Reviews with content warning for Child death - City of Bones

I was afraid I wouldn't like the City of Bones as everyone's read it like 10 years ago in middle school, but I'm glad I gave it a try — and ended up liking it! It took me a while to get a proper grasp of the world, but once I was in, I could easily devour 100 pages in one sitting. The plot twist in the end was great and unpredictable, though I also hate it because...

I could guess pretty early on that Clary was Valentine's biological daughter, but there's no way Clary and Jace are actually siblings??!! For once when I was actually rooting for the protagonist's love story my hopes are crushed... hopefully not forever and it's just another sick game of Valentine's. Anything as long as Clary doesn't end up with Simon, I really don't like him and the idea of them as a couple even less (sorry Simon but you should stay in the friend zone or even be a rat idc).

can't wait to read the sequel!

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booking_along's review against another edition

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adventurous lighthearted mysterious medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.5

Let’s start with the two things i didn’t love since that’s faster:

i disliked the trope of two boys being interested in the same girl and behaving in ways that makes me want to smash their heads together to make them stop with their jealous postering.

and the second thing is the “forbidden” love trope that is mostly added as a shock valued. the shock could have been there without it the “love” part since being friends would have been an easier option especially with the amount of time those two characters knew each other at that point.
i just really dislike that particular trope since i have not read one book we’re it was used were it could have been done differently without issues and left the ick factor out of the entire thing.

moving in!

i liked the tiring even if the descriptions are sometimes very out there but not too extreme so that it doesn’t make sense anymore.

the world is well developed and explained for book one and gives a nice overview of what’s out there on that world and that was interesting.

the characters and the behaviors where sometimes a bit stupid but honestly they are 15-17 so i can let it slide by for the main characters even if i have to say that the adults - beside Magnus! that character deserves an entire 12 book series just for giving stories about that character and his shinanagangs please!- they behaved quite often more childish than the actual kids.

the entire book was a bit drawn out for the amount of plot it told overall but it wasn’t too bad and it kept me entertained and i wanted to keep reading so clearly nothing too bad.

so all in all?

it’s a good book.
i can actually see why so many people love it even if i strongly dislike the love-tropes used. the reader want too bad and it was overall very entertaining and a quick read!

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psliz's review

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adventurous medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.25

idk. lots of info-dumping. weird dialogue for a bunch of teens. the pacing was fast yet slow at the same time.

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slipp99's review

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adventurous funny fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.0

I’m a simp for Jamie Campbell Bower

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dosxhime's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? N/A
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.5

Given that the Mortal Instruments series is rife with lore, world building, and characters, it makes sense that Clare stretches this series out. It was kinda a drag to read this and it makes me feel like we go from one event to another without pause.

It feels like a lot of details are just dumped onto you, without letting all this new information soak in. I would be normally fine with this, since I'm mostly into the characters for a good ol YA novel.

However, I felt that they fell flat and I really couldn't care what happened to any of them. It just felt meh. I can see the potential in the MI world and I love how Clare builds them up. So points for potential.

3.5 / 5 C-

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qcupquake's review

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adventurous dark mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.5

4.75/5
- i LOVED this book
- jace>>>>>
- i went into this book knowing that

Jace and Clary were revealed to be siblings, but it was a lie. so i knew from the start that they were not siblings

- THE PLOT TWIST WHEN

HODGE GAVE THE CUP TO VALENTINE. MY JAW HURT FROM HOW WIDE IT OPENED

- BRO ALSO LUKE WAS

A WEREWOLF??? WHAT????

- imagining jcb as jace was just <3333 bc i love jcb and he's a perfect cast for jace
- loved this book and cannot wait to read the rest of the series

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