(Mortal Instruments #1)Author: Cassandra Clare
Format: Paperback
Pages: 445
Genre: Young Adult, Urban Fantasy, Paranormal
Published: 2nd July 2007 (Walker Books - UK)
When Clary first meets the three young Shadowhunters, little does she know she's about to be dragged into their world. A world where demons are not only real but attacking her. Her mother has disappeared, their family friend, Luke, wants nothing to do with her and only Jace and his friends seem to know anything that can help her. Between them they attempt to unravel the mysteries, such as why Clary suddenly has the sight to seen all things paranormal, along with finding Clary's mother and a whole bunch of other secrets along the way.
Before reading City of Bones I'd heard so much about it I was half expecting to be disappointed if it didn't live up to the hype. I'm glad to say that I wasn't in anyway.
The characters were great (omg Jace is awesome!). Clary doesn't know the Shadowhunters at the start of the book and the relationships between them developed in a believable way. She didn't trust them to start with and even further into the story, she didn't get on with Isabella and Alec all that well, even though they knew they had to cooperate to achieve that they wanted.
I really enjoyed the plot of the book and I was glad that it wasn't too slow starting up like some first books in a series can be. It was more jump in and figure things out as we go, rather than setting everything up to start with. The only minor gripe I have is that I figured out the 'twist' before it was revealed, although thankfully it wasn't all that obvious in a way that the characters should have figured it out. That said, I often do figure these things out as I'm always looking for little tiny clues, thanks to the Harry Potter series, where something mentioned briefly in one book can be a major plot point in a later one.
All in all, an exciting, well written enjoyable read.
