City Of Bones by Cassandra Clare

1. City Of Bones by Cassandra Clare John Coronati

2. About The Author • She was born in 1973 in Tehran, Iran. • She has received multiple awards for the City Of Bones and has received a 2009 ALA Teens Top Ten Title award for the book City of Ashes. • She has written four novels and multiple short fiction stories. • She started writing in 2004, she was inspired by a novel she read.

3. Setting • The book is set in the present. • The story is set in multiple places around the Manhattan area.

4. Characters • Clarissa Fray: Clarissa is a 15 year old Shadowhunter, but has no idea until she is told. She was kept safe in the Brooklyn area, until her mother got taken away by an evil man. • Jace Wayland: Jace was raised a Shadowhunter by Valentine. He is Clarissa’s brother, but they do not figure that out until the end of the book. • Valentine Morgenstern: A very powerful and evil Shadowhunter, with a very dark past. He is the father of Clarissa and Jace. • Simon Lewis: One of Clarissa’s only friends.

5. Plot • Clarissa sees the Shadowhunters kill a demon, but nobody else can see the Shadowhunters. • Clarissa’s mother is taken away in her house, and when Clarissa goes back, she gets attacked by an evil creature. • Her and Jace go back to her apartment, end up at her Uncle Luke’s house, meet up with Simon, and listen in on a conversation. • Hodge (a man at the Institute) finds a memory block in Clarissa’s mind. When they try to remove it, they fail. • They learn that Valentine is after a very important artifact called the Mortal Cup. Clarissa learns that her mother had hid the Cup in a painting. They get the cup from the painting, and return it to Hodge. • Hodge hands the Cup over to Valentine. • Clarissa and a werewolf pack attack Valentine’s headquarters. A very dramatic event occurs when they meet him, and we learn that Clarissa and Jace are siblings, Valentine is their father, and that Valentine is going to take over the Dark World.

6. Conflict/Resolution • Clarissa vs. Shadowhunters – Clarissa is looked down upon in the Shadowhunter society because she was raised as a mundane (a regular human), not like a Shadowhunter. • Clarissa vs. Demons – Clarissa is for some reason very important. The demons and darkworlders want to kill her. She continuously battles these demons throughout the story. • Clarissa vs. Valentine – Valentine had abandoned and broke Clarissa’s mother’s heart. Clarissa also hates Valentine for being such an evil person. • These conflicts are on-going because this is the first book in the trilogy.

7. Theme • I believe that the theme of the story is that things aren’t always what they seem, and that you always have to put up a fight and put up with whatever life throws at you. • These are my views because Valentine, Clarissa, Jace, and Clarissa’s Mother are actually a family in the end. Clarissa is putting up a fight against this new world that she has been introduced to, and she has to face whatever evil or good gets in her way.

8. Personal Book Review • City Of Bones is a very enjoyable book. There is a lot of action in this book, and some of it can get intense. The novel is filled with excitement and energy. The book also includes suspense, which makes you want to keep reading the book no matter what. I would recommend this book to some of my friends, and mainly a mature audience.