Titles: City of Bones (Mortal Instruments)
, City of Ashes, City of GlassAuthor: Cassandra Clare
Genre: YA Urban Fantasy
Rating: ★★★★★
Back Cover: Their hidden world is about to be revealed....
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. Clary knows she should call the police, but it's hard to explain a murder when the body disappears into thin air and the murderers are invisible to everyone but Clary.
Equally startled by her ability to see them, the murderers explain themselves as Shadowhunters: a secret tribe of warriors dedicated to ridding the earth of demons. Within twenty-four hours, Clary's mother disappears and Clary herself is almost killed by a grotesque 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....
Things that made me happy:
-Jace (the male protagonist/romantic interest) made the series worth reading for me. He was super sarcastic, overconfident, passionate, and tortured. A great combination of the "I've always been pretty" and the "wounded soul" bad boy that I spoke about in a previous post. I would take Jace over Edward Cullen of Twilight any day.
--Romantic tension was kept taut throughout the book. When a book has me on edge just anticipating a simple kiss, that's awesome.
--Great secondary characters, especially Simon and Magnus Bane
--Funny dialogue with laugh out loud moments
--creative world building
--the middle book didn't sag like some other trilogies I've read.
Things that I didn't love:
--There were many similarities to Harry Potter that were hard to overlook
--There was A LOT of description, some great at giving a sense of place, some completely unnecessary and tedious. There also were a number of backstories that were not needed. (This may be because the author is writing a prequel trilogy and needed to plant seeds for that.) I found myself skimming a lot of paragraphs to get to the action.
Favorite Quotes:
"Jace reminds me of an old boyfriend. Some guys look at you like they want sex. Jace looks at you like you've already had sex, it was great, and now you're just friends--even though you want more. Drives girls crazy." --Maia, City of Ashes
"You had to make a crazy jail friend, didn't you? You couldn't just count ceiling tiles or tame a pet mouse like normal prisoners do?" --Jace, City of Glass
Overall:
Despite some flaws, I based my rating on my all-consuming need to finish the books as soon as possible and my love for the Jace character. I am a mom with a child who isn't a great sleeper. Therefore, sleep is a precious commodity in my household. I stayed up last night until 2am because I couldn't put City of Glass down. That should tell you all you need to know.
