A review by yviie_reads
City of Bones by Cassandra Clare

4.0

*3.5 stars*

Yes, you see right. I finally gave in and read this book after debating whether I should do it or not for so long. I decided to give it a try - thanks to the Shadowhunters TV show, actually. I never read anything by Cassandra Clare, had no clue about the shadowhunter world but ever since I saw so many pictures/gifs and tweets about Malec on Twitter I couldn't ignore it any longer. I started the TV show and well ... things got out of hand pretty quickly.

Somehow I couldn't stop watching the show even though it wasn't that good. Seriously, it has major flaws - starting with the acting and going over to special effects - but after a few episodes I didn't care as much anymore. I can't give you a better explanation because I don't know it myself. It was strangely addictive and so I watched the whole season 1 within one and a half days. The main reason was probably Alec Lightwood and Magnus Bane. I'm full-on obsessed with these two and want to fangirl ALL DAY LONG. I felt all the feels and adore these two so, so much! The wedding scene? Yeah well, I can't even count how many times I've watched it by now. *sigh*

But back to the book! Despite my scepticism and hesitation for City of Bones, I really did enjoy reading it. I'm serious. It wasn't as bad as I thought it would be ... quite the opposite, if I'm being honest.

At first I had a hard time getting into it. There was a lot of information dumped on the reader within the first few chapters and I think if I hadn't know at least a little bit about it I would've been overwhelmed. I get why Clary was so confused most of the time - I felt the same way. Also, Cassandra Clare seems to take details very seriously. Don't get me wrong, I love books with loads of details but here it almost felt too much. I skimmed a few parts and just quickly read over them without fully understanding/taking them it. It wasn't that important to me.

I had a problem with the characters at first - mostly because I was used to them from the show and now that they were described differently (also, they were a loooot younger!) and even had other personalities, I was a little bit torn. However, I really liked Jace! He's a lot funnier and more sarcastic in the book so that's a good thing! Actually, Cassie's humor is great! I laughed out loud a few times and smiled to myself over stupid jokes because they were ridiculous but still kinda good. I would've loved to read more about Magnus, Alec and Izzy because those characters were brilliant. Hoping there'll be more about them in the next books.

The plot itself was nothing new to me - especially because I had spoilery chats with some friends - but I was still curious and interested to find out more about everything and everyone. Towards the end there were amazing plot twists that I wouldn't have guessed before watching the show. They totally took me by surprise!

Overall, I didn't expect to enjoy City of Bones as much as I did in the end and will definitely continue with the series. It's not the best novel but also not the worst I've read - would I recommend it to others though? I'm not sure. I guess if you haven't read it by now but you're curious just go for it and see how it works out.

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April 19th:
Really not as bad as I thought it would be ... it still has loads of weaknesses but I enjoyed it and had I not known about the plot twists already, they would've totally shocked and surprised me. They're good! I'm excited to continue with book 2 soon! :D