Book Review: City of Bones by Cassandra Clare

ISBN: 1416914285
Published: March 27th, 2007
Publisher: Margaret K. McElderry Books
Read from October 19th to 24th, 2013
Synopsis from Goodreads:

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.

Review:

I don't even know where to start with this book. I went into it extremely skeptical and not expecting to like it at all. A lot of this came from knowing about the controversy over Clare plagiarising when she was a fanfiction writer. Still, these books are everywhere, and I'm always interested in writers who once wrote fanfiction. I just had to actually check the book out.

Well, by the end of the book I was completely pulled into the world, and I guess I would consider myself a fan now. I'm not saying this book is perfect by any means. It has quite a few problems, and a lot of them are hugely noticeable. I'm not going to go into those though because there are countless negative reviews that go through them. I, honestly, don't understand the amount of hate the books get. I see a lot of people criticizing them for being horribly writing, and it all kind of reminds me of Twilight to be honest. In my opinion, the books aren't the best written, but they're incredibly entertaining and kept me hooked. I enjoyed it, and because of that, I plan to read the rest of the series and the companion series and enjoy all of those books too. Not everything is going to be the greatest literary work of all time, and I don't think that really matters as long as it holds your attention. The most baffling thing to me is that Clare's writing is getting so much hate when I know I've read much worst writing in my time. I just really don't understand the level of hate. Some people hate these books with a passion that I just can't get.

My favorite part of the book is definitely the characters. One book in and I'm already in love with quite a few of them. I've seen quite a lot of criticism of them as well, and while I can get some of it, I really loved the characters. Isabelle was really the only one I didn't really like, but we don't really see much of her, and I can see that changing as I read more. I also wish Alec and been present more.

I do have to say that I'm glad Tumblr has made me aware of a spoiler or two otherwise the romance would have me a bit put off. As it is, I knew more than I should have long before I read the book, so I wasn't surprised there like I could have been. I don't know what my reaction would have been otherwise.

The plot, to me, is entertaining, and I look forward to finding out what happens. Still, it kind of pales in comparison to the characters. It really just comes back to them for me. They were my favorite part of the story, and I want to read more about them. If I hadn't loved the characters so much, I'm not sure I would care as much about the story. I think it's one of those stories where you have to connect with the characters or you just won't enjoy the book as much.

I'm not sure when I'll actually get around to reading the other books, but I'm hoping it's sooner rather than later. I'm dying to read the rest.