Skip to main content

City Of Bones (The Mortal Instruments #1) by Cassandra Clare

"YA Fantasy where loner girl who hasn't found her place in the world is thrust into a world of danger, magic, darkness, all that jazz. It was full of unrequited love, teenage angst and overwrought, contrite, absolutely painfully oblivious characters and by the end, I was just glad to be done with it."

2 STARS

Pros: The one pro was the mention of the Nephillim but why would the offspring of mortal women and angels be, essentially, demon hunters? Aren't they themselves "half breeds" thus their hunting "downworlders" seems rather hypocritical since they're not pure blood either. 

Cons: Full to bursting with unrequited love triangles, contrite and ridiculous/Clary is the most absolutely oblivious and idiotic female protagonist I've run into in awhile. 

Full Review: 

Clary (Clarissa) Fray is your ordinary teenager, going to clubs with her best friend Simon etc. But when she sees two boys and a girl murder, what she thinks is a regular boy, but learns that he's actually a demon, her whole world changes. Her mother is taken, Clary is attacked by a Demon and she's taken to the Institute, by Jace, the quietly mysterious and moodily sullen boy who saved her from the Demon.  

She later learns that Jace is a Shadowhunter, as was her Mother, as was her "Uncle" Luke. They were part of the Circle, a group of Shadowhunters led by maniacally fanatic Valentine. They trace their lineage back to the Nephilim, offspring of Mortals and Angels from the Apochrypha of the Bible. When they drank blood from men and angels mixed in the Mortal Cup, they became Shadowhunters. Their only duty is to protect mortals from the Downworlders, lesser Demons such as Vampires/Werewolves/Fairies, what have you. 

As Clary learns more about their world, she also learns more about herself and her own upbringing. Her mother is not the person she thought she was. And as the book reveals, neither is her Father. I have a feeling it will all be explained away in the series but the end of it left me feeling uneasy and like I'd just read something incestuous...

It was full to bursting with unrequited love, love triangles, characters so completely oblivious to everything around them that even a monkey with half a brain could have figured out what was going on, but...well...they can't all be winners. To be honest, by about mid-way through the book, I was so sick of the narrative that I just finished it to get it done, cause I wanted to see how it ended. And it ended, that was the best part. 

I highly doubt, unless there is absolutely nothing else to read, that I'll be continuing this series. I've meant to read it for awhile and now I'm very glad that I got it from the library instead of purchasing it cause in my opinion, it would have been a huge waste of money. 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Priory of the Orange Tree by Samantha Shannon

"High Fantasy with lots of interwoven threads of fate getting all knotted up together, as they do. Though Shannon's ambition is incredible and inspiring, in the end it all felt a bit off pace and quickly fell into "information overload."  Pros: High fantasy, true and brilliant world building. You have different kingdoms with their own customs and beliefs, Shannon has truly created something incredible. But this is both a Pro and a Con . Cons : Too many characters to remember/Too many countries/histories/legendary figures to keep track of.  Full Review:  It all starts when Tane breaks her seclusion, wishing to swim in the sea one more time before choosing day. In the morning she'll see if she's earned the revered title of Dragon Rider. But just tonight, she wants to swim and feel free. She's horrified when she runs into a man named Sulyard, who begs for her help.  She helps him asking a childhood friend Susa to take him away and she does, allowing Tane t
Post a Comment
Read more

A Spark of White Fire (The Celestial Trilogy #1) by Sangu Mandanna

"Similar to "Game of Thrones" only in space, there was a lot going on with a lot of different people and they were all important and connected but my tired, overworked brain had trouble keeping up. " 2 Stars  Pros:  I liked Max as a character, I'm all for the tall, dark, mysterious supposed bad boy with a heart of gold cliche, but the kissing cousins thing just made it weird.   Cons:  It felt like Game of Thrones, only in space, so there was a bit of a kissing cousins vibe going and I wasn't feeling it/The book tried to have these big, shocking moments I was just non-plussed, unaffected./The presence of the Gods irked me as they did in The Illiad, it's all terribly convenient to have divine intervention for your MCs. I feel like it's the cheapest fake-out cheat of all time 👍🤣 Full Review:    My co-worker, who has recommended some amazing reads such as, A Man Called Ove ,   The Boy, The Mole, The Fox and the Horse,  and I'll Give You The Sun,  r
Post a Comment
Read more

Peter Pan by J.M. Barrie

"The classic tale of Peter Pan, the boy who never grows up and his adventures with his Lost Boys and the Darling Children, Wendy, John and Michael. At times fun and whimsical and other times surprisingly dark, it was an interesting read as an adult." 3 Stars  Pros:   There is something appealing about flying away to a mysterious island where you can play all day and never have to grow up. The thrall of Neverland is a constant for this dreamer.  Cons: Peter Pan is truly the most arrogant little brat and very much in need of a mother/I was surprised at the bloodshed because I always thought this was a children's book, it was rather dark at times.  Full Review Mr. and Mrs. Darling are the proud yet rather dismissive and negligent parents of three children. Wendy, John and Michael. All three have flights of fancy and dream of an island, with mermaids and pirates. Mrs. Darling dismisses these as the whimsy of childhood but she herself remembers when she too dreamt of the very
Post a Comment
Read more