City of Bones

City of Bones

by: Cassandra Clare (2007)

Cassandra Clare's first full-length novel, City of Bones, is the first volume of The Mortal Instruments,

 a Young Adult (YA) urban fantasy series.

Summary: 

The story starts at the Pandemonium club in New York. Clary and her friend Simon decide to spend the night out when Clary observes an odd group of individuals. She follows them and soon finds herself seeing a boy being murdered by three strange teenagers. She quickly uncovers that the child was a demon, and the other three persons, Jace, Alec, and Isabelle, are Shadowhunters. When Simon approaches Clary with a bouncer, she found out that others cannot see Shadowhunters. Clary refuses to tell Simon what happened, even though he realizes something is wrong. 

The next day, Clary gets into an argument with her mother and uncle, Jocelyn and Luke, after learning that she would be spending the rest of the summer at a farm. She leaves with Simon and they proceed to a café, where Clary runs into Jace again. She follows him outside and has a brief conversation with him before receiving an odd phone from her mother ordering her not to come home. Clary rushes home, only to find the door open, the house was destroyed, and her mother is nowhere to be found.

She discovers a strange creature in the apartment and is pushed to fight it as the creature attempts to kill her. Clary kills the demon with a Sensor, a gadget she mistakenly stole from Jace, but she gets hit in the back of the skull and loses consciousness. When she awakens, she is outside, and Jace informs her that he must get her to The Institute since she was harmed by the demon and would die otherwise.

Clary wakes up in the Institute three days later. She calls Luke, but he refuses to meet her and warns her to stay away from him. Clary may be a Shadowhunter, which is why she can see them, according to Jace. Clary informs Hodge that the demon mentioned a guy named Valentine, who was supposed to be dead. Hodge concludes that informing the Silent Brothers and The Clave about the issue is the wisest line of action.

Clary requests permission to return home to get some of her stuff, which Hodge grants providing Jace to accompany her. They see claw marks on the door and a hole into Clary's apartment when they arrive. Madame Dorothea, who is familiar with the Shadow World, stops them before they leave. 

Clary discovers that the building is a sanctuary and that Madame Dorothea has a gateway in her apartment. She opens the door and is taken to Luke's house, along with Jace, who also used the portal.

They decide to go around Luke's house and come upon Simon, who was seeking for Clary. The three of them explore the house, then Luke arrives with two men, asking about the Moral Cup and whether Jocelyn had another kid. After the three guys leave, Jace informs them that the two men with Luke were the ones who murdered his father when he was ten years old.

Jace, Simon, and Clary return to The Institute, where Hodge informs Clary about The Circle, a group of Shadowhunters who sought to prevent the signing of The Accords. Their scheme was prevented, and Valentine, his wife, and their kid were thought to have died in a fire. Hodge tells Clary that her mother, Valentine's wife, was also a member of the Circle.

Jace's father, Hodge and Isabelle, as well as Alec's parents, were all members of the Circle, and they intended to utilize the Mortal Cup to produce a new generation of Shadowhunters while killing all Downworlders. Hodge and the Lightwoods were sentenced to the Institute in New York.

Jeremiah, one of the Silent Brothers, arrives to meet Clary but is unable to access her memories due to a powerful enchantment cast on her. He tells her that if she wants to uncover the truth about her memories, she must travel to the City of Bones and be seen by the other Silent Brothers.

Clary accepts, and Jace joins her in the City of Bones, but even the Silent Brothers can't break the enchantment. However, a name, Magnus Bane, has reappeared, and Clary feels that there must be a connection between her memories block and that person.

Alec, Isabelle, Simon, Clary, and Jace meet at a restaurant, where Isabelle notices a person named Magnus Bane on a party invitation. They attend the party, and Magnus admits to casting a spell on Clary at her mother's request to make her forget all the creatures from the Shadow World as soon as she sees them. He is unable to break the enchantment, however, because it would harm Clary's mind. He informs them that the enchantment can wear off over time.

Simon transformed into a rat after drinking a mysterious elixir, but Magnus refuses to return him to his normal form because humans do not handle magic as well as Shadowhunters. Clary put Simon inside her backpack, but a vampire steals him away.

Clary and Jace travel to the vampire's lair and are led in by a kid who subsequently turns out to be a vampire. The vampires attack Clary and Jace, but they escape with Simon once werewolves arrive. They escape with a motorcycle used by vampires, and Simon returned to his human form.

When they get to the institute, Hodge is furious at them for putting their lives on the line. Later that night, Jace brings Clary to the greenhouse and kisses her. When he returns her to her chamber, they encounter Simon as he exits, and Jace becomes enraged with Clary. Simon leaves, leaving Clary alone.

She finds that by using runes, she can extract items from drawings and informs Jace of her discovery. She tells Jace and Hodge that she believes her mother concealed the Cup in a drawing and offered it to Madame Dorothea as a tarot card.

Alec, Jace, Isabelle, Clary, and Simon go to Madame Dorothea to take the cup. After Clary pulls the Cup from the deck, the portal in her apartment opens, and a monster emerges, killing Madame Dorothea and injuring Alec. Simon dispatches the demon, and they return Alec to the Institute for medical treatment.

Isabelle enters another room with Alec and Simon, while Clary and Jace remain with Hodge. He proves himself to be a traitor when Valentine appears and takes the Mortal Cup and Jace with him. 

Hodge runs as soon as the curse is lifted, and Clary follows him. Clary is attacked by Hodge, but she is protected by a werewolf and passes out. When she woke up, she learned that the werewolf is Luke. He told her he used to be a member of the Circle and Valentine's parabatai. They figure out where Valentine must be hiding and go off with Luke's pack to find Jocelyn and Jace. 

They find Jocelyn unconscious, as well as Jace, who informs Clary that he found his father and that he is Valentine. Valentine informs Jace that Clary is his sister and that he killed his in-laws because they betrayed him. Luke arrives and begins fighting Valentine, but is injured. Valentine invites Jace to follow him to Idris, but Jace declines and stays with Clary. They resuscitate Jocelyn and transport her to the hospital, while Clary returns to the Institute.

CRITICAL APPROACH/ES USED:

Reader Response Approach

Mythological Approach - The story used a mythological critical approach. The author utilizes the use of symbolism which made the novel the most interesting one in my opinion. It also been constructed by myths that have been produced by a creative mind. 

Reader Response Approach - Reader Response Approach defines how the text will be interpreted in the reader's mind. The text's meaning depends on how the reader's mind defines the text, moreover, this approach focuses on the act of reading.

Formalist Approach - Formalist Criticism emphasizes the form of a literary work to determine its meaning, focusing on literary elements and how they work to create meaning. This approach tells that text is a completely independent thing. Completely different from the time period, setting, and author's background.