Fifteen year old Clary Fray has spent her whole life feeling normal - well as normal as any teenage girl ever can feel - until she becomes the sole witness to a murder. A murder performed by 3 teenagers who no-one else are able to see, and where the body of the victim vanishes. The murders turn out to be Shaddow Hunters, a race of humans to have 'The Sight' - the ability to see Downworlders (demons, vampires, werewolves etc) and kill them using magic. When Clary's mother is taken by demons, Clary gets sucked further into this mysterious world, and wants vengeance.
For the most part I was extremely underwhelmed by this book. I never felt anything more than annoyance for the main characters - ridiculously self-obsessed, know-it-all sixteen year olds that they were - and many of the plot lines were predictable and followed the standard 'ya fantasy' tropes. If I had read this during or just before my 'Twilight' era, I probably would have loved it, which might also be one of the reasons I was disappointed with this - it felt like something I had read before.
The main story, however, is an intriguing and interesting idea and some of the plot twists (whilst not being particularly well executed) were twisty enough that it kept me reading. If this book had tried to be a heavier read, I don't think I would have been able to sustain it till the end, however it was really easy to get through (for the most part, although the more difficult parts to read were the result of even worse writing rather than cleaver or more sophisticated writing).
I was really looking forward to reading this and seeing the film, but after this experience I'll probably just wait till it shows up on Sky Movies before I see it. Weirdly, I still want to read the second book in the series - I just really hope the writing style and the characters progress. Also, the last plot twist (whilst confusing, again due to the poor writing style) leaves some questions that, whilst they won't keep me up at night, are interesting enough that I'd like to see where Clare takes them.
A 'mundane', harmless little read, not worth paying full price for, but an interesting enough time filler to be picked up from a library.
I gave it 2/5 on Goodreads.
xx
Currently Reading:
The Autograph Man by Zadie Smith
Vagina: a new biography by Naomi Wolf
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