City Of Bones

City Of Bones
Mortal Instruments Bk1 /Cassandra Clare / YA Urban Fantasy
Pages : 485

When 15 year old Clary Fray heads out to the Pandemonium Club in NYC, she hardly expects to witness a murder - much less a murder commited by 3 teenagers covered with strange tattoos and brandishing bizarre weapons. Then the boys 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 24 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....
(click the title for more)

HOW I FELT:

First off, the biggest surprise of this book was just how FUNNY it was. I'm not talking about the random one liner dropped here and there. I'm talking that often sarcastic banter between characters that happens, which the author writes well because it came across as naturally funny. For example:

"Haven't you ever heard that modesty is an attractive trait?"
"Only from ugly people," Jace confided. "The meek may inherit the earth, but at the moment it belongs to the conceited. Like me." He winked at the girls, who giggled and hid behind their hair"

I loved the characters. Each one had their own personality and when placed together, made the story EXTREMELY entertaining. I loved Simon in the story because his story is of unrequited love and how he is forced to watch as Clary, the girl he has loved and waited for, fall for the mysterious Jace. He has this sarcastic humor that had me laughing and wishing that I had had a friend like him growing up. Of course, I LOVED Jace (pretty much a given considering the HUGE thing I have right now for bad boys) and the conceited attitude he showed everyone. Like all bad boys though, I knew he had a softer side, a side he hid from others and it was nice seeing him reveal that side occasionally through the book, especially with Clary. If there was a poster child for the butt kicking, stele swinging, I'm the king of the castle Shadowhunter, Jace would be that person and I LOVED every minute of it. I liked Clary in it and empathized with her as she finds her self in the midst of a love triangle and not knowing how to handle it. Add on the fact that she finds out her life hasn't been what she thought it was, I think she handled the situation pretty well. Of course, no review wouldn't be complete if I didn't mention my moment of hesitancy when
the "big reveal" happened (you got to read the book to find out) I wasn't quite sure what to feel because up until that moment, my heart was FULLY invested into Jace and Clary. Where the heck was I going to put those feelings now? They slid straight into the next book, City of Ashes, which I'm currently reading. This book is extremely entertaining, filled with laugh out loud moments, tender touches of the heart and heart breaking revelations. This is a not to be missed read.

Ratings: 4 stars and 2 hearts