Rating: [rate 4.0]

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 in strange tattoos and brandishing bizaare weapons. Clary knows she should call the police, but it’s hard to explain a murder when the body disappears into thin air and the murderers are invisible to everyone but Clary.

Equally startled by her ability to see them, the murderers explain themselves as Shadowhunters: a secret tribe of warriors dedicated to ridding the earth of demons. Within twenty-four hours, Clary’s mother disappears and Clary herself is almost killed by a grotesque demon.

But why would demons be interested in ordinary mundanes like Clary and her mother? And how did Clary suddenly get her Sight? The Shadowhunters would like to know…

If there’s any book that kind of haunted me and called out to me when I first saw it, it’s this one. I spotted this one at National Bookstore last weekend and it took me a long time wondering if I should buy this or just watch Bolt. Guess what won.

I’m no stranger to Cassandra Clare’s work, as I used to read her Harry Potter fanfiction. I thought she wrote well, sounding almost like the real thing that sometimes, while reading the actual books, I recall something she wrote and wonder what book it was a part of.  (Oh, and yes I know that her works had a lot of controversies tied to them)

I’m not really sure what made me pick this book up, but I’m glad I did. I’m not much for fantasy books, and heaven knows what would happen if I try to write any fantasy. This however, actually made me think of some possible ideas. I realized, while reading this book, that if ever I will write fantasy, I’ll probably do urban fantasy, just like City of Bones.

The story is simple enough: 15-year-old Clary sees three kids killing someone, who turns out to be three Shadowhunters, a group of people who are half-human, half-angel and hunts for demons. Then Clary’s mother gets abducted, Clary gets attacked, and the three Shadowhunters wonder what’s up with her and why she can see those things.

I’m stopping there to prevent any spoilers, but it’s really a start of long adventures — from parties to vampires to werewolves and angels and such. The book held my interest, and although I found Jace a tad too annoying and a bit cliched for an anti-hero, I liked his chemistry with Clary and with the other characters. I liked how the story turned out, despite the numerous gray areas that sometimes I don’t know what’s happening and who’s telling the truth already. The world that Clare painted was a vivid and believable one, despite the fantasy elements. The ending, although not much of a cliffhanger, left me wanting more.

I have to admit that I’m going to be careful about this trilogy this time, and not jump in and say I love it and then end up disliking it very much in the end (er, Twilight?). But so far, I like this book, and I’m definitely picking up the next two books once their paperback versions are out.