Lets Review Books: The City of Bones
A few days ago we covered the announcement that the Mortal Instruments book series, which had previously been turned into an unsuccessful book series, was being adapted into a hopefully more successful TV series. I had been aware of the book series before, but hadn't really taken the time to delve into it, but with the upcoming show, this seemed like as good a time as any to see what this series might have to offer.
The story of The Mortal Instruments is that of Clary Fray, a normal sixteen year old girl (which we all know is a lie) who's life is flip turned upside down when she learns that she is in fact not a normal sixteen year old girl as previously thought (knew it) but instead was born in to a line of beings known as shadowhunters, a race of people where were descended from angels. The shadowhunters live a life protecting the world from the demons that plague the world.
You can guess a lot of what's going to happen in this book before you even get around to picking it up, based just on that very brief description. Clary is going to slowly become a shadowhunter as she learns about powers she never knew she had. If I were to also mention that she had a male best friend she had always viewed as a platonic friend and that there was a mysterious, attractive male shadowhunter, you could probably guess that a love triangle is going to show up somewhere in this book. And you would be right.
I can tell you right off the bad that this book does not transcend the tropes that have been firmly rooted in YA fantasy for the past decade or so. But that doesn't make it unenjoyable or not worth reading. There is still a lot of fun to be had here.
For starters the characters are for the most part great. Many books in this particular genre aimed at this particular age group have a female protagonist that is...lets say frustrating. But Clary is not in the least. She keeps a good head on her shoulders throughout the book and while she bemoans the things that happen to her, it doesn't dominate her personality. Simon, her platonic friend as mentioned earlier is the same way. And most of the Shadowhunters we meet are good characters as well. Some are a little flat, but nobody is aggravating, or frustrating, to the reader that is. These characters obviously conflict with one another throughout the novel but it doesn't slow the book down or bore the reader.
Jase is the sole problem when it comes to characters. Jase is the mysterious, brooding bad boy shadowhunter who is the third part of that love triangle with a major emphasis on the brooding. Maybe if I were the right age, I would sympathize a lot more with Jace's tortured soul but I don't. And thus he comes of as kind of a butt. It's hard to see what anyone else might see in him since at least two characters are totally in love with him. (Ok so it's more than just a basic love triangle but what did you expect. It's a book about teenagers. Didn't you go to high school?)
But what carries this book, and really the main reason to keep going to the second book in the series, is the arching mythology that the book has. You know that SNL sketch with the Bill Hader character Stefon describing clubs and saying they have everything? That's how I feel trying to describe this book. Because just about everything pops up in it. vampires, werewolves, angels, demons, half angels, warlocks, you name it it shows up. There's tons of history and backstory introduced even in just the first book, that it's easy to see how this could possibly be an eventual 18 book series.
So you've got a good guess with what you're going to get when you pick up this book, but if Jace would just tone it down a little bit, there's no reason not to have fun with the ridiculousness of it.
The story of The Mortal Instruments is that of Clary Fray, a normal sixteen year old girl (which we all know is a lie) who's life is flip turned upside down when she learns that she is in fact not a normal sixteen year old girl as previously thought (knew it) but instead was born in to a line of beings known as shadowhunters, a race of people where were descended from angels. The shadowhunters live a life protecting the world from the demons that plague the world.
You can guess a lot of what's going to happen in this book before you even get around to picking it up, based just on that very brief description. Clary is going to slowly become a shadowhunter as she learns about powers she never knew she had. If I were to also mention that she had a male best friend she had always viewed as a platonic friend and that there was a mysterious, attractive male shadowhunter, you could probably guess that a love triangle is going to show up somewhere in this book. And you would be right.
I can tell you right off the bad that this book does not transcend the tropes that have been firmly rooted in YA fantasy for the past decade or so. But that doesn't make it unenjoyable or not worth reading. There is still a lot of fun to be had here.
For starters the characters are for the most part great. Many books in this particular genre aimed at this particular age group have a female protagonist that is...lets say frustrating. But Clary is not in the least. She keeps a good head on her shoulders throughout the book and while she bemoans the things that happen to her, it doesn't dominate her personality. Simon, her platonic friend as mentioned earlier is the same way. And most of the Shadowhunters we meet are good characters as well. Some are a little flat, but nobody is aggravating, or frustrating, to the reader that is. These characters obviously conflict with one another throughout the novel but it doesn't slow the book down or bore the reader.
Jase is the sole problem when it comes to characters. Jase is the mysterious, brooding bad boy shadowhunter who is the third part of that love triangle with a major emphasis on the brooding. Maybe if I were the right age, I would sympathize a lot more with Jace's tortured soul but I don't. And thus he comes of as kind of a butt. It's hard to see what anyone else might see in him since at least two characters are totally in love with him. (Ok so it's more than just a basic love triangle but what did you expect. It's a book about teenagers. Didn't you go to high school?)
But what carries this book, and really the main reason to keep going to the second book in the series, is the arching mythology that the book has. You know that SNL sketch with the Bill Hader character Stefon describing clubs and saying they have everything? That's how I feel trying to describe this book. Because just about everything pops up in it. vampires, werewolves, angels, demons, half angels, warlocks, you name it it shows up. There's tons of history and backstory introduced even in just the first book, that it's easy to see how this could possibly be an eventual 18 book series.
So you've got a good guess with what you're going to get when you pick up this book, but if Jace would just tone it down a little bit, there's no reason not to have fun with the ridiculousness of it.
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