City of Bones (Clare novel)

City of Bones

First edition cover for the book "City of Bones."
Author	Cassandra Clare
Cover artist	Cliff Nielsen
Country	United States
Language	English
Series	The Mortal Instruments
Genre	Fantasy Adventure
Set in	New York, March 2007
Publisher	Margaret K. McElderry
Publication date	March 27, 2007 (U.S.) July 2, 2007 (UK)
Media type	Print (Hardback & Paperback)
Pages	585pp (hardback, first edition) 512 pp (paperback)
ISBN	978-1-4169-5507-8
Followed by	City of Ashes

City of Bones is the first urban fantasy book in the New York Times bestselling The Mortal Instruments series set in modern New York City written by Cassandra Clare. The novel has been released in several languages, including Dutch, Hungarian, Hebrew, Swedish, Norwegian, German, Italian, French, Portuguese, Spanish, Chinese, Japanese, and Turkish.

Plot

Fifteen-year-old protagonist Clary Fray goes to the Pandemonium Club with her best friend, Simon Lewis, where she sees a blue haired boy and a black haired girl sneak into a storeroom, pursued by two other boys; one armed with what appears to be a knife. She sends Simon for help and herself follows the group into the storeroom, where she witnesses the blue haired "boy" being killed; whereupon he vanishes from the room, with the explanation that demons "return to their home dimensions when they die." Simon enters the storeroom with the bouncer in tow and questions why she is there alone; and realizing no one else can see the others, she mumbles an apology.

When she returns home, her mother, Jocelyn, scolds her for staying out so late. The next day, Jocelyn announces that they are moving from New York City to the country for the summer where Jocelyn's best friend, Luke, has a house. Clary, upset by the unexpected move, confides in Simon that she knows almost nothing about her mother or her entire family. Simon mentions seeing thin, white scars on Jocelyn's back and shoulders, but Clary dismisses this. They go to a poetry reading where Clary sees Jace, one of the boys she saw, who privately tells Clary about demon-hunters, called Shadowhunters or Nephilim, and claims Clary is not a mundane (ordinary human). Clary answers a call from Jocelyn, who frantically warns her not to come home and to tell Luke that "he" has found her. The call ends abruptly. After failure to telephone back, Clary returns to her house and finds it in disarray, with her mother gone. She is attacked by another demon, which she kills with Jace's sensor; and Jace brings Clary to the "institute": the local headquarters of the Shadowhunters, where she is introduced to two other hunters, Isabelle and Alec, and the tutor, Hodge. Jace and Clary return to Clary's house and meet her neighbor, who has a teleportation portal. To find her mother, Clary, followed by Jace, rushes through the portal, and they land at Luke's bookstore and find Simon, in search of Clary. The three hide inside the store. Luke returns with two men, Pangborn and Blackwell, whom Valentine sent to interrogate Luke about the Mortal Cup: a talisman sought by both parties. Luke claims ignorance of where Jocelyn hid the Mortal Cup, and refuses to negotiate with them or interfere with Valentine's plans. Clary and Jace, accompanied by Simon, tell Hodge what they learned, and Hodge tells them about the Circle: a group of Shadowhunters that Valentine formed to eliminate all Downworlders (vampire, werewolves, faeries, warlocks, and others), which Jocelyn, Valentine's wife, was forced to join. Clary and Jace go to the Silent City to speak to the Silent Brothers, who tell them that a block in her mind prevents her from remembering the Shadow World; itself placed by Magnus Bane. Isabelle meanwhile has found an invitation in the demon's pocket (the one that Jace had killed at the Pandemonium Club), to a warlock's party hosted by Magnus Bane. At the party, Clary meets Magnus Bane, who says his spell is too complex to remove but will fade naturally if it is not re-enforced every two years, and was placed at the behest of Jocelyn. During the party, Simon ignores Isabelle's warning and drinks a blue liquid that transforms him into a rat. Vampires take him thinking Simon was one of their own; but Clary and Jace rescue him, and restore him to human form. That night, Jace takes Clary to the Institute's greenhouse on a midnight picnic to celebrate Clary's sixteenth birthday.

As her memories emerge, Clary deduces that the Mortal Cup is hidden in one of Madame Dorothea's tarot cards. Clary retrieves the Cup, but a demon possesses Madame Dorothea. Aided by Simon, they escape and return to the Institute where Hodge hands over the Cup and an unconscious Jace to Valentine. Hodge flees, pursued by Clary. Hodge attacks her in an alleyway, but she is unexpectedly saved by Luke, who is a werewolf. While Luke's werewolf pack attack Valentine's followers, Clary locates her mother, who is unconscious, and also finds Jace, who says Valentine identified Jace himself as his son; this dismays both Jace and Clary. Valentine entices Jace to return to Idris with him. Jace refuses, and Valentine escapes through a portal with the Cup, smashing the portal behind him.

Characters

• Clarissa "Clary" Fray/Morgenstern/Fairchild - The 15 later 16-year-old protagonist. Raised by her mother, Jocelyn Fray (nee Fairchild), a former Shadowhunter, and the werewolf Lucian 'Luke' Garroway/Graymark, a family friend who served as a fatherly figure to Clary. All traces of the magical world was hidden from Clary in an attempt to protect her and have her live a normal, non-Shadowhunter life. She is a little over 5 feet tall, thin, has bright red hair, green eyes, freckles, and described as looking nearly identical to her mother. She is an artist, like her mother, often drawing her emotions in pictures - her version of a diary. Throughout the remainder of the series, Clary embarks on a quest to help her mother while adjusting to a life as a Shadowhunter. She and Jace eventually develop a mutual attraction; although the revelation that they are siblings dashes their romantic hopes.
• Jonathan Christoper "Jace" Wayland/Lightwood/Morgenstern/Herondale - A Shadowhunter orphaned at a young age because of his father's murder. He has lived with the Lightwoods and Hodge Starkweather at the Institute in New York City since he became a Shadowhunter. He is said to be the best Shadowhunter of his age, his father having trained him before his death. Jace is described as having golden hair, eyes, and skin. He is attracted to Clary, but becomes horrified after discovering that they are siblings.
• Simon Lewis - Clary's human best friend and essentially only friend for about 10 years. He is secretly in love with Clary, though she does not appear to reciprocate those feelings and is oblivious to them until he directly tells her. He is jealous that Clary shows a larger amount of affection for Jace than himself. He becomes a vampire in the second book.
• Isabelle Sophia "Izzy" Lightwood - Beautiful and pale, Izzy is a Shadowhunter; the only daughter of Maryse and Robert Lightwood, and younger sister to Alec Lightwood. She is described as tall and incredibly beautiful, with black hair and eyes. She, like her brother (Alec Lightwood), at first dislikes Clary, but, by the end of the novel, becomes her friend.
• Alexander Gideon "Alec" Lightwood - Isabelle's brother. Though he has been a Shadowhunter for many years, he has yet to kill a demon, and is severely wounded in a fight with a Greater Demon. He has black hair and blue eyes. Alec is a closeted homosexual, with the exception of Clary and Isabelle, and claims to be in love with Jace. He is jealous of Clary over Jace's affection for her.
• Luke Garroway/Lucian Graymark - Once a Shadowhunter and a former member of the Circle, a group started by Valentine Morgenstern. He is Jocelyn's best friend and seems to be in love with her, though he has yet to declare it. Because of his close relationship with Jocelyn, Clary considers him a father figure. Luke became a werewolf when Valentine betrayed him. He has since become a pack leader twice (in Paris and in New York).
• Valentine Morgenstern - A powerful, evil Shadowhunter, he reappears after years in hiding, during which he was presumed dead. He attempts to steal the Mortal Cup from his former wife, Jocelyn. He tells Jace and Clary that they are both his and Jocelyn's children.
• Magnus Bane - The High Warlock of Brooklyn, who has a romantic interest in Alec Lightwood. When his name is found imprinted inside Clary's mind, Clary and her allies seek him out to uncover his connection to her past and her mother. He saved Alec from death when the latter was injured by a Greater Demon.
• Hodge Starkweather - Isabelle, Alec, and Jace's eccentric tutor. Whom at the end comes out to be a follower of Valentine.
• Jocelyn Fray/Fairchild/Morgenstern - Clary's mother and a former Shadowhunter seeking isolation from the magical world in means of protecting Clary from Valentine, her estranged husband. An artist, Jocelyn is described as elegant and beautiful, with long red hair darker than Clary's. She hid the Mortal Cup (one of the three Mortal Instruments) so that no one else could claim it or disclose its location, leaving subtle clues that only her daughter, Clary, would be able to decipher. When she found two-year-old Clary playing with faeries, Jocelyn sought Magnus Bane's help and every two years he cast a spell on Clary's mind that shielded her from seeing the Shadowhunter world. She was abducted by Valentine in hopes of discovering where she hid the Mortal Cup, Jocelyn is eventually found by Clary in a potion-induced coma, and is taken to the hospital.

Shadowhunter

A secret association that is responsible for tracking down, capturing and eliminating all Demons. This specific group is a combination of the Angel Raziel's blood and Human blood, also known as Nephilim, which allows them to wield angelic blades and draw runes onto their skin with love and honor ^[1]

Reception

Critical reception for City of Bones was mostly positive,^[2][3] with Publishers Weekly calling the book "a compelling story".^[4] Teen Ink gave a mixed review, stating that the book was "addicting" [sic] but that parts of the book were quite predictable.^[5] The School Library Journal also criticized the book's predictability, but wrote that "Despite the narrative flaws, this version of New York, full of Buffyesque teens who are trying to save the world, is entertaining and will have fantasy readers anxiously awaiting the next book in the series."^[6]

Film adaptation

The film adaptation was released August 21, 2013, directed by Harald Zwart and starring Lily Collins as Clary Fray. The film was shot in Toronto and New York.^[7]

Allusions to other works

In the novel, Cassandra Clare includes references to the works of Holly Black, who is a friend of Clare's.

• In the beginning of the book, Clary is drawing and listening to a band called Stepping Razor. Stepping Razor is the name of Ellen Fierch's band in Tithe: A Modern Faerie Tale.
• In the scene in Chapter 10 where Clary and Jace are riding in the carriage, Clary looks out the window and sees a few homeless teenagers. One of them is a girl with a shaved head, the other a boy with dreadlocks and facial piercings who appears to be blind in one eye. These teenagers are actually the characters Valerie and Luis from Black's book Valiant: A Modern Tale of Faerie.

She also includes references to the works of Philip Reeve, whose works Mortal Engines and Infernal Devices she drew inspiration from. Her inclusion of the antagonist Valentine, who is later revealed to be the father of Clary, is a nod to Philip Reeve's main antagonist in Mortal Engines of the same name, who is also discovered to be the father of one of the main characters.

References

External links

• The Official Mortal Instruments Website
• Cassandra Clare's Official Website