This is Clary's first meeting with the Shadowhunters, warriors dedicated to ridding the earth of demons. It's also her first encounter with Jace, a Shadowhunter who looks a little like an angel and acts a lot like a jerk. Within twenty-four hours Clary is pulled into Jace's world with a vengeance, when her mother disappears and Clary herself is attacked by a demon. But why would demons be interested in ordinary mundanes like Clary and her mother? And how did Clary suddenly get the Sight? The Shadowhunters would like to know...
Thoughts:
As I've mentioned before, I've started
to struggle with a lot of young adult fiction. I've had trouble
putting it into words, however recently Australian author John
Marsden (Best known for his YA Tomorrow When the War Began series)
managed to say what I've been thinking - “I’ve
gotten a little tired of the young adult market, or the genre. It
seems to have gotten very crowded with a lot of pretty unattractive
books; a lot of books where writers are trying terribly hard to
capture the voice of this funky, cool teenager; it just doesn’t
ring true. Too many adults have invaded the territory with motives
that might have more to do with their own immaturity than anything
else.’’ (Source)
I've
contemplated The Mortal Instruments series for awhile, but after two
recommendations (one from my non reading hairdresser and the second
from my book mad niece) I decided to give it a go.
So
the verdict – I'll be reading the second. While it wasn't the can't
put down read of something like The Hunger Games, it was
engaging enough and more importantly intelligent enough to keep me
interested. There are characters I would like to know more about
like Alec and Isabelle. There is room for characters to grow and
the story to develop. The universe the author has created is
interesting and again, has room to develop. I picked the twist early,
but was still interested enough for it to not ruin or taint the
story. If you're looking for a halfway decent YA series, this is
worth a look.
