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City of Bones (The Mortal Instruments trilogy)
Cassandra Clare
Margarent K. 27th March 2007
496 pages
3 out 5 (rating)

Review:

This is my first time writing a book review and this review will contain some SPOILERS. Lately (before my exam period), I had read a couple of books or should I called ‘novels’. Normally for now, I would choose adult type of fiction novel to read. In the past, I have read novels like Dan Brown’s stunning work of novels, The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova (it is a thrilling fiction novel about Dracula living secretly in this modern century) and many more. Out of my curiosity, I had read this trilogy, ‘The Mortal Instruments‘, which is young adult (teen) fiction fantasy genre. Actually I’m a fan of those vampires, blood-sucking night creatures, type of story. In my young days, I used to love to read ‘Buffy the Vampire Slayer‘, based on the hit tv english series.

Back to the topic. City of Bones is first book for the ‘Mortal Instruments’ trilogy story. The second book is called ‘City of Ashes‘ and final book is ‘City of Glass‘ which will release on March 29, 2009. It is under young adult (teen) fiction genre. The story mainly about angels and demons as in the Bible. How Nephilim were borned in this world. Nephilim are the offsprings of angels and mortals (human). The mortals or normal human beings cannot see Nephilim, unless they find out themselves or Nephilim reveal to the mortals. Let’s talk about the author a bit. Cassandra Clare is a big fan of ‘Harry Potter’ novels, previously she had wrote a fan fiction, ‘The Draco Trilogy’. It is a big hint on how this trilogy is going to be like.

Warning Spoiler Alert!!!

The protagonist is a teenage girl, Clary Fray, who lived with her mother, Jocelyn, in a normal modern New York city. Clary encountered a mysterious murder incident in a particular club, a group of teen-alke warriors were tried to kill an innocent boy. No one (in the club) saw that incident, except Clary herself and the the body disappeared once the boy was killed. Clary tried to figure out what the hell it just happened to her. She managed to find out the truth of herself and the group of warriors, which known as ‘Shadowhunters‘. ‘Shadowhunter’ is Nephilim, the offspring of angel and mortal. Jocelyn (her mother) had gone missing once she tried to find out the truth of herself. She learnt about the Nephilim or ‘Shadowhunters’ with the help of the same teen-alike warriors (encountered in that club). She had no choice but teamed up with the ‘Shadowhunters’ in order to search for her missing mother and uncover her own darkest secret of her family. Along the way, she had fallen in love with one of the ‘Shadowhunters’ members, Jace. Unfortunately, her love was a disaster and sinful. Soon, she discovered her own family secret, which is her father, Valentine, was villain in the world of ‘Shadowhunters’ and man who captured her mother. Valentine wanted to create a brand new world of ‘Shadowhunters’ by using the ‘Mortal Instruments’. With the mortal cup (one of the mortal instruments), Valentine can create his own army of ‘Shadowhunters’ from the children of human being. In the end of this book, Valentine did not success with his plan yet but he had succeed escaped. The story will continue in the second book, ‘City of Ashes‘.

Pro:

• Thrilling along the way
• Harry Potter fans will love it
• Creative concepts and ideas for the existence of vampire, werewolf and etc.

Con:

• Predictable plot and twists
• Lack of some detail facts about the world of ‘Shadowhunters’. 
• Too many ‘lucky’ strikes, protagonist is able to kill the deathly monsters, although she has not in combat training before.
• Protagonist should be in some combat training in order to be able to handle the dangerous situation

In conclusion, this novel is cheesy to read, especially for teenagers. It has a lot of ‘Harry Potter’ similarity. For an example, the main city of ‘Shadowhunter’ is well-hidden with magick spell. I like the most is how she uses the ‘angel and demon’ elements to create the existence of vampires, werewolves and etc. Unfortunately, majority of twists I have managed to predict it, since in the third chapter. I give it 3 stars out of 5. Be sure to check my review on the second book, ‘City of Ashes‘. The second book is much better compare to the first, ‘City of Bones‘. I have a feeling that this trilogy will be made into movie soon. Hollywood really out of ideas lately.