The British Book Nerd

Clary thinks she’s just a normal, 15 year old girl. I mean, she pretty much is; living in Brooklyn with her artist mother and hanging around with her best friend, Simon. That is until one night at an under-age club called Pandemonium, she sees a group of three teenagers killing what looks like a boy. However, no one else can see them - there’s no blood, and no sign of any disturbance at all. Clary shouldn’t have been able to see these three mysterious teenagers at all, she’s a “mundane”, a human – and doesn’t have the sight to see them. But is she really? Has her mother been lying to her about who she really is? When her mother is kidnapped one evening, Clary is attacked by a demon and is rescued by Jace, one of the three teenagers she saw at the club. Soon she learns that Jace, Isabelle and Alec are Shadowhunters, born and bred to kill demons. With the help of her new friends, Clary learns more and more about the Underworld and her past and goes on a mission to save her mother.

I feel like I must be the last person in the book blogging community that hadn't read this book before! I’m not always a huge fan of Fantasy books, I mean, I’ve never read Lord of The Rings or anything else that’s along those lines - unless you count Harry Potter in that category. I was a little reluctant to add this book to my TBR list, but I heard so many great reviews and ravings about it, I just had to at least try to get my hands on it. I received a surprise copy for Christmas from my parents and I was actually very excited. I couldn’t wait to get my hands on it and was instantly drawn into the story. I loved this novel, it was incredible.

I loved Clary’s character, right from the beginning. She’s such a typical teenager; fighting with her mum, and ignoring her calls - which made me smile. There was something about her that was so natural and refreshing. She starts off as this timid girl, but as the book progresses she really grows into herself, becoming more confident, and quite frankly; a bad ass. Clary is a strong protagonist and quite headstrong at times, but I still loved her. Plus, she’s a red-head, so I’ll give her extra points!

Simon’s character actually really irritated me. I mean, there’s jealously, but there’s also over the top, annoying and head banging against the wall jealously that makes you want to slap the person senseless. That’s how I felt when I read most scenes with Simon in, I mean, MAN UP, BOY! Apart from that his character was okay, Simon is Clary’s best friend, and has been for 10 years. I thought their friendship was amazing, and I knew Simon would do anything for Clary if she asked.

As for Jace - why is it that I'm always attracted to the dark, mysterious, bad boy look-a-like characters in books? I wish I could pounce on Jace, because I loved him so much. He makes me swoon and go all giggly and girly. No one ever said that was a bad thing though, right? He has this hard exterior that says, ‘get lost’, but all I want to do is wrap my arms around him and give him a cup of hot-chocolate with marshmallows and cream. Underneath that hard exterior though, is a sweet, kind and caring guy. I can’t begin to explain how much I wish he was real.

Although I gave this novel 5/5 stars; I was not happy with the ending - at all. So much so, that it nearly made me bump it down a star – but didn’t because the overall book was still incredible. Still, it was one of those rare times that I wanted to bend my rules of romance just to make myself happy in my imagination. When I reached the end of this book, I was filled with such mixed emotions and there was a little voice in my head, yelling various insults at Cassandra Clare, telling her she needed to change that ending. I was also, however, spewing a random stream of annoyance out loud. Mostly along the lines of;
“SERIOUSLY?!”
“That did not just happen! How can they do that?”
“Oh come on!”
“HOW COULD YOU?! Kill me now!”

I also found myself bashing my head against the arm of the sofa. I know I’m being a little over-dramatic but I'm filled with such love for this book, yet also with such frustration! There were so many different twists and turns throughout this novel that I found it a little hard to keep up, however that didn’t deter me. The storyline was constantly building and growing, the world building was incredible and I didn’t know what would happen next. Only once did I predict correctly what was going to happen, even though I guessed many times!

I loved Cassandra Clare’s writing style; it’s so different and unique. I really need to get my hands on the sequel to this book, pronto!