City of Bones- book thoughts

It’s been a while since we’ve talked about a book, because we’ve been a little busy to read. And trust us to read a book geared toward teens rather than a “real book.” But we decided to dip into the young adult fare again, because the last time we did it, it was satisfying (The Hunger Games).

The book this week was “City of Bones” by Cassandra Clare. It’s urban fantasy. We don’t want to give much away about the premise, because it’s always more fun that way. Apparently, it’s popular and has been out a long time.

Strengths: Sometimes it can be tedious to read fight scenes. Action is fun to watch but not as fun to read. This book didn’t have that problem. The fighting flowed well and was intense. We also liked all of the twists, even if one was pretty icky. Actually, the icky twist was our favorite. The story was good.

Weaknesses: Overuse of the word “nauseous.” It was sometimes used incorrectly too. We also HATE when heroines don’t know they are pretty and when they don’t know if guys like them, even though it’s obvious. It’s very “Twilight,” and it’s also unrealistic. People know when they are attractive and when boys follow them around like lost puppies, unless they aren’t playing with a full deck of cards, socially.

We are also unsure about the characters. We saw a substantial effort to make them three-dimensional (four-dimensional, in some cases. Heh), but we aren’t sure how well that paid off. There is potential for the characters to become original and cool in subsequent books. You don’t HATE them. But we’ve seen these characters before in other books. Damaged, cool, bad boy. Regular, annoyingly humble girl. Loveable nerd. Isabelle might be the most original character, but she’s unlikeable by most.

Bottom line: It was good enough that we bought the second book in the series. It’s not obsession-worthy yet though. Reviews are spoiler-free, but comments sections are not, so feel free to discuss twists or whatever, if you’ve read this one.

Book grade: B Also, of course they are making this one a movie. Since youngsters have so much disposable income, execs see The Next Twilight/The Next Big Franchise in every decent young adult novel. We actually think this is movie material. The characters are movie-flat, and the plot is twisty and action-y enough to work.