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The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones; City of Ashes; City of Glass (Mortal Instruments, the)
The Mortal Instruments City of Bones City of Ashes City of Glass - Mortal Instruments, the
Author: Cassandra Clare
Get all three books in the Mortal Instruments trilogy together in one boxed set: City of Bones, City of Ashes, and City of Glass.
ISBN-13: 9781442409521
ISBN-10: 1442409525
Publication Date: 10/19/2010
Pages: 1,520
Reading Level: Young Adult
Rating:
  • Currently 4.3/5 Stars.
 32

4.3 stars, based on 32 ratings
Publisher: McElderry
Book Type: Paperback
Members Wishing: 15
Reviews: Member | Amazon | Write a Review

Top Member Book Reviews

bolgai avatar reviewed The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones; City of Ashes; City of Glass (Mortal Instruments, the) on + 109 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 1
There's plenty of controversy surrounding these books. They've been criticized for the apparent incestuousness of the relationship between the two main characters for about 2 books out of 3, for two secondary characters being gay and another a rather promiscuous lady. There's blood and gore and cold-hearted twistedness and frankly I don't think these are YA books. The characters are teenagers, but to me that's not enough to make a book suitable for teen reading. Then of course there was the scandal of Cassandra Clare allegedly plagiarizing everything fantasy from TV to books in her Harry Potter fanfiction. I haven't seen or read the allegedly plagiarized works or the said fanfic so am not qualified to have an opinion on this, I can say though that there are elements in MI that are common to other stories. The extremely powerful and charismatic villain with a group of supporters he gathered while they were all in school and the orphan courageous enough to stand up to him come to mind immediately and I think we all know what they're reminiscent of. Here's what makes that not matter to me: anything after the folk tales, myths and legends is a repeat, anything written now has been done before in one way or another and the important thing is not to create something absolutely original (that I think would be next to impossible) but to make something familiar your own and different. I think Cassandra Clare does that beautifully.
I really enjoyed these books, could hardly put them down really. Ms. Clare's writing is witty, the characters are realistic enough with all their flaws and fine qualities, there's plenty of action and lovelorn adolescent angst to satisfy both types of readers. Even mild character continuity problems, like the bookish Clary who regularly skipped PE in the first book all of a sudden becoming strong and agile in the second, didn't ruin the experience. I loved how developed the world is with plenty of fantastical creatures, their intricate dynamics and how the fantasy world coexists with the regular world with the 'mundie' humans suspecting not a thing. If you are the kind of reader who can manage to not let the things I talked about in the first paragraph make these books unpalatable I think you're in for a treat and you should put them on your To Read list. They've made it to my To Buy list.

Read my other reviews at bibliophilescorner.blogspot.com
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mrsraptor avatar reviewed The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones; City of Ashes; City of Glass (Mortal Instruments, the) on
This is an excellent set of books. Though they are advertised as books for teens, they are a "good read" for sci-fan readers of all ages.
reviewed The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones; City of Ashes; City of Glass (Mortal Instruments, the) on + 37 more book reviews
Mom Review: This is a GREAT teen trilogy. It was well written and engaging. Of all the other teen series I have read lately, I have the least reservations handing this one over to my tween/teen. It was a bit gory in the battle scenes but that is to be expected from a fantasy novel. The thing that really impressed me was the romantic elements didn't go further than kissing, in fact it didn't even discuss the desire to go further than that. All without detracting from the romantic relationships between the characters. Thank you Cassandra!

Book Wiki

People/Characters
Clary (Primary Character)
Jace (Primary Character)
Valentine (Primary Character)
Alec (Major Character)

Genres: