City of Bones

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. . .

I know, I know, this book has been out for a long time. I'm slow. Let's move on.

First off, I have to say that this story is beautifully written. The author uses words like paint, drawing the reader a clear, vivid picture of each and every scene in the novel. A couple of times I could have sworn I was tasting the stench in the air that the characters were smelling.

As for the story, I liked it. The characters were cool. Most of them had teenage angst of some sort, which is fine. They got over some of it by the end, which was good. I will probably always like books that portray our world as more than meets the eye: magic, warlocks, downworlders, demons, mundanes...each story has it's own twists in this department, and I think City of Bones definitely held its own.

I do NOT like love triangles, and tolerated this one with only a few outbursts of screaming at the book. I always feel like the nice guy gets shafted. Enough said.

By the end of this book I was a little tired of the sickeningly sweet descriptions—especially during the fight scenes. People are hitting each other!!! Give the moonlight hitting his hair like flower petals on the water a break for crying out loud. Let there be action!

Okay, I'm better. I might read the second one. I peeked at the spoilers on the web (yes, I am a bad person) and found out that the love thing still isn't really resolved at the end of book 3 or 4. So not happy about that. Kind of annoying. It all depends on how well it's told...

If you like YA, check it out. Very fun book.