City of Bones by Cassandra Clare [book]

City of Bones by Cassandra Clare [book]

Published by Margaret K. McElderry Books, 2007

Hardcover, 485 pages

Language: English

ISBN: 1416955070

Plot Summary:
Clary is a fifteen year old girl that witnesses a murder at a club that no one else is able to see, and after her life is changed forever. Suddenly her mother vanishes and she must fight demons and is taken into a world of shadow hunters that defeat demons during their days. She is accompanied by Jace (the original murderer in the scene that she saw), Isabelle & Alec Lightwood (also shadow hunters), and Simon (her best friend that is in love with her) for the majority of the novel. All of them have crushes on each other and most of them go unknown for the most part but in the end it is revealed that Alec has a crush on Jace, Simon is in love with Clary, but also has a slight interest in Isabelle, but Jace and Clary love each other until they find out in the end of the novel that they are brother and sister.
They go to the City of Bones (after Clary fights her first demon) in order to figure out why Clary has a lack of memory and about why she can see the supernatural world. During the visit she has a memory of a man named Magnus Bane, and they go to find him. When they reach him he indeed tells them that he placed the block of her memories but cannot undo it- her memories will come back in time. He reveals that her mother was a shadow hunter and that she did not want the same for her child. An object called the Mortal Cup becomes the basis of the novel because in the wrong hands it can create an army of demons, and it turns out that Clary knows where it is and contains the map to find it in her head. When they locate it there is a battle and they get away only to be tricked by Valentine, Jace and Clary's father that takes the cup and then hides it. It is known at the end of the novel that the Mortal Cup is just one of three of the mortal instruments. Clary then finds and saves her mother and the end is left open to Clary and Jace understanding that they cannot be together.

Critical Evaluation:
The book was entertaining, if not somewhat predictable at times do to the fantasy characters and plot line of Clary being the only person that is able to solve the mystery. I think that the writing is good and the story was very inventive, and I also liked the fact that there were many plot twists- my favorite being the one that made her and Jace siblings (it was so unexpected). The characters were very well formed, but it did ring a little bit repetitive that the heroin in the novel has the attention of all of the males in the novel but doesn't ever address it, even though they are constantly making it known.

Reader's Annotation:
When Clary Fray witnesses a murder, she is irrevocably drawn into a world of shadow hunters, demons, vampires and werewolves in which she holds the map and key to the mystery in the memories trapped in her mind.

Websites to look Into:
http://www.shadowhunters.com/mortalinstruments/
http://www.cassandraclare.com/

The Author:
Cassandra Clare is actually the pen name of Judith Rumelt (born July 27, 1973). A fun fact is that she is friends with another author Holly Black (Valiant) and their books occasionally mention other characters from each other's novels.

Awards:
2010 Georgia Peach Book Awards for Teen Readers
Finalist for the Locus Award for Best First Novel of 2007
An American Library Association Teens Top Ten Award winner, 2008
Winner of The 2010 Abraham Lincoln Illinois High School Book Award
Winner of the 2010 Pacific Northwest Library Association Young Reader’s Choice Award
A Texas TAYSHAS title 2010
Oregon Young Adult Network Book Rave Reading List Title 2008
Similar Books:
"City of Ashes" by Cassandra Clare
"City of Glass" by Cassandra Clare
"City of Fallen Angels" by Cassandra Clare

Booktalking Ideas:
Comparing this series with another popular fantasy series
Watching clips from the movie and comparing the movie and book

Genre:
Action, Fiction, Fantasy

Interest Age:
14+

Challenge Issues:
Violence
The only challenge issue that I foresee with this book is that there is a lot of violence, but I do not see it being anymore than a normal fantasy or action novel.

Why this Book?
I chose this book because of its popularity and because it is a good action and adventure novel that is fast paced and very interesting to read.