Tuesday, April 23, 2013

Review: City of Bones by Cassandra Clare


City of Bones by Cassandra Clare
Series: The Mortal Instruments
Published: March 27, 2007
Publisher: Margaret K. McElderry Books
Pages: 442
When fifteen-year-old Clary Fray heads out to the Pandemonium Club in New York City, she hardly expects to witness a murder -- much less a murder committed by three teenagers covered with strange tattoos and brandishing bizarre weapons. Then the body disappears into thin air. It's hard to call the police when the murderers are invisible to everyone else and when there is nothing -- not even a smear of blood -- to show that a boy has died. Or was he a boy?This is Clary's first meeting with the Shadowhunters, warriors dedicated to ridding the earth of demons. It's also her first encounter with Jace, a Shadowhunter who looks a little like an angel and acts a lot like a jerk. Within twenty-four hours Clary is pulled into Jace's world with a vengeance, when her mother disappears and Clary herself is attacked by a demon. But why would demons be interested in ordinary mundanes like Clary and her mother? And how did Clary suddenly get the Sight? The Shadowhunters would like to know. . . . 
Exotic and gritty, exhilarating and utterly gripping, Cassandra Clare's ferociously entertaining fantasy takes readers on a wild ride that they will never want to end.
So, unless you want to be spoiled, I suggest not reading the highlighted parts above. This is why I try to avoid summaries as much as possible - because while establishing the premise of the world for this book, that summary also gives away the big twist of the first chapters. -_-

I thought about giving this 5 stars, simply because it doesn’t compare to my love for TID - but I’ve also accepted that my love for that series is somewhat uncanny. But I do love this series too, it’s just a different kind of love.
I also thought about giving a spoil-filled review. By this point, a lot of people have read this book. But then I thought of the few that haven’t, who might be prompted to research it (with a movie coming and all). So I’m going with my normal policy of no spoilers, instead talking about the conflicts the author addresses in her story.
So. I was prompted to reread this after reading Shadowhunters and Downworlders, which I read as a pick-me-up after finishing Clockwork Princess. It’s been rough. But it allowed me to keep an eye out for hints as to what Cassie was trying to achieve.
The first thing to note about the TMI books, uninitiated readers, is that the tone is humorous. Cassie will always have her razor-sharp wit at her disposal, but she picks and chooses when to use it. And here’s what I’ve learned (this being my 3rd time reading the series) - she never uses it for us. That is to say, the humor isn’t sporadically thrown in, Cassie’s not sitting at her computer writing and saying, “oh, it’s been too long since my last joke!” No, it’s because something’s happened, and a character lashes out with their dazzling wit. For some, it’s a coping mechanism, others a weapon, even more a defensive tool, sometimes all three at once! But it’s never a tool for the writer, it’s a tool of the character. Her writing is a reflection on the drawbacks and benefits of humor, especially relevant in todays society where we constantly show nothing but approval for it.
It’s especially prevalent in this series because of Jace. His wit is his weapon. He really uses it as a tool when he fights because he knows how people will react. This is a guy who thinks so little of himself that he is entitled - no, obliged to to use humor like a smart-ass. 
The meek may inherit the earth, but at the moment it belongs to the conceited.
The difference between Jace using his wit, and someone like Simon muttering, “it was a far, far better thing he did now than he’d ever done before” as he gets Clary’s coffee, is the intention. Above, Jace uses his wit in such a way to acknowledge how he thinks of himself - as conceited. Simon, on the other hand, is graciously (yes, graciously) putting up with Clary in one of her moods, and getting her coffee. 
It was such a relief to see these characters use humor, albeit different reasons, and realize it was a reflection on them, and not an authors attempt to sell (unless Cassie wanted to show the pro’s and con’s of humor in the teenager so that she could get people to like her book…in which case, she’s very nifty, and we should all worship her for her cunning skills).
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Humor is all handy-dandy, but the biggest exploration of this series (and arguable, all of Cassie’s series), is love. Cassie begins by playing with love’s expectations. I’ll give some non-spoilery examples. We expect our pet dragon to love us unconditionally because we saved it from the evil warlock as a babe, and fed, loved, cared for it for the rest of its days. So imagine our feelings when one day it reveals to us its not a fire-breathing dragon at all, and just an overgrown lizard. MY PET DRAGON WAS REPLACED WITH AN OVERGROWN LIZARD. One might feel spiteful. Betrayed. What’s happened with the love? Is love a choice? Is it a feeling? Is it more than a feeling? These are the things that Cassie will put you through - in this book. Trust me, the other books are a whole different question when it comes to love. 
The fun part though, is that the metaphor extends beyond the pet dragon-lizard. Drazard? Over and over again, Cassie pounds these little revelations into our characters. And make no mistake, it’s not simply our main heroine being dealt the blows, but everyone else, too, in some shape or form. That means setting, plot, family, friends, history, all rewritten (in the character’s mind) to some extent.
One of the many beauties of Cassie’s books, she’s able to make all the characters have a real presence, no matter how long or short their page time. And she does that by giving them real problems, along with the main characters. To this day, my best friend fell in love with a character that appears for 14 pages out of the entire series. She knows that this character was at the botom level of all character levels, but five books later, she still calls the guy her favorite character! Now, my best friend is a super special, awesome person, and she doesn’t just fall in love with any short-lived character! (Actually, it happens a lot). But the key, for her, is diversity. Which is actually kind of rare in YA. 
Cassie’s books sport all kind of ethnicities. This book introduces us to a character who has (insofar) remained a constant through all her books - THIS MEANS HE’S SUPER IMPORTANT. And he’s asian. It is very rare for YA books to feature people of different ethnicity in prominent roles, and it’s something Cassie intentionally did. A movie is actually being made (what?), and Cassie only made one iron clad stipulation - cast the asian character with an asian actor. And they did. We lucky folks now have this for our viewing pleasure.
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Between you and me, he’s not wearing pants in his first scene for the movie.
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But there are other kinds of diversity! Religious, for one. The Shadowhunters identify with no one religion - instead, they appeal to all who stand for good, and want to fight against evil. Most religions seem to find demons evil, and are okay with this. But individual characters have separate beliefs. For one, there is a main character (best friend to the heroine, in fact), who’s Jewish. I don’t believe it’s mentioned outright in the first book, but there are a ton of little clues (your welcome for putting it together for you). And I promise you, he is not Jewish just so he can “stand out.” Stick with the series, and you’ll see why.
And the last kind of diversity I will talk about (though there are more, maybe I’ll talk on them in other reviews) is sexuality. Having a gay character in YA is also not so common, even less common is when it’s again, a significant character! And guess what…there’s more than one significant gay character! Trust me when I say this is something near and dear to the books because Cassie does a brilliant job writing it. How brilliant, you may ask? Well, the answer will either scare you to run the opposite direction, so opposite that you just end up back where you started, or will really encourage you to read these books. Confession time: you won’t likely hear me say this again, or reference it directly in the future, but I’m Catholic. I love scripture, love Jesus, love Mass, love the Church, and all those crazy things that reasonable people aren’t supposed to love! While I love talking about reason and faith, and how not everything we see can be explained (though a lot of it can, thank god), that’s not the point. The point is, I’ve come to understand and support a lot of the Church’s teachings. And trust me guys, I’ve studied the doctrine on all this shiz like crazy, ALONG with modern science stuff. But nothing they’ve ever said has convinced me of where they stand with gay relationships. I honest to God support them with all my heart, and I’d be lying if I said that Cassie’s books didn’t influence that in some way (you may now run if you wish; but you should tots stick around for a little bit longer). 
I know, I write weird reviews. Some people just want to sit down and read a fun book, and trust me, you can still get that with this book! Some people even think that’s all there is to it. But if you’re like me, and like to torture yourself with questions, this book raises a lot of them - hope I was able to intrigue you enough to pick up the book :)
I’ll now end by showing you the totally awesome trailer for the movie. Let it succeed where I have failed~

Oh, and puuuuuurty pictures :)
Oh, and DON’T LET THAT STEPHANIE MEYER’S QUOTE TURN YOU AWAY

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