Get Your Hands On; Mortal Instruments Series

Cassandra Clare is a newcomer in the world of fantasy literature. Her breakthrough book, City of Bones, was published in 2007 and the sequels City of Ashes and City of Glass, shortly followed. I believe myself to be a devoted fan of the series (I was attacked by a dog on my way to get City of Glass but I continued on). I went to a book signing with Cassandra Clare, Holly Black, and Scott Westerfield in December where I found out that there will be a fourth book in the series (City of Angels) and I cannot wait.

Anyways, the first book starts off with fifteen year old Clary Fray going to a club in Manhattan with her friend Simon. She walks in on these three teenagers threatening what appears to be a young man. These three teens have these weird tattoos and even weirder weapons. Clary sees them stab the young man and quite strangely the young man vanishes. And it gets weirder! Clary's friend Simon doesn't see the three teenagers. She is the only one who can see them. Something is up here. Well, later on we find out that these teens are Shadowhunters. Shadowhunters are basically fallen angels that kill demons. Anyways, Clary ends up getting mixed up in all this crazy stuff and goes on a pretty wild adveture. She soon discovers that there were a lot of things in Manhattan that she had never noticed. Like warlocks, faeries, demons, etc. She also discovers some new things about herself (can't give anything away).

I love this series! First of all it has some comedy (love dry humour), some sick fighting, and of course a little bit of romance sprinkled in there (not a sickening amount though). The endings aren't as annoying as the ones in Vampire Academy (except one of the books) and the characters are very strong. Clary isn't the strongest female character I have come across but she is fierce when she needs to be and that, in my opion, is a strong female character. Also she doesn't let people walk all over her. Simon is the best friend who wants more (I guess you always need one in there) but he's pretty funny. Simon can be annoying at times but it is understandable, he is in pain after all. There are other characters but I feel that I will give away the plot if I say anything more. On the whole I would give it 4/5 stars. I think it's a great read and since we are nearing summer it would be great to pull it out if boredom ever strikes (I always keep a few books around in case). Happy reading!
 
P.S. It has been optioned for a film so read it soon (in case they screw it up) : P