The City of Bones Book Review

Hiya! This is Vincent LaVel Moorehead: writer, reader, and book blogger extraordinaire. How are you? It's a bright sunny day, so I'm in a great mood to write about the book "The City of Bones" by Cassandra Clare. First, I read this book near the end of my freshman year in college and some people were astounded that I could read at the end of finals. But hey, couldn't help it. :-)

One of the first things that I noticed while reading the book were the quotes Ms. Clare placed before each "part" of the book (there are three parts in the novel). In part one, John Milton writes in his book Paradise Lost "I sung of Chaos eternal Night, Tonight by the heav'nly Muse to venture down. The dark descent, and up to reascend..." A little somber, don't you think? ;-) The quotes before each part signify a journey to the underworld and the main character Clary certainly finds herself struggling to find out who she is by traveling to..The City of Bones! I won't give away what it is, but the metaphor above should give a glimpse at what it is...

So..who are the main characters? We have Clary Fray and Simon Lewis, who have been school buddies since forever. Jace Wayland: the main leader of the Shadowhunters, Alec and Isabelle Lightwood are Jace's companions in what's known as the "Institute" in New York City, the Shadowhunters' headquarters. If you don't know, Shadowhunters are the offspring of angels and humans (aka Nephilim) who hunt demons, vampires, werewolves, and the like. Jace is the bad boy and commanding force, Alec is the bratty, ill-tempered boy, Isabelle is the confident but insecure girl, and Simon is the nerdy but caring friend (a little more than just caring as you'll see in the book). And well, Clary is...just Clary: inquisitive, protective, and intelligent.

What I love so much about this book is that Ms. Clare didn't play it safe. Here, the main character doesn't understand why demons stole her mother while she hangs out with her friends. She doesn't understand why a bunch of teens kill another teen who happens to be a demon. All of these questions face the reader and I couldn't put the book down as I raced to find out what's going on and what will happen to dear Clary. Frustration is a tool which writers should use so the characters can discover the truth and for that, Ms. Clare scores a point! :-) It's an edgy, face-paced novel which kept me on the edge of my seat. Did I say that there are vampires and werewolves in the book? No, not a twilight kind of romance novel, although there's romance in the book.

So, what's the series about? There are 3 Mortal Instruments, a sword, a mirror and a cup. The primary instrument in "The City of Bones" is the Mortal Cup, an object formed by the angel Raziel which carries his blood alongside human blood. Within it lives the power to create Shadowhunters, a power which the antagonist of the novel Valentine craves. The action of the novel intensifies when Clary learns of the location of the Mortal Cup, and evil forces come against her and the Shadowhunters to seize the Cup.

Let's talk about unique. Why the heck does Jace (I don't mind sharing his name) wear tattoos on the front cover of "The City of Bones?" Apparently, Shadowhunters derive their magical powers from tattoo runes. Ms. Clare received her idea for tattoo runes by walking into a tattoo shop one day and looking up at the ceiling and seeing dark footprints. Then, she began to imagine that some great battle had been fought there and thought about monsters, heroes, swords, good and evil, everything a good fantasy book needs. It was such a refreshing twist in the novel and I think that fantasy readers who want a different approach to magical fighting will find it here in "The City of Bones."

I give this novel a 3.5/5. I absolutely adore the description and especially the metaphors which Ms. Clare utilizes. I think that everyone will enjoy the pace of the novel, which doesn't drag. However, there were points in the novel which I thought were too good to be true (examples are when Clary comes up against a demon herself and kills it in the beginning of the novel and when an incredibly powerful demon almost destroys the Shadowhunters, but is defeated towards the end of the novel). Also, a romance plot point at the end of the novel turned me off, but I will let other readers decide if it was appropriate. All in all, I loved the first book in "The Mortal Instruments" saga.

I can't wait to see what will happen next in "The Mortal Instruments." There are 5 more books in the series and 2 haven't been released yet! Tell me, what do you think about "The City of Bones" by Cassandra Clare? Send me your thoughts by posting a comment on my blog here.

Peace. :-)