The Mortal Instruments book 1 The City of Bones by Cassandra Clare

The City of Bones is the first book in The Mortal Instruments trilogy. This book is a little bit of a departure for me of late as it is not vampire related at all, vampires are only mentioned in passing in this novel. It is though a fantasy novel.

The imaginary world that has been created by Clare is so well woven with ours that you sometimes forget that you are in a make believe world at all. The characters are fun to read however there is very little character development at all in this the first novel, perhaps there will be more in the next two novels. The novel is quite funny in places and I often found myself laughing out loud or at the very least smiling, that being said the descriptive nature of the writing caused me to get bogged down and wishing that it moved a little quicker. Whoever edited this novel also needs a swift kick it was terrible in some place so that I found myself re reading parts to make sure I had it correct.

I have seen in other reviews that people are quite upset about what they see as the lack of originality in the novel or rather elements that were taken from other sources. While I picked up on some of what other reviews said most of it went over my head so I would not use that as a guide to whether or not you picked up this novel. There was one plot line that not only irked me but I also found it a little repulsive but I am sure I know what the end result of it will be so I quickly for over it. I thought the world Clare created was highly original if not all of the plot lines. The story kept me interested until the final page though I had no problem setting the book aside to do something else.

If you decide to pick this book up please remember that it is the first of three so there will be unanswered questions or plot developments that you may not like at least for the short term. That being said all of the books are now out so the waiting will not be that much of a drag for you.