Book #96: City of Bones

Title: City of Bones (Book #1 of the Mortal Instruments series)

Author: Cassandra Clare

Date started reading: July 11, 2012
Date finished reading:  July 14, 2012

Publish date: February 2008
ISBN: 978-1416955078
Number of pages: 512

Official summary: "When fifteen-year-old Clary Fray heads out to the Pandemonium Club in New York City, she hardly expects to witness a murder — much less a murder committed by three teenagers covered with strange tattoos and brandishing bizarre weapons. Then the body disappears into thin air. It’s hard to call the police when the murderers are invisible to everyone else and when there is nothing — not even a smear of blood — to show that a boy has died. Or was he a boy? This is Clary’s first meeting with the Shadowhunters, warriors dedicated to ridding the earth of demons. It’s also her first encounter with Jace, a Shadowhunter who looks a little like an angel and acts a lot like a jerk. Within twenty-four hours Clary is pulled into Jace’s world with a vengeance, when her mother disappears and Clary herself is attacked by a demon. But why would demons be interested in ordinary mundanes like Clary and her mother? And how did Clary suddenly get the Sight? The Shadowhunters would like to know." (http://www.cassandraclare.com)

How I obtained the book: Got through PaperBackSwap.com.

My pre-reading commentary: 

• I'm a little worried about reading this series. I've been looking forward to it for a while, but I'm unsure of how it will turn out. A ton of people on Tumblr recommended that I read it because of all the other books I like. I see two possible ways this can turn out: 1) I will be disappointed because I've heard so many good things about it that I've got my hopes up too much that it couldn't possibly live up to the hype, or 2) I will utterly love the series and it will completely take over my entire life. 
• I probably would've read this series much sooner if there wasn't a quote from Stephanie Meyer on the book covers. I really don't care to take her advice on what books to read. 

My post-reading commentary:

• Normally when I start a new book series, I go looking through reviews and spoilers and end up knowing everything that happens in the series. This time around, I decided to avoid having anything spoiled before I read it. I actually wanted to be surprised. Unfortunately, I decided to finally read the series right when all sorts of attention was being thrown on the series due to its upcoming movie that starts filming next month. Suddenly there were spoilers all over Tumblr and Facebook that I didn't intend to ever see. I didn't go looking for them, but they came at me anyway. I found out things that happen later on throughout the series, so I wasn't nearly as surprised as I should've been at some things.
• After reading about three chapters of this first book, I immediately regretted not starting the series a long time ago. I had the first three books sitting on my book shelf for a while, but kept putting it off. I should've read them a long time ago. The writing is excellent. The various storylines are complex and very interesting. I'm hopelessly addicted already. 

Memorable quotes:

• "Trust me, little girl, the police aren't going to arrest someone they can't see." ~ Jace to Clary
• "Normal people don't generally find their homes ransacked by demons." ~ Hodge
• "Magic is a dark and elemental force, not just a lot of sparkly wands and crystal balls and talking goldfish." ~ Jace
• "Just because you call an electric eel a rubber duck doesn't make it a rubber duck, does it? And God help the poor bastard who decides they want to take a bath with the duckie." ~ Jace
• "The meek may inherit the earth, but at the moment it belongs to the conceited. Like me." ~ Jace
• "If you were half as funny as you thought you were, my boy, you'd be twice as funny as you are." ~ Madame Dorothea to Jace
• "For the devil has no power except in the dark." ~ Madame Dorothea
• "The most terrible things men do, they do in the name of love." ~ Madame Dorothea
• "It's like Dungeons and Dragons, but real." ~ Simon when he learns about the Shadowhunter/Downworlder world
• "You've got to be kidding me. Demon slayers take the subway?" ~ Simon
• "Why are you always such an asshat?" ~ Clary
  "An asshat?" ~ Jace
  "What you said to Simon--" ~ Clary
  "I was trying to save him some pain. Isabelle will cut out his heart and walk all over it in high-heeled boots. That's what she does to boys like that." ~ Jace
• "It's generally better not to ask (Jace) anything unless you know you can stand to hear the answer." ~ Isabelle
• "I'd rather have someone mess around inside my head than chop it off." ~ Simon
• "Sarcasm is the last refuge of the imaginatively bankrupt." ~ Clary
• "I don't understand why mundanes always apologize for things that aren't their fault." ~ Jace
• "To love is to destroy, and that to be loved is to be the one destroyed." ~ Jace
• "Demon hunting and fashion: I never would have thought they went together." ~ Clary
• "Vampires are such prima donnas." ~ Magnus
• "I have a high pain threshold. In fact, it's less of a threshold and more of a large and tastefully decorated foyer." ~ Jace
• "Where there is love, there is often also hate. They can exist side by side." ~ Hodge
• "My one true love remains myself." ~ Jace

Buy on Amazon.com: City of Bones (Mortal Instruments)