City Of Bones - Cassandra Clare

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ps29
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Re: City Of Bones - Cassandra Clare

Post by ps29 »

Cassandra Clare's City of Bones was beautifully written and caught my attention off the first page. The time period that the book took place in and the overall setting livened the story, and the romance between several characters in the book was almost a tangible presence. The concept of Shadowhunters and demons also added action to the story, which I enjoyed. While I lost interest in the series as the book progressed, City of Bones was truly a great read.
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ANCD
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Post by ANCD »

I found myself enjoying these books, even though I didn't expect to. These usually aren't the type of books I'm used to reading.
There were things I liked and disliked, of course.
I love Clary's innocent/not so innocent image along with her fiery red hair. I did find the demons to be a bit much. I feel they should've been a little more "realistic."
I do think the ages of the characters should've been in the late teens/early twenties range.
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Kaitlyn12
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Post by Kaitlyn12 »

I just recently bought this series and am so excited to read them! They haven't gotten to me yet though. :( I have heard a lot of positive things about them!
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betterreadthandead
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Post by betterreadthandead »

I read the first book and I did enjoy it even though it was slow at times. I was thinking about continuing the series but I haven't yet. I thought the movie was pretty awful, but the new tv show on free form isn't too bad. Anyone else agree? Should I continue reading the series, is it worth it?
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Post by rlee-9109 »

SPOILERS!!!!!! for this book and the next one? i think?


i just had a question, maybe this is already like a known fact or something but was rereading the book and i noticed that clary has alot of dreams that kinda predict the future. For example when shes in the infirmary she has dreams of her mom being in a hospital bed unconcious, jace with angel wings and simon with crosses burned into his hands. and then later in her dream jace says something abput simon not being allowed into a place bc it was "for the living." and all these dreams make sense since well her mom does become unconscious, simon "dies" and jace is kinda an angel. so idk im just trying to confirm that she does see the future in her dreams, or if this is just like the authors way of forshadowing or something
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Ham
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Post by Ham »

I have actually read the whole series, except for the final book. I am in absolute LOVE with this series. From reading the first book, I fell in love. I love the writing style of the author and the plot development never fails. When one problem is fixed, a whole new conflict comes about. There were so many times where I stayed up all night and finished the book in 24 hours. I definitely recommend this series to everyone. At first I thought it might be like the Twilight series because of the whole vampire thing, but fortunately I was wrong. Even though there is a bit of a love triangle in the beginning, it quickly goes away. This was a plus to me because I was tired of reading about the typical "who will the girl choose" type of story. All in all, for anyone who is just starting or planning to start, please do! The first book may be a little slow, but as you get more into the series, you won't be able to sleep. Have fun!
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Post by candcandy19 »

When I first tried reading the series I got half way through book 3 and stopped and then the second time around I got completely hooked and have read them all except City Of Heavenly Fire.
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Post by stumbleindevotion »

I wasn't really interested in The Mortal Instruments series until I saw the promo for the Shadowhunters TV show and then I read City Of Bones in a couple of days so I wouldn't have spoilers when watching the show, and I kept reading the books because my friends told me that City Of Heavenly Fire was the best book (#6, they were right) but City Of Bones was one of the weaker ones in the series. I feel like outside of Clary and Jace I barely knew anything about the characters. The world was what kept me interested but everything else did seem a bit lackluster. It picked up and I did enjoy City Of Glass, but then City Of Fallen Angels was such a mess that I considered not reading the other two books. Again, this series is hit and miss, but Cassandra Clare certainly is milking the universe for all it's worth. All in all the Shadowhunters universe is going to have six trilogies plus the spin off books that she's released, making over 20 books total. These books can be a bit of fun but that does seem overly excessive to me.
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Post by batkinson6490 »

I loved this entire series and my most favorite character, Magnus Bane! I enjoyed this series a lot due to the fact that it was something different. The shadow world contained a different spin on things including werewolves, vampires, fairies, warlocks, etc. I appreciated Clare's spin on these different creatures, especially the creating of the half human, half angel Shadowhunters who are out to protect human kind.

I admit that it was a little hard to follow with the characters being so young and living such accelerated lives but there is a back story explaining that and overall I loved everything about this world! Enough to want to be in it! :wink:
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Post by shadowhunter07 »

The Mortal Instruments series is my absolute favorite, hence my username =). City of Bones was everything that I hoped a book could be. The storyline was unique and attention-grabbing. The characters are believable and people I would want to befriend. The whole idea of being part angel is completely amazing to me. I cannot say enough good things about this book or series! For me, the best part of City of Bones is definitely Jace and the universe that Cassandra Clare created. I can vividly picture both and imagine them throughout the storyline.
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Post by +Bianca+ »

This series is probably the best one I've ever read (and that's saying something coming from me)! Everything Cassandra writes turns to gold. If I'm being completely honest I haven't read the very last book yet because I don't want it to be over. A world with no more Witty Jace one liners is a world I refuse to live in.

The prequel series "The Infernal Devices " is also good I highly recommend reading those if you haven't already. If I'm not mistaken I think she wrote a novella for Magnus Bane? I haven't read that one yet but it's definitely on the to-do list.

As for the tv show, I'm very hesitant to watch it considering the movie was such a letdown for me (If it weren't for the beautiful Jonathon Rhys Myers I probably would have thrown my popcorn at the screen and stomped out of the theater. Because I'm mature like that).

PS- she's going to be at the Chicago Bookcon this year and I'm only having a panic attack everyday about it
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Post by kitsune1997 »

I liked the plot, I found it interesting but I had to pressure myself to finish it because I didn't like her writing style. I love the movie and series though
I have always imagined that Paradise will be a kind of library.
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Post by taleasoldastime_ »

jlg wrote:I tried, I really did, to like this book. I don't know if I'm just too old for young adult literature now or what, but I found it predictable and I kept putting it down and not going back to it for months at a time. It was so formulaic. Girl meets boy she instantly dislikes although he's devastatingly handsome. Girl gets pulled into a world she never imagined could exist and finds out she was actually born into it/meant to be there. Girl and boy gradually fall in love. Meh. Maybe I'll like the movie, but I had to give the book to my little sister because I was over it halfway through. I'm looking for something a little more original and surprising.
I felt exactly the same way. And I wanted to like it. I love Hunger Games, Divergent, etc. so I'm not sure where this book lost me. Maybe it was the hype? I won't be continuing the series.
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Post by Loversoflit »

SUMMARY: Clary finds out that her mother has kept her hidden from her real world, the one of Shadowhunters, demons, and werewolves, for her entire 15 years of existence. When her mother’s past comes back to haunt her, Clary must enlist the help of Jace, a Shadowhunter, to help find her mother and learn the truth that’s been buried for all these years.

THE REVIEW

Alright, so I really was in the mood to start a series and since my boyfriend had bought me the first 3 books of this series for Christmas, I had decided to give it a try. If you’re going to read this series you can’t expect something as amazing as the Harry Potter, or The Hunger Games, or not even the Divergent series. I would recommend all three of those before I would recommend the Mortal Instruments series. That being said, however, I did enjoy it - I will keep reading, I just didn’t love it.

I have an extremely hard time enjoying a series if I dislike the main character. This was probably the biggest issue for me with this book. Clary annoyed me, she acted like a menopausal teenager. I understand that she is a teenager, but the whole story would have been much more enjoyable if Cassandra Clare had made her main characters a few years older – young adults would have been able to handle the events of this book much better. When the author uses the descriptors of “Clary snapped” every 10 pages or so, I couldn’t help but roll my eyes…Especially since Clary seemed to “snap” at people at the most random and ridiculous times for stuff that seemed so trivial. Also, it wasn’t until I finished reading the book that I realized that Clary is useless. She does something useful to help in her own quest maybe once or twice. The rest of the time, it is her allies that do all of the work while she just stands by and watches…

The plot line itself was enjoyable, although the book seems to end abruptly and randomly. It doesn’t really end on much of a cliff hanger or with any closure…readers are just left hanging there, with nothing. Some of the plot line is extremely corny, as is some of the writing. Multiple times, there were similes that came up that did not make sense, that were not necessary, or that were just brutal – it seemed like Clare just couldn’t think of a better descriptor and wrote the first thing that came to mind, when she could have just dropped the similes and described things for what they were. A lot of the dialogue is also cheesy, but we have to keep in mind that this is a young adult novel so I did ask for it a bit when I decided to read this book.

Favourite passage:
She thought of Luke, Luke pushing her on the swings when she was five years old, higher, always higher; Luke at her graduation from middle school, camera clicking away like a proud father’s; Luke sorting through each box of books as it arrived at his store, looking for anything she might like and putting it aside. Luke lifting her up to pull apples down from the trees near his farmhouse.
This book wasn’t a literary masterpiece. There weren’t any passages that stuck out to me as being extremely well written or that made me think. In fact, for most of the book the only passage I had in mind was some lame joke that Jace makes that made me smile (not even laugh, just smile). But near the end of the book this passage came up and it’s the only time that this book made me get somewhat emotional – when Luke is in trouble and we get a little scared for him. The entire book I kept telling myself that Luke seemed like Clary’s father figure and it is at this moment that Clary realizes it.

Ending with a few positive notes:

[*]While Jace’s sarcasm is overdone and gets a bit old, I did find some of his comments funny.
[*]There are a few twists in this book that I did not see coming, I love it when that happens and that I’m not able to guess the twists before they happen
[*]I actually loved the influences derived from classic literature that I studied in school, such as Milton’s epic Paradise Lost. I love how Clare used some of the same demons by name and incorporated them into this modern tale. We can already tell this will end up in a huge angels-vs-demons battle, just like in Milton's poem.
[*]Magnus Bane is probably the most entertaining character, but we see too little of him.

Conclusion: I will read the next book of the series. Truthfully, I felt like the story could have ended in this book and it would have been good. The protagonists have the opportunity to take down the antagonist multiple times in the last few pages and don’t (I won’t tell you the reason for this). But I suppose that if the author would have ended the book there, she wouldn’t have had the opportunity to keep the series going and make more money. Maybe once I read the second book I’ll see why this plot line had to keep going, but as of right now, I don’t.

I rate this book 3 out of 5 stars

Anyone agree or disagree? If you liked this book let me know, if you hated it let me know. If you haven’t read this book do you want to?
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Post by fsdred »

Last year I decided to buy all of the Mortal Instruments and Infernal Devices books on a special offer and I am so glad I did. They were (and still are) my favourite series of books to read. I'm currently on my third round of reading them. (As you know, they are THAT good). :D
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