BOOK REVIEW 'The Mortal Instrument: City of Bones'

The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones
By: Cassandra Clare 
Everyone has a guilty pleasure don't they? Mine being ice cream, the occasional really catchy pop song, and teenage fantasy novels. I admit it. Now, I know that most of the time there isn't much substance to them but there's just something about them that makes me pick up the series and never want to stop. And I now take you into the world of the Shadowhunters. 
The series revolves around 15 year old Clary Fray. She lives with her mother in New York. Her father died before she was born although that's about all she knows about him because her mom doesn't like to talk about the past much. One day she and her best friend, Simon decide to go to a teenage night club together. They're were having a good time until Clary sees something out of the corner of her eye, some people look like they've brought weapons and they're following an unarmed person into a supply closet. She tells Simon, who runs to grab security. She can't just stand there and do nothing so, she follows them in, hoping to intervene all the while letting her curiosity get the better of her.  
In the room all she hears is a bunch of jibberish about demons, something called Shadowhunters, and someone named Valentine, so basically she thinks they're crazy. She finally steps in right before Simon comes back with the guards, and that's when things start to get really strange. The crazies think that she shouldn't be able to see them because she's a 'mundane', and their theory gets confirmed because Simon doesn't see anyone in the room but her. They decide to leave the club before Clary starts hallucinating more, but you can't imagine that sort of thing, can you?
The next day, Clary's mom springs it on her that they are going to go up to a farm house a family friend, Luke, owns in upstate New York for the rest of the summer. This is coming completely out of the blue and without any reason as to why Clary has to give up all of her plans. She gets angry and storms out with Simon to a local coffee shop. 
While at the coffee shop listening to a friend read poetry, Clary sees one of the boys from the night before at the club outside through the window. She rushes outside to demand an explanation as to what happened from him. All she really gets is his name, Jace, before her mom calls her. She answers, and instead of the expected apology, her mother is frantic on the other end of the line. She keeps telling Clary not to come home because it isn't safe and to go to Luke's. Clary, of course rushes home, to find her mom is gone and in her place are signs of a struggle. She turns to Jace for help, and is immediately rushed into the world of the Shadowhunters. 
What seems to be the motto of this series is 'All the stories are true,' meaning that all of the nightmarish creatures we always heard about like Vampires, Werewolves, Warlocks, and Demons all exist.  It's the job of the Shadowhunters to kill demons and keep the mundanes safe. It is brought to the surface that Clary's mom was once a Shadowhunter herself and has done everything in her power to keep Clary out of it. Now, she's gone, kidnapped by the evil Shadowhunter, Valentine, and Clary uses everything she can to find out about a world she doesn't understand to bring her mother back. 
What I just explained only happens in about the first 40 pages of this 500 page novel. It tries to be action packed, and in many ways it is, but not nearly as addictive as the 3rd, 4th, and 5th books in the series. The first two books are actually kind of boring in comparison. If you want to try and read these, my first suggestion is if you don't like it when you first start, hold out until the last few books because I read over half of two of them in less then a day. 
As pretty much in every YA book, and what gets me every time, the series has it's own cute book boy. Jace, the guy that Clary first meets, soon becomes a love intrest for hers. There is a huge bombshell that come in the end that puts a bit of an, ummm.... damper on their relationship. I love Jace and all of his genius sarcasm as a character, and everything ends up righting itself soon after, but if it didn't and they stayed together I don't know if I could keep reading. 
 The characters are hilarious, sarcastic, and at the same time each is different in their own way. We have Alec and Isabelle, the Shadowhunter brother and sister pair who consider Jace to be family. Isabelle who has a new boyfriend every other week and is the definition of hell in high-heels.  Alec, who is secretly gay and sometimes can think of Jace as more then a brother, although he knows the feelings aren't mutual. Clary's best friend Simon, is in the same predicament about Clary, although refuses to give up hope that he will land the girl of his dreams, so he stays with her for most of the novel instead of leaving her with the Shadowhunters. 
As most teen novels, it was only a matter of time before they took it to the silver screen. The Mortal Instrument: City of Bones movie came out on August 21st, and I have to say I didn't hold high expectations walking in. It turned out to hold truer to the book the I thought, and be thoroughly enjoyable. Was it an Oscar-level good movie? No, not at all. But, like I said when I started, there always room for a good guilty pleasure in my life.  
Pages:485
Read In: 2 weeks
Rating: 7/10
Ages: 13 + up
Four Categories: death, paranormal creatures, romance