Review: City of Bones by Cassandra Clare

  Title: City of Bones                           Pages: 485
  Author: Cassandra Clare                 Source: Library
  Publisher: Margaret K. McElderry    Published: Mar 27, 2007
  Series: The Mortal Instruments        Purchase: Amazon
  Rating: 5 out of 5

Clarissa "Clary" Fray is a normal fifteen-year-old girl. That is until she witnesses a mysterious murder at a New York club called Pandemonium. She witnesses three teens about her age killing a blue-haired boy, but she soon realizes he wasn't a boy at all. No, she figured he wasn't human when he disappeared into thin air after he was killed. She soon learns that he was a demon and there is a whole world she didn't see before now. That she couldn't see before now.

Now gifted with the Sight of this world, Clary is thrown into it, after she runs into the mysterious angelic-looking boy that killed the blue-haired demon, not once, but twice in the span of 24 hours. Soon after, she is attacked by one of the very demons he kills for a living and her mother is kidnapped. Was it demons that kidnapped her? Or something more sinister?

I fell in love with Clary even before I got to the middle of the book. She's such a mix of personality, you never know what might come out of her mouth. She's this brave, yet fearful girl suddenly shoved into this magical world she cannot explain. She evolves so much over the course of the novel, becoming more wise and experienced as it goes on. In the beginning she was incredibly naive, and pretty much sucked at reading people. As the pages were turned, however, she slowly started seeing the things that really went on around her and came out a completely changed and more mature girl. I loved her character from beginning until long after the end.

Jace was a wonderful, if slightly bipolar, male hero. You never know what he might say either. Clary and Jace clashed, yet complimented each other in such a wonderful way. Jace is this complicated character that doesn't believe in loving anyone, he believes it shows weakness. He's another character that evolved so much from the beginning of City of Bones. I loved his character as well.

Every other character seemed like they did something for the story, with only one or two that didn't seem to fit. They all have different personalities that come together quite nicely and make for an enjoying read.

Next to the characters, the plot and writing are the other most important parts of a novel. If you have a wonderful plot, but horrible characters, you aren't going to have a very enjoyable book. This is why so many people love this book, probably, because Cassandra Clare balanced all these important points of City of Bones so well.

Clare draws you in immediately in the first chapter and holds your attention by throwing twists and turns at you she knows you cannot catch, because you don't see them coming. Just when you think you've figured everything out, she shoves you with full force into a completely new twist, that leaves you breathless when you've finally come up for air. This is how I felt at the end of City of Bones.

Clare is a brilliant writer, another important part of a novel. Her descriptions are beautiful and eloquent, perfectly painted for the reader. She understands how to pull the reader in and how to keep their attention and pulls it off flawlessly.

Another thing is I loved how unique this novel was, with unique lingo and creatures. I love when you can tell that the author really thought long and hard about each part of the novel and I had that feeling all throughout City of Bones.

Overall, City of Bones is one of my favorite novels so far and I will definitely be reading City of Ashes the first chance I get. I would highly recommend this book to anyone that loves the paranormal genres and books about demons and demon hunters.

I give City of Bones a 5 out of 5.