"There were extenuating circumstances in their case--they were married, they had a child. Although it is not as if they reside in this outpost, far from home, by their own choice. We were banished here, the three of us--the four of us, I should say; Alec was just a squalling baby when we left the Glass City. They can return to Idris on official business only, and then only for short times. I can never return. I will never see the Glass City again."This is a quote from City Of Bones, book one of The Mortal Instruments series, by Cassandra Clare. This book captured me with its strong characters and continually twisting plot.
A theme of this book is to not believe everything you hear. Clary Fray spent all her life thinking that she was an average, normal teenage girl, but she was wrong. She finds out that she really is a Shadowhunter, which is a warrior that hunts demons. Her mother, who is also a Shadowhunter, lied to her all of her life so that she would never find out that they were Shadowhunters. Clary finds this out after meeting Jace, Alec, and Isabelle Lightwood at the Pandemonium Club, and it rocks her world. This book is full of lies and deceit. Clary's mother also lied to her about her father and her brother being dead. Another way that this book is full of deceit is that Alec is gay and in love with Jace, but he doesn't tell anyone, although Clary discovers the truth by the way he looked at Jace.
I really like Cassandra Clare's use of imagery and detail. It makes me want to continue reading the book and never put it down. An example of when she has used imagery when describing a character is "The girl was gorgeous, the kind of girl Clary would have liked to draw--tall and ribbon-slim, with a long spill of black hair." The girl being described is Isabelle another Shadowhunter. Another example of her use of imagery when describing characters is "The man blocking the doorway was as tall and thin as a rail, his hair a crown of dense black spikes. Clary guessed from the curve of his sleepy eyes and the gold tone of his evenly tanned skin that he was part Asian. He wore jeans and a black shirt covered with dozens of metal buckles. His eyes were crusted with a raccoon mask of charcoal glittter, his lips painted a dark shade of blue." This is a description of Magnus Bane, the eccentric, gay, High Warlock of Brooklyn. He does not do favors for people without charging them, and he can be a jerk. Another example of when Cassandra Clare used imagery and detail when describing the setting is "Colored lights played over the dance floor, turning it into a multicolored fairyland of blues and acid greens, hot pinks and golds."
The scene is New York, where Clary, her mother, and Luke, her mother's boyfriend, live. It is also where the Lightwoods live. The scene is important because if Clary, her mother, and Luke lived somewhere else, then Clary may never have realized that she was a Shadowhunter. Everything would be different. The book says "'No. I mean, if there were other people around, but you were the only one who could see something. As if it were invisible to everyone but you.'" If Clary and her family lived somewhere else, she may have never seen Jace, Isabelle, or Alec. Clary's mother would continue to lie to her, and Clary would be in danger her whole life, because she would not know how to protect herself from demons. On page twelve of the book, Jace says "A mundie girl. And she can see us." What he means by this is that Clary is a mundane, a human, yet she can see the Lightwoods. This is strange because they were using glamour, which makes them invisible to human eyes. If Clary had not gone to the Pandemonium Club in New York, she never would have seen them, and never would have realized that she had the Sight, which is something that only Shadowhunters have. The book says "'No!' Terror scraped Jocelyn's voice raw. 'Don't come home! Do you understand me, Clary? Don't you dare come home. Go to Simon's. Go straight to Simon's house and stay there until I can--' A noise in the background interrupted her: the sound of something falling, shattering, something heavy striking the floor--" in chapter three. If they had not been in New York, perhaps Jocelyn, Clary's mother, would not have been attacked. But she was, and this also led to Clary finding out that she and her mother are Shadowhunters, and that Luke used to be.
My best friend recommended City Of Bones to me, and I recommend the book for anyone who is interested in fantasy, romance, and suspense. The book is fantastic and leaves you wanting more and more.
