Steve Review: City of Bones by Cassandra Clare
Title: City of Bones
Hardcover, 485 pages
Author: Cassandra Clare
Publisher: Margaret K. McElderry
Publication Date: March 27, 2007
Book Summary:
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.
Steve Review:
Clary, Clary, quite contrary. Not really, I have no idea why the review started out like that. As I’m sure most of you know, City of Bones is a top 100 young adult book. I just finished it and it is there for good reason. This book (and hopefully series!!) belongs at the top of the fantasy young adult section, and I can’t wait to get to the rest of the series.
The book begins ordinarily enough, but quickly Clary finds herself in the middle of some mysterious happenings and has no clue what is going on. Clary seems to be a pretty typical teen, with a fairly normal life that is instantly turned upside down by the fantastical world that she finds herself a part of. I won’t reach in and spoil the plot, especially since the summary does a great job of drawing you in without giving away nearly ANY critical information, but lets just say there is sooo much more to learn about the setting, Clary’s role in all of it, and her new found Shadowhunter friends.
There is action, magic, demons, and even teen romance throughout the book and it is all great. And I’ll be honest with you guys (and by guys I mostly mean girls), usually I find the YA romance selections to be rather boring. They seem uninspired, bland, and above all predictable. Even these held my attention throughout the story, and I’ll tell you why; they are so gosh darn relatable. The whole “in love with a friend”, or “having a friend who you thought was just a friend turn out to be someone who likes you as more than a friend” situations that come up are just so close to real teen romance you can’t help but get drawn in. The only other YA book with romance that I’ve actually felt that way about is Twilight (shh don’t tell people I read that!), and this book is great because while Clary is a bit dense and blind when it comes to romance, she isn’t as dumb as Bella (thank goodness lol). So yeah, the book has pretty much everything a young adult fantasy reader could ask for! Let’s get to the rating scale to prove it:
Book Cover: 5/5 – Possibly naked man with tatt’s. Hot.
Book Title: 2/5 – I understand the theme of City in the series but I just didn’t think it was that fitting for this book.
Plot: 10/10 – Twists, turns, surprises, and a sprinkling of magic/religion mixed in.
Characters: 8/10 – Clary, Clary, quite contrary. Yeah, still doesn’t fit that well; but they definitely did have a greenhouse garden in this book!! (if you don’t get this joke look up this Mary nursery rhyme, c’mon people.) Something actually related to this category: good characters that you definitely relate to.
Writing: 8/10 – A bit predictable, but not long term predictable, just that you could kinda tell what was going to happen on the next page as you quickly skim read down it.
Ending: 8/10 – Not bad at all for a series, not too much cliffhanger, but you definitely want more.
Overall: 41/50 – One of the top young adult books with good reason. I’ll move onto the others in the series shortly and keep you guys up to date about how good/bad they are and how they compare to this excellent opener in The Mortal Instruments trilogy. <3
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Whoa! Nice bod on the cover of that book! I give it a 10!
I'm really glad you liked it! It's my favorite series!
its my favorite series to i cant wait for the prequels!they get better as they go along so enjoy the ride because they are awesome!
MOAR REVIEWS FROM STEVE PLZ.
I stillll need to read this entire series. You too, Shanyn.
Also, naked man covers clearly deserve a place in YA.
I love love this series. I stumbled upon it by accident (and took a lot of crap from my guy friends over the cover) and just plowed through the series. It's on my re-read list. I agree with you on the name. I get the them of it, but it doesn't really fit each book.