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City of Bones (Mortal Instruments)
Encyclopedia
City of Bones is the first book
in The Mortal Instruments
series, a young adult urban fantasy series set in New York
written by Cassandra Clare
. It was originally published in the US
in hardcover on March 27, 2007, and was released in the UK on July 2, 2007. It was also released in paperback in the USA on February 19, 2008. It achieved #8 on the New York Times Best Seller list
(Children's books) in April 2007.City of Bones received considerable praise from Publishers Weekly
, Locus
, and authors Holly Black
and Kelly Link
. Criticism was also received from School Library Journal
.
City of Bones was first published in the US
by Margaret K. McElderry on March 27, 2007. A paperback version of the book was subsequently released in the US by Simon Pulse on February 19, 2008. A hardback large print version of the book was published by Thorndike Press on September 3, 2008. No hardcover copy of City of Bones was released in the UK, but a paperback edition was released by Walker Books
on July 2, 2007. An Italian
translation of the book was released by Mondadori, and a softcover version of the book is going to be released.
A German
translation of the book was released by publisher Arena Verlag, and a paperback edition of the book is due to be released. A Danish
translation of the book was released by publisher Borgen Forlag, and a paperback book is due for release. A French
translation of City of Bones was released by publisher Univers Poche and a softcover edition of the book is due to be released. A Spanish
translation of the book was released by Univers Poche, and a softcover edition is also expected. A Greek
translation of the book was released by Platypus Publications.
Hodge then acquires the help of a monk with magical powers, called a "Silent Brother", Jeremiah, to discover how Clary is able to see Shadowhunters and why she was attacked. Jeremiah discovers a block on Clary's mind, and takes her and Jace to the City of Bones, where the Silent Brothers attempt to break it. Although the attempt fails, Clary discovers flashes of information, particularly the name Magnus Bane, which, with Isabelle's help, Clary traces Magnus Bane to a party, which she attends with Jace, Simon, Alec and Isabelle. There, they discover that Magnus is the High Warlock of Brooklyn, and he placed the block on Clary, although his attempts to help her remember are unhelpful. During the party, Simon is turned into a rat by a faerie drink, and Jace and Clary go to a vampire-infested hotel to rescue Simon who has been taken home by a vampire.
Clary and Jace are helped into the hotel by a teenager named Raphael. He then betrays them and reveals that he is the leader of the vampire coven that are residing inside that hotel, and soon Clary and Jace are fighting for their lives. They are saved by werewolves who claim they want Clary, but Clary and Jace escape and rescue Simon but get injured in the process.
At the institute Clary and Alec have a fight. Jace takes Clary to the Institutes garden where they kiss. Clary realizes where the Mortal Cup is and she, Jace, Isabelle, Alec, and Simon go and retrieve it. Alec gets injured by a greater demon and nearly dies, but Magnus Bane heals him at the Institute. When Clary and Jace give the Mortal Cup to Hodge, he reveals he's working for a man named Valentine who is meant to be dead. Valentine takes Jace. Clary goes after Hodge, but is kidnapped. When Clary wakes up she finds out Luke took her but for her own safety. Clary finds out Valentine's her father, and Luke and Clary track down Jace and Valentine. Luke and his werewolf pack raid Valentine's lair, but they are ambushed.
During the attack, Luke and Clary get inside, and while Luke is distracted, Clary finds Valentine and Jace. Valentine reveals that he is also Jace's father, making them siblings. Luke then returns to fight Valentine, with Jace's help, but Valentine escapes to Idris, where he has hidden the Cup. Clary retrieves her mother, who is in a coma, and takes her to a hospital. In the meantime, Alec has been healed by Magnus Bane. Clary and Jace meet at the Institute and express their frustration that they cannot be together forever like they once believed.
, who is a friend of Clare's.
called City of Bones "a compelling story" and wrote that "fans of the smart/chic horror typified by Buffy the Vampire Slayer will instantly fall for this new series".
announced that they were going into production on a Mortal Instruments film, based on City of Bones, with a script written by Jessica Postigo. On December 10, 2010, it was officially announced that Lily Collins
had been cast as Clary Fray. Scott Stewart will be directing. Alex Pettyfer
, a dreamcasting fan favorite, was offered the part of Jace Wayland; though he is an avid fan of the books and strongly desired to take on the role, he eventually decided to take some different roles instead, leaving the character of Jace uncast. Then on May 31, 2011, after much speculation as to who would play the story's leading man, it was officially announced that Jamie Campbell Bower
would ultimately portray Jace Wayland.
Book
A book is a set or collection of written, printed, illustrated, or blank sheets, made of hot lava, paper, parchment, or other materials, usually fastened together to hinge at one side. A single sheet within a book is called a leaf or leaflet, and each side of a leaf is called a page...
in The Mortal Instruments
The Mortal Instruments (series)
The Mortal Instruments is a series of four young adult science fiction and fantasy novels by author Cassandra Clare including City of Bones, City of Ashes, City of Glass, and City of Fallen Angels.-Publication history:...
series, a young adult urban fantasy series set in New York
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
written by Cassandra Clare
Cassandra Clare
Cassandra Clare is an American author who has written the bestselling young adult saga The Mortal Instruments.- Personal life :Cassandra Clare was born to American parents in Tehran. As a child Clare traveled frequently, spending time in Switzerland, England, and France...
. It was originally published in the US
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
in hardcover on March 27, 2007, and was released in the UK on July 2, 2007. It was also released in paperback in the USA on February 19, 2008. It achieved #8 on the New York Times Best Seller list
New York Times Best Seller list
The New York Times Best Seller list is widely considered the preeminent list of best-selling books in the United States. It is published weekly in The New York Times Book Review magazine, which is published in the Sunday edition of The New York Times and as a stand-alone publication...
(Children's books) in April 2007.City of Bones received considerable praise from Publishers Weekly
Publishers Weekly
Publishers Weekly, aka PW, is an American weekly trade news magazine targeted at publishers, librarians, booksellers and literary agents...
, Locus
Locus (magazine)
Locus, subtitled "The Magazine Of The Science Fiction & Fantasy Field", is published monthly in Oakland, California. It reports on the science fiction and fantasy publishing field, including comprehensive listings of all new books published in the genre. It is considered the news organ and trade...
, and authors Holly Black
Holly Black
Holly Black née Riggenbach is an American writer and editor, best known for writing The Spiderwick Chronicles, a series of children's fantasy books she created with illustrator Tony DiTerlizzi.-Early life and education:...
and Kelly Link
Kelly Link
Kelly Link is an American editor and author of short stories. While some of her fiction falls more clearly within genre categories, many of her stories might be described as slipstream or magic realism: a combination of science fiction, fantasy, horror, mystery, and realism...
. Criticism was also received from School Library Journal
School Library Journal
The School Library Journal is a monthly magazine with articles and reviews for school librarians, media specialists, and public librarians who work with young people. Articles cover a wide variety of topics, with a focus on technology and multimedia. Reviews are included for preschool to 4th grade,...
.
Publication history
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
by Margaret K. McElderry on March 27, 2007. A paperback version of the book was subsequently released in the US by Simon Pulse on February 19, 2008. A hardback large print version of the book was published by Thorndike Press on September 3, 2008. No hardcover copy of City of Bones was released in the UK, but a paperback edition was released by Walker Books
Walker Books
Walker Books is an independent British publisher of children's books, founded in 1978 by Sebastian Walker.The success of their Where's Wally? series enabled them to expand into the American market, starting a sister company called Candlewick Press in 1991.Amelia Edwards, co-founder of Walker Books,...
on July 2, 2007. An Italian
Italian language
Italian is a Romance language spoken mainly in Europe: Italy, Switzerland, San Marino, Vatican City, by minorities in Malta, Monaco, Croatia, Slovenia, France, Libya, Eritrea, and Somalia, and by immigrant communities in the Americas and Australia...
translation of the book was released by Mondadori, and a softcover version of the book is going to be released.
A German
German language
German is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union....
translation of the book was released by publisher Arena Verlag, and a paperback edition of the book is due to be released. A Danish
Danish language
Danish is a North Germanic language spoken by around six million people, principally in the country of Denmark. It is also spoken by 50,000 Germans of Danish ethnicity in the northern parts of Schleswig-Holstein, Germany, where it holds the status of minority language...
translation of the book was released by publisher Borgen Forlag, and a paperback book is due for release. A French
French language
French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...
translation of City of Bones was released by publisher Univers Poche and a softcover edition of the book is due to be released. A Spanish
Spanish language
Spanish , also known as Castilian , is a Romance language in the Ibero-Romance group that evolved from several languages and dialects in central-northern Iberia around the 9th century and gradually spread with the expansion of the Kingdom of Castile into central and southern Iberia during the...
translation of the book was released by Univers Poche, and a softcover edition is also expected. A Greek
Greek language
Greek is an independent branch of the Indo-European family of languages. Native to the southern Balkans, it has the longest documented history of any Indo-European language, spanning 34 centuries of written records. Its writing system has been the Greek alphabet for the majority of its history;...
translation of the book was released by Platypus Publications.
Background
The idea of City of Bones originally came to author Cassandra Clare when her friend took her to go see a tattoo shop. Her friend showed her footprints on the ceilings that were criss-crossing or creating patterns, but to Clare"[i]t looked like some fabulous supernatural battle had been fought there by beings who’d left their footprints behind." She then got the idea of having a secret society of demon-hunters whose magic was based on an system of tattooed runes. Clare wanted to write something that would combine the elements of a traditional fantasy and "[r]ecast it through a modern, urban lens."Major themes
The novel's theme is ‘descent’. Author Cassandra Clare says, “[I]t’s structured as the hero’s journey to the underworld.” The book introduces the main protagonist to a supernatural/fantasy world that she’s never been into, and describes her journey there as the descent. Each epigraph in the novel makes a reference to the descent. Another major theme is "expect the unexpected".Characters
- Clarissa (Clary) Fray, the 15-year-old protagonist. Raised by her mother, Jocelyn Fray/ Fairchild, a shadowhunter, all traces of the magical world were hidden from her in an attempt to keep her safe. She is a little over 5 feet tall and is described as having bright red hair and freckles. She is an artist like her mother. She also has a remarkable power, in which she can draw runes that only angels can use, and are not in the Gray book. Throughout the remainder of the series, Clary embarks on a quest to help her mother while adjusting to life as a Shadowhunter. She realized that she had a strong romantic interest in Jace, realizing that he invitingly had the same emotional feelings which concluded with the pair kissing on the celebration of Clary's 16th birthday. With them tosf conclusion of the book comes the reveal that the two are siblings, which conflicts the feelings they have for each other.
- Jace Wayland: A Shadowhunter orphaned at a young age by the murder of his father, he now lives with the Lightwoods and Hodge Starkweather at the Institute in New York City. He is said to be the best Shadowhunter his age, having been trained severely by his father prior to his death. He is described as having golden hair, eyes, and skin, making him popular with girls, although he has never had a serious relationship. He is very arrogant, but is a very kind and thoughtful person underneath, though he tries to hide it. His name comes from his initials, J.C., short for Jonathan Christopher.
- Simon Lewis, Clary's human best friend for about 10 years. He is also in love with her, though she does not appear to have the same feelings for him. He also shows a partial interest in Isabelle, though it seemingly ends by the novel's conclusion.
- Isabelle Lightwood beautiful and obnoxious, also a Shadowhunter. She is described as having black hair, black eyes, being tall, and incredibly beautiful. She and Jace had tried, and failed, at a romantic relationship.
- Alec Lightwood, Isabelle's birth brother. Though he has been a Shadowhunter for many years, he had never killed a demon. He was wounded when he tried to kill a Greater Demon, which was, in the end, set back to its own world by Simon using Alec's bow and arrow. He has black hair and blue eyes. Alec is gay and is in love with Jace. He dislikes Clary because Jace is in love with her and not him, though is friendly to her near the end of the book.
- Lucian "Luke Garroway" Graymark, Once a Shadowhunter and a member of the Circle which was started by Valentine. Best friend of Clary's mother and seemingly in love with her. Luke is a werewolf and the leader of his pack after the second time around.
- Valentine Morgenstern: A powerful and evil Shadowhunter. He turns up after several years when he was supposedly dead and attempts to steal the Mortal Cup from Jocelyn (Clary's mother).He is Jocelyn's Husband and he reveals that Jace and Clary are supposedly his children.
- Magnus Bane, the bisexual High Warlock of Brooklyn, has a romantic interest in Alec Lightwood. When his name is found imprinted inside Clary's mind, Clary and the gang must seek him out to see what he has to do with her past and her mother. He saved Alec once, who was injured by a greater demon. He wears a lot of showy, glittery clothes
- Hodge Starkweather, Isabelle, Alec and Jace's tutor. A curse made by the Clave keeps him trapped inside the walls of the Institute, punishment for his days as a member of the Circle.
- Jocelyn Fray/Fairchild, Clary's mother, a Shadowhunter in hiding because of her involvement in the Circle. She was Valentine's wife. She hid the Mortal Cup (one of three Mortal Instruments) and put herself into a coma by drinking a potion given to her by a warlock to prevent Valentine from gaining the Mortal Cup's location.
Plot
Clary Fray and Simon Lewis are at a club where Clary witnesses a murder by a group of teens. She is shocked that Simon and the club's security guard cannot see the killer—a boy called Jace, who claims that the boy he murdered was a demon. The next day, Jace offers to take Clary to meet his tutor, but before she can do so, she receives a distressing phone call from her mother. She returns home to find her mother missing, the apartment trashed, and a monstrous creature, a Ravener demon, lying in wait for her. She defeats the creature by shoving Jace’s Sensor down its throat, but is injured in the process, and Jace takes her to his home. His home is called "The Institute", an old gothic cathedral in New York that humans, or mundanes, can't see, because it is concealed magically by glamour. Here, she recuperates. She also meets Hodge Starkweather, Jace's tutor, as well as his adoptive-siblings Isabelle and Alec Lightwood.Hodge then acquires the help of a monk with magical powers, called a "Silent Brother", Jeremiah, to discover how Clary is able to see Shadowhunters and why she was attacked. Jeremiah discovers a block on Clary's mind, and takes her and Jace to the City of Bones, where the Silent Brothers attempt to break it. Although the attempt fails, Clary discovers flashes of information, particularly the name Magnus Bane, which, with Isabelle's help, Clary traces Magnus Bane to a party, which she attends with Jace, Simon, Alec and Isabelle. There, they discover that Magnus is the High Warlock of Brooklyn, and he placed the block on Clary, although his attempts to help her remember are unhelpful. During the party, Simon is turned into a rat by a faerie drink, and Jace and Clary go to a vampire-infested hotel to rescue Simon who has been taken home by a vampire.
Clary and Jace are helped into the hotel by a teenager named Raphael. He then betrays them and reveals that he is the leader of the vampire coven that are residing inside that hotel, and soon Clary and Jace are fighting for their lives. They are saved by werewolves who claim they want Clary, but Clary and Jace escape and rescue Simon but get injured in the process.
At the institute Clary and Alec have a fight. Jace takes Clary to the Institutes garden where they kiss. Clary realizes where the Mortal Cup is and she, Jace, Isabelle, Alec, and Simon go and retrieve it. Alec gets injured by a greater demon and nearly dies, but Magnus Bane heals him at the Institute. When Clary and Jace give the Mortal Cup to Hodge, he reveals he's working for a man named Valentine who is meant to be dead. Valentine takes Jace. Clary goes after Hodge, but is kidnapped. When Clary wakes up she finds out Luke took her but for her own safety. Clary finds out Valentine's her father, and Luke and Clary track down Jace and Valentine. Luke and his werewolf pack raid Valentine's lair, but they are ambushed.
During the attack, Luke and Clary get inside, and while Luke is distracted, Clary finds Valentine and Jace. Valentine reveals that he is also Jace's father, making them siblings. Luke then returns to fight Valentine, with Jace's help, but Valentine escapes to Idris, where he has hidden the Cup. Clary retrieves her mother, who is in a coma, and takes her to a hospital. In the meantime, Alec has been healed by Magnus Bane. Clary and Jace meet at the Institute and express their frustration that they cannot be together forever like they once believed.
Allusions to other works
In the novel, Cassandra Clare includes references to the works of Holly BlackHolly Black
Holly Black née Riggenbach is an American writer and editor, best known for writing The Spiderwick Chronicles, a series of children's fantasy books she created with illustrator Tony DiTerlizzi.-Early life and education:...
, who is a friend of Clare's.
- In the beginning of the book, Clary is drawing and listening to a band called Stepping Razor. Stepping Razor is the name of Ellen Fierch's band in Tithe: A Modern Faerie Tale.
- In the scene in Chapter 10 where Clary and Jace are riding in the carriage, Clary looks out the window and sees a few homeless teenagers. One of them is a girl with a shaved head, the other a boy with dreadlocks and facial piercings who appears to be blind in one eye. These teenagers are actually the characters Valerie and Luis from Black's book Valiant : A Modern Tale of FaerieValiant : A Modern Tale of FaerieValiant: A Modern Tale of Faerie, is an 2005 urban fantasy novel by Holly Black. It is a companion to her earlier book Tithe : A Modern Faerie Tale, but can also be read as a stand-alone novel.-Plot Summary:...
Reception
The reviewer in Publishers WeeklyPublishers Weekly
Publishers Weekly, aka PW, is an American weekly trade news magazine targeted at publishers, librarians, booksellers and literary agents...
called City of Bones "a compelling story" and wrote that "fans of the smart/chic horror typified by Buffy the Vampire Slayer will instantly fall for this new series".
Film adaptation
On June 10, 2010, Screen GemsScreen Gems
Screen Gems is an American movie production company and subsidiary company of Sony Pictures Entertainment's Columbia TriStar Motion Picture Group that has served several different purposes for its parent companies over the decades since its incorporation....
announced that they were going into production on a Mortal Instruments film, based on City of Bones, with a script written by Jessica Postigo. On December 10, 2010, it was officially announced that Lily Collins
Lily Collins
Lily Jane Collins is a British-American actress and television personality.-Early life:Collins was born in Guildford, Surrey, England, and is the daughter of British musician Phil Collins and his second wife, American-born Jill Tavelman...
had been cast as Clary Fray. Scott Stewart will be directing. Alex Pettyfer
Alex Pettyfer
Alexander Richard "Alex" Pettyfer is an English actor and model. He appeared in school plays and on television before being cast as Alex Rider, the main character in the 2006 film version of Stormbreaker. Pettyfer was nominated for a Young Artist Award and an Empire Award for his role. He has been...
, a dreamcasting fan favorite, was offered the part of Jace Wayland; though he is an avid fan of the books and strongly desired to take on the role, he eventually decided to take some different roles instead, leaving the character of Jace uncast. Then on May 31, 2011, after much speculation as to who would play the story's leading man, it was officially announced that Jamie Campbell Bower
Jamie Campbell Bower
James "Jamie" Campbell M. Bower is an English actor, singer and former model. Bower is best known for his role as Anthony Hope in Tim Burton's Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street, his role of Caius in The Twilight Saga: New Moon and his role of King Arthur in the Starz original series...
would ultimately portray Jace Wayland.