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2007 fantasy novel by Cassandra Clare From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
City of Bones is the first urban fantasy book in author Cassandra Clare's New York Times bestselling series The Mortal Instruments. The novel, first published in 2007, is set in modern-day New York City and has been released in several languages, including Bulgarian, Hebrew, Polish and Japanese. It is the first book in the first trilogy of The Mortal Instruments which includes the books City of Ashes and City of Glass.
 | This article's plot summary may be too long or excessively detailed. (August 2022) |
First edition cover for the book "City of Bones." | |
| Author | Cassandra Clare |
|---|---|
| Cover artist | Cliff Nielsen |
| Language | English |
| Series | The Mortal Instruments |
| Genre | Fantasy adventure Urban fantasy |
| Set in | New York, August 2007 |
| Publisher | Margaret K. McElderry |
Publication date | March 27, 2007 (U.S.) July 2, 2007 (UK) |
| Publication place | United States |
| Media type | Print (hardback & paperback) |
| Pages | 485pp (hardback, first edition) 512 pp (paperback) |
| ISBN | 978-1-4169-5507-8 |
| Followed by | City of Ashes |
Clary goes to the Pandemonium club with her best friend, Simon Lewis, and sees a blue-haired boy sneak into a storeroom with a girl, pursued by two other boys, one armed with what appears to be a knife. Clary sends Simon for help and follows the group. At the storeroom, she witnesses the boy being killed, before vanishing. Simon later appears with a bouncer and asks why Clary is there alone; she realizes no one else can see the others.
The next day, her mother Jocelyn announces they are moving from New York to the country for the summer, where her friend, Luke, has a house. Clary, who knows almost nothing about her mother or her family, is upset by the decision. Simon mentions seeing thin, white scars on Jocelyn's back and shoulders, but Clary dismisses this. The two friends go to a poetry reading where Clary sees Jace, one of the boys from the previous night, who privately tells her about demon-hunters, called Shadowhunters or Nephilim. Jace claims Clary is not a "mundane", a term for ordinary humans, as she has the Sight, allowing her to see beings from the Shadow World. Clary answers a call from Jocelyn, who frantically warns her not to come home and to tell Luke that "he" has found her. It ends abruptly.
Clary returns to her house, which is in disarray, and finds her mother gone. She is attacked by a demon, which she kills with Jace's Sensor. Jace brings Clary to the "Institute": the local headquarters of the Shadowhunters, where she is introduced to Isabelle, Alec, and their tutor, Hodge. Jace proves that Clary has Nephilim blood by touching her with a stele, which leaves her unharmed. All Nephilim are unharmed by steles, weapons used to mark Shadowhunters with angelic runes that give them their powers.
Returning to the house, Jace and Clary meet neighbour Madame Dorothea, who has a teleportation portal. To find her mother, Clary, followed by Jace, rushes through the portal. They land at Luke's bookstore and find Simon, in search of Clary. The three hide. Luke returns with two men, Pangborn and Blackwell, whom Valentine Morgenstern sent to interrogate Luke about the Mortal Cup: a talisman sought by both parties. Luke claims ignorance of where Jocelyn hid the Cup and refuses to negotiate with them or interfere with Valentine's plans.
Clary, Jace and Simon then talk to Hodge, who tells them about the Circle: a group of Shadowhunters that Valentine formed to eliminate all Downworlders, which Jocelyn, Valentine's wife, joined when she was younger. Clary is actually Valentine's daughter. Alongside Jocelyn, Alec and Isabelle's parents also used to be Circle Members; Luke was also a member and was a Shadowhunter and the parabatai - one half of a sacred bond between Shadowhunters - of Valentine.
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; placed by warlock Magnus Bane.
At a party hosted by Magnus, Clary meets him. He says his spell is too complex to remove but will fade naturally and was placed at the behest of Jocelyn for Clary's protection. During the party, Simon ignores Isabelle's warning and drinks a blue liquid that transforms him into a rat. Vampires take him away 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, where he kisses her. When Simon walks in on them, she pulls away. Hurt, Jace acts coldly towards her.
As her memories emerge, Clary deduces that the Cup is hidden magically in one of Madame Dorothea's tarot cards. Clary retrieves the Cup, but the demon Abaddon, who has possessed Madame Dorothea and is disguised as her, attempts to take it. Aided by Simon, she escapes and returns 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 saved by Luke, who is a werewolf. While Luke's werewolf pack attacks Valentine's followers at Renwick's, Clary locates her unconscious mother and finds Jace. Valentine identifies him as his son; dismaying both Jace and Clary, who were attempting to enter into a romantic relationship. Valentine entices Jace to return to Idris - their home country - with him. Jace refuses, and Valentine escapes through a portal with the Cup, smashing it behind him.
Jace and Clary are honored for their adventure and Alec recovers with the help of Magnus Bane.
Critical reception for City of Bones was mostly positive,[1][2] with Publishers Weekly calling the book "a compelling story".[3] Teen Ink gave a mixed review, stating that the book was "addicting" [sic] but that parts of the book were quite predictable.[4] 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."[5]
The film adaptation was released on August 21, 2013, directed by Harald Zwart and starring Lily Collins as Clary Fray and Jamie Campbell Bower as Jace Wayland. The film was shot in Toronto and New York.[9]
In the novel, Cassandra Clare includes references to the works of Holly Black, who is a friend of Clare's.
She also includes references to the works of Philip Reeve, whose Mortal Engines Quartet 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 antagonist Thaddeus Valentine in Mortal Engines (2003, first in the Quartet), who is also discovered to be the father of one of the main characters.[10]
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