(Unconventional) Review: City of Bones by Cassandra Clare

City of Bones by Cassandra Clare

My rating: 5 of 5 stars
Received: Bought
Publication Date: March 27th 2007
Publisher: Margaret K. McElderry Books
Point of View: 3rd Person
Recommended Age: 12+
Genres & Themes: Young Adult, Urban Fantasy, Demons, Vampires, Angels, Romance

BLURB:

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.

REVIEW:

*Third read of this book.

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)[ (hide spoiler)] and those are the ones my library owned. So every time I was seeking a good fantasy book and my eyes would lay on the-awful-French-editions, I would make a weird face and move on.

But I gave in, because I’m the type of person who likes reading books that were made into movies and analyse what makes those books so special to bring them to the big screen. Therefore I read the first and second book, but I never got around to finishing the latter. I had fifty pages left but was obliged to return my books to the library. I didn’t even feel bad about not finishing the sequel… I enjoyed the fast-pacing, but I was expecting more intensity and seriousness from the characters. I didn’t care about the witty dialogs and jokes, I wanted KICKASS.

EIGHT MONTHS LATER.

I was on Goodreads looking for something good to read, when I stumbled across CAPTIVE PRINCE. I know what you’re going to say, ‘‘Why do you always have to bring that series up, can’t you just leave it alone for a review?!’’ But the truth is, Captive Prince is one of the main reasons why I decided to re-read The Mortal Instruments. So as I was saying, I found CP and then looked up the definition of M/M romance, because I had no idea what it was or what it was standing for. When I learned what it meant, I was curious and decided to give it a shot.

BEST DECISION EVER.

Not only did it make me want to read more M/M romance books, but it also made me want to pay more attention to Alec and Magnus! When I first read the book, and I learned that Alec was gay, I was surprised for a second but didn’t have any other reaction. As I was saying, that changed after I finished CP and I started making reviews on here. I started seeing so many reviews of TMI and following Cassandra Clare on Twitter and looking at fan art of Alec and Magnus and the other characters and I started developing an attachment to the characters through all that. So when I decided to re-read the books, I paid attention to every.single.detail and expected the jokes that take way from the seriousness… I even came to anticipate them. And, of course, the parts with Alec and Magnus melted my heart…

So that was my story of how I fell in love with The Mortal Instruments. It wasn’t insta-love and that’s okay.