City of Bones

This book is based around some Shadowhunters living in New York City.   Shadowhunters are demon hunters.   The book starts by introducing us to a Mundane (human) called Clary Fray who is the star of the book.   Visiting a nightclub she sees three Shadowhunters killing a demon which is strange for one very good reason - humans aren't supposed to be able to see the Shadowhunters.

The book really makes you look at the world differently - do we actually see what's really there or is it just an illusion, I guess it's like a mash up between the Matrix, Twilight and Supernatural.

The characters include people like Valentine the evil cult leader of the Circle (a splinter group of shadowhunters), Magnus Bane the High Warlock of Brooklyn and Brother Jeremiah - one of the Silent Brothers.   With names like that in the book you just know it's going to be good!

Later Jocelyn decides that she needs to take Clary away from the city for a while and after they fight Clary goes out with Simon and refuses to answer her mother's phone calls.   Once out she encounters one of the teenagers from the nightclub - Jace.

When Clary decides to answer Jocelyn's call her mother tells her not to return home, but to go to Lukes and tell him that 'he's found me'.   Of course Clary does what all characters in books and movies seem to do - she directly disobeys her mother and goes home to find her mother missing and more.

There's a demon in her appartment which she manages to kill although not before it poisons her - Jace turns into her knight in shining armor taking her back to what is known as the Institute where she meets the other Shadowhunters there - Isabelle, Alec and Hodge.   

The main cast of Shadowhunters in this book live at the Institute which is run by Hodge, a shadowhunter who has been banished from Idris (the shadowhunter's home).   Jace Wayland was trained as a child by his father to be the best shadowhunter that he could be - he then witnessed his father being killed and was taken in by his father's friends the Lightwoods.

The Lightwoods had two children of their own Isabelle and Alec who are also shadowhunters and the three of them are taught (and live) at the Institute by Hodge.

It's at the Institute that they try to discover why it is that Clary can see them and so the story starts to unfold.

This fantasy story was actually written for young readers, but I don't think they should be the ones having all the fun!

My daughter read it and thought that I might enjoy it so I started and anyone who can describe hair like this -

"He had electric-blue dyed hair that stuck up around his head like tendils of a startled octopus.."

certainly deserved to have a few more pages of their book read by me.   A few more pages were all it took - I was hooked.   I actually wasn't expecting to enjoy it as I don't generally read fantasy novels, but I loved it so much I went straight out and brought the next two books! 

City of Bones is only the first book in a saga called The Mortal Instruments and it's now going to be turned into a movie starring Phil Collin's daughter Lily Collins (The Blind Side, Mirror Mirror) as Clary Fray.

Find out more about the movie here - The Mortal Instruments Movie