Review – CITY OF BONES

TITLE: City of Bones

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. . . .

REVIEW: So like I mentioned before, I read City of Bones twice. I have mixed feelings about it now that I’ve read it again. Maybe it’s because I already read it before so I already knew what to expect. Maybe it’s because I already read the other books in the series too. Whatever reason it is, I liked it more when I read the first time than when I read it the second time around.

The storyline itself is definitely one I have sort of encountered before, but that doesn’t mean the world is one that I am familiar with. Cassandra Clare does really know how to create a whole new world. And because of that, the book is an unique one. With all it’s plot twists, there is no other story like it. The pacing is comfortable. Both times that I read it, I read it mostly in one sitting. It was that intriguing.

Clary. What can I say about Clary? For the most part I liked her. She willing to do almost anything for the people she loved and cared about. But… there were times when I was a bit frustrated with her – I thought she could be a little insensitive, asking questions (sometimes personal ones) that people didn’t really want to answered… and sometimes it appeared that she couldn’t take a hint either. Though it seems like her curiosity was the cause of that. After all, if you have just discovered a whole new whole your mother hid from you, wouldn’t you be curious too? You can’t really blame her. The other characters were a bit more… confusing and hard to read. At least Jace and Alec were at first. In fact Isabelle was a bit like them too. I couldn’t really figure out what made them tick until later in the book. Then, everything made a whole lot more sense. And I have to say, Clary has a really good best friend, and she appears to be one too. Usually.

This particular book isn’t really filled with a lot of romance. You’ll see more of it in the following books of the series. Whoops. You didn’t just read that. However, we do get a glimpse of it. There is a tiny love triangle, if you want to call it that. It’s more like that there is a couple, plus a guy that has feelings for the girl that aren’t returned in the way that he hoped. You can probably guess who is in that love triangle… And the romance becomes a bit twisted… near the end. While romance didn’t really play a huge part of the book, that doesn’t mean love did not. In fact a lot of the characters are influenced by love to act the way they do. Love is needed and it is there. Just not the kissy kissy kind. More like the love of a family or the love of friends. All that is great and all, but I was still disappointed with the romance. I never thought I would say this, but I wish this book had more romance.