My 15 year-old daughter, Maddy, has been insisting that I read this series for a long time. This past week, I gave in and I am sooooooooooooooo glad that I did. I did read the first 4, but I'm only going to tackle numbers 1 - 3 because they seem to go together.
First off, I loved all of them, but #3 was absolutely the best. The City of Bones does a great job setting the story and introducing the characters. I was unable to put down The City of Ashes because of everything that was happening and The City of Glass is even better than the 7th Harry Potter book because it stays on course with very few detours. I really fell in love with Simon right off the bat, but it took me longer to appreciate Clary or Jace. This is almost one of those series where the secondary characters really make the story fly. The similarities to the Harry Potter books is strong, except the intensity is there right off the bat instead of waiting for book 5. I'm sure the fact that the kids are 16ish make this possible.
Secondly, Ms. Clare can write dialogue like no one else I've read in a while. Holy Cow, I found myself stopping and reading quotes aloud to my amused girls and long-suffering husband several time during each book. Here are some of my favorites:
“I don't want to be a man," said Jace. "I want to be an angst-ridden teenager who can't confront his own inner demons and takes it out verbally on other people instead."
"Well," said Luke, "you're doing a fantastic job.”
“I am a man" he told her, "and men do not consume pink beverages. Get thee gone woman, and bring me something brown.”
“You see, cuckoos are parasites. They lay their eggs in other birds' nests. When the egg hatches, the baby cuckoo pushes the other baby birds out of the nest. The poor parent birds work themselves to death trying to find enough food to feed the enormous cuckoo child who has murdered their babies and taken their places."
"Enormous?" said Jace. "Did you just call me fat?"
"It was an analogy."
"I am not fat.”
“You might want to lie down," Magnus advised. "I find that it helps when the crushing sense of horrible realization sets in.”
Ok - I could list a hundred of these, but I won't because you really just need to read these books. As I said before, the lead characters of Jace and Clary are fine, but the genius of the plots are in the secondaries. Simon is incredible, I have always wanted to be someone like Isabelle, Alec and Magnus are perfect, Luke is the best father-figure and the villain, Sebastion has got to be the most evil person I've read about in a long time. There is nothing redeemable about him. It is very refreshing to not have angst about a villain.
I need to add this point as well...these teenagers are the bravest people I have ever read about. I remember getting the same feeling about Jamie and his fellow Highlanders when I was reading Outlander by Diana Gabaldon many years ago. Brave, Fascinating and Nerves of Steel.
To Re-Cap....READ THESE BOOKS!!!!! Plot is AWESOME, Characters are NOT CLICHES, Dialogue is WONDERFUL.
Enjoy!
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