My family recently came up for a visit and I was gifted with the first three books in Cassandra Clare's Mortal Instruments series. I just finished the first book, "City of Bones" and needless to say I'm hooked. I still haven't finished the "Hunger Games" series and I also just obtained the new Nicholas Spark's book ("Safe Haven"), the pile continues to grow...
But back to "City of Bones." The story is about a girl named Clary who following an incident at a nightclub gets drawn into the world of the Shadowhunters. This world is populated by vampires, warewolves, fairies, witches, and all sorts of magical creatures. While the story isn't terribly original (teenager finds out that they are actually a lot cooler than they thought they were and that there is a magical world), the way it is carried out is. The book is oddly compelling, I find myself extremely happy that I have two more books to go and that Clare just started a new series...
Here is the basic gist of the plot: In the future North America is split up into districts and is ruled over by the Capitol. At some point in time there was a rebellion against the Capitol the resulted in District 13 being decimated. Every year as a reminder that the government controls the people, each district must participate in the hunger games. This basically consists of each district picking 1 boy and 1 girl to participate in a fight till the death show that's broadcast as television entertainment.
Review: The book was entirely engaging. A couldn't-put-it-down, wish-it-didn't-end kind of book. The plot, while grim, was entertaining. The only real criticism I have about the book is the poor editing. There are some basic words missing (think "a," and "the"), as well as some past/present confusion. While I still enjoyed the book it did create a somewhat stunted reading experience as my concentration would be broken occassionally by the poor editing. I've read a few reports that stated that this is a well known problem with the book so I guess I'm not the only one. I'm several chapters into the second book ("Catching Fire") and this does not appear to be a problem.
Bottom line: I highly recommend picking up this book if you get a chance. It's proof that there is actually some great new reading in the young adult section.
