The Mortal Instruments Series has been popular for quite a while. Especially when I was around 12 or 13 years old. I just never read them. Probably because no one gave me the books as a gift. The reason I am now reading them is because I watched the TV show on Netflix. Yes, it is slightly cheating but I wanted to find out if some of the problems I had with the show were in the books. I got my hands on the whole series, with City of Bones being the first book. I’m also reading them as a lead up to the second half of season 2 which is airing on the 5th of June!
Now City of Bones itself is very generic plot-wise. Bringing a ‘normal’ person into the ‘magical’ world who then has to act to save it has been done over and over again. I personally don’t think this is a bad thing. It makes the protagonist more like the reader. Consequently making the protagonist more relateable and easier to understand. This book does have a good premise. I really enjoyed the overarching storyline, although some parts do get quite annoying.
Clary is the main character and the main POV although it’s written in 3rd person. A lot of people don’t like Clary. And yes, I understand she does stupid things. But she is only 15 years old at this point. Do you remember when you were 15? Yeah you made stupid decisions. Although it’s slightly annoying, it makes it a lot easier to read when you remember her age. She also is very good at picking up Shadowhunter skills such as fighting and runes. Which is slightly unrealistic, but this does fit with the generic plot of putting someone normal into the magical world. Although she may seem overly powerful, this is the main character and she does need something about her to make it interesting.
This was Cassandra Clare’s first ever book, so it’s understandable that it’s not as well written as others. She does improve over the series. One of my issues was the bad guy didn’t seem all that menacing. The name, Valentine, just made me think of little cherubs and valentines day and cupid. So not the big bad scary man who’s out to kill people. I wish there was more actions in the book about him doing evil things, just to make him seem more scary and manipulative.
If you go into City of Bones thinking about the controversy, you wont like it. I promise you. If you read it objectively as it stands on it’s own it’s a decent YA Fantasy book. It’s by no means the most brilliant novel of the century, but it’s alright. It’s also extremely easy to read. Although there’s some slower info-dumping scenes there’s a lot of action in just one book. You can imagine the fight scenes clearly in your head. Which is one of the better points. The series a whole is actually quick to read. You get drawn into the story very easily. Which means you want to read more afterwards.
You can purchase the box set off Amazon* for £30 like what I did. Or it’s now only £15 in The Works. Yes, I am annoyed that I paid double what I could have but I’ll be okay. I promise.