"City of Bones" (The Mortal Instruments, #1) by Cassandra Clare

“When Clary Fray witnesses three tattoo-covered teenagers murder another teen, she is unable to prove the crime because the victim disappears right in front of her eyes, and no one else can see the killers. She learns that the teens are Shadowhunters (humans who hunt and kill demons), and Clary, a mundie (i.e., mundane human), should not be able to see them either. Shortly after this discovery, her mother, Jocelyn, an erstwhile Shadowhunter, is kidnapped. Jocelyn is the only person who knows the whereabouts of The Mortal Cup, a dangerous magical item that turns humans into Shadowhunters. Clary must find the cup and keep it from a renegade sector of Shadowhunters bent on eliminating all nonhumans, including benevolent werewolves and friendly vampires.”-goodreads

Everyone seems to love The Mortal Instruments series; and everyone and their mother seems to have recommended them to me. (That might be a slight exaggeration. Might.) It’s a very popular series, and I think that’s partly the reason I waited so long to read it-- unfortunately, books don’t always live up to their hype. But, I read Clockwork Angel, the first book in the Infernal Devices; a prelude to TMI. That book was impressive! So eventually, I picked up City of Bones.

City of Bones is indeed a captivating story.  There are kick-butt characters with rather different personalities, and I enjoyed how there were many characters with good development, not just the main character or a few others. I really liked Simon and Clary (not as in a couple, as in, they’re my favorite characters.) It’s definitely a page-turner, I could hardly put it down and finished it in 2 days even though it’s almost 500 pages.

This is that part where I randomly interrupt my own thoughts and go, AWW Jace&Clary. They sounded like great characters/a great couple (are they? Aren’t they? Read the book.) Unfortunately, probably also due to the popularity of the series, I’ve been spoiled everything to do with them, as well as other elements of the series. But I still enjoyed it, although I would’ve liked to be more surprised. (SERIOUSLY, PEOPLE. Spoilers suck. Mark your flipping spoilers. Everyone slips up once in a while, but like, ALL the spoilers with no mark? No. ESPECIALLY FOR SEQUELS.)