Rating: ★★★★ 1/2
I remember during my years in Middle School I saw this book floating around the gothic/emo-girls at my school (which they were the first to read Twilight before it became mainstream) and never bother to ask what it was about because I despised reading at the time and it was weird hearing girls going crazy over killing demons and other paranormal beings. Then years later I bought this book at B&N because I heard the movie version was going to be released soon.
I never got towards reading the book and seeing the film in theaters so I waited to rent it and it was spellbinding to watch the film which makes no sense why it was a box-office flop and news about this series disappeared into the abyss. Once I got addicted to Goodreads and the BookTube community I saw that this book is essential when it comes to the YA Genre like how it is required to read Harry Potter when you become an avid reader.
It was disinteresting to read this series because I discovered that you had to read the 1st three books of this series, the prequels, then the last three books and now there is a spinoff sequel coming out now and I wasn't ready to commit my time and effort to the Mortal Instruments until now. Months ago I heard that the former ABC Family aka Free Form green-light this series to become a television show called "Shadowhunters" and I was ecstatic about this concept because I remember that two of the main characters are gay and I need to see some love action between two guys projected onto my television screen.
I procrastinated when it comes to reading the book before the show premiered but I am glad that I waited until investing on the tv series. Immediately I was addicted to the show and propel my desire to read the book before the show concluded and discovered that the show is different from the book in the sense that they want to feature more action and have all the main characters in every episode whereas most of the book is dialogue and the main focus is on Clary and Jace. I am not angry about it and in fact I see that they keep the main plot points exactly like the book and made everything else more action and adventure so the fans of the book series shouldn't be discouraged from enjoying the show.
What is the City of Bones about?
We are introduced to a girl named Clary Fray who is your typical teenager living in the Big Apple with her mother but nothing is typical about her. One night she attends the Pandemonium club with her childhood friend Simon and witness some murky activity and follows the call of danger and discovers these group of teenagers who are about to kill this demon but he looks completely human. She seeks police help and discovers that she can only see these people and discovers they are called Shadow hunters. The shadow hunters cannot believe that a human aka mundane can witness them in plain sight and leave the club to avoid further company.
She is shocked by the whole experience and between the club incident and other nonsense she arrives home late and gets in an awful quarrel with her mother and it doesn't help that she wants Clary to leave New York to live in a farmhouse with a family friend named Luke for the rest of summer. Clary leaves the apartment and heads to a poetry slam with her friend Simon and as the event gets started, Clary witness at the corner of her eye that one of boys (Jace) from the Shadow hunters group has followed her and wants to speak to her. As she inquires more about them she answers her phone and hears that her mother is in danger and tells Clary to stay away from the apartment.
Obviously Clary is not going to obey orders and once she reaches the apartment she discovers that it is completely trashed and a demon is lurking around which leads to this fight and Clary almost dies but luckily she was rescued by Jace and heads to the Institute which is located inside a Cathedral. As she recovers she discovers that everything mythical such as Faeries, Demons, Vampires, Werewolves, Warlocks and all paranormal beings actually exist but to the mundanes they are not able to see these creatures because these monsters are a glamour so it distorts their perception and makes them believe that they are seeing something else from the truth.
Also Clary finds out that her mother has been kidnapped by this evil man named Valentine and wants the Mortal Cup. This Mortal Cup is a mystical cup that allows humans to become Shadow hunters or if it gets into the wrong hands then Demons can convert humans and so on. Her mother Jocelyn was a shadow hunter and used magical spells to wipe her memory away so that way she could never have the sight that allows her to see this paranormal world and the location of the Mortal Cup. So now Clary needs to get her memory back and the Mortal cup in order to rescue her mother. She needs the help of the Shadow hunters which are Jace, Isabelle, and Alec in order for her to retrieve her mother and save the Earth.
Why 4.5 rating?
While I enjoyed reading this book I had some issues which I can thank Stephen King for affecting my reading. If I had read this before reading Stephen King's On Writing this would automatically get 5 stars. I notice sections throughout the book where Cassandra Clare uses double negatives and that drives me fu@#%king insane. I have always disliked it because it stops the flow of my reading and makes me ponder what she is writing about and if she didn't have to put the double negatives then the sentence would have been clean and simple.
Also I do not like laziness when it comes to writing and one example which is not exact from the book but sometimes she would write sentences like, "Some of the girls in the club look like a Dega painting". The average teenager is not going to know who is Dega and now I have to research and figure out that meaning and for me that is a total waste of my time. Don't use references where the vast majority of your audience are not going to know or understand. A few times I have never heard of the painting or the artist and that gets me frustrated.
Before Stephen King I would ignore this issue but now I discover that it is bad writing and the author of this book uses it a lot in terms of dialogue. In moments of intense conversation, the author would use -ly whenever it was he said or she said. When I was younger I wouldn't care about it or even now for that matter but I am learning how to become a better reading and why books sometimes take months for me to read and I have learned thanks to Mr. King it is because of bad grammar.
Would I recommend this series? HELL TO THE YES! I knew halfway into this book that I wanted to read the sequel because I wanted to know what happens next and while this series is extremely popular among YA readers, I have been fortunate enough to not get spoiled about this series and I hope that continues as I venture further into this series.
I never got towards reading the book and seeing the film in theaters so I waited to rent it and it was spellbinding to watch the film which makes no sense why it was a box-office flop and news about this series disappeared into the abyss. Once I got addicted to Goodreads and the BookTube community I saw that this book is essential when it comes to the YA Genre like how it is required to read Harry Potter when you become an avid reader.
It was disinteresting to read this series because I discovered that you had to read the 1st three books of this series, the prequels, then the last three books and now there is a spinoff sequel coming out now and I wasn't ready to commit my time and effort to the Mortal Instruments until now. Months ago I heard that the former ABC Family aka Free Form green-light this series to become a television show called "Shadowhunters" and I was ecstatic about this concept because I remember that two of the main characters are gay and I need to see some love action between two guys projected onto my television screen.
I procrastinated when it comes to reading the book before the show premiered but I am glad that I waited until investing on the tv series. Immediately I was addicted to the show and propel my desire to read the book before the show concluded and discovered that the show is different from the book in the sense that they want to feature more action and have all the main characters in every episode whereas most of the book is dialogue and the main focus is on Clary and Jace. I am not angry about it and in fact I see that they keep the main plot points exactly like the book and made everything else more action and adventure so the fans of the book series shouldn't be discouraged from enjoying the show.
What is the City of Bones about?
We are introduced to a girl named Clary Fray who is your typical teenager living in the Big Apple with her mother but nothing is typical about her. One night she attends the Pandemonium club with her childhood friend Simon and witness some murky activity and follows the call of danger and discovers these group of teenagers who are about to kill this demon but he looks completely human. She seeks police help and discovers that she can only see these people and discovers they are called Shadow hunters. The shadow hunters cannot believe that a human aka mundane can witness them in plain sight and leave the club to avoid further company.
She is shocked by the whole experience and between the club incident and other nonsense she arrives home late and gets in an awful quarrel with her mother and it doesn't help that she wants Clary to leave New York to live in a farmhouse with a family friend named Luke for the rest of summer. Clary leaves the apartment and heads to a poetry slam with her friend Simon and as the event gets started, Clary witness at the corner of her eye that one of boys (Jace) from the Shadow hunters group has followed her and wants to speak to her. As she inquires more about them she answers her phone and hears that her mother is in danger and tells Clary to stay away from the apartment.
Obviously Clary is not going to obey orders and once she reaches the apartment she discovers that it is completely trashed and a demon is lurking around which leads to this fight and Clary almost dies but luckily she was rescued by Jace and heads to the Institute which is located inside a Cathedral. As she recovers she discovers that everything mythical such as Faeries, Demons, Vampires, Werewolves, Warlocks and all paranormal beings actually exist but to the mundanes they are not able to see these creatures because these monsters are a glamour so it distorts their perception and makes them believe that they are seeing something else from the truth.
Also Clary finds out that her mother has been kidnapped by this evil man named Valentine and wants the Mortal Cup. This Mortal Cup is a mystical cup that allows humans to become Shadow hunters or if it gets into the wrong hands then Demons can convert humans and so on. Her mother Jocelyn was a shadow hunter and used magical spells to wipe her memory away so that way she could never have the sight that allows her to see this paranormal world and the location of the Mortal Cup. So now Clary needs to get her memory back and the Mortal cup in order to rescue her mother. She needs the help of the Shadow hunters which are Jace, Isabelle, and Alec in order for her to retrieve her mother and save the Earth.
Why 4.5 rating?
While I enjoyed reading this book I had some issues which I can thank Stephen King for affecting my reading. If I had read this before reading Stephen King's On Writing this would automatically get 5 stars. I notice sections throughout the book where Cassandra Clare uses double negatives and that drives me fu@#%king insane. I have always disliked it because it stops the flow of my reading and makes me ponder what she is writing about and if she didn't have to put the double negatives then the sentence would have been clean and simple.
Also I do not like laziness when it comes to writing and one example which is not exact from the book but sometimes she would write sentences like, "Some of the girls in the club look like a Dega painting". The average teenager is not going to know who is Dega and now I have to research and figure out that meaning and for me that is a total waste of my time. Don't use references where the vast majority of your audience are not going to know or understand. A few times I have never heard of the painting or the artist and that gets me frustrated.
Before Stephen King I would ignore this issue but now I discover that it is bad writing and the author of this book uses it a lot in terms of dialogue. In moments of intense conversation, the author would use -ly whenever it was he said or she said. When I was younger I wouldn't care about it or even now for that matter but I am learning how to become a better reading and why books sometimes take months for me to read and I have learned thanks to Mr. King it is because of bad grammar.
Would I recommend this series? HELL TO THE YES! I knew halfway into this book that I wanted to read the sequel because I wanted to know what happens next and while this series is extremely popular among YA readers, I have been fortunate enough to not get spoiled about this series and I hope that continues as I venture further into this series.
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