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City of Bones (The Mortal Instruments #1)

by Cassandra Clare (Goodreads Author)

4.12 · Rating Details · 1,151,715 Ratings · 48,947 Reviews

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 ...more

Hardcover, 485 pages

Published March 27th 2007 by Margaret K. McElderry Books

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Community Reviews

(showing 1-30)

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Jan 26, 2011 Andrea Caro rated it did not like it

Recommends it for: NO ONE

Shelves: read-in-2011, headache-inducing, dumb-heroine, annoying-character, young-adult, vampires, angels, author-self-insert, werewolves, asshole-hero, love-triangle, wtf-is-this-shit, urban-fantasy, ebook, belongs-on-fanfiction-net, please-hire-an-editor, in-the-movies, you-plagiarising-bastard, sundry-supernatural-creatures, is-it-illegal-to-murder-a-book

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. I've been deliberating for a few hours over doing a Serious Business review of City of Bones and outlining the infinite number of problems that lie within, but I decided that any critical thought that I could flesh out isn't going to be anything that you've never heard before. Therefore, I choose the low road - sarcasm and mockery.

Oh, Cassie Clare, you so crazy. I can only guess that after writing almost a million words of Harry Potter fan fiction, a bunch of people sucking your e-cock for steal ...more

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Dec 04, 2013 Kat Kennedy rated it did not like it

Shelves: kat-s-book-reviews, books-that-deserve-painful-death, just-plain-bad, kat-s-rants, ya-pnr-maddness

***Warning: won't contain spoilers cause I didn't get far enough to give a fuck and discover anything worth spoiling.***

Okay, so let me get this out straight. I have never NOT finished a book before. Okay, I'm lying. The History of Sexuality Volume 1 by Michel Foucault remains unfinished as does Villette by Charlotte Bronte. Why? Because they were boring.

Because, as I read them, I wanted to take a cheese grater to my skull and rub vigorously just to have something to do!

But I have never NOT fini ***Warning: won't contain spoilers cause I didn't get far enough to give a fuck and discover anything worth spoiling.***

Okay, so let me get this out straight. I have never NOT finished a book before. Okay, I'm lying. The History of Sexuality Volume 1 by Michel Foucault remains unfinished as does Villette by Charlotte Bronte. Why? Because they were boring.

Because, as I read them, I wanted to take a cheese grater to my skull and rub vigorously just to have something to do!

But I have never NOT finished a Young Adult paranormal novel before. And I've read some BAAAAAD books. But I didn't finish this book because it goes beyond bad. It makes the History of Sexuality seem amazingly interesting and colourful.

To be fair to Ms. Clare, I was not actually "reading" her novel so much as listening to the Audiobook. The Narrator, Graynor, did a particularly craptastic job.

To be fair to Ms. Graynor, she didn't have much to work with. I tuned her out, I swear, I was focusing on the actual prose, taking in the story, trying to get interested. But the writing was terrible. It was painful. The characters were annoying.

Now, I've been fair to Ms. Clare and I've been fair to Mr. Graynor. So there's only you left to be fair to now.

And in order to do that, I have to admit that I wasn't EXPECTING to like this book. I was, however, expecting to be pleasantly surprised, and I'll explain why.

Many years ago, Cassandra Clare was Cassandra Clair - a VERY popular FF author in the Harry Potter and LoTR circles. I actually greatly enjoyed her Draco Trilogy. I've read it many times. I had heard that this book was very similar to DT and so I was expecting to find it to be a guilty pleasure. Something my moral compass told me to leave behind, but that I would actually enjoy too much to do so. But I was wrong.

Yeah, she plagiarized that work and I won't really go into it except to post a link because in the end, I'm not reviewing her, I'm reviewing her work.

But here's the problem. Jace is really just Draco from DT. Simon is really just Ron and Harry amalgamated into one. Clary is really just Ginny. The bad guys seems too much like good ol'Voldie. The plot is painfully similar to DT. It was like reading her old work all over again. And I think, because she was really just redressing her old characters, she didn't even both to give them any growth in this story.

To be honest, I didn't read far because the writing was boring (oh my lord, the similes! Someone save me from them) and poorly constructed; the characters were boring and poorly constructed and the plot was boring and poorly constructed.

I'd already read DT so I didn't need to read this. ...more

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Feb 19, 2014 Rick Riordan rated it really liked it

Okay, so I’m far behind the curve on reading this, but I very much enjoyed my introduction to the world of nephilim, Shadowhunters and demons. Clare constructed a vivid, believable parallel world with great characters, punchy dialogue, and a winning mix of humor, pathos and action. I like her take on warlocks, vampires, and werewolves, and of course I’m a big fan or urban fantasy, where these fantastic elements mix into the regular gritty city life of New York. Clary Fray is a sympathetic ...more

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Jul 14, 2014 Cara rated it really liked it

Recommended to Cara by: Tori

Shelves: series, fantasy, paranormal, recommended-to-me

Wow. I was reading some reviews on this and people either hate or love it. I am not ashamed to say I belong to the latter. Lots of opinions means there is lots of things to say...

Ok so I was practically splitting my head open thinking of what exactly I wanted to say about this book. In the end I just decided to go with what comes to mind. So here it goes...

Clare does a superb job of drawing you in. Maybe the plot isn't completely unique but the world she created is. I kept telling myself this is Wow. I was reading some reviews on this and people either hate or love it. I am not ashamed to say I belong to the latter. Lots of opinions means there is lots of things to say...

Ok so I was practically splitting my head open thinking of what exactly I wanted to say about this book. In the end I just decided to go with what comes to mind. So here it goes...

Clare does a superb job of drawing you in. Maybe the plot isn't completely unique but the world she created is. I kept telling myself this is sooooooooooo interesting. The whole shadowhunter thing oozes with coolness. I mean half angel, half kick butt people! It doesn't get much cooler than that. The story is full of action and yes sometimes there are things added for dramatic effect, but isn't that the point? If you were looking for something more slow paced read The Mill on the Floss (personally I'd rather pull more hair then read this but moving on...)I'm a sucker for action sequences so this totally delivered on that front. The author's take on werewolves was original, and I gotta say they give the vampires a run for their money. I actually guessed most of the twists but that's some of the fun. Finding the hints and feeling the satisfaction of saying YES! Score for me I got it right! Let's do a little victory dance. (insert some break dancing moves I personally cannot do here) I think some people didn't get that guessing the twists is all part of the experience.

Some people claimed all of this to be fluff but I don't agree. Just look at Jace. The whole feeling about belonging has depth to it. Now for why I knocked off a star even though I REALLY didn't want to. I thought Clary would be more shocked about finding out her history. You'd think with how much her mother pounded in to her that there was not such thing as magic she would resist the whole idea more. Also I think the author tried to introduce too many fantasy creatures at once. Like the scene at Magnus Bane house was overdone for my taste. We could have done without so many new faces. Those are just little irks though, my main one was Valentine. I know this is going to sound outrageous but Valentine wasn't bad enough for me. I shouldn't feel this way looking at his track record he is evil. The thing is I wasn't scared of him. A good villain has got to be scary plain and simple. I'm hoping to see more evilness in him in the next book.

Well I think I've said enough. I'm so glad I'm reading this series after all the books are out. I totally expect to be blown away by the next installment:)

Later added: Guess what guys? They are making a movie and here is the trailer! ...more

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Dec 04, 2013 Tatiana rated it did not like it

Recommends it for: teenage girls, fans of angsty teenage soap

Recommended to Tatiana by: Heather

Shelves: 2009, ya, urban-fantasy, why-the-hype, tres-annoying

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. 15-year old Clary witnesses a crime at a trendy New York night club. Interesting thing, nobody but Clary can see both the victim and perpetrators. As it turns out, there is an entire invisible to regular people world, and Clary is an unwitting important part of it.

"City of Bones" is one of those books that all my female friends and fellow readers simply love, Jace-mania all around. Needless to say, I had to jump on the bandwagon eventually and get me some Jace. Who am I to deny myself a pleasur 15-year old Clary witnesses a crime at a trendy New York night club. Interesting thing, nobody but Clary can see both the victim and perpetrators. As it turns out, there is an entire invisible to regular people world, and Clary is an unwitting important part of it.

"City of Bones" is one of those books that all my female friends and fellow readers simply love, Jace-mania all around. Needless to say, I had to jump on the bandwagon eventually and get me some Jace. Who am I to deny myself a pleasure to fall for a fictional hot, sarcastic and brooding guy? Imagine my disappointment, when I found out that this book was one big pile of hot mess! Sorry ladies, I said it, it's bad.

I had the hardest time sticking to the story and for quite some time I couldn't figure out why. Then gradually I realized that there were several reasons.

Let me start with the editing. I don't really think this book was edited at all, actually. Errors were endless and visible to even my untrained eye: wrong words ("noise" instead on "nose"); missing words in sentences; strange mix of POVs (the book is mostly told in 3rd person, from Clary's POV, but occasionally I saw both 3rd and 1st person narration in the same paragraph describing the same events, then there was a page from Jace's POV and a chapter from Luke's); Clary's father was called Jonathan in the beginning of the book, but John in the end. I can go on, but these were the things that I would normally overlook if the story itself was good. Unfortunately it wasn't, and the errors stood out.

I didn't think that the story was cohesive, it just didn't quite flow for me. It read as more of a series of events rather than a novel. I thought there were some parts in the book that served no other purpose but to give our hero an opportunity to act knight-like. I am talking about the entire rat-Simon/vampires extravaganza. This story line could have been edited out completely without any damage to the narrative IMO.

I couldn't quite relate to any of the characters either. What made my friends sigh with adoration, annoyed me. I hated the sarcasm, mainly because the jokes, although funny, felt often out of place, plus all of the characters attempting to joke, sounded exactly the same to me. I didn't feel the difference in attitudes of Clary, Simon, and Jace. If Clare had to make Jace a witty sarcastic type, she should have made the wisecracks his exclusive trademark, not everybody's.

The story itself was so ridiculously predictable! I do not normally see what is to come in the books, but in COB, I saw every "revelation" coming. Clare just doesn't have a skill to lead to them subtly, it's always in your face: "Valentine is alive" revelation (who in this book who was thought to be dead was actually dead? - a serious question), "your mother put a spell on you" revelation, the big "father/brother" revelation - I could see them all, and I am not the most astute reader out there.

Now, my biggest problem with this book - I've read/seen it all before! Clare borrows so liberally from "Star Wars," "Harry Potter" and "Buffy," it is simply impossible to overlook. Valentine - Voldemort/Darth Vader combo; Jace/Clary - Luke/Draco/Leia/Ginny (if it is possible) combo; the Circle - reversed Order of the Phoenix/Death Eaters combo; the Clave - Ministry of Magic; Luke - Lupin/Snape combo; Hodge - Giles/Wormtail combo. I can continue, but will stop here, you get the picture. Granted, there is nothing absolutely original in paranormal genre, but a skillful writer can re-work an old theme and make it new, fresh, and unique. Whatever is original in COB, is not quite thought through. As an example, let's take a "stele." After finishing this book, I still have no idea what exactly it does - do you only write runes with it? how exactly do you use it in a battle? why it can open some doors and not others? it can heal, but not everything? it can make you be able to see through a wooden screen, but is it because you write a special rune with it or you use it as a wand? It seems to me stele is pretty much used as a deus ex machina, convenient whenever a quick solution to a problem needed. And what's with all the shadow folk? There is just so much mashed up together - fairies, vampires, werewolves, pixies, jinns. You name any mythical creature, it is in this book. And what about magic? I read about spells made by a warlock, stele rune tricks, curses, where does it end? The limits of magic possibilities were never defined. Bottom line, all these inconsistencies make for one unoriginal and messy imaginary world. And this probably was the main reason why I couldn't connect with this book.

Finally, I was a little surprised by some of Clare's creative choices. I found both flirtations of at least 35-year-old warlock (he might be older, his age was never mentioned) with a gay teenage boy and reversed Leia/Luke extravaganza quite tacky, if not disturbing. Although I know how Jace/Clary "family matter" is resolved in the end, I don't find possibly incestuous relationships appealing.

This review might make it seem like COB is the worst book ever written. I wouldn't say so, after all, I've read "Breaking Dawn," and that book doesn't have any plot. There were some nice Jace/Clary moments, the greenhouse birthday party comes to mind. But was COB the most blatantly unoriginal book I've ever read? Absolutely (although I haven't read "Eragon" yet, but I heard a lot about it).

In all honesty, I shouldn't give this book more than 1 star, but I will add a second one as a dedication to one Mrs. Jace Wayland. Would I recommend this book? Sure, many of my friends enjoyed it immensely. Will I continue on with the series? I don't think I will be able to convince myself to waste any more of my time on being mad at a book. I think I will just check out plot summaries on wiki and be done with the series.

P.S. I just read that Cassandara Clare is an avid and famous in certain circles fanfiction writer. I guess that's where all the liberal "borrowing" comes from. Mystery solved. ...more

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Apr 19, 2016 manda rated it it was ok

Shelves: young-adult, urban-fantasy

19 Apr '16
Bet you're sick of my updates, now.

Just for reference, on the recent Sherrilyn Kenyon v Cassandra Clare.
Kenyon has filed a lawsuit against Clare, and also provides a list of alleged similarities between Clare's work to her own.

Read and decide for yourself.

15 Jun '13
update again! Saw some stills for the movie, and to be honest, despite being slightly spurious in my "casting" of City of Bones, I actually think my version is much better than the movie version.

I mean, look at Isabelle, ...more

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Jan 26, 2012 Heather rated it it was amazing

Shelves: ya, urban-fantasy, 2010

I was instantly enchanted when I first read City of Bones, and that enchantment still holds four years, and at least half a dozen re-reads later in sptite of the fact that I'm older, wiser, and should know better. I've also read countless reviews, both adoring and loathing and have come to the conclusion that this book does not garner any type of middle ground, you either love it or you hate it.

I'm glad that I get to love it. What else can I say?

For me, this book shines, and to those of you who ...more

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Jul 04, 2007 Shelley rated it did not like it

Recommends it for: no one

Pure and utter crap. I wish there were ways to give negative stars. I certainly want the time from my life back. I would compare its writing quality to a fanzine, except that comparison wouldn't be fair to fanzines. But I swear to God, it took every single bad fanfic writing cliche and published them. What were her publishers thinking??? Where was her editor?? It was horrible.

I would dearly love for a fanfiction author to make good and become a published writer, but I'd prefer one with talent, ...more

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Sep 18, 2016 Katerina rated it it was amazing

Shelves: urban-fantasy, paranormal, favorites

“Shadowhunters: Looking Better in Black Than the Widows of our Enemies Since 1234.”

I read City of Bones for the first time 5 years ago. I still remember that day. ~~The sun was shining, the birds were singing~~ It was during my first semester in Law School and I had to study History of Law, which was a complete waste of time because seriously, who is ever going to ask me whether women in Byzantium could get a divorce? (In case you are wondering, they could only if the husband was impotent or pos ...more

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Dec 16, 2015 Christina Wilder rated it it was ok

Shelves: ya, fantasy-magic, paranormal-supernatural, had-so-much-potential, women-authors

This will probably be my longest review, but there's a lot to cover here.

What I liked:

- The action sequences were written well. The pacing in them was decent and I could visualize what was happening.
- The kiss between two characters (view spoiler) was also written well, and I was happy to see a kiss written as a kiss, and not like orgasmic sex (the kiss scene in Fallen was so over the top that it was ridiculous).
- Some of the twisty twists were decent.

What I didn ...more

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View all 60 comments

Andre Faustina wrote: "I agree with 90% of this review, but ethnicity for the sake of ethnicity is bad? So all the characters should be white unless there's ...more
Nov 30, 2016 12:05AM

Lucie Belle In later books, a lot of what you criticized comes back and makes sense. For example the fact that she had all theses guys fawning over her and didn't ...more
2 hours, 41 min ago

Aug 06, 2012 Lina rated it did not like it · review of another edition

Shelves: teen-fiction-normal, paranormal-romance, teen-fiction-fantasy, fantasy-general, fiction-general, paranormal-fiction, ya, over-hyped, why-did-i-do-this-to-myself, will-never-read-series

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. I originally took down my review because I wanted to re-write a new one in order to make a point, but being my usual absent minded self I promptly forgot that point and so a half-written review has been sitting on my hard-drive for Hera knows how long, while people look at the [[review coming soon]] note and think...sure that'll happen. So I decided on this cool August day that I am going to re-write this damn review and get it over with.

Cassandra Clare was a writer with a history that I was mos ...more

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May 10, 2012 shady rated it did not like it

Recommends it for: People who have the hots for dickhead heroes.

Shelves: i-am-disappoint, dickhead-heroes, unlikable-heroines, dont-understand-why-its-hyped, boooooring, horribad, why-do-people-like-this-shit, waste-of-paper, hot-mess, get-that-thing-away-from-me, you-arrogant-prick

I had to do it.

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Aug 17, 2012 Sasha Alsberg rated it it was amazing

Shelves: favorites

The Mortal Instruments changed the way I looked a fantasy novels. I am a huge fan now. I defiantly recommend this book for any hunger games, divergent, harry potter, and twilight fans out there. It is truly a fantastic series.

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Sep 07, 2010 Sparrow rated it it was ok

Recommends it for: ABOVE ALL ELSE, AVOID THE AUDIO

Shelves: young-adult, punching-tour, reviewed

I think this book is has some kind of mental disability. I kind of don’t want to make fun of it because, you know, it’s not playing the game with a full deck of cards. But, at the same time, it does not have such a significant learning disability that it needs to sit in a separate classroom from the other stories; it just has this confluence of creepiness and then some kind of mild mental challenge. So, I kind of do want to make fun of it because, you know, you probably don't have to be this unc I think this book is has some kind of mental disability. I kind of don’t want to make fun of it because, you know, it’s not playing the game with a full deck of cards. But, at the same time, it does not have such a significant learning disability that it needs to sit in a separate classroom from the other stories; it just has this confluence of creepiness and then some kind of mild mental challenge. So, I kind of do want to make fun of it because, you know, you probably don't have to be this uncomfortable to be around, book. It's a tough call. There was this guy in my high school graduating class like that. I’m going to tell you about him in this review. I really, honestly apologize ahead of time if I offend anyone here. I especially apologize to Cassandra Clare, who I see is a GR author. I'm not meaning to disparage anyone who has a learning disability, and I have great respect for people who share their writing with others. And I'm not equating learning disabilities with mental illness or with being creepy, just to be clear. I just knew a boy who happened to have a learning disability and be creepy, and he reminds me of this book. Also, this isn't to say that people shouldn't read The City of Bones. You actually should read it, maybe, and play the really fun game, Where Did the Mangled Body Part Come From?

Anyway, back to my story. For purposes of this illustration, I'm going to call the creepy high school boy David Caruso (any resemblance of that name to the name of a real person, living or dead, is purely coincidental, of course). I felt bad for David because he was so picked-on, so I tried to be nice to him. One day, he started leaving notes in my locker on notebook paper in a child’s scrawl, asking things like, “If I’m sad, can I have a hug?” He found out where all of my classes were and would be waiting outside them when the bell rang. He lived about a block away from me, so he would walk home with me from school sometimes. After the hug note, we had a serious talk about boundaries. That night, I had to take a makeup Chemistry test, which lasted about an hour. It was pouring outside, and he waited in the rain for me, standing under a tree. When I finally left, he followed me home, walking about ten feet behind me the entire way.

As I was turning to the road that led directly to my house, David desperately cried out something like, “Why don’t you love me?!!!” This was a relatively common experience with him. There was another girl he was following around for a while around that same time, and he went down on his knees outside of the cafeteria, saying something similar. She got a restraining order against him.

I’m not saying that I believe in originality, because I don’t, but The City of Bones made me realize that there is a line somewhere, where the flow of literary inspiration and use of traditional themes can turn into a Single White Female incident. Rather than being a fun re-imagining of Star Wars, this story was a haphazardly sewn together pop-culture Frankenstein. Eeeet’s ALIVE!!! Basically, the characters from The Gilmore Girls hook up with non-vampy, but still campy, versions of the characters from Twilight, and re-enact Star Wars. Seriously, there is a Luke Danes character, and his name in this story is still Luke. And, it turns out, it is very possible to make the Luke and Leia Skywalker relationship grosser. I'm not sure why you would want to . . . Also, I feel like there are a bunch of other stories that The City of Bones is stalking, and it seems like some other reviews list them, but I forget what they are right now. My point is that this book has killed them and is walking around wearing their skin.

The other weird thing is that I’m pretty sure there’s a misquote from Star Wars in here. Isn’t Han Solo the one who says, “I know”? This book says that Leia says it. And I don’t mean that the Leia/Rory character in here says, “I know” while re-enacting the Star Wars storyline. I mean the book literally says that Leia says, “I know.” If you’re going to SWF a story, at least get it right. Better yet, don’t SWF a story because that’s creepy.

I listened to half of this book on audio, driving to and from a wedding, then I read the rest on the page. Neither were good. Reading on the page is a little better because you can skip the boring parts. I’m not going to lie, though. It was actually a great experience. It was completely refreshing to read something awful. I thoroughly enjoyed it. I’m not sure why, but it renewed my hope for writing.

Still, all you young stories out there, if a stranger story with shifty eyes comes up to you and asks for a hug, it’s okay to say no. Set some personal boundaries, or you might end up the victim of this kind of literary massacre. I hate to be a fear-monger, and use your own judgment, but be smart. Some of these stories obviously waited too long to take out their restraining orders. ...more

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Feb 22, 2016 Lola Reviewer rated it it was amazing

Shelves: favorites, kick-ass-heroine, young-adult, interesting, vampires, werewolves, romance, magic, witches, action, uncommon, family, i-must-own-it, i-wanna-read-it-again-and-again, fairies, love-triangle, i-did-not-want-to-put-it-down, can-t-wait-to-read-the-next-one, demons, siblings, why-why-why, what-a-book, suspense, unfinished-series-to-be-reading, best-couples, it-will-haunt-my-dreams, i-love-alec-and-magnus, alec-and-magnus-forever, it-hooked-me, look-at-that-cover, alternative-pov, i-recommend, masterpiece, best-series-ever, bestseller

I didn't always love The Mortal Instruments.

In fact, the first time I read it, I found it quite immature and annoying. If I’m not mistaking, I read it for the first time three years ago, just before the release of the execrable movie. Well, 1) you need to know that, at that time, I wasn’t reading English books just yet (that came a couple of months later) and 2) some of the French editions look horrible (view spoiler) and those are the ones my library owned. So every time I was ...more

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Jul 27, 2007 Jess rated it did not like it

Really, there's nothing very original, or satisfying in the book. She borrowed so heavily from Buffy, Harry Potter, and Star Wars that it sticks out like a sore thumb. It reads like altered fan fiction. And I love fan fiction, make no mistake, but it's not attempting to make a buck off someone else's world, either. Which is essentially what the book is. Cobbled fan fiction that has no cohesion.

I knew Clare as Cassandra Claire from Harry Potter fandom, I will admit, and that did color somewhat. B ...more

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Nov 22, 2016 Kiki rated it liked it

Recommends it for: Blue fairies

Recommended to Kiki by: A blue fairy

Shelves: ya, favorites, awesome-ya, angels-and-demons, decent-vampires, awesome-heroine

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

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Jan 28, 2012 Laurel rated it it was ok

Shelves: um-what, ya, sigh, fantasy, meh, uh-oh, wish-it-were-better, who-let-you-be-heroine

*Spoilers yeah*

I’m going to say this now so it’s out of the way.
No.
I’ve never read the Draco Trilogy by Cassandra Claire on fanfiction.net.

No.
I have no right to mention the plagiarism event around the Draco Trilogy in this review, because I have not read it, and so I will not go into the plagiarism event.

Yes.
I know of the plagiarism, and I find it despicable, but I’m not reviewing that, I’m reviewing City of Bones.

THE CITY OF BONES REREAD WITH PALICE AND GHIRARDELLI

Image and video hosting by TinyPic

It started EPIC, then tapered ...more

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Feb 20, 2011 Joyzi rated it liked it

Recommends it for: Fans of Harry Potter

Recommended to Joyzi by: Stephenie Meyer

Shelves: fantasy, fiction, ya-books, e-book, reviewed, read-more-than-once, book-series, vampires, author-american, paranormal-romance, 100-books-tfg

Alex Pettyfer Update

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mSgEwl...

***OBSCENE ALERT***

Alex Pettyfer Pictures, Images and Photos

Note: I will fucking kill the Casting Director if Alex Pettyfer, ~~the man of my erotic dreams and fantasies~~*coughs* will not be cast as Jace Wayland! Seriously I don't care if he has a British accent and he already have Beastly, I am Number Four and Torment movies for 2011, I don't freaking care! He need to be Jace Wayland and Peeta Mellark! All I want in my life right now is HIM HIM HIM!!! Kyaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa! ...more

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Jul 02, 2016 Avis rated it it was ok

Shelves: disappointing, meh, ya, no-parents-whatsoever, insta-love, what-the-actual-fuck, face-fucking-palm, crappy-ending, fantasy, do-i-look-crazy-to-you, hell-to-the-no, hahahaha-no, why-god-why, wut, where-is-my-chocolate, staph-it, just-plain-dumb, speshul-snowflake-syndrome, mary-sue-is-here, you-invented-bad-decisions, there-is-something-wrong-with-you, didnt-live-up-to-my-expectations, irrational, bad-love-triangle, two-stars

This review contains some minor spoilers.

Scroll down to see an actual review, this is just some of my shit.

Clary:

description

Hi there! Jace is hot and I'm Clary but you can call me Your Typical Mary Sue! I know, it's quite a mouthful but, well, I'm special like that. I'm just your average plain looking teenager that all the boys want to bang. I'm also really smart, so smart that I can't notice that my best friend has been in love with me for the last 10 years and that my own mother has more secrets than ev ...more

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Aug 03, 2008 Lori rated it it was amazing

Recommends it for: everyone who likes urban fantasy

Shelves: urban-fantasy, young-adult, read-2008

Do yourself a favor and be careful reading reviews or posts that give away the ending of this book. Unfortunately, I read about the devastating twist on a message board and was sorry that I knew, sooner then I wanted to, what direction the story takes towards the end. Of course you'll have to read the next two books in the series in hopes that it's not true. It can't be true, it just can't be!

Don't let the fact that this book is in the "Young Adult" section throw you. This is a great urban fanta ...more

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Jul 13, 2016 Pearl Angeli rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: fangirling, cute-book-couple, series-completed, owned-physical-copy, fantasy, young-adult-fantasy, 2016-reads, reread, vampires, favorite-ya

Reread: January, 2016
1st Read : July, 2014

description

Rereading my favorite parts in this book gives me the same feels! Just like the first time, it's still so amazing. I am so happy to revisit the beautiful Shadowhunters world and enjoy the characters and the fantastic scenes. Jace, Clary, Alec, Isabelle, Simon, Magnus, Hodge, Luke-- I desperately love these characters and I miss them so much.

The Midnight Flower (Chapter 17)-- oh, how I miss this scene. I always get giddy whenever I think about it and now ...more

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Sep 29, 2013 Reader-ramble rated it did not like it · review of another edition

Recommends it for: No one. I know better.

Recommended to Reader-ramble by: My self in a moment of sheer stupidity.

Shelves: ya-to-avoid, why-does-this-make-money

Why, oh why did I waste such valuable reading time finishing this? Because, apparently, I'm a glutton for punishment.

I will warn you ahead of time, this review may contain spoilers!!! I'm not sure yet because I don't really care enough to plan this out. This will mostly be whining, ranting, and general complaining. Remember, I warned you.

Before I dive into this review, I will tell you that I've heard the Cassandra Clare plagiarized arguments, and that this book is basically a reworked fan fictio ...more

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Dec 04, 2013 Ariel rated it liked it

WELL. WELL. SO MUCH TO SAY. To start, my rating is 3.5, and I will say I really enjoyed this book... but I did also have quite a few issues with it.. let's discuss!

Supernatural/Paranormal is not my genre. It's not that I CAN'T enjoy them, it's that I have a lot of troubles enjoying them, so when I pick one up it has to be mind blowingly great for me to get into it or else I just struggle, flail, and fail. Keeping this in mind, this is my City of Bones story:

I received this book during Christmas WELL. WELL. SO MUCH TO SAY. To start, my rating is 3.5, and I will say I really enjoyed this book... but I did also have quite a few issues with it.. let's discuss!

Supernatural/Paranormal is not my genre. It's not that I CAN'T enjoy them, it's that I have a lot of troubles enjoying them, so when I pick one up it has to be mind blowingly great for me to get into it or else I just struggle, flail, and fail. Keeping this in mind, this is my City of Bones story:

I received this book during Christmas of 2011 - over a year ago! I didn't buy it because it necessarily interested me, because it was screaming my name.. no, I picked it up because the booktubers that I was watching would not stop raving about it. Happily, during Christmas break, I picked it up. My expectations were OFF THE ROOF. This book, it was going to be amazing. The best I'd ever read. And after 130 pages I couldn't take it anymore. I hated it. The world was so cheesy, the characters so fake, the pacing so slow.. WHY DID PEOPLE LOVE THIS, I DIDN'T UNDERSTAND! I gave up. I put that book down until a few days ago, more than a year later, I for no reason at all felt like picking it up.

Waiting a year was the perfect thing. For one, I wasn't picking this book up because I was feeling pressured, and most importantly I wasn't picking it up with high expectations .. in fact, I had the lowest expectations because I remembered hating it before. I took my time with this books, I read it at face value looking past its flaws and just enjoying it for what it is - a fun story.

Here we get to the juice of things:

I liked the constant action. It seemed like every single chapter was a hole new adventure - these characters never slept they just kept fighting and being warriors and that was exciting! I liked the characters, they were interesting and all served their purpose. I liked the world - it's always cool to imagine a whole new world hidden in our everyday world. Cassandra Clare really did weave quite an intricate universe. It was cool, and actiony, and fun. It was fun.

However, I also had a lot of problems with it. I felt that SO much was going on that the a lot of important things were being missed and it seemed a bit ridiculous - there's no way all of this happened in the course of one week! There's no way that these kids didn't need serious hospital care or at least a freaking nap! I also felt that the characters where really shallow. We have the main strong female protagonist who just stumbles into this world. The strong, reclusive, beautiful love interest. The nerdy, super smart, super kind, "secretly" in love with the main character best friend. If you know me at ALL, you know that character development is what I live for in books and I felt like this book had NONE. Finally, I think Cassandra Clare tried to jam way too much into this book. This will probably be solved if I continue reading the series, but I barely understood what the tattoos were for before she was talking about what the stele did.. too much stuff without enough solid and grounded explanation. I also felt that a couple things, on this note, were unrealistic because so much was happening so quickly. Like, I still don't understand how Jace so quickly abandoned father #1 for father #2. AND DON'T GET ME STARTED ON HOW CLARY AND SIMON JUST COMPLETELY ACCEPT THIS WORLD. Like, vampires? Werewolves? Warlocks? Shadowhunters? PSH, no big deal! I've known about them for a whole week! Finally finally, I had a really big problem with the end. No spoilers, but for people who HAVE read this book.. the "change" in Jace and Clary's relationship seriously grossed me out. Oh! Finally finally finally, I felt a lot of things were REALLY predictable. Yeah, obviously Valentine is that. And yeah, Jace would be said to be that. And Hodge was that way. Yeah, yeah.

Like I said, I did enjoy this book, but on a different level as other books. I enjoyed it simply for the story, simply as a fun tale that excited me and had me going in a new world with new adventures and new ideas. ...more

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Aug 11, 2016 Candace rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: dangerous-hero-themed-books-read, shocking-twists, listened-to-audio-version, paranormal

I continue to work my way through the audiobooks sitting on my Audible shelf. 'City of Bones' had been sitting there for quite some time. I thought a paranormal story would be a nice change of pace, so I dived in.

Unlike many of my friends on Goodreads, I haven't seen the movie and I didn't read any of the fan-fiction. In fact, I was surprised to find out that there was a fair amount of controversy surrounding this book. Apparently, a lot of people feel pretty strongly about this book/series.

Si ...more

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May 31, 2016 Victoria Hansen rated it it was amazing

Shelves: 2016

Luke turned around. His eyes, very blue behind his glasses, rested on her with a look of affection. "Clary, you're an artist, like your mother. That means you see the world in ways that other people don't. It's your gift, to see the beauty and the horror in ordinary things. It doesn't make you crazy --just different. There's nothing wrong with being different."

City of Bones is the first installment in The Mortal Instruments series and also the first published book by Cassandra Clare, now an ach ...more

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Jun 15, 2016 Jessica's Totally Over The Top Book Obsession rated it really liked it

Shelves: read-in-2016

4 Whole New World Stars

photo tumblr_mrvlahqhhx1sa044ao1_500_zpsxo07fnpm.gif

“Those girls on the other side of the car are staring at you.” Jace assumed an air of mellow gratification. “Of course they are,” he said. “I am stunningly attractive.” “Haven’t you ever heard that modesty is an attractive trait?” “Only from ugly people,” Jace confided. “The meek may inherit the earth, but at the moment it belongs to the conceited. Like me.”-Clary and Jace

Okay so the other day I was watching the movie The Mortal Instruments City of Bones. That got me want ...more

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Jan 28, 2014 V rated it did not like it · review of another edition

Shelves: reviewed, fiction

Last year, I readClockwork Angelby Cassandra Clare. It was okay, nothing special, yet it seemed to be a real darling in the YA world. I’d be hanging out in the YA section at bookshops and seeing girls squealing aboutThe Mortal Instruments, I’d buy books similar toTMIorThe Infernal Devices, and the clerk would tell me I should check Ms. Clare’s books out too… So eventually, I got around to readingCity of Bones, the first in the series.

I really didn’t enjoy it.

It starts out strong enough, graduall Last year, I read Clockwork Angel by Cassandra Clare. It was okay, nothing special, yet it seemed to be a real darling in the YA world. I’d be hanging out in the YA section at bookshops and seeing girls squealing about The Mortal Instruments, I’d buy books similar to TMI or The Infernal Devices, and the clerk would tell me I should check Ms. Clare’s books out too… So eventually, I got around to readingCity of Bones, the first in the series.

I really didn’t enjoy it.

It starts out strong enough, gradually introducing us to the world of magical creatures, children of the night, witches, warlocks, demons, and those who slay them. Clary, our main character, goes to a nightclub with her friend but stumbles across something she shouldn’t see: kids her age slaying a demon and talking in a snippy manner to each other. And she also shouldn’t even be able to see them, considering they use ‘glamours’ and various runic markings to make sure that regular humans (or Mundies/Mundanes/Muggles/Mortie-Muds/whatever the fuck you want to call them, it’s a massiveHarry Potter rip-off either way) can’t see them.

So Clary goes home, then goes out again, then comes back, only to find that her apartment has been ransacked. And since it’s a YA novel, this happens right after a tiff with her mother. While she’s trying to find mummy dearest, a low-level demon attacks her, and she’s rescued by one of the people she saw that night: Jace Wayland. His kind are called Shadowhunters, and they’re descendants of the Nephilim, or something like that.

What follows on from that is Clary trying to uncover the mystery behind her mother’s disappearance, learning about the creatures of the otherworld who co-exist with us in secret, and discovering that she, le gasp, is the daughter of a Shadowhunter! And still needs to look out for her mum, so away we go on more demon-slaying adventures that seem to take place in night clubs, alleyways, and industrial lofts!

Also, because this is a YA novel that likes to go off on a tangent, there are a few times where the overarching plot is sacrificed so we can, you know, have Jace dump his backstory on us. Or have them sit in a greenhouse together. Or we can have a werewolf explain his life story and his relation to Clary in an entire, boring as hell chapter. It’s a load of ideas cobbled badly together.

The characters really got on my nerves, unfortunately.

Clary just didn’t do it for me as a heroine. I don’t quite understand why, because even though she’s pretty much a blank slate character the reader is supposed to project onto, we have a few things in common: short temper, we both like reading, we both like watching anime, what have you… But having her as the narrator just really got on my nerves. Maybe it was the fact that her thoughts were like a pinball machine at times. There’s one scene where there’s a massive flock of vampires crowded around them, but Clary and Jace had the good thinking to take a hostage. She looks around at the vampires and takes a paragraph to ponder about whether or not there are ugly or fat vampires in the world, because they’re all so beautiful. What the hell? And the first time she sets foot in a church, it makes her hark back to an anime she saw that had an evil vampire priest, which doesn’t give her much confidence about the church’s safety? Yes, just like that: PING PING PING “Anime vampires in churches!” PING PING PING “Do vampires turn people based on their looks?” PING PING PING“Manga!” PING PING PING “Warlocks and witches are sterile?” PING PING PING “Jace looks so cool right now!” PING PING PING “I wonder if all Shadowhunters are beautiful, because I’m most certainly not!” Eurgh.

Alec and Isabel got such little time to be developed I hardly noticed that they were there sometimes. One thing that really did bother me, though, was Clary asking Isabel if Alec was gay. Isabel asks Clary how she knew, and then forbids her from telling Jace or anyone else, because being gay is apparently frowned upon in Shadowhunter society. Just like that. Is there any reason…? Is it some kind of religious quagmire to Shadowhunters? Would Alec be cast out of society? Would he be forced to stop being demon-slaying bros with Jace? No? You’re never going to mention it again? Oh, okay, then.

Jace was an arrogant arsehole, and I just found him completely unbearable to read. All of his snarky comments didn’t make me laugh, they just made me roll my eyes in how obvious Ms. Clare was being in trying to create a sarcastic, cold-hearted bad boy brat.

The villains just… really didn’t do anything for me either. Valentine wasn’t scary, and the reveal near the end that a certain character really was selling information to the other side felt really rushed. It was just like in Clockwork Angel, where we had to suffer through a rather slow third act and were then thrown into a hurried explanation about the main villain and his motives in the last fifty or so pages. I was so bored that I was skim-reading it. And I rarely do that. It became more of an obligation rather than something I enjoyed reading. I just wanted to plough through it and put the whole sorry mess behind me.

I apologise, fans of Ms. Clare’s work, I just don’t enjoy it. She’s just another Holly Black to me. I do have Clockwork Prince on my reading list, yes, but I didn’t enjoy the first book of the original series, but quite liked the spin-off, so I guess you could call it my guilty pleasure. 1/5. ...more

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Jun 26, 2016 Rachel Carter rated it it was amazing

Shelves: have-paperback

Update 5/20/16: this ebook is $1.99 right now!!! Here is the link to Amazon: http://amzn.to/1ODTExs (it's on other sites like B&N and KOBO too, not sure how long the sale will last)

I will always love this series because of Jace. Too bad the movie didn't get him right:(

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Feb 06, 2009 TheUnicorner rated it liked it

Recommends it for: fans of urban fantasy

Shelves: terrible-hunting, self-flagellation, morbid-curiosity, young-adult, violence-yay, do-not-believe-the-hype, special-snowflake, series, urban-fantasy, douchebag-hero

I read this one while taking a break from school books and papers, and I needed some mindless but entertaining brain rot. Therein lies the appeal of this novel.

If you've even dipped a pinkie toe in the online Harry Potter fandom, you've probably heard of the author (if not, just employ some google-fu and you find everything you need). The buzz generated by Clare's fandom notoriety probably was a great boon for this book, and I admit it's the only reason I read it. Although it's hard not to have ...more

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Booktastic Bookah...: January 2017 Series Read-City of Bones by Cassandra Clare	11	7	2 hours, 29 min ago
Crazy for Young A...: City of Bones (Mortal Instruments #1) By Cassandra Clare → Start Date: January 7, 2017	14	23	7 hours, 6 min ago
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About Cassandra Clare

Hello Goodreadsers. Here's my official bio:

"Cassandra Clare was born overseas and spent her early years traveling around the world with her family and several trunks of fantasy books. Cassandra worked for several years as an entertainment journalist for the Hollywood Reporter before turning her attention to fiction. She is the author of City of Bones, the first book in the Mortal Instruments trilo ...more

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Other Books in the Series

The Mortal Instruments (6 books)

Books by Cassandra Clare

City of Glass (The Mortal Instruments, #3)

City of Ashes (The Mortal Instruments, #2)

Clockwork Angel (The Infernal Devices, #1)

City of Fallen Angels (The Mortal Instruments, #4)

Clockwork Prince (The Infernal Devices, #2)

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Quotes from City of Bones

“Have you fallen in love with the wrong person yet?'
Jace said, "Unfortunately, Lady of the Haven, my one true love remains myself."
..."At least," she said, "you don't have to worry about rejection, Jace Wayland."
"Not necessarily. I turn myself down occasionally, just to keep it interesting.” — 22873 likes

“Is this the part where you start tearing off strips of your shirt to bind my wounds?"
"If you wanted me to rip my clothes off, you should have just asked.” — 12614 likes

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