Cassandra Clare Week Day 1: City of Bones

This week is going to be Cassandra Clare Week in honor of my first Giveaway and first Blog Hop on Friday. Can you guess what I am giving away?! A beautiful, brand spanking new copy of the first of the Mortal Instruments books: City of Bones. I have heard rumors that there are still people in this world who have not read these books. I know, the horror!! So, all this week I will be reviewing the Mortal Instruments Series and the first book in the Infernal Devices Series, Clockwork Angel. All of it will lead up to the giveaway of City of Bones during I'm a Reader Not a Writer's Dreaming of Books Giveaway Hop that runs from The 14th to the 17th. Entering to win will be totally painless, I promise! Now on to the book!




First off, let's appreciate the cover. No picture can do it justice. In person the cover is all metallic and beautiful. The boy on the cover is Jace, one of the main characters in the books. (Not my favorite but still beautiful to look at, right?!) The world of the Mortal Instruments is a really rich and vibrant world which happens to be a lot like ours... just with Shadowhunters, vampires, werewolves, warlocks and demons that we Mundanes can't see. The City of Bones begins in New York City as we meet Clary Fray and her friend Simon at a club where she thinks she stumbles across a murder. Except that further investigation shows only a cocky blonde boy (Jace) and no sign of an attack or even a corpse. Clary and Jace bump into each other again while Clary is out with Simon. She finds that only she can see the strange things going on around her, Simon, at first, doesn't see them. She wonders why that is and what Jace has to do with it. Jace leads Clary into the world of the Shadowhunters, warriors with angel blood who fight demons and keep the Downworlders under control, which is hidden right under our noses. We meet Alec, Jace's parabatai (fighting partner) who is not Clary's biggest fan. Alec's younger sister Isabelle, who is underage but SERIOUSLY lethal. Of course, Miss Clare also introduces us to the magnificent Magnus Bane, High Warlock of Brooklyn. He is honestly my favorite character.




City of Bones is a great first book. It is pretty fast paced and interesting. All of the main characters are brought into the story at a good pace and you don't have to trudge through tedious pages of set up, you're just dumped right into the action. And of course, we have tons of hilarious lines in the book to make it fun and light, even in the darker parts of the story. Over the course of the book, we see Clary learn the truth about who and what she is. Why she can see what other Mundies can not and what her mother has to do with it all. Clary is a good female lead character because she feels like any girl. Any one could see themselves in Clary's shoes. I also love about this book series that even though it is written from a girl's point of view, boys are still interested and can read the books easily. My husband read the books after I did and he loves them just as much as I did. The world of the Mortal Instruments is so unique and vibrant that this doesn't feel like just another YA Paranormal book. It feels like something completely new and different and it sucks you in from the start. I gave a set of the MI books to my sister in law for Christmas and I recommend them to everyone looking for something new to read. Now I think I'll leave you with what may be one of my favorite quotes from City of Bones:

"The meek may inherit the Earth, but at the moment it belongs to the conceited. Like me."

- Jace

Stay tuned for more Cassandra Clare Week tomorrow and please come back for the giveaway on Friday!!

City of Bones earns 5 Fairies.