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Review

City of Bones

by Cassandra Clare

First sentence:

“You've got to be kidding me,” the bouncer said, folding his arms across his massive chest.

Summary:

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....

source: Goodreads

My opinion:

City of Bones was the first Cassandra Clare book I read and I really enjoyed it.

It seems as if Clary, the main character, is unintentionally involved in the whole Shadowhunter scene when she witnesses a murder in a club in New York City but quickly it becomes clear that she is somehow interconnected with the Shadowhunters and that her mother kept a big part of her former life secret from Clary to keep her safe. With her mother disappearing and Clary being attacked by a demon she tries to find out as much as possible about her mother's past and with the help of Jace, a Shadowhunter, and her best friend Simon soon discovers that her life is not as it seemed.

Jace, an arrogant Shadowhunter who lives in the New York Institute, a safe place for all Shadowhunters, with the siblings Isabelle and Alec Lightwood and their mentor Hodge, takes Clary to the institute after she was attacked by a demon in her own home and slowly starts to develop interest in her story and wants to help her solve the mysteries involving her mother's disappearance even though Alec and Isabelle are against bringing a mundane into the institute.

Over the last years many great YA books were published and the market was floated with paranormal, fantasy, werewolf, vampire stories. Many of those, including City of Bones, were really hyped up, which is something I personally don't like. I usually avoid reading those books and when I finally read them the hype usually died down a bit. I also try not to expect too much from books because there always is the possibility of not liking it. City of Bones was really hyped up when it was first published and even over the years the excitement over Cassandra Clare's writing never died down.

I first read City of Bones in January 2012 and was not able to find the right words for a review but after reading this urban fantasy novel again this year I was at least able to find some words to describe it.

The characters are portrayed really well and I was able to see the story evolve before my inner eye and even after reading lots of paranormal, urban fantasy stories over the last year(s) the storyline is still unique and the concept of Shadowhunters fascinates me every time.

I can highly recommend City of Bones and I am looking forward to continuing this series as well as reading The Infernal Devices series.

The books in The Mortal Instruments series are:

• City of Bones
• City of Ashes
• City of Glass
• City of Fallen Angles
• City of Lost Souls
• City of Heavenly Fire (expected publication: May 6^th 2014)

For more information about Cassandra Clare visit her Homepage, Blog, Facebook or Twitter page.