City of bones

City of Bones by Cassandra Clare

Summary from Amazon.

From Publishers Weekly

This Buffy-esque YA novel does not translate well to the audio medium, and part of the problem lies in the story's pacing. Teenager Clary discovers she can see supernatural beings that no one else can, gets drawn into the world of the Shadowhunters (teens who kill demons and monsters) and learns that her mother is somehow mysteriously connected to all the strange happenings around her. As a result, a good chunk of the novel consists of long explanatory passages, as various characters fill Clary in on supernatural creatures, the history and rules of the Shadowhunters and her mother's entanglements—all of which come across as tedious lectures. In addition, narrator Graynor makes almost no attempt to differentiate the various teen characters' voices. Only the minor character Dorothea, played as a faux witch with a gravelly New York accent, is memorable. Graynor also frequently ignores the author's explicit textual directives, such as [Simon] came back, sounding worried or The tone of arrogant superiority was back in [Jace's] voice, for her performance, making this a program with an intriguing premise and cast but disappointing execution. Ages 14-up. (May)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to the Audio CD edition.

From School Library Journal

Grade 8 Up–When Clary Fray witnesses three tattoo-covered teenagers murder another teen, she is unable to prove the crime because the victim disappears right in front of her eyes, and no one else can see the killers. She learns that the teens are Shadowhunters (humans who hunt and kill demons), and Clary, a mundie (i.e., mundane human), should not be able to see them either. Shortly after this discovery, her mother, Jocelyn, an erstwhile Shadowhunter, is kidnapped. Jocelyn is the only person who knows the whereabouts of The Mortal Cup, a dangerous magical item that turns humans into Shadowhunters. Clary must find the cup and keep it from a renegade sector of Shadowhunters bent on eliminating all nonhumans, including benevolent werewolves and friendly vampires. Amid motorcycles powered by demon energies, a telepathic brotherhood of archivists, and other moments of great urban fantasy, the story gets sidetracked by cutesy touches, like the toasted bat sandwich on the menu of an otherworldly restaurant. The characters are sporadically characterized and tend toward behavior that is both predictable and slightly repellent–Clary finds out who her real father is about 200 pages after readers will have it figured out. Despite the narrative flaws, this version of New York, full of Buffyesque teens who are trying to save the world, is entertaining and will have fantasy readers anxiously awaiting the next book in the series.–Heather M. Campbell, Philip S. Miller Library, Castle Rock, CO
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

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Product Details Reading level: Young Adult Hardcover: 496 pages Publisher: Margaret K. McElderry Books; First Edition, Later Printing edition (March 27, 2007) Language: English Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.3 x 1.6 inches Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #88,475 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

What I think of this book!
This book is from the Mortal Instrument series, and after seeing it around the book world I decided to read it and boy am I glad I did. I started it late one night and finished it in 2 sittings. there are some slow parts but also fast parts, and found my self looking up some of the words used in this book. This book is action packed, with romance, adventure, self discovery and keeps you guessing.  So on with my summary. Clary and her best friends Simon go to a club and while dancing she sees this boy that is in trouble and goes to try and help him, while doing so she discovers a new world that she has a hard time believing exist. Later on in the book some-one she loves goes missing and she is thrown into this new world where she teams up with a boy named Jace to help find her mom and discover what she is and who she is. During the book Clary is hunting for her mom while someone is hunting her and in order to find her mom Clary has to unlock her past while fighting for her future. The book Has a Big twist in the end that i didn't see coming and was sad to read but it'll be interesting for the 2nd book.


I would rate this book a 4 out of a 5.


some say this series is like the harry potter series but i haven't read the harry potter series before, and don't think i will till my son is older. Cassacandra was a fan fiction writer for harry potter i learned as I'm writing this lol. On another note though one thing i loved was that this book describes everything and really will put you in the the book of Clary's world.