The Mortal Instruments series is comprised of City of Bones (Book One), City of Ashes (Book Two), and City of Glass (Book Three). It follows fifteen-year-old Clary Fray as she is introduced to the demon-slaying world of the Shadowhunters and glamour-hidden world of Downworlders comprised of warlocks, werewolves, vampires and fey. Along for the ride is her best friend Simon.
When Clary witnesses three Shadowhunters murder a human-looking demon while at a club, the Shadowhunters take an interest in her. She shouldn’t have been able to see them: Isabelle, beautiful, graceful and wielding a wipe more effectively then Indiana Jones, Alec, overprotective and thoughtful , and lion-like Jace, aggressive and confident.
It is soon discovered that Clary has Shadowhunter blood but that her memories have been forcefully repressed. What follows is enough drama, plot twists, and scandals to rival a soap opera. And yet, it was riveting. When Clare takes her time in laying out the scene, allowing the characters to develop and respond to situations, the story is gripping, with shots wit and humor.
The exposition (mostly delivered though dialog with Jace) was often overly wordy (p 44) and alternately a little confusing and too explanatory (p 132). I would have preferred a less abrupt introduction to this fascinating world. But I caught up. There is a nice explanation at The Mortal Instruments.
There are some good metaphors (among many overused ones): As Clary works to pierce the magical glamour hiding objects and people, “[the glyphs] tantalized her sight the way half-heard words in a foreign language sometimes tantalized her hearing, as if just by concentrating harder, she could force some meaning out of them” (p 134).
And some humorous passages, like when Clary asks Simon about the ‘hey’ thing (p 340).
“The ‘hey’ thing that you guys always do. Like when you saw Jace and Alec, you said ‘hey,’ and they said ‘hey’ back. What’s wrong with ‘hello’?”
She thought she saw a muscle twitch in his cheek. “‘Hello’ is girly,” he informed her. “Real men are terse. Laconic.”
“So the more manly you are, the less you say?”
“Right.” Simon nodded. … “That’s why when major badassesgreet each other in movies, they don’t say anything, they just nod. The nod means, ‘I am a badass, and I recognize that you, too, are badass,’ but they don’t say anything because they’re Wolverine and Magneto and it would mess up their vibe to explain.”
What I enjoyed most, was learning that Cassandra Clare was responsible for the hilarous The Very Secret Diaries(Still not King) of the Lord of the Rings. Any fan of Tolkien world should read these! Clare dropped a reference in Book One to the Diaries as well as references to anime (so near and dear to my heart). It’s clear Cassandra is familiar with animeseries like Angel Sanctuary, which features avenging angels and an incestuous relationship between the two main characters. I’d love to see this series animated in Japanese style.
I highly recommend this to fantasy and anime fanatics alike, ages 14 and up.
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