City of Bones - Cassandra Clare

I first read this book when I was fourteen and was not particularly keen on reading. Up until that point my shelf consisted of 'The Twilight Saga', and Roald Dahl (not that there is anything wrong with that) and I ADORED it. Jace was exactly the kind of boy my younger self wanted and I was happy to live vicariously through the characters.

Fifteen year old Clary Fray stumbles onto the shadow world, when during one of her trips to the Pandemonium Club when she bears witness to the murder of a young boy. Then the boy disappears. Clary hurdles head first into her otherworldly destiny in her home of Brooklyn. Shadowhunters, Demons, Downworlders and the secrets her mother had been hiding from her all her live, revealed. And then there is Jace the darkly, sexy shadowhunter boy determined to sink Clary further into his world. Clary is a headstrong young woman (when she is not weak in the knees for Jace) hell-bent on a mission to save her mother from what she, herself had been protected from her whole life.

Eighteen year old me is still not quite willing to part with it. I love the fast paced plot, the variation of personalities within the novel (even though Clare seems to share Clary's infatuation with Jace), I love the way the character's grew over the first three books, although secondary characters are almost ignored in the first novel. One of the things I love most about this series, which a lot of young adult books get wrong is the depth of reasoning behind the villain's actions. Valentine is not simply evil for the sake of being so, but he has a purpose and genuinely thinks he is doing what is right for his world.

While Clary is not my favourite female lead, she is far from terrible. The actions of most of the characters are realistic and believable. City of Bones is an enjoyable read and belongs on the shelf of newbies and avid readers alike of the teen romance persuasion.

3* (Because I save higher scores for the books I really, really like)\

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