scary, but I don’t think I’ve ever read a book in this genre! But after reading your review I may be tempted!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thanks! 😀 City Of Bones is definitely an entertaining read. I haven’t been reading the YA fantasy genre for that long either, so I haven’t read enough books to properly compare City Of Bones to others. But I think there are definitely better books in this genre. (Shadow And Bone for example!)
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thanks for the tips! I will add it to my books to read!
LikeLiked by 1 person
I’ve read the first two books but I haven’t fallen in love with this series. There are tons of things that don’t make sense for me and yes there are a lot of similarities with other popular characters. It felt like a mash up of all the popular ya books out there. And the ‘incest deal’ is such a turn off for me to keep reading. I will eventually finish this series because even though I’m not crazy about it, I have to know how it all ends! 😀
LikeLiked by 1 person
The incest part definitely was aturn off in the first book, so I hope it doesn’t get any worse in the second book. 😉 And I will probably finish the series at some point as well exactly for the same reason, even if I don’t like the second one. The story until now is quite addictive. There are a lot of similarities to other popular YA books though…
LikeLike
I stopped reading “The Mortal Instruments” series after finishing book 2. I don’t want to alienate you but I liked the first book pretty well, too, but to me, the second one shows up with so many inadequacies that I felt really disappointed. There’s even one point that made me very angry and which was the main reason why I cancelled this series. I hope we can talk about this when you finished book 2. I want to know what you’re thinking about it.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I’m definitely curious about the second and third book now, as most people who stopped reading this series gave those two books as a reason. I will probably read the sequel next month! 😀
LikeLike