City of Bones (The Mortal Instruments 1) by Cassandra Clare

Welcome to the beta version of Shelfari’s new Book Detail pages!

These pages are editable by the community, so please contribute! Click here to learn more about this feature. We’d love to hear your feedback.

see page historyNotify me when this page changes.

Description

When fifteen-year-old 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 teenagers covered with strange tattoos and brandishing bizarre weapons. Then the body disappears into thin air. It's hard to call... read more

Ridiculously Simplified Synopsis

show spoilers

Show ridiculously simplified synopsis (warning: may contain spoilers)

Summary

Clary Fray was living a normal life with her mother, Jocelyn, believing that she once had a human father who died in a car crash. However, everything she knew got turned around after a night at the Pandemonium with her best friend, Simon. There she meets three shadowhunters named Jace,... read more (warning: may contain spoilers)

Cast of Characters/Important People

Clary (Clarissa) Fray: daughter of Jocelyn Fray, young girl, shadowhunter, didn't know anything about the Shawdowhunters before Pandemonium
Jace Wayland: Shadowhunter.Golden hair and amber eyes.
Isabelle Lightwood: Sister of Alec. Shadowhunter.
Alec Lightwood: Brother of Isabelle. Shadowhunter.
Simon: Best friend to Clary.
Hodge: Tutor.
Maryse Lightwood: Isabelle and Alec's crabby mother.
Valentine: Father. Husband. Bad guy.
Magnus Bane: High Warlock of Brooklyn. BEST CHARACTER EVER.

Popular Covers

Choose your book’s cover

Memorable Quotes

“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 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.”
“To love is to destroy”
Valentine
“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.”
“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
“"I Dont want to grow up, i want to be an angst ridden teenager who cant confront his own inner demons and takes it out verbally on other people instead"”
Jace
“"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
“I’m pure at heart. It repels the dirt”
Isabelle Lightwood
“"Mom. I have something to tell you. I’m undead. Now, I know you may have some preconceived notions about the undead. I know you may not be comfortable with the idea of me being undead. But I’m here to tell you that undead are just like you and me…Well, okay. Possibly more like me than you."”
Simon
“¨Your so easy to tease. And yes, your friend is just fine. Well, except that he keeps putting all my things away and trying to clean up. Now I can't find anything. He's compulsive.¨”
Magnus Bane
“"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
“"It says 'Shadowhunters; looking better in black than the window 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
“"The cuckoo bird," she said. "You see, cuckoos are parasites. They lay their eggs in other birds' nests. When the egg hatches, the baby cuckoo pushes the other baby birds out of the nest. The poor parent birds work themselves to death trying to find enough food to feed the enormous cuckoo child who has murdered their babies and taken their places." "Enormous?" said Jace. "Did you just call me fat?" "It was an analogy." "I am not fat."”
Jace
“Isabelle looked dubious. "Mom and dad won't be pleased if they find out." "That you freed a possible criminal by trading away your brother to a warlock who looks like a gay Sonic the Hedgehog and dresses like the Child Catcher from 'Chitty Chitty Bang Bang'?" Simon inquired. "No, probably not."”
Isabelle and Simon
“"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

First Sentence

"You've got to be kidding me," the bouncer said, folding his arms across his massive chest.

Part One- Dark Descent.

Chapter 1: Pandemonium
Chapter 2: Secrets and Lies
Chapter 3: Shadowhunter
Chapter 4: Ravener
Chapter 5: Clave and Covenant
Chapter 6: Forsaken
Chapter 7: The Five-Dimensional Door
Chapter 8: Weapon of Choice
Chapter 9: The Circle and the Brotherhood

Part Two- Easy is the Descnet.

Chapter 10: City of Bones
Chapter 11: Magnus Bane
Chapter 12: Dead Man's Party
Chapter 13: The Memory of Whiteness
Chapter 14: The Hotel Dumort
Chapter 15: High and Dry
Chapter 16: Falling Angels
Chapter 17: The Midnight Flower
Chapter 18: The Mortal Cup
Chapter 19: Abbadon
Chapter 20: In Rat's Alley

Part Three- The Descent Beckons.

Chapter 21: The Werewolf's Tale
Chapter 22: Renwick's Ruin
Chapter 23: Valentine

Epilogue: The Ascent Beckons.

Glossary

Shadowhunters: Shadowhunters obey the laws set down in the Gray Book, given to them by the angel: their mandate is to protect our world from the interdimensional parasites they call demons, who travel from world to world, razing and destroying everything in their path. Theirs is also the task of keeping the peace among the warring Downworlders: the human-demon crossbreeds we know as warlocks, vampires, werewolves, and faeries.

Errata

Q&A with the Author
Q:l What's up with Clary thinking Magnus looked shifty? Was he up to something after the 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).