City of Bones

Written by Cassandra Clare

Narrated by Mae Whitman

Discover the world of the Shadowhunters in the first installment of the internationally bestselling Mortal Instruments series and “prepare to be hooked” (Entertainment Weekly). City of Bones is a Shadowhunters novel.

When 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 people covered with strange tattoos and brandishing bizarre weapons. And she’s more than a little startled when the body disappears into thin air. Soon Clary is introduced to the world of the Shadowhunters, a secret cadre of warriors dedicated to driving demons out of our world and back to their own. And Clary is introduced with a vengeance, when her mother disappears and Clary herself is almost killed by a grotesque monster. How could a mere human survive such an attack and kill a demon? The Shadowhunters would like to know…

• Language: English
• Publisher: Simon & Schuster Audio
• Release date: Apr 15, 2014
• ISBN: 9781442375789

Cassandra Clare

Cassandra Clare is the author of the #1 New York Times, USA TODAY, Wall Street Journal, and Publishers Weekly bestselling Shadowhunter Chronicles. She is also the coauthor of the bestselling fantasy series Magisterium with Holly Black. The Shadowhunter Chronicles have been adapted as both a major motion picture and a television series. Her books have more than fifty million copies in print worldwide and have been translated into more than thirty-five languages. Cassandra lives in western Massachusetts with her husband and three fearsome cats. Visit her at CassandraClare.com. Learn more about the world of the Shadowhunters at Shadowhunters.com.

Reviews for City of Bones

[Bridget Martin · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

All of these books r so good... Make sure u read them in Cassandra's recommended order it's better that way...

[Asia · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Perfect just perfect!!!Everything about it the characters the plot the mystery!!!Amazing!!!Cant wait time read the rest of the series!!!

[Kenzie · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I enjoyed this fast-paced YA Fantasy novel, the first in, what I am hoping, is a great series!

[Melissa Swafford · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Captivating! I made up excuses to get away and listen to more.

[angelica chirinos · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

ameee escuchar el libro que e leido varias veces! definitivamente super recomendado si eres fan de la saga

[Guerra Medellin · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I liked the Book. It is really a good book.

[Tula-Lina Åkesdotter · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I am obsessed with this series, but I always end up reading the first one before listening to the rest. I can't stand Mae Whitman's reading, and I just keep searching the web in the hopes that someone might have done a second recording lol. But yes, the books are amazing. I've binged all the books 31 times since I first read them 2 years ago.

[felicia · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Loved it couldn’t put it down , it was great

[Steven Christensen · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Thank you for the story. And the voice actress reminds me of April O'Neal from the CGI TMNT series. Awesome!

[Teagan Insinger · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I loved listening to this. It was perfect to not have to reread the book again but listen to it and it sounds amazing!

[Alan McElvy · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

If you like fantasy worlds this is a must read, does a great job introducing characters and making you feel like the world created could actually be real

[Sydney Burks · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I love this book but the audio keeps jumping around. In the first chapter it just completely jumped to the next one and the girl reading it does awful male voices. I can’t even finish it

[Kevin Wilcox · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

The story itself was lifeless and the characters were underdeveloped.

[Nicolle Lima · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

A good and fluid teenager story. Liked it a lot :)

[Chantell Selph · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

It was a enjoyable book. The narrator was pleasant to listen to and sounded the part.

[Halsey · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Mae Whitman did a fantastic job of capturing the different characters!

[Mari · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

It was very entertaining, I loved the narration and the story in general

[Autumn · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Wonderfully written, lots of engagement and great character development. Highly recommend.

[virago77 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

3.5 Stars

Possible Spoilers...

They really need to add the spoiler button to the mobile app *sigh* Anywho, this was pretty good. It was somewhat predictable. I'm sure everyone knew Simon would end up a vampire, but I didn't see the daywalker thing coming at all!

The Clary/Jace show got a bit tedious, but I guess the drama needs to keep unfolding around them to make everything else happening around them more difficult.

And poor Alec. I wanna shake him and hug him. Growing up as he did, being gay must be terrifying for him. But you have this amazing, powerful, attractive Warlock that wants you and you basically spurn him in public. He'd better figure his shit out or Magnus might leave him in the dust.

Luke and Jocelyn...honestly I think she's developed more-than-friendship love for him, if only he would get off his ass and just tell her how he feels! I believe she would reciprocate

And now the mystery woman who can wake her mother approaches Clary...seems mighty convenient that she's just now coming forward with this info. We'll see how it plays out in the next book.

It's not jump up and down great, but I like it enough to keep going with the series.

[Jon Schnaubelt · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Teen angst and cringe-worthy degrees of youthful romance detract from what is otherwise a good plot and blatant rip-off of several classic plot devices. Regardless, the book is enjoyable, and the universe painted is entertaining. Worth the read, but keep your expectations in check.

[Anita S · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I enjoyed this book. There were times I got annoyed with the main character but that’s okay. If a book doesn’t cause a response, perhaps it’s not worth reading. I definitely recommend it to anyone who enjoys paranormal books.

[Bointon · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Good, kinda typical, frustrating near the end. I recommend to people who like the whole fantasy genre though

[Maria Agustina Josa · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Amazing series .Worth it everytime. Amazing audiobook. Read it <3

[qquiet_1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Still loved Jace and Clary's scenes, despite - or because of? - the incest. I don't know, but ever since Game of Thrones, I don't dislike incest (the brother/sister kind) anymore. Go figure.

BUT, I know Jace and Clary aren't really siblings (thanks, Tumblr, for spoiling me). It's just so funny watching them think that they are.

Simon turning into a vampire though. Eh. Shouldn't they have just held a funeral for him, ala Cirque du Freak style, so they wouldn't have to explain Simon not being able to go out in the sun? But, no, they had to have him drink Jace's mutated blood and become invincible, aka, enable him to walk in the sun without dying a second time. I would have preferred Simon remaining a human, but that's just me.

I gave this 3-stars because I wasn't able to really enjoy the book. I read some people's reviews who hated it, and I can see their point. Mostly, I became aware of how unlikable Clary can be. I don't remember what Clary did to make Jace fall in love with her, even though I ship them. All Clary seems to be doing is scream, and be in the middle of the action without actually doing anything. I hope they remedy that in the City of Glass, which I'll be reading next. If Sebastian falls in love with her too I'm going to be seriously pissed. It kinda reminds me of Miaka from Fushigi Yuugi where everyone just luuurrrvesss her. Give me a Katniss Everdeen anytime. Sure everybody loves Katniss, but I like Katniss. heh. heh. heh.

[Mibin Mammen · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

It was better this time around as I listened to the audiobook. It felt much more engaging and bearable . When I read it the first time , it was excruciatingly boring . But I wanted to finish up TMI so that I can get to the other series which everyone vouches to be way better and entertaining than this one . Also , the release of Chain of Gold really hyped me up

[katieloucks · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Loved it! absolutely great!

[sbshepherd · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Book 2 was moderately better than the first book. The storyline, characters, and plot were decently developed. Battles raged, friendship trueness was revealed.

[nicolesch-1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This book had plenty of suspense. I couldn't wait to find out what happened next. I was uncomfortable with Clary as she and Jace tried to fix their weird relationship. I really liked Clary and Simon, and was saddened by the fact that Clary was using him to distract herself from Jace. Jace is annoying. He's arrogant, selfish and obnoxious, but he does care deeply for people, and will do what he can to save them. I really, really liked the father, daughter dynamic between Clary and Luke, and it was nice to meet the Lightwood parents as well. Even as we saw Maryse pushing Jace away, I still liked that she was trying to protect him, that she still felt like he was her son. I was sad that Simon was turned into a vampire, but it does put him more in the middle of the Shadowhunter world, which I think he may have unconsciously wanted. I liked that he has a potential love-interest in Maia, and that that might help to create tolerance within the two groups.Magnus is kind of fun. He wears weird clothes and has a great sense of humor.I really like Isabelle, though she is sometimes annoying, and from the little we saw of Max I thought he seemed like he had potential to become an fun and interesting character. I don't like Alec as well for some reason.I'm not sure how I feel about Clary and Jace having superpowers. I guess it would have been difficult for Clary to be accepted into the Shadowhunter realm without her having a something special about her to make people want to teach her, but Jace is already annoyingly arrogant and didn't need superpowers to make him more so. And because he had basically saved everyone's butts I don't think they needed him to have superpowers for them to finally stop blaming him for what his father did.Overall a this was a good follow-up to the first book

[perpetualrevision · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I enjoyed the first book of this series, but I had a hard time paying attention to the second book. To be honest, I'm not really sure what it was about, other than some fights with demons and a stereotypically evil father figure. I might've been better able to pay attention if I had read it, rather than listened to it, but almost all of my "reading" these days is done by audiobook, so a story has to be one that holds my attention through that medium.

The voice actor was just fine, so that wasn't it, although she may have made Valentine sound a bit too stereotypically evil.

I don't think I'll read the next book in the series, as there are other similar series that better hold my attention. I'm now listening to the fourth book in the Jeaniene Frost's Night Huntress series, which I find much easier to pay attention to, perhaps in part because it's a first-person narrative.

[jessicalouise23 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This is the second book in The Mortal Instruments series. Although this review will contain NO spoilers from City of Ashes by talking about the plot there may be unintentional spoilers from the first book in the series.I really enjoyed the first book in The Mortal Instruments series and so was very excited to get round to City of Ashes. This is a series that pretty much everybody has read so it feels good to finally jump on the wagon and see what all the fuss is about! City of Ashes picks up where City of Bones left off with Jace and Clary?s new found love for each other shattered on the discovery that they are long lost brother and sister. Both of them are trying to adjust to the news and bury the spark between them, Clary by trying to start a relationship with best friend Simon and Jace by doing what Jace does best- throwing himself into dangerous situations. But Clary and Jace aren?t the only two trying to deal with this new information. The Lightwoods- Jace?s adoptive family- are hurt that Jace is not who he appeared to be and fear that Jace knew all along that he was Valentines son and was acting as Valentines spy. The Clave are also onto Jace and appear to be taking out their hatred for his father on him. With Jace?s life on the line it?s up to Clary and co to prove that Jace?s heart lies with the Clave once and for all?What I love about this series is that there?s never a dull moment. In each book you delve deeper and deeper into the world Cassandra Clare has created learning more with each chapter about Shadowhunters and the things that go bump in the night. Like with City of Bones for the last 200 pages I found it impossible to put this book down. There?s always so much going on that you just have to know what happens next. I love it when authors develop a world so much that you want to discover everything about it and Cassandra Clare has done that with this series.The only thing that lets this series down for me is Jace. For so long I?ve heard about this amazing guy and he just doesn?t live up to what I expected. I actually don?t like him all that much and think that he behaves like a spoilt child sometimes when he doesn?t get his way. I know a lot of girls are attracted to his cockiness but he?s just a bit too arrogant for my liking. That being said I love, love, love the rest of the characters and have a particular soft spot for Simon. The witty, funny dialog really brings the characters to life and makes this series a joy to read.So many exciting things happen during the few days that take place in City of Ashes, and although I didn?t love this book quiet as much as the first one I did enjoy it all the same and would recommend it if you enjoyed the first book. I was a little lost at the beginning of the story because so much happened in City of Bones that I couldn?t remember all of it having read it a couple of months ago but I soon got back into the swing of things and when I did I loved it. I?ve heard that City of Glass is the best of the lot so I?m very excited to pick that up soon to find out what happens next.My Rating 4/5 stars