Review: City of Bones (The Mortal Instruments, #1)

Author: Cassandra Clare
Series: The Mortal Instruments, #1
Publisher: McElderry Books (Simon & Schuster)
Release: March 27th 2007
Source: Purchased
Pages: 528 (ebook)
( Amazon | Goodreads )

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.

City of Bones is the first installment in The Mortal Instruments series and also the first published book by Cassandra Clare, now an achieving New York Times Best Selling Author who is widely known for her young adult/urban fantasy novels. The film adaption of this book was recently released in August 2013 though received "overwhelmingly negative reviews from critics". 

Initially, I was actually more interested in reading another series of hers - The Infernal Devices which is the prequel series to this one, but then I thought to myself: why not start from the origin, the first piece in Clare's fantasy world? And then before I knew it, I was already sucked into the story, quite happily.

City of Bones tells the tale of an ordinary teenage girl, Clary Fray, who suddenly got the Sight to see things that others could not. Murders, demons, Shadowhunters... She was dragged into a world that she never thought existed and then gradually realized that she was in fact part of that world. Her heart filled with confusion and vengeance, when her mother got attacked and went missing, Clary was determined to find out the secret past that was hidden from her and to rescue those she loved from the hands of evil.

The first thing I want to say is that I REALLY enjoyed Cassandra Clare's writing and her storytelling style. Reading her book was just plain joy and relaxation. Her writings are descriptive and detailed but not to the point of being overly verbose and redundant. The language is modern and witty which suits the story very well and often makes me laugh. I think what especially made the story gripping for me is that it flows with such little effort, so natural that you don't even realize how much time has past or how many chapters you have read through, it just keeps getting more and more interesting.

I was also particularly fond of her worldbuidling skills. It is important, in my opinion, that fantasy novels equipped themselves with a broad and complex background setting especially for series so that there are more potentials and spaces to maneuver and explore. I love the world introduced in City of Bones. I don't know the whole thing just yet, but the pieces I do know have made me wondered a lot about it. Imagining what it could be and how many mysteries and plot twisters can come out of it. It's quite fascinating. 

As for the characters, I enjoyed having Clary's company. She is strong spirited and very brave. Although she is a little vulnerable at this point, not being able to fight much and whatnot, she has changed a lot and developed determinations to fight alongside her friends and to protect the people she loves. Jace, the main male character and the love interest of Clary, also has some interesting attributes. So far, I don't really buy their chemistry much but since this is not one of those "love at the first sight" story, I will see how it plays out in the long run. I would admit though that I was a little surprised when I read the final chapter in which his real identity was revealed, but there are still lots of mysteries in his backstory as well as the past Shadowhunter generation. I'm excited to read more about it in the next installment City of Ashes.

My Rating: ★★★★☆ (4 and 1/2 stars)