Book review - City of Bones by Cassandra Clare

Clary is just a normal girl hanging out with her best friend Simon when she witnesses a murder. Then the body disappears and it seems she is the only one who can see the strange three people who hunted him down. Soon after, her mother disappears and she runs into these strangers again. They are somehow all connected and Clary realises she is not as ordinary as she once believed. Determined to find her mother, she enlists the help of the three shadowhunter children and finds herself in more danger than she could have dreamed of.

Although parts of this book were completely formulaic (pretty girl oblivious of best friend being in love with her) the writing and characters made up for it. Not only were the characters likeable, but they were also complicated. I could easily believe that they had lives and motives outside of the plot, people not being either good or bad, but a bit of both. The shadow-hunter children sometimes talked like they'd swallowed dictionaries, although this is probably to show how unlike normal teenagers they are, it unfortunately made them seem not like teenagers at all, but this was my only problem with the characters.

With enough twists to keep the suspense and an interesting plot, City of Bones was gripping and entertaining. Cassandra Clare is especially good at weaving the romantic elements into the plot, with exactly the right amount, not too much to slow down the plot. The book kind of resolves at the end, but leaves a big question for the reader (anyone who has read the book will know what I'm talking about - noooooo, he can't be!!!). I’m definitely going to be reading more in this series.