Reviews with content warning for Incest - City of Bones

The world building is great in this book. The concept of angels, demons, humans, and "half-breeds" is super cool, and makes a lot of sense in the way it's presented. It's very dialogue heavy, which I enjoy, but the storytelling still feels pretty natural and not too exposition-heavy as we find out more about the world of the Shadowhunters. In the beginning of the book, the dialogue is more of realistic/childish conversations, but the dialogue gets better as more characters are introduced.

Clary, the main character, is a Mary Sue that doesn't seem to have any exceptional skills so far, but the rest of the characters are interesting. They all have really good dialogue, but all the kids come off pretty similarly; sarcastic, kind of mean but secretly caring. The adults act a bit more diverse, which makes sense.

The ending is...complex (see content warning if you want to know more), and the main reason I took away a star. A different ending would have put this book around a 4.5-4.75 for me.

Simon was pretty one-toned, and kind of a pick-me if I'm being honest. I know he's only 15-16, but he could've told Clary how he felt without pinning the whole "I've been in love with you for 10 years" thing on her. That was basically his arc; going from her best friend, to a friend who's had a crush on her and was bitter she was about to choose Jace over him...until she finds out Jace is her brother. Now he's in a weird spot where he would be the second choice if she did pick him, in my eyes.

Izzy's character growth is good; she goes from being a bratty, stuck up, and gate-keeping her friend group to being vulnerable and admitting she's learning how to have female friends since she's never had one. It was interesting that this only happened after the Jace/Clary sibling twist (aka no more competition for Jace), but I will let that slide.

Alec's character growth was even better than Izzy's. I love how he started out as the brooding older brother, and how he truly seemed to hate Clary for picking up on him having a crush on Jace and threatened to kill her. The growth from that, to Clary lying to him and telling him he killed the Great Demon and saved Jace, was very well done. Clary's relationship with him was the best, after Jace of course.

Finally, Jace. He was my favorite. His dialogue was my favorite, and I loved his character. He was an atheist demon hunter, which was such a cool dichotomy. BUT, I had to take a star away for the not-dead sibling love interest twist. Jace being short for Jonathan Christopher, the dead brother who Clary thought was her father, just found out about, is too much coupled with a bad fake-out death, which I loathe. What made it worse was the fact that Jace is basically the love interest (especially after the green house thing where Clary completely forgot about Simon). I kept thinking there had to be a point where Valentine said "no you actually aren't my son/daughter so you aren't related", but that point didn't come in this book. If it was just suggested and they hadn't made out, I would have been less grossed out by it. But since she was leading him back to her room...yikes. Even though I love this world and the premise, I had to look up if they are actually siblings or not for myself, because I'm not super interested in reading about a love triangle where one of the points is/was the FMC's full brother.

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widow's review

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adventurous emotional fast-paced

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

4.25

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toastyghosty13'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
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.5

i read this book back in middle school originally and remembered enjoying it. i recently watched brittany broskis show “the broski report” on youtube which was talking about enemies to lovers books and she mentioned being obsessed with this series when she was younger. this made me decide to reread it, since i never finished the series the first time around.

i enjoyed this book as much as i remember enjoying it the first time. it’s a very interesting world with characters that you care about and want to learn more of. the magic system is cool, plus there is the potential for world building outside of new york city which is where this book takes place. i vaguely recall one of the books taking place in the country Idris that is mentioned, which will be fun to read about again.

everyone who has read this book has probably had the same complaint about

clary and jace being siblings. i am pretty sure this is why i stopped midway through the series initially way back, besides the fact that it hadn’t been completed by that point.

. it’s weird and i feel like it was totally unnecessary for this to be a part of the plot. obviously,

i know it isn’t true now so the ick factor on it isn’t as bad and i will continue the rest of the books. i just hope there isn’t anything else like that in the future of this mega series.

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bookthief's review against another edition

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adventurous mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.0

I had read the infernal devices first which I know is not recommended to read before the mortal instruments, but it helped with my understanding of the world. I was able to get into the story quicker since I knew of the shadowhunter verse and understand the different species and laws. At the beginning of the book the plot felt a bit rocky and it was putting the main plot on the side for half of the book. But the plot was very interesting since Clary had her sight taken away by her Magnus due to her mum. Valentine was a good villian as he was name dropped throughout and no one really knew who he was an art from Luke and Jocelyn, making the ending intense when he appeared for the first time.

Clary was a curious and strong female main character, always wanting to follow the adventure to save those she loves even though she can get hurt. I was surprised when she discovered the mortal cup in the painting and she was the only one who could reach it. I would want her and Jace to be together if they weren’t siblings ( I already knew this plot twist and I already know they aren’t actually ).

Jace was a mysterious character, since he kept lots of things secret and his family is also very secretive. He was very brave risking his own life to save Simon when he was a rat and he always tried to rescue Clary no matter the risks.

I wasn’t to give a special mention to Luke. Even though he wasn’t a main character he was still incredible. I thought he was going to die at the end and I’m so grateful he didn’t because he is such a great character.

Overall I loved this book and I can’t wait to read the rest!

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elainarambow's review against another edition

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medium-paced

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

2.5

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