Synopsis: 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.
Review: I held off on reading this series for a long time. I actually started it some time ago then stopped and then decided to resume it closer to the movie’s release. Ultimately I ended up watching the movie before finishing the book. There were times that the book read like fanfiction to me (and then I learned that’s because it actually was), but I’ve certainly read worse. While I thought the movie was pretty rushed, the book had the opposite effect for me and felt overly long, but that could be because I didn’t find the melodrama particularly interesting between the main three, especially Simon’s assured-to-be-unrequited feelings for Clary.
Jace. Jace. Jace. Well at least he has a personality? He comes off as pretty juvenile for me at times and I didn’t always find it funny, so for me he wasn’t as swoon-worthy as I’m sure he is for millions of others. The chemistry with Clary is pretty good until the twist that made my eyes roll. After that I was pretty sure I wouldn’t be interested in seeing it play out for multiple books throughout the series.
I enjoyed the magic, mythology and lore here, but it honestly wasn’t something that I can’t get anywhere else and better, so while I don’t think I’ll completely drop the series, I’m also in no rush to continue it anytime soon. I’m much more likely to read the The Infernal Devices Trilogy instead because there are only 3 of those and they’re complete.
Oh, thanks for this. I’ve been back and forth about reading this series, but between the melodrama and juvenile…I’ll pass.
No problemo!
thanks foe that i was going to get the audio book but now i won’t
You could always watch the movie and get the cliffnotes there, lol.