Mindless Idiot Teenage Girl: Whee, sexy body as a front cover? Wow, now I HAVE To get it!
Props to whoever designed the front cover. They probably knew that the tween population would have the same reaction or something on par to that. Because the body means hot hot characters, and hot hot characters was why
Twilight got popular in the first place. Besides, nobody wants the main character to be ugly, am I right?
Okay, enough about ripping on the dumb cover. When Iman got the book, I have to admit, I was pretty skeptical. I read through the first chapter and was, surprise, surprise, rather unimpressed. I was ready to dismiss it as another series doomed to be a
Twilight or
Harry Potter wannabe success thing. But I reminded myself that Harry Potter began much the same way; In fact, the first half of
The Sorceror's Stone is rather a dull piece of work. So I ploughed onto the rest of the book. The first book left me with mixed feelings.
Certainly it wasn't like
Twilight. It was better than that.
Certainly it wasn't like Harry Potter. It was worse than that. But I expected that one.
The book centers around a girl named Clary, which is short for Clarissa. She is first introduced as your typical 17 year old with red hair and an exceptional artist, like her mother. She has virtually no friends save for her best friend Simon who also appears frequently in the series. Her normal life is cut short when she is introduced to a magical world concealed by
glamour. The world is full of Children of the Moon (lycanthropes AKA werewolves), Children of the Night (vampires), the Fair Folk (fairies), Lilith's Children (Warlocks), demons (parasitic creatures that destroy any world they come onto) and most importantly Shadow Hunters (Humans who are turned into warriors who kill the demons and those that break the Law that all magical beings abide by with the use of runes and awesome weapons).
Clary meets new people, and we become more familiar with the following characters:
Jace: Who is indeed the cover of the book. He is described as having the face of an angel, though he doesn't act like one. He seems to care for nobody, except perhaps Clary (Yes, they do fall in love). He's also arrogant and a really good Shadow Hunter. Yes, everybody falls in love with him because he's a tortured soul and stuff. But he's different from Edward because he's not... Perfect. We find out later that he and Clary are siblings (LOL incest hawt) which is why he's always a tortured soul and stuff, and because of his father, the evil Valentine.
Alec: I like Alec. He's described from Clary's point of view as somebody who would have amazing looks if he didn't try downplaying them. He's sullen usually, doesn't say much and we learn later on that he's... gay. In the City of Bones we find out that he loves Jace. Woot. He's also socially awkward. Alec is a Shadowhunter as well, but he's never killed a demon. There are many theories that are presented such as he's a coward, or that he's too softhearted, but in the end, I think its because he'd rather just help Jace and Isabelle. He hates Clary because she and Jace are in L-O-V-E.
Isabelle: Isabelle is Alec's brother. She's veryyyyy pretty with her long black hair and blue eyes, and unlike Alec knows how to mingle and dress up, so she's like vain and stuff. She's a vicious Shadow Hunter and her preferred weapon is her whip. I guess she's ruthless because she's a girl and wants to prove her worth. In the beginning she dislikes Clary, but they become friends much later.
Hodge: Hodge is some old guy who lives with the aforementioned Shadowhunters because he's cursed. He has some pet raven named Hugin who we find out later on is Valentine's pet bird. Hodge is cursed, because he can never come to Idris, the country of Shadowhunters, because he was in alliance with Valentine. This is why, later on he betrays Jace and Clary.
Magnus Bane: Pretty much the most awesome character in the book. He's a warlock, which translates as "badass magical being". He's part asian and also... very gay (him and Alec eventually become lovers, but you don't really know that until books two and three). He's been alive for like 700 years. He's very... ostentatious, and odd. Which is why he's so cool.
Anyway, that's pretty much it.
When I first read City of Bones, I did not want to start the other books. Because I didn't enjoy City of Bones so much. But then I saw City of Ashes and City of Glass in Sams and I thought, "Well I'm not going to be doing anything else..." so I bought them.
Yes, that's Clary. She's redheaded and cool and whiny and boring. Why is it that all girls apart from Isabelle are whiny and boring?! Maybe because it makes it easier to hate on her because she captures itty bitty Jace's heart, which as we all know is the fantasy of the tweens' hearts. CURSE YOU CLARY. CURSE YOUUUU!
After this book, I was like, "Cool." I was semi-interested. Interested enough to start the last one, at any rate.
There is something visually appealing about never seeing the people's eyes. You have to wonder about their expression. Props to the person who designed the covers once again. And no that one wasn't sarcasm. In any case, no that's not Alec, like I thought. Its some new guy named Sebastian/Jonathon. Also.... Eye candy.
This book, made me like the series. Maybe because in the end, Jace and Clary find out they're not siblings after all, and it made things less nauseating. Maybe because in this book, Isabelle becomes a little more human. Maybe because there's an epic battle that lasts 10 minutes. Whatever the case, its cool. Everything comes together. Well most of it does. Oh and Alec finally comes out of the closet to his parents and tells them about Magnus Bane. Yay.
I give it a B+ because of the end, which is better than what I give Twilight... which, before the fourth book was a C-, but after the horrendous conclusion to the series, it became an F+.
Twas a good book. Read it, only if you have nothing else to do.
This book is full of cliches, but then I guess love is full of cliches?
But its also full of attractive people, clothes, and weapons. Its full of quotes. Oh and cultures from around the world. There's a bit of Romanian in the third book too, but I don't know what it means.
There are a lot of twists, which is good. I just wish Cassandra Clare had spent more time developing the twists. Everything happens really fast, and there's just too much to drink in. The characters, for example, develop pretty fast. Clary seems to accept all that is happening to her with relative calm for some odd reason. The only people who seem real to me are Alec, Max and Maia. Maybe Hodge. And maybe Imogen Inquisitor, but there isn't enough character development for them The rest are entirely too calm for everything that happens.
Even if it was a book/series review, I still loved it. It was entertaining. And yeah. Thanks for giving everything away. I don't mind though. =D
"Mindless Idiot Teenage Girl: Whee, sexy body as a front cover? Wow, now I HAVE To get it!" <-- Did you know that you were inadvertantly describing ME when you wrote this sentence!? Because I was the one who bought the first book, and I didn't know if I should buy it. The first time I saw it like 10 Sam's trips ago, I was like, sounds boring. But then about 2 Sam's trips ago, I thought, oh what the heck, it's summer, and maybe Mariam might like it, or she'll dismiss it as another HarryPotter/Twilight wannabe thing, but atleast she'll have something to read and keep her entertained by blasting it out to me sooner or later. And I DID NOT buy it for the cover, although it is pretty attractive, but still. Why does everyone think that guys with longish hair are attractive? Because Jace on the cover has long hair. I pictured him with short nicely cut hair. It was Alec whom I pictured with the long hair, just because he seemed pretty sad and emo to me. I wasn't sure if I wanted to read the entry further because you made me sad. Is that how you view me as? Would you prefer that I be mean, sarcastic, dull, and emolike like you are? =( You hurt my fweewingsss...
Now what do you have to say for yourself!?