Book Review | City of Bones (The Mortal Instruments #1) by Cassandra Clare

What to say about this book... I'm so mixed on whether I enjoyed it or not that I don't even know where to begin. On one hand, I really couldn't put this book down. I was interested about the world and what was going to happen next, even though the plot and the twist were entirely too predictable. I finished this 500 page book in one day, then put it down and thought... "why"...

First thing's first, this is not one fantastic piece of literature that's going to last for generations to come. It's poorly written with similies and clichés aplenty, and with such lines as "it tasted green", I have to wonder why it's as popular as it is. Seriously, what sort of person without a sensory condition can taste the colour green?! Very poorly written. Commas were in places they shouldn't be, and missing from places they should be. You can clearly tell this is a rehashing of a badly written fan fiction from back in the day, unfortunately. The writing style is what I'd consider juvenile and childish, lacking substance and depth. Clare is also a "tell and not show" author. Instead of showing us the character's personalities, she decides to tell us through character dialogue what they're like which baffles me. I'd much rather learn what the character is about through their actions than be told the ins and outs of their personality. This is very much the same throughout all aspects of the novel.

There is not one single original character in this entire novel. Every single one has been taken from an already published book, for example Jace is clearly just a rehashing of Draco Malfoy. Clary is very Bella Swan like, in her "plain jane" attitude where she thinks she's boring and ugly. Hodge is clearly a Dumbledore or Gandalf figure who is wise and helpful etc. It's honestly all been done before. The plot is also like this. There are scenes from Star Wars, Harry Potter, and a load of teenage romance movies as well. I'm not going to go into what they are because honestly I am not one for spoilers, but there was not a single original thing in this entire book.

And yet... I had to keep turning the page. I couldn't put it down and I have absolutely no idea why. Despite the plot being predictable, I had to know what happened next. And I've already downloaded the next book in the series because I want to get to the end of it. I honestly do not understand why I feel this way. Absolutely nothing about the novel is engaging and I don't care about any of the characters or what happens to them... so why have I downloaded the next one? The world they live in sounds alright, but nothing special. And yet I long to be transported there. I don't know. I really don't. So that's why, despite being absolute drivel, I gave it three stars.

Overall, despite being very poorly written and predictable (and pretty much just a mish mash of already published stories), I can't wait to read the next one. I'm going mad, I swear.

3/5 stars.