Review: City of Bones by Cassandra Clare

UK Publication Date: 2nd July 2007
Publisher: Walker Books
Series: The Mortal Instruments #1
Type: Young Adult

Blurb from book cover

Clary Fray is seeing things: vampires in Brooklyn and werewolves in Manhattan. Irresistibly drawn towards a group of sexy demon hunters, Clary encounters the dark side of New York City - and the dangers of forbidden love.

My Thoughts

City of Bones isn't the first Cassandra Clare novel I have read. I previously read Clockwork Angel, a book that I loved from the very beginning. I hadn't seen or read any reviews about this book before I started it, and I will say that I am glad I didn't.

Having now read this book and the reviews for it,  I can say that I understand why people have a love/hate relationship with this book. OK I know that this was the first book that Cassandra Clare wrote, and it really shows in her writing style, but my biggest problem with this book is the ending. To me the ending seemed rushed, don't get me wrong I still liked the ending, but after everything else that had happened throughout the story the ending just seemed to fizzle out.

As I said earlier I loved the book. Did the Harry Potter/Star Wars undertones bother me? No it didn't. It must be hard to write a book that isn't going to use plot devices that have already been done.

Overall City of Bones is an exciting story with characters that I really want to find out more about.

Rating 4 out of 5

Review: Ashes by Ilsa J. Bick

UK Publication Date: 29 September 2011
Publisher: Quercus Publishing
Series: Ashes #1
Type: Young Adult Dystopian

Blurb from book cover

Seventeen-year-old Alex is hiking through the wilderness when it happens: an earth-shattering electromagnetic pulse that destroys almost everything.

Survivors are divided between those who have developed a superhuman sense and those who have acquired a taste for human flesh. These flesh-hunters stalk the land: hungry, ruthless and increasingly clever.

Alex meets Tom, a young army veteran, and Ellie, a lost girl. They will fight together and be torn apart but Alex must face the most difficult question of all: in such a vastly changed world, who can you trust?

My Thoughts

Ashes by Ilsa J Bick is the first book in the Ashes trilogy and what a way to start. Ashes is a post-apocalyptic story told through the eyes of Alexandra or Alex as she's known in the book. Alex is a seventeen-year-old girl who, after enduring countless experimental treatments to control a brain tumour, decides that she's had enough and sets out to scatter her parents ashes at Lake Superior. Unfortunately for Alex things don't go according to plan.

After meeting a man named Jack and his granddaughter Ellie, a bratty eight-year-old girl, and Mina, Ellie's dog,  they experience, what Alex calls, the zap. The zap renders technology useless, kills millions of people, including Jack, within the first few minutes and those it doesn't kill it changes into fast, fierce cannibals. Alex also finds out that she has changed as well. Alex realises that her sense of smell, which the tumour had robbed her of, is back and more sensitive then ever, though this doesn't help her when she finds Rule, a small village which is hiding a deadly secret.

Through Alex we see the best and worst of humanity and it begs the question how far would you be willing to go if society broke down. Ashes is a gripping, and very dark read with memorable characters and a plot that is highly intriguing.

I have read some reviews that criticise the way the second half of the book is written, as it differs greatly from the first part. In the first half of the book we see a lot of violence and gore whereas in the second half it's very quiet and nothing much happens. I have to say that I really liked this, as it offered the reader a false sense of security which is quickly destroyed by the shocking cliffhanger at the end.

Ashes is definitely not for the faint of heart as some of the gore and violence is quite graphic.

I cannot wait to find out what happens next to Alex.

Rating 5 out of 5

Review: Clockwork Angel by Cassandra Clare

UK Publication Date: 6th September 2010
Publisher: Walker Books
Series: The Infernal Devices #1
Type: Young Adult

Blurb from book cover

Magic is dangerous - but love is more dangerous still.

When sixteen-year-old Tessa Gray arrives in England during the reign of Queen Victoria, something terrifying is waiting for her in London's Downworld, where vampires, warlocks and other supernatural folk stalk the gaslit streets. Friendless and hunted, Tessa seeks refuge with the Shadowhunters, a band of warriors dedicated to ridding the world of demons. Drawn ever deeper into their world, she finds herself fascinated by - and torn between - two best friends and quickly realizes that love may be the most dangerous magic of all.

My Thoughts

I absolutely loved this book. Clockwork Angel is the first book by Cassandra Clare that I have read and it won't be the last.

Clockwork Angel tells the story of Tessa Gray, an orphaned sixteen-year-old New Yorker, who, on the death of her aunt, arrives in Victorian London in search of of her brother, Nathaniel. No sooner has Tessa stepped off the boat she is kidnapped by the Dark Sisters, who force her to use an ability she didn't know she had. They claim her talent is needed by the Magister. After attempting to escape from the Dark Sisters, Tessa  has all but given up when she encounters a mysterious young man named Will, who says that he can help her escape. Having accepted Wills' help, Tessa finds herself seeking refuge with a mysterious band of people known as the Shadowhunters.

As Tessa learns more about her strange new friends and her newly acquired talent, she finds herself facing dangers far worse than the Dark Sisters, from clockwork men to vampires.

Clockwork Angel is a gripping read, with characters that you can't help but like, that once started is, in my opinion, difficult to put down. There is something for everyone in this book from romance to science fiction.

Clockwork Angel is a fantastic start to a series that I hope I will enjoy reading.

Rating: 5 out of 5