City of Bones by Cassandra Clare

City of Bones by Cassandra Clare
Series: The Darkest Minds #1
Published by Simon Pulse on March 27, 2007
Genres: Young Adult, Fantasy, Paranormal
Pages: 485 : Paperback edition
Source: Purchased a LONG time ago
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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…

Exotic and gritty, exhilarating and utterly gripping, Cassandra Clare’s ferociously entertaining fantasy takes readers on a wild ride that they will never want to end.

I think I’m getting too old and too sick of this paranormal genre stuff. I was so let down by this book. After NINE YEARS of over hype, I was expecting a lot more from the story, the characters, and pretty much everything. I guessed both “plot twists” and the writing felt very lazy and very “2007” (i.e. it sounded so much like Twilight to me at times that I thought I was reading Twilight again *shudder*).

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I’ve had multiple people tell me that it does get better from here, and let’s just say that I hope it does because I’m so meh about the whole thing at this point. But let’s rewind a bit; when this series first came out in 2007 and onward, I heard a lot about it and wasn’t intrigued. I was on the tailspin of my paranormal loving phase, and was so done with that side of things. Then someone in middle school told me there was a TON of incest in this (there’s not) and if you were seen reading it, you’d be “that kid” that reads weird incest books. Not something I wanted to be known for. The cover turned me off as well, and they still do. The premise is still sort of eh to me, and I really wondered as to why people get so hyped over it.

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My reaction to the hype.

But this is written for a different audience. I’m five years older than the main character, and I just couldn’t relate to her that much. Or her friends. Simon annoys the hell out of me (he’s playing the friend-zoned victim and I’m having none of that shit). Disappointing.

Will I continue with the series? Yeah. Maybe. I’m not 100% sure yet. Half the people I talk to say keep giving it a chance, but the other half say it’s not worth my time. I have to wonder as to why I should devote so much time to a series for it to, at some point, pay off. I want it to pay off NOW. And of course, I have massive guilt over the whole thing because I received a Lady Midnight ARC, so I feel as if I should power through. Maybe I’ll just skip right to that one.

What have you thought of the Mortal Instruments/Infernal Devices series? I’d love to hear your thoughts! Did you read it when it first came out, or are you a late bloomer like myself? Leave a comment!

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10 Replies to “City of Bones by Cassandra Clare”

  1. i have really mixed feelings about this book. to read the rest of the series, you would have to read this book, and apparently some of the books in the series are quite good. at the same time, this book really turned me away from the series.

    i did read the entirety of the infernal devices, and i actually really enjoyed it! i think that series is better than TMI, honestly.

    i loved this post! i think it was really honest and i related to it a lot.

    1. Ah thank you so much for your comment! I’m glad you agree! I keep hearing TID is really awesome so maybe I’ll skip over to that one if I need a break from TMI

  2. I am most definitely a late bloomer myself, after so much hyle around the series last year I decided to read it. Sadly, it was very disappointing and I DNF, this year I also tried to read it again, to DNF it AGAIN.
    I do enjoy the TV show tho(jk, just watching it for Malec and Matthew Daddario and Emaraude Toubia) but IDK definitely overhyped tho(at least the TMI series)

  3. I have to be honest… I read this a couple years ago so my views of this book is a bit warped. Anyway, from 7th grade Liv perspective, this series does get better. If paranormal isn’t your thing, I wouldn’t push it. However, the infernal devices trilogy is phenomenal (if you haven’t read it yet).

  4. I definitely see where you’re coming from and being a paranormal junkee myself, i completely gobbled it up when i was 13. But from your review, I’m definitely going to re-read the first three books bc i happened to stop reading the series at book four. (Not because i was disinterested but bc i wanted a break from the shadow world) And from what i’ve heard, everyone loves the Infernal Devices way better than the Mortal Instruments. But i do recommend pushing through, hopefully you’ll enjoy the next one more than the last. 😀

  5. I have come to the conclusion that I’m really just not a paranormal kind of girl. I read this whole series and while I didn’t love it, I kind of enjoyed the first three. It would have made a good trilogy in my opinion. But I absolutely hated 4-6. Especially City of Heavenly Fire. By that point I just needed to know how it ended, but like half of the book is about a girl who hasn’t even been in the series up til then! She’s like the main character in Lady Midnight maybe??? I didn’t give two craps about the characters in the rest of the books so I really didn’t care about her or to see the set up for the next series. So I was really just annoyed by the huge push toward the next books. I am one of those that doesn’t think this series is worth your time! But if you read the rest I hope you like them!

  6. I stopped after book 2 :/ Wasn’t a big fan of this series either. I really didn’t understand the hype at all.

  7. I tried reading this series but gave up after book three because i was older when book four came out and had lost intrest in the series. :/

  8. I read these series ages ago but even then I stopped after book 3 since silly me I thought it concluded there. I’ve recently wanted to finish the series, only so that I can read Lady Midnight, which has a much more promising premise lol

  9. […] read (and reviewed) City of Bones a few weeks ago and was told my numerous people that it wasn’t that great, but […]

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