City of Bones by Cassandra Clark

I have run across City of Bones by Cassandra Clare many times online, and I was intrigued by the cover. I admit between the cover and the series title, Mortal Instruments, I thought it would be a steam punk novel. A friend of mine got a copy and passed it on to me. Once I held it in my hand and read the synopsis I discovered it is a fantasy set in our world. When I held the book in my hands, I became apprehensive because the blurb on the front cover was from Stephanie Meyers. Those of you that know me, know that I am not a fan of Twilight in any way. I feared that this book would be another poorly written paranormal romance novel. Luckily, I escaped that ill fortune.

The story centers around Clary Fray, a 15 year old girl living in Brooklyn. She lives with her mother who is an artist and has never known her father, who died in a car accident. Her main companion is Simon, her best friend.

Clary and Simon are at a local club, when Clary witnesses something unusual that only she can see. It comes to her attention while she is watching an unusually handsome boy move about the club led by a ethereally beautiful girl. She follows the two because she feels something is wrong, and sees the girl and several others kill the boy. When she calls for help, Simon and the security guard can't see the teenagers or the victim. Clary is astonished and pretends to have panicked. Before she departs the scene, the apparent leader tells her that the boy they killed was a demon.

When at a coffee shop with Simon the next day, she sees the group leader, she cautiously goes outside with him and learns his name is Jace. While talking to him, she receives a horrifying call from her mother telling her not to come home. Of course, being worried for her mother, she completely ignores this and rushes to check on her mom. She gets home and finds her mother missing, the house torn up, and a terrifying monster awaiting her.

The creature almost kills her and Jace takes her to his tutor so that she can be healed. Clary then learns that there is an entire world that is unseen by the majority of people, the fact that she can see this world means that she is not a regular person. Clary also begins to learn that there is much more to her mother than meets the eye.

There is of course the usual hints of attraction and possible love between her and the mysterious and handsome stranger that rescues her. Thankfully, Clare doesn't follow this trope, and we end up with a Star Wars moment.

The story is well paced and entertaining. Clare does a good job of blending the supernatural characters into the modern day world. It's perfect for a vacation read. I passed it on to some stewardesses at United Airlines. I look forward to the second volume.

Happy reading.