Title: City of Bones Author: Cassandra Clare # of Pages: 485 (paperback) Genre: YA, Fantasy, Paranormal Rating: ★★★☆☆ Synopsis: When 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 odd markings. This is Clary's first meeting with the Shadowhunters, warriors dedicated to ridding the earth of demons--and keeping the odd werewolves and vampires in line. It's also her first meeting with gorgeous, golden-haired Jace. 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 an ordinary mundane like Clary? And how did she suddenly get the Sight? The Shadowhunters would like to know....
Review:
ORIGINAL REVIEW - FEB 13, 2013 - 3 Stars
THE SKY IS FALLING, THE SKY IS FALLING!!! Or at least that's what I thought when this hit me on the head. Literally. From a really highly shelf. I already know this book is going to be a painful read.
[Insert image of cover here]
Alright, maybe the dude isn't COMPLETELY naked, but it's close enough. So, of course, I was interested. But after I stopped seeing stars, I saw a little quote that was *cough*inconveniently*cough* scrawled across the guys chest. "The Mortal Instruments series is a story world that I would love to live in. Beautiful!" -Stephanie Meyers, Author of Twilight. Wait, what? Did I really just seem a quote from Stephanie Meyers on there? ...oh dear, first impressions aren't going very well.
You know the saying; don't judge a book by a cover. So I flip it over. (NOTE: This picture is not mine!)
The summary seemed interesting I suppose. But what caught my eye was the two little quotes at the top. Who the heck is Holly Black and Libba Bray? I guess it doesn't matter that much, but what interested me was the word "sexy" in both of them. Sexy= a LOT of romance. "Why not?" Is what I thought as I walked up to the counter, book in hand. I went home as quickly as possible to read the book.
There must have been a misprint. Where in the world did the "sexy thrill ride" fly away to? Because, last time I checked, one measly kissing scene wasn't my definition of "sexy". Now excuse me as I rant about all of the stuff that I hated about this book.
SPOILERS AHEAD
Clary is a modest, strong main character that all reader can look up to.
...I know, I'm a really bad liar. Let me try this again. Clary is a stuck up little girl with an undesirable attitude and a know-it-all personality. You want proof? Well, if you insist.
""'Clancy keeps out the undesirables,' said Jace, herding her to one of the booths.
'He's a demon,' she hissed."
What makes HER think that she know better than Jace and the other Shadowhunters, who (reality check, Clary) are WAY more experienced? Just because Clary has Shadowhunter blood running through her veins doesn't mean that she's all great and mighty. Did Clare (ha, I just thought of something: did Cassandra Clare name her character after herself? They're names seem suspiciously similar) make Clary like this on purpose? Sure, I can appreciate a girl with attitude, but there are some personality traits that I just can't stand. And Clary has all of them. But what's even more baffling is that the other characters actually LIKED her! There's got to be someone that...strongly dislikes her as I do!
Role models, role models, role models. Tell me wants wrong with this quote:
"'Filters are for cigarettes and coffee...Two things I could use right now...' [said Simon]"
I think Simon said the quote, I can't remember. But that's not the point. This character is, what, sixteen? Seventeen? And he's talking about smoking? Not exactly what I want to see in a character. But I'm really anti-smoking, so that might just be me.
The story line was decent enough, though not exactly original. Sure, there were some unique ideas about the demons and all that, but the vampires and werewolf focus...not so much.
Ah, the stupidity.
"It was a long thin dagger in a leather sheath...'I wouldn't know how to use that-'
[Jace] rested it into her hand... 'You'll learn.' He dropped his voice. 'It's in your blood.'"
You have got to be kidding me. DON'T FRICKING HAND THE GIRL A DAGGER!!! SHE'LL POKE HER EYE OUT!
"The missing stairs baffled Clary. What did vampires have against stairs?"
I really don't think that the vampires got rid of the stairs because they hated them...I hate to be the one to break this to you, but, well, lets just have Simon tell you:
"'You're so stupid, Clary.''"
Couldn't have said it better myself.
And then there's the big reveal of Jace and Clary being siblings. That's just...gross. No. Please no.
Alright, maybe my mini rant was a little "over the top", but I had to get it out of my system. If you haven't read, give it a try. Some like it, some don't. I'll give Clare some credit since the first book is (in my opinion) one of the hardest books to write.
August 19, 2013 REVIEW - 3 Stars
I swore that I rated this book two star the first time I read it. I guess not.
I decided to give this book a second read because a) the movie is coming out the day after tomorrow and b) I thought that I was critiquing this book a little too much in my first review. And here I am! So, I'm going to address each point in my previous review, just to let you know how I feel about them.
Quotes on the back cover by Holly Black and Libba Bray/book's sex appeal
Since the time I first read City of Bones, I've obtained a different copy. This one no longer has the quotes about how "sexy" the book is (and I now know who Holly Black and Libba Bray are. Turns out they're not as unknown as I thought). So this is no longer a problem for me.
2. Clary's stupidity and supporting characters' stupidity
Yes, I still think that Clary is stupid, although not as much as I did the first time. While Cassandra Clare tried (I think) to make Clary courageous and wise, she turned out to be overdramatic and full of herself. Maybe it's just because Clare is still developing the characters. I'm not sure. I'll just have to read the second book to find out.
As far as the supporting character's stupidity, they're actually pretty awesome now. Jace (he still shouldn't have given Clary a dagger when she doesn't have any, Alec (except for the time when he was acting like a jerk. But he apologized for that, so I guess it's okay now), Isabelle, and Simon are loveable, although (spoiler alert!) the fact that they end up being all chummy with Clary at the end bugs me. But, like I said above, maybe Clary's personality will improve by the second book. Now, here's something I don't get; Magnus. Everyone seems to love him, but he's not THAT important in the story. I think he might do something awesome in the other books. Who knows? I don't.
3. Clary and Jace *WILL CONTAIN SPOILERS!!!*
I think that Clare making Jace and Clary siblings was still a big mistake. They had chemistry (if you call one, LITTLE kiss chemistry. I still can't believe they only kissed once!), but now technically they aren't allowed to be together. How wrong is that? I can only hope that their relation to each other will improve in further books.
4. Recommendation/Other
So, since I could remember the book pretty well, I found the reread a little boring. The shock factor was lost on me, and I swore that I gave this book two stars before. I had already decided to give this book three stars when I realized that that was the exact same rating I gave it the first time. I didn't really want to give it four stars, so I just gave it three stars again. But know that it was better the second time than it was the first.
I do recommend it because it's not as poorly written as a lot of books out there. If you're looking for a good read, you might want to try this one. But beware of Clary; she'll either make it or break it for you. She lost the book two stars, after all.
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