Welcome back to Musings of an Arthritic Artist! Today I'm going to be doing a book review. This review is for City of Bones, the first book in The Mortal Instruments series by Cassandra Clare. I read this last September.
Let's get into the review!
City of Bones is a YA urban fantasy novel that came out in 2007. This series was incredibly popular when my sister was in high school in 2008-2012. It follows Clary Fray, a 15-year-old girl who draws and lives in New York City. This book is inspired by Judeo-Christian beliefs. One night, Clary goes to the Pandemonium club, an all-ages nightclub, with her best friend Simon Lewis. While there, she spots a blue-haired boy and black-haired girl who are being followed by two other boys, one of which seems to wielding a knife.
Clary follows them (because that's smart). The blue-haired boy is killed and disappears immediately once he dies. This is Clary's introduction to the Shadowhunters, a group of people who are demon hunters that have 'magical tattoos' all over their skin called runes.
She later realizes that she is the daughter of a Shadowhunter, which makes her a Shadowhunter as well. Despite having very little training, she finds out she's able to create her own runes, which doesn't make her Mary Sue-ish at all.
This world is separated by 'four' different races. Shadowhunters, mundanes (humans; also called mundies), Downworlders (vampires, werewolves, warlocks, and faeries; they're supposed to be half-human half-demon), and demons. The Shadowhunters seem to dislike mundanes and Downworlders, which is weird in a book that seems to be about anti-racism.
There is a cliffhanger at the end of the book where it is revealed that Clary and Jace are siblings. I was spoiled for this series, so I was aware of this plot twist, as well as the later ones in City of Glass. I wasn't surprised about this plot twist, only because I had been aware of it.
Naturally, Clary and Jace are horrified when they learn this, as they had felt romantic feelings for each other previously, and even kissed in the New York Institute greenhouse in chapter 17. They are horrified once they find out they are siblings, and you can tell the reader is supposed to be shocked as well.
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There are things in the plot that don't make sense to me. For one, why do Jace and Clary suddenly fall deeply in love within a few days, and two, Shadowhunter society doesn't make sense to me. Why do they think it's a good idea to train children their whole lives to fight demons? Do they even care what the children want?
It seems like Jace doesn't like it, but it's never elaborated on. Why is Shadowhunter society so exclusive? Why are Shadowhunters banished and shunned by Shadowhunter society if they marry mundanes, when it's mentioned many times that they do what they do to protect the world and mundanes?
Why are Shadowhunters allowed to marry warlocks and vampires (albeit frowned upon) who are infertile, but not allowed to marry mundanes who can have children with Shadowhunter blood? There are just some things I don't understand.
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As far as the characters go, they were okay. Clary is the cliche Mary Sue who, upon finding out her true lineage, realizes she can create her own runes despite never having Shadowhunter training in the past. Jace is the cliche bad boy, whose whole personality is being an arrogant jerk for no reason. Isabelle is the cliche femme fatale, who fights demons while in heels and leather, who happens to give Clary a makeover. There are quite a few others who are walking cliches, but these are the easiest.
This book is constantly compared to Harry Potter, and I partially understand why. I don't know if a lot of people would've noticed this though if it weren't for Cassandra Clare's past with Harry Potter fanfiction. At the same time however, Jace shares many similarities with Draco.
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The story in of itself was fine. I enjoyed it. It wasn't the best book I've ever read, but it wasn't the worst either. I rated it 3 out of 5 stars on my Goodreads, which, all things considered, is a fairly low rating for me, but it still isn't as low as it could be. To be honest, this book wasn't anything special. It had many things I had already seen before.
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