CITY OF BONES by Cassandra Clare

“Sarcasm is the last refuge of the imaginatively bankrupt.” 

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. . . . 

Exotic and gritty, exhilarating and utterly gripping, Cassandra Clare's ferociously entertaining fantasy takes readers on a wild ride that they will never want to end

I don't like it at all.

The only thing I like was the dialogue.

Technicalities. The pacing of the book was a mess. It can go from fast-pace to ultimately slow. The plot was a bit confusing. The conflicts were so stupid and lame. I didn't like the writing style at all but I do admit Clare had a very colorful vocabulary.

Here's the thing, if I was Clary. Note: A person who live a mundane all her life. When given the information that I have a blood of a shadow hunter and would have been told magical creatures and demons exists, I would like freak out even just a little but the girl didn't she accepted it like it was the most normal thing to do. The girl was too passive most of the time. She showcased flickering emotions. There was nothing strong about her that would be alluring. Damn. I don't like her at all. I also don't like how she was morphed into the story.

It seems as though Clare had a lot of cute ideas in mind but failed to deliver it properly.

The characters of the book were irritating as well. Not Their personality but what their role is in the book. It was like all of them were pawns in a chess game. Set to fight then set aside. That was so not cute. It's like I wouldn't care if any of them die because they didn't even do any magnificent thing at all. I only had a heart for Simon and Luke... (And of course Clary and Jace.) Not putting an important role to the characters is something Clare should think about. If you don't give the characters some significance you will fail to draw emotions from the readers. Like wtf do we care? That's just wrong.

Yeah... 

Also, the writing style irked me so bad. Clare is so intent describing the settings of the place that she failed to describe the emotions harboring the important characters during the important scenes. It was a big mistake for her part because emotions are one thing that enticed readers to love a book... The vocabs were too colorful also that it gave me a damn headache. Not that I have a problem understanding english... It's just that big English words and terms are not to complement books which talks about shadow hunters and mystical creatures, right? It would be so much better if the way she delivered the story would be in a light manner.

The plot. The story would have been good but it seems to me that there are too many ideas that were forced inside one book. I don't know. It feels really messed-up. Like is it really about the mortal cup or valentine? Or is it about the shadow hunters? Or is it about Clary or Jace? It's about everything and that was just too much. Gahh...

The conflicts. At first it was just about saving her mother... Then suddenly it was about the mortal cup... Then about love... Then about lies and betrayals... Then families... Then society... Incest??? Oh my god. What the hell is the real problem??? God. This is so fucked-up.

I gave this book a chance. I read it hoping something that would spark some interest in me but it didn't. There are very predictable scenes... So predictable I could only gawked in disbelief. I already had a clear idea that Valentine is Clary's father the moment Valentine's name was mentioned. I was expecting some twisted plot and I had it but it was not pleasant at all. I hoped and prayed that it was just some ploy of Valentines but no! The protagonists are siblings. Where did that came from? I think Clare was just randomly popping ideas while writing this book.

I could say the situations in the book if you looked at it further, I would believe nothing linked to something. It was just randomly ideas popped out and forced to be a part of each other.

So not cool at all...

The moment I realized that this book won't get any better, I just wished for it to end. Like in an instant.. Gah. Waste of time.

Overall, I didn't like it and I won't be reading the next book because I don't like to be frustrated again, I am not fond of the characters and nothing perked my interest.

Well whatever.