Review: City of Bones by Cassandra Clare

Barnes and Noble 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. . . .
Exotic and gritty, exhilarating and utterly gripping, Cassandra Clare's ferociously entertaining fantasy takes readers on a wild ride that they will never want to end.”

I first discovered The Mortal Instruments series right around the time when the second book came out.  I immediately fell in love with the books and characters and it quickly worked its way up two my second favorite book series of all time.  So for those of you haven’t read the series yet I’m going to tell you about City of Bones, the first books in the series, by Cassandra Clare and show you what you’ve been missing out on.

Clary Fray is fed up with her mother’s over bearing nature.  If she’s so much as a few minutes late because well frankly that happens when you have to haul a cab in New York City, she’s basically grounded and doesn’t hear the end of it.  But when her mother tries to force her to give up her summer taking art classes at the infamous Tisch simply because “she needs to get out of the city” she’s gone too far.  Little did Clary know that when she storms out of that apartment life as she knows it will be changed forever.  After storming out of her apartment with her best friend Simon in toll, she happens sees the invisible murdering hoodlum, Jace, she saw the night before.  But while she’s confronting him she gets a frantic call from her mom saying not to come home and someone’s found her.  When she gets to her apartment she finds that her mother is gone, and her only chance at finding her is Jace and his family.  City of Bones is an exciting YA thriller with evil, romance, friendship, battles, vampires, werewolves and much more. 

My rating for this book:

5

I love that Cassandra Clare created this whole new mythological race that is absolutely refreshing in comparison to all the vampires and werewolf stories that are out now.  Something else that’s great is that she isn’t afraid to go to extremes with her plot twist to make the readers beg for more.  City of Bones is told just from Clary’s point of view but as you get further into the series although she’s still the main character you get a glimpse into the other characters minds as well. 

Cassandra Clare is the bestselling author of The Mortal Instruments and Infernal Device series.  She friends with fellow Author Holly Black, whom she often goes on book tours with.  She is a fan of the new hit series A Game of Thrones and she is currently residing in New York City.  To learn more about Cassandra Clare follow her on twitter! 

If you guys have not read this series you have to check it out!! You will LOVE it!
--M