City of Bones - Paperback

City of Bones is the first Shadowhunters novel, the night Clary Fray watches three tattooed strangers kill a boy that nobody else can see.

The body vanishes. Her mother vanishes next, and the thing that comes for a fifteen year old in her own home is not something she should survive.

Why people finish it fast

Readers describe getting through it in two days. Short scenes, constant motion, and a lead who argues back rather than waiting to be rescued.

The honest read

Not everyone is sold. The standing complaint is that the plot leans on familiar fantasy furniture.

Plenty of the readers who said so went straight on to the next book anyway, which tells you something about the pull of it.

From the publisher

Discover the world of the Shadowhunters in the first installment of the internationally bestselling Mortal Instruments series and "prepare to be hooked" (Entertainment Weekly). City of Bones is a Shadowhunters novel.

When 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 people covered with strange tattoos and brandishing bizarre weapons. And she's more than a little startled when the body disappears into thin air.

Soon Clary is introduced to the world of the Shadowhunters, a secret cadre of warriors dedicated to driving demons out of our world and back to their own. And Clary is introduced with a vengeance, when her mother disappears and Clary herself is almost killed by a grotesque monster. How could a mere human survive such an attack and kill a demon?

The Shadowhunters would like to know...