City of Bones (Mortal Instruments)

This book...was HORRIBLE. I was excited because one of my favorite authors endorsed it....but seriously...I heard Cassandra Clare wrote fanfiction...and I bet some of that is better than this....I hope. It was soooo freaking predictable...and also slightly condescending...and I think Clary is as useless as Bella ( Twilight, another series that has worn thin). I'm so glad I didn't buy the second...more

This book...was HORRIBLE. I was excited because one of my favorite authors endorsed it....but seriously...I heard Cassandra Clare wrote fanfiction...and I bet some of that is better than this....I hope. It was soooo freaking predictable...and also slightly condescending...and I think Clary is as useless as Bella ( Twilight, another series that has worn thin). I'm so glad I didn't buy the second book in the store...for the 12 hour car ride I had to go on...because this book was sooooo boring that I didn't even want to read it...even when the only alternative was looking at a field. But I finished it...and HAHA to anyone who was disappointed about Jace and Clary. Teen fiction really has gotten so formulaic, and obviously plays to sad single girls.   hide

I thought I was going to die the moment I read Jace and Clary are brother and sister. But they can't be. This is just the first book so I refuse to keep on believing in it, although they have pretty good proofs. Something HAS TO pop out and happen, something, ANYTHING, so they could be together :// I can do Clary being Valentine's doughter and Luke being Lucian the werewolf ex-shadowhunter. But...more

I thought I was going to die the moment I read Jace and Clary are brother and sister. But they can't be. This is just the first book so I refuse to keep on believing in it, although they have pretty good proofs. Something HAS TO pop out and happen, something, ANYTHING, so they could be together :// I can do Clary being Valentine's doughter and Luke being Lucian the werewolf ex-shadowhunter. But Juce and Clary not being able to be together? Absolutely no damn way.   hide

Although I did enjoy this book, I found that some of the plot twists were quite predictable. That being said, the pace was good, the characters were interesting and the action moved the book along well. I did find some of the characters' motivations a little hard to decipher. Valentine is not developed well enough for me to understand what he is all about. And I had some trouble with...more

Although I did enjoy this book, I found that some of the plot twists were quite predictable. That being said, the pace was good, the characters were interesting and the action moved the book along well. I did find some of the characters' motivations a little hard to decipher. Valentine is not developed well enough for me to understand what he is all about. And I had some trouble with Lucian's behaviour as well. In fact, the whole idea of Valentine and the Circle was a bit hard to follow. I did enjoy the writing and the characters, so I will read the next two in the trilogy when I have a minute.   hide

SUCH a guilty pleasure! Another in the teen fiction genre a la Twilight series. The first of a three-part series (The Mortal Instruments") this book focuses on a 16 year old girl - Clarry -in NYC who discovers that the world is also inhabited by a race of hybrid angel-humans, called Shadowhunters, and hybrid demon-humans, Downworlders (including werewolves, vampires, etc), as well as Demons...more

SUCH a guilty pleasure! Another in the teen fiction genre a la Twilight series. The first of a three-part series (The Mortal Instruments") this book focuses on a 16 year old girl - Clarry -in NYC who discovers that the world is also inhabited by a race of hybrid angel-humans, called Shadowhunters, and hybrid demon-humans, Downworlders (including werewolves, vampires, etc), as well as Demons that can jump dimensions across worlds. There's sci-fi, fantasy, love triangle, adventure, and battles. While this may not be high literature, it's awfully fun escapism! Now on to the second book!   hide

Wow. M'k. Soooo, this book is wonderful! I adore it. It's like Harry Potter meets Twilight meets lots of magic. I dunno. This is a page turner for sure!! It was recommended by Stephenie Meyer and let me tell you, she knows what the crap she's talking about when it comes to books! Luckily, the entire series was given to me (THANK YOU ELLEN!!!) so I don't have to...more

Wow. M'k. Soooo, this book is wonderful! I adore it. It's like Harry Potter meets Twilight meets lots of magic. I dunno. This is a page turner for sure!! It was recommended by Stephenie Meyer and let me tell you, she knows what the crap she's talking about when it comes to books! Luckily, the entire series was given to me (THANK YOU ELLEN!!!) so I don't have to wait/go out and buy the second and third because that's what I would be doing right now instead of writing this. Okay, time for the nitty gritty. Cassandra Clare's imagination is off the heezey, I would have NEVER thought of some of this stuff. Sometimes her writing is a little cheesy and a lot lame. Opposingly, (which, according to my spell checker, isn't a real word but should be) there are times when her characters are so witty and quick (mainly Jace and Simon) which I absolutely love! For being a young adult novel, City of Bones uses quite large words - so I broke out the dictionary. :) A lot of them are words I've never heard before but I absolutely LOVE reading books that expand my vocabulary. In the beginning YOU WILL BE CONFUSED, but be patient. It will all start to make sense the more you read. So keep reading. There isn't a lot of cussing or anything so it's all gravy for small children - unless you have a problem with magic-y things... then I suggest you just get right on over that. Clare throws one thing after another at you throughout this entire book. It really is quite intense. I cannot wait until my friend (LADDIE) gets done reading MY book, City of Ashes, so I can dive in. Once she finishes, we can continue our friendship... but until then... :D I'm already sad that there are only three but I'm really, really interested to see where this series will go.   hide

One of my favorite quotes from this book is: "Shadowhunters: Looking Better in Black Than the Widows of our Enemies Since 1234" which will probably end up on one my T shirts. Anyway, the story starts of with Clarissa 'Clary' Fray hanging out with her best friend Simon in Pandemonium,a night club of some sort, where, ha ha, she encountered three people about to stick another...more

One of my favorite quotes from this book is: "Shadowhunters: Looking Better in Black Than the Widows of our Enemies Since 1234" which will probably end up on one my T shirts. Anyway, the story starts of with Clarissa 'Clary' Fray hanging out with her best friend Simon in Pandemonium,a night club of some sort, where, ha ha, she encountered three people about to stick another person with a knife, typical right? You're hanging out, having a good time, then somebody pulls out a knife...dangerous sure but nothing strange...of course then, the other person turned out to be a shapeshifting demon and when he was the demon was killed, the body also disappeared...then, adding to your state of befuddlement, your best friend, who actually had the foresight to get the bouncer to deal with the murdering fiends. One problem though, they couldn't see the three people who was standing right in front of her...with weapons...   hide

When I started reading this book, I didn't know anything about it (except what the cover could tell me). I was thinking that it was going to be just another horrible series that I'd read and then forget about. It only took a chapter to change my mind. I was instantly hooked! This definitely brought something new to the young adult fantasy genre for me. The writing was unique and interesting...more

When I started reading this book, I didn't know anything about it (except what the cover could tell me). I was thinking that it was going to be just another horrible series that I'd read and then forget about. It only took a chapter to change my mind. I was instantly hooked! This definitely brought something new to the young adult fantasy genre for me. The writing was unique and interesting with characters that were enjoyable to follow. When I reached the end, I wanted to instantly go to the next book, City of Ashes, but I also wanted to go back and read this one all over again! I love this book, but that obviously doesn't mean that everyone will. I've read the Harry Potter Series (great), the Twilight series (loved it), the House of Night series (ugh), the Immortals series (okay, I guess), the Darkest Powers series (pretty good), the Vampire Academy series (okay) and the Evernight series (to be determind...). None of them compare to Cassandra Clare's world created in the Mortal Instruments series!   hide

Clary is a young teenage girl who learns that the city of Manhattan is inhabited by more than just humans. She witnesses a murder that no one else can see but knows that she is not crazy when one of the murderers, Jace, come into her life to find out what she is. When her mother disappears and she is almost killed, Jace takes her to the Institute where she learns what Jace really is, a...more

Clary is a young teenage girl who learns that the city of Manhattan is inhabited by more than just humans. She witnesses a murder that no one else can see but knows that she is not crazy when one of the murderers, Jace, come into her life to find out what she is. When her mother disappears and she is almost killed, Jace takes her to the Institute where she learns what Jace really is, a Shadowhunter who works to keep the balance among the beings that live among the humans. Only with Jace and the other Shadowhunters, Isabelle and Alec, as well as her friend Simon, will she be able to find her mother and learn why the balance (the Accord) is being thrown off. Along the way, she and Jace will learn secrets that will affect the growing affection between them. This is a very easy read and has a lot of quick, witty bantering going on between the characters in the dialogue. The storyline is predictable and you can guess early on what is going to happen and in some ways you can figure out why it happens. I can already guess what happens in the last book (City of Glass). Because of the predictability, I am not in a rush to go out and purchase the rest of the trilogy. There are some things that I don't really care too much for in the first book so far. The quick and witty bantering is fitting for an older age group than the 15-17 years of the characters. The bantering also takes away from the story some what because it is so much more interesting. What I do like about the book is that there is a lot of action throughout, although, it all happens really fast. But overall, an entertaining book but nothing that will have you wracking your brain to figure out what is going to happen next   hide

A post Twilight book for me, which means my standards for tolerating the supernatural teen romance genre are set rather loftily in terms of how much I expect to enjoy the book versus how annoyed I am at admitting I've read it, so, my rating for this book is rather positive. This story has many familiar elements of story telling, but, has an interesting blend of contemporary culture with a...more

A post Twilight book for me, which means my standards for tolerating the supernatural teen romance genre are set rather loftily in terms of how much I expect to enjoy the book versus how annoyed I am at admitting I've read it, so, my rating for this book is rather positive. This story has many familiar elements of story telling, but, has an interesting blend of contemporary culture with a what appears to be a rich fantasy culture lurking in the ever fascinating "secret world" where the supernatural is possible. The romance is electric and ultimately delivers either a cackle worthy dose of drama, or a very tired theme from other areas of pop culture, depending on your point of view. I went for cackle, its more fun. I am interested to see how the characters, story, and politics all play out.   hide