Book Review: Mortal Instrument Series (Steph)

The books in this series written by Cassandra Clare are City of Bones, City of Ashes, City of Glass, City of Fallen Angels, and City of Lost Souls. There is also a 6th book, City of Heavenly Fire that is announced to be released March 2014.

4 out of 5 thumbs up.

This series revolves around a young girl named Clary Fray who lives in New York and seemingly has an ordinary life. It is only after her mother is kidnapped that Clary begins to discover that her life in not as normal as she originally thought. She learns that she is Nephilium (half human, half angel) whose job is to hunt and kill demons who find their way into the human world. They are also known as Shadowhunters.

She meets a group of Shadowhunters and as she searches for her mother, she learns more about the world of demons and other underworlders (warlocks, werewolves, fairies, etc.). Clary and the group of other Shadowhunters embark on a quest to locate “the mortal instruments” (artifacts that, when combined, can summon a powerful angel) before another Shadowhunter-turned-evil (a.k.a. the bad guy) can find them, summon the angel, and “cleanse” the Nephilium race.

All in all, I actually really liked these books, and was so frustrated to learn that the last one still won’t be released for another 2 years (what the heck is that about?!). These books have a very “Buffy”/”Angel”/”Charmed” feel to them at first, but the story is really quite entertaining and the characters are likeable enough that you don’t want to strangle them. The writing is descriptive, without being too wordy and the story is well-paced. I read online that this series was originally supposed to be a trilogy, but the author decided to write three more books. Because of this, the “mortal instrument quest” wraps up in the first three books, and the next three are a different adventure entirely.