City of Bones (2007) (edit title/settings)

Ridiculously Simplified Synopsis edit see section history

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Summary edit see section history

Characters edit see section history

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• Clarissa 'Clary' Fray: The daughter of Jocelyn Fray. She is a young girl, redhead. Jace's love interest.
• Jonathan 'Jace' Christopher Wayland: An experienced Shadowhunter with golden hair and amber eyes.
• Simon Lewis: Clary's human best friend of 10 years.
• Alexander 'Alec' Lightwood: Brother of Isabelle, and oldest of the Lightwoods. Shadowhunter.
• Isabelle Lightwood: Alec's sister. Shadowhunter. She carries around a golden whip that is usually wrapped around her wrist.
• Magnus Bane: High Warlock of Brooklyn. A friend of Clary's mother.
• Valentine Morgenstern: A powerful and evil Shadowhunter. The main antagonist of the novel.
• Hodge Starkweather: Alec, Jace and Isabelle's tutor.
• Jocelyn Fray: Clary's artist mother. Mysterious single parent with a past no one knows, except for those who were told(of course). Was a Shadow hunter.
• Lucian Graymark: Family friend of Clary's.
• Madame Dorothea: Neighbor of Clary's.
• Brother Jeremiah: One of the Silent Brothers. Lives in the Silent City.
• Church: An immortal cat that lives at the Institute.
• Hugin: aka Hugo. Hodge's creepy pet raven.
• Pangborn: One of the bad guys who use to be in the Circle.
• Munin: Valentine's pet raven.
• Eric: He is Simon's next-door-neighbor and a member of the band in which Simon is also a member.
• Blackwell: The big warlock with red hair.
• Kaelie: She is the waitress at Taki's.
• Michael Wayland: Jace's dad.
• Raphael: The Spanish boy who turned out to be a Vampire.
• Lily: She is a pretty blue-haired Asian vampire.
• Jacob: He is a young, blond vampire.
• Elliot: He is the vampire with dreadlocks.
• Abbadon: The Demon of the Abyss. He is a greater demon, one of the Ancients. He is the Lord of the Fallen.
• Gretel: She is a werewolf and Luke's second in command.
• Alaric: He is a werewolf and Luke's third in command.
• Maryse Lightwood: The mother of Alex, Isabelle and Max.
• Robert Lightwood: The father of Alex, Isabelle and Max.

Quotes edit see section history

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• “"When life gives you lemons, make lemonade, and then throw it in the face of the person who gave you the lemons until they give you the oranges you originally asked for"”

  Jace

• “'You know,' Clary said, 'most psychologists agree that hostility is really just sublimated sexual attraction.''Ah,' said Jace blithely, 'that might explain why I so often run into people who seem to dislike me.'”

  Clary and Jace.

• “Is this where you start tearing strips off your T-shirt to bind up my wound?" she joked. She hated the sight of blood, especially her own. "If you wanted me to rip my clothes off, you should have just asked.”

  Clary and Jace

• “Clary wondered if there were any ugly vampires, or maybe any fat ones. Maybe they didn't make vampires out of ugly people. Or maybe ugly people just didn't want to live forever.”

  Clary

• “And next time you're planning to injure yourself to get my attention, just remember that a little sweet talk works wonders.”

  Jace

• “I may not believe in sin," he said, "but I do feel guilt. We Shadowhunters live by a code, and that code isn't flexible. Honor, fault, penance, those are real to us, and they have nothing to do with religion and everything to do with who we are. This who I am, Clary," he said desperately. "I am one of the Clave. It's in my blood and bones. So tell me, if you're so sure this wasn't my fault, why is it that the first thought in my mind when I saw Abbadon wasn't from my fellow warriors but for you?" His other hand came up; he was holding her face, prisoned between his palms. "I know-I knew-Alec wasn't acting like himself. I knew something was wrong. But all I could think about was you . . .”

  Jace

• “I said his poetry was terrible. It sounds like he ate a dictionary and started vomiting up words at random.”

  Jace

• “Jace, Clary thought, was the sort of person who liked it when things were happening, even things that were bad.”

  Clary

• “I figured all your classes were stuff like Slaughter 101 and Beheading for Beginners.”

  Clary

• “If you were half as funny as you thought you were, my boy, you'd be twice as funny as you are.”

  Madame Dorothea

• “"Jesus!" Luke exclaimed."Actually, it's just me," said Simon. "Although I've been told the resemblance is startling."”

  Luke and Simon

• “"That's why when major badasses greet each other in movies, they don't say anything, they just nod. The nod means, 'I' am a badass, and I recognize that you, too, are a badass,' but they don't say anything because they're Wolverine and Magneto and it would mess up their vibe to explain"”

  Simon

• “"...Have you fallen in love with the wrong person yet?'Jace said, "Unfortunately, Lady of the Haven, my one true love remains myself."..."At least," she said, "you don't have to worry about rejection, Jace Wayland.""Not necessarily. I turn myself down occasionally, just to keep it interesting."”

  Jace

• “Clary shook her head. "Don't stop there. I suppose there are also, what, vampires, werewolves, and zombies?" "Of course there are," Jace informed her. "Although you mostly find zombies farther south, where the voudon priests are." "What about mummies? Do they only hang around in Egypt?" "Don't be ridiculous. No one believes in mummies."”

  Clary Fray and Jace Wayland

• “"It says 'Shadowhunters; looking better in black than the widows of our enemies since 1234.'"”

  Jace

• “A Diary with no drawings of me in it? Where are the torrid fantasies? The romance covers?”

  Jace

• “"Hi, I'm one of the knife carrying hooligans you met last night in Pandemonium? I'm afraid I made a bad impression and was hoping you'd give me a change to make it up to....-"”

  Simon

• “"It's the mortal Cup, Jace, not the Mortal Toilet bowl." " Are we done now? Can we go?"”

  Isabelle

• “"It's a girl," Jace said,recovering his composure. "Surely you've seen girls before, Alec. Your sister Isabelle is one."”

  Jace

• “"...in fact, don't touch any of my weapons without my permission.'"Well, there goes my plan for selling them all on ebay," Clary muttered."Selling them on what?"Clary smiled blandly at him, "A mythical place of great magical power."”

  Jace and Clary

• “"Sarcasm is the last refuge of the imaginatively bankrupt", she told him."I can't help it. I use my rapier wit to hide my inner pain."”

  Clary and Jace

• “"The meek may inherit the earth, but at the moment it belongs to the conceited. Like me."”

  Jace

• “Meanwhile, I wanted to tell you that lately I've been cross dressing. Also, I'm sleeping with your Mom. I thought you should know.”

  Simon

• “Don't order any of the faerie food. It tends to make humans a little crazy. One minute your munching on a faerie plum, the next minute you're running naked down Madison Avenue with antlers on your head. Not that this has ever happened to me.”

  Jace

• “Tell me, is he always really rude, or does he save that for mundanes?" asked Clary. "Oh, he's rude to everyone," said Isabelle airily. "It's what makes him so damn sexy."”

  Clary Fray and Isabelle Lightwood

• “How did you know I had shadowhunter blood? Was there some way you could tell?" "I guessed, it seemed like the most likely explanation" "You guessed? You must have been pretty sure, considering you could have killed me" "I was ninety percent sure" "I see," Clary said. There must have been something in her voice, because he turned to look at her. Her hand cracked across his face, a slap that rocked him back on his heels. He put his hand to his cheek, more in surprise than pain. "What the hell was that for?" "The other ten percent".”

  Clary Fray and Jace Wayland

• “"Those girls on the other side of the car are staring at you." Jace assumed an air of mellow gratification. "Of course they are," he said. "I am stunningly attractive"”

  Clary and Jace

• “"Just be glad you hit me and not Alec. He would have hit you back"”

  Jace Wayland

• “Later, when his father left him, the boy cried over his pet, until eventually his father sent a servant to take the body of the bird away and bury it. The boy never cried again and he never forgot what he'd learned: that to love is to destroy, and that to be loved is to be the one destroyed”

  Jace Wayland

• “They were passing through one of the corridors that were lined with bedrooms. Simon's eyebrows rose. "How many people live here, exactly?" "It's an institute," Clary said. "A place where Shadowhunters can stay when they're in the city. Like a sort of combination safe haven and research facility." "I thought it was a church." "It's inside a church." "Because that's not confusing."”

  Simon and Clary

• “"He knew his falcon loved him, and when he was certain it was not just tamed but perfectly tamed, he went to his father and showed him what he had done,expecting him to be proud. Instead his father took the bird, now tame and trusting, in his hands and broke its neck. 'I told you to make it obedient,'his father said, and droped the falcon's lifeless body to the ground. "Instead, you taught it to love you. Falcons are not meant to be loving pets: They are fierce and wild, savage and cruel. This bird was not tamed; it was broken".”

  Jace

• “'Just because you call an electric eel a rubber duck doesn't make it a rubber duck, does it? And God help the poor bastard who decides they want to take a bath with the duckie."”

  Jace

• “"Investigation?" Isabelle laughed. "Now we're detectives?" Maybe we should all have code names.""Good idea," said Jace. " I shall be Baron Hotschaft Von Hugenstein."”

  Jace and Isabelle

• “"A picnic? It's a little late for Central Park, don't you think? It's full of-"He waved a hand. "Faeries. I know.""I was going to say muggers," said Clary. "Though I pity the mugger who goes after you.""That's a wise attitude and I commend you for it...'”

  Clary and Jace

• “" Well when I was five, I wanted to take a bath in spaghetti."”

  Jace Wayland

• “If there was such a thing as terminal literalism, you’d have died in childhood.”

  Jace

• “"Haven't you ever heard that modesty is an attractive trait?" "Only from ugly people," Jace confided.”

  Clary and Jace

• “I'd always hoped that when I finally said 'I love you' to a girl, she'd say 'I know' back, like Leia did to Han in Return of the Jedi.”

  Simon

• “"And so what? I just killed a demon in my own house, and you're going to be a dickhead about it because I'm not some spoiled-rotten richbrat like you and yoursister?" Alec looked astonished."What did you call me?" Jace laughed. "She has a point, Alec," Jace said. "It'sthose bridge-and-tunnel demons you really have towatch out for-""It's notfunny, Jace," Alec interrupted, starting to his feet. "Are you just going to let her stand there and callme names?" "Yes," Jace said kindly.”

  Jace, Clary and Alec

• “You invited him into bed?" Simon demanded, looking shaken. "Ridiculous isn't it?" said Jace. " We would never all fit.”

  Simon(speaking to Clary) and Jace

• “If you run into a psychic wall face-first, do you wind up with psychic bruises?”

  Clary's thoughts

• “...that's the motto of the Nephilim-the Shadowhunters-there on the base" "What does it mean?" Jace's grin was a white flash in the darkness. "It means 'Shadowhunters: Looking Better in Black Than the Widows of our Enemies Since 1234"”

  Jace and Clary

• “"What are you doing here, anyways?" "'Here' as in your bedroom or 'here' as in the great spiritual question of our purpose here on this planet? If you're asking whether it's all just a cosmic coincidence or there's a greater meta-ethical purpose to life, well, that's a puzzler for the ages. I mean, simple ontological reductionism is clearly a fallacious argument, but-"”

  Clary and Jace

• “Where there is love, there is often also hate. They can exist side by side.”

  Hodge Starkweather

• “Alec muttered a retort into his coffee.it rhymed with something that sounded a lot more like "ducking glass mole". Clary smiled inwardly.”

  Alec

• “"Huh" said Clary, turning it over in her fingers. "You know, when most girls say they want a big rock, they don't mean, you know, literally a big rock."”

  Clary

• “"Jace," she said. "This is important.""Don't tell me," he said. "You've got a drawing emergency. You need a nude model. Well, I'm not in the mood. You could ask Hodge," he added, as an afterthought. "I hear he'll do anything for a-"”

  Clary and Jace

• “Is he spying on us?" she hissed”

  Clary

• “I have not slept. between the acting of a dreadful thing and the first motion, all the interim is like a phantasma, or a hideous dream: the Genius and the mortal instruments are then in council; and the state of man, like to a little kingdom, suffers then the nature of an insurrection.”

  William Shakespeare, Julius Caesar

• “I sung Chaos and eternal Night, taught by the heav'nly Muse to venture down the dark descent, and up to reascend . . .”

  John Milton, Paradise Lost

• “Jace: Can I help you with something? | Clary: Those girls on the other side of the car are staring at you. | Jace: Of course they are. I am stunningly attractive. | Clary: Haven't you ever heard that modesty is an attractive trait? | Jace: Only from ugly people. The meek may inherit the earth, but at the moment it belongs to the conceited. Like me.”

• “If there was one thing she was learning from all this, it was how easy it was to lose everything you had always thought you'd have forever.”

  Clary Fray

• “Clary: What time is it? | Jace: About five. | Clary: In the morning? You'd better have a good reason for waking me up. | Jace: Why, were you having a good dream? | Clary: I don't remember. | Jace: One of the Silent Brothers is here to see you. Hodgse sent me to wake you up. Actually, he offered to wake you up himself, but since it's five a.m., I figure you'd be less cranky if you had something nice to look at. | Clary: Meaning you? | Jace: What else?”

• “She hated the idea of someone reaching inside her head, touching memories so private and hidden that even she couldn't reach them.”

  Clary Fray

• “It wouldn't be my move. First the candy and flowers, then the apology letters, then the ravenous demon hordes. In that order.”

  Jace

• “Unfortunately, we're all out of bitter revenge at the moment, so it's either tea or nothing.”

  Hodge

Setting & Locations edit see section history

• New York: The entire book takes place in the New York City area.
• Idris: The home country of the Shadowhunters, this is mentioned often, but never gone to.
• Pandemonium Club: It is an all-ages club.
• Nacho Mama: It is a neighborhood Mexican joint.
• New York Marble Cemetery: This is where the City of Bones is located. It is also called the Silent City.
• Taki's: It is a diner in New York.
• Magnus Bane's Apartment
• Hotel Dumont: It is the Vampires' lair.
• Roosevelt Island: This is where the Renwick Smallpox Hospital is located.

Organizations edit see section history

• The Circle: Valentine's group (once described as a "cult" in the book), intent on ridding the world of all demons, including Downworlders.
• The Clave: The Shadowhunters' government.
• Shadowhunters: A race of humans with Angel blood in their veins, making them slightly superhuman. They are meant to rid the world of demons who slip in through dimensional holes.
• The Silent Brothers: A group of Shadowhunters who possess the power to see into peoples' minds and depict information.

First Sentence edit see section history

Table of Contents edit see section history

Glossary edit see section history

• Shadowhunters (also called Nephilim): The Nephilim are humans with angel blood in their veins.
• Downworlder: Are creatures that are human-demon hybrids. They are not necessarily evil but can be. "Downworlder" is a generic name for the children of the moon (Werewolves), the children of the night (Vampires), the children of Lilith (Warlocks) and the children of Lylic (the Fair Folk, or Faeries).
• Mundane: Humans that are not able to see the Shadow World because they have no Sight.
• Shadow World: The magical realm where the Shadowhunter’s society, demons, and the Downworlders live. This world is invisible to the human eye.
• Encampment: The place or quarters occupied by camping.
• The Accords: A treaty that brings an alliance between the Downworlders and the Shadowhunters.
• Nefarious: Extremely wicked or villainous.
• Demonology: The study of demons.
• Forsaken: People who were humans and had runes drawn on their faces that casued them to become minions who do whatever the person who created them tells them to do
• Seraph Blade: An angelic blade that are used to kill demons. They are each named after a different angel.
• Stele: Is the instrument used by Shadowhunters to draw Runes. Described as a slender twig made of whitish-silver material, apparently flexible.
• Runes: The marks Shadowhunters use in order to enhance their abilities.
• Eidolon Demon: It is a shape-changer.
• Parabatai: It means a pair of warriors who fight together--who are closer than brothers.
• Iratze: It is a healing rune
• Ifrit: They are warlocks with no magic. They are half demons who can't cast spells.
• Kelpies/Selkies: They are kind of faeries.
• Gramarye: It means magic, hidden wisdom.
• Lycanthropy: It is a delusion that one has become a wolf. It is also the assumption of the form and characteristics of a wolf held to be possible by witchcraft or magic.

Errata edit see section history

Q&A with the Author:
Q:l What's up with Clary thinking Magnus looked shifty? Was he up to something after they gave him the Book of the White?
A:| That's just me screwing up, for which I apologize. There was a subplot in earlier drafts about Magnus and the leader of the New York vampire clan (who, btw, he's dating in Infernal Devices), but I cut it out for space reasons. Somehow that line about Clary thinking he looked shifty made it through proofing, even though I cut it out, and while I was able to correct it for later editions (and it won't appear in the UK edition either).

In the first paragraph of chapter 15, Raphael calls werewolves "Los Niños de la Luna," which Clary translates to mean "The Moon's Children." While this is technically correct, it would be more appropriate for Raphael to have said "Los Hijos de la Luna," which also means "The Moon's Children," but refers to the moon's sons and daughters, whereas the original refers to "children" as "boys and girls."

Series & Lists edit see section history

Followed by City of Ashes.

Preceded by The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe.

Preceded by If Tomorrow Comes, and followed by Jonathan Livingston Seagull.

Preceded by Where the Red Fern Grows, and followed by The Shining.

Authors & Contributors edit see section history

1. Cassandra Clare (Author)

Other Contributors:

1. Margaret K. McElderry Books (Publisher)
2. Mike Rosamilia (Designer)

First Edition edit see section history

Awards edit see section history

• Abraham Lincoln Award (2010: Illinois' High School Readers' Choice Award)
• South Carolina Young Adult Book Award (Finalist, 2009-2010)
• Georgia Peach Honor Award for Teen Readers (2009-2010: Teens)
• Young Readers' Choice Award (Pacific Northwest) (2010)

Classification edit see section history

• Library of Congress: PZ7.C5265Cit
• Dewey: 813.54

Notes for Parents edit see section history

It's a wonderful read for adults, teenagers and mature tweens alike. It's filled with excellent vocabulary, and is well written. There is some romance which leads to kissing but nothing graphic or vulgar. There is also violence, though none is particularly graphic either. The humor in the book can be of mature nature at times (innuendos). I highly recommend this novel to any and all fantasy readers. It's an excellent, well thought and wonderful book which is part of a thoroughly entertaining series.

Subjects edit see section history

• Books › Teens › Science Fiction & Fantasy › Fantasy
• Books › Teens › Science Fiction & Fantasy › Science Fiction
• Books › Teens › Horror
• Books › Teens › Social Issues

Movie Connections edit see section history

• Mortal Instruments (IMDb)

More Books Like This edit see section history

Books with Additional Background Information edit see section history

Books That Cite This Book edit see section history