A City of Bones (Mortal Instruments #1)

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. And she’s more than a little startled when the body disappears into thin air. Soon Clary is introduced to the world of the Shadowhunters, a secret cadre of warriors dedicated to driving demons out of our world and back to their own. And Clary is introduced with a vengeance, when her mother disappears and Clary herself is almost killed by a grotesque monster. How could a mere human survive such an attack and kill a demon? The Shadowhunters would like to know…

Trigger Warning: Attempted murder, Character death, Child abuse, Homophobia, Kidnapping, Memory manipulation, Murder, Violence

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My Thoughts

I first read this series several years ago. The first time I read it, I probably would have given it 4 stars. On my re-read (and I hate to do this because it is entertaining) I have to drop it to 3-3.5 stars. Now, I will say that my re-read was an audiobook. So, it might be that the narrator contributed a bit to the lower score. For example, everyone had a British accent – or what seemed to be a British accent – except Clary which was weird to me. (Don’t get me wrong, I love myself a British accent, but each accent varied, and some sounded fake).

Clary is a teenage girl who spends her time with her best friend, Simon. Just two regular teens living their lives in New York. Clary stumbles upon some weird stuff at a club they go to (three teenagers – aka Shadowhunters aka Jace, Alec, and Isabel – who kill another “kid” but no one can see any of them and the body vanishes). While that would seem terrifying and very strange to some of us, Clary doesn’t get too worked up about it. She seems to easily accept that she has a sudden “sight” and is very quickly swept up into the Shadowhunter world (after her mother disappears in what seems to be some demon shenanigans).

I did like the way Cassandra Clare wrote out the Shadowhunter storyline with a special place they lived and included other supernaturals like werewolves and vampires (I mean if we’re going to have invisible demon fighters we should be inclusive of all supernatural beings).

A few unrealistic parts (at least to me):

1. Clary is only 15 years old and gallivanting around NYC (CLUBBING at 15? In NYC?).
2. Simon ends up spending several days at the Shadowhunters house and it seems no one cares that he’s gone for several days (bad parenting?).
3. The kiddos seem to find answers quickly. Not a lot of depth to the storyline in regards to this.

What I love about this book:

1. Good twists and turns.
2. The inclusion of various types of supernaturals.
3. Some humor mixed into the drama.
4. Isabel was a strong, independent character that I really liked.

I think this is a good intro to the world of YA Fantasy. Would I recommend it? Yes. Do you have to rush out and read it? Probably not.

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Favorite Book Quotes

“Have you fallen in love with the wrong person yet?’
Jace said, “Unfortunately, Lady of the Haven, my one true love remains myself.”
“At least,” she said, “you don’t have to worry about rejection, Jace Wayland.”
“Not necessarily. I turn myself down occasionally, just to keep it interesting.”

“Is this the part where you start tearing off strips of your shirt to bind my wounds?”
“If you wanted me to rip my clothes off, you should have just asked.”

“Don’t touch any of my weapons without my permission.”
“Well, there goes my plan for selling them all on eBay,” Clary muttered.
“Selling them on what?”
Clary smiled blandly at him. “A mythical place of great magical power.”

“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.”

“Don’t order any of the faerie food,” said Jace, looking at her over the top of his menu. “It tends to make humans a little crazy. One minute you’re munching a faerie plum, the next minute you’re running naked down Madison Avenue with antlers on your head. Not,” he added hastily, “that this has ever happened to me.”

“Declarations of love amuse me. Especially when unrequited.”

“Don’t.” Clary raised a warning hand. “I’m not really in the mood right now.”
“That’s got to be the first time a girl’s ever said that to me,” Jace mused.”

“Where there is love, there is often also hate. They can exist side by side.”

“That’s why when major badasses greet each other in movies, they don’t say anything, they just nod. The nod means, ‘I’ am a badass, and I recognize that you, too, are a badass,’ but they don’t say anything because they’re Wolverine and Magneto and it would mess up their vibe to explain.”

“What do you want?”
“Just coffee. Black – like my soul.”

“Even in half demon hunter clothes, Clary thought, he looked like the kind of boy who’d come over your house to pick you up for a date and be polite to your parents and nice to your pets.
Jace on the other hand, looked like the kind of boy who’d come over your house and burn it down just for kicks.”

“He made a sound like a choked laughed before he reached out and pulled her into her arms. She was aware of Luke watching them from the window, but she shut her eyes resolutely and buried her face against Jace’s shoulder. He smelled of salt and blood, and only when his mouth came close to her ear did she understand what he was saying, and it was the simplest litany of all: her name, just her name.”

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When nineteen-year-old huntress Feyre kills a wolf in the woods, a terrifying creature arrives to demand retribution. Dragged to a treacherous magical land she knows about only from legends, Feyre discovers that her captor is not truly a beast, but one of the lethal, immortal faeries who once ruled her world.

At least, he’s not a beast all the time.

As she adapts to her new home, her feelings for the faerie, Tamlin, transform from icy hostility into a fiery passion that burns through every lie she’s been told about the beautiful, dangerous world of the Fae. But something is not right in the faerie lands. An ancient, wicked shadow is growing, and Feyre must find a way to stop it, or doom Tamlin – and his world – forever.