City Of Time I Want Back

So... I had City of Bones by Cassandra Clare in my TBR for a long time. I attempted to start it a couple of times without success. Here's a quick summary of the book for you.

Clary and Simon take a trip to Pandemonium, an off beat local club, when Clary see's some people behaving strangely she follows them into a store room [as you do]. At this point she discovers there's more to the world than she could ever have imagined. There's just one problem, is she crazy? Why is she the only one seeing these things?

After a terrifying call from her Mother, Clary is thrown in to the glamoured world of demons, vampires, werewolves and Shadowhunters.

I would love to go into the plot further than about chapter 2 but... well... I just can't bring myself to.

This book is definitely Marmite. I didn't hate it as much as some reviews I've seen online. From what I've read Clare was a fan fiction writer, and that's how she started. I haven't read any of that, and although I can see similarities after the fact I didn't see any of it while reading. But then I got into a book for it's own text, I don't look for comparisons.

There are some good bits in there. The writing around the action scenes was good throughout, but if I'm honest I have never read a book that I cared this little about. I got to the end, and my response was "meh". Normally when I start a series there's something that hooks me in and I can't wait to read the next part. This wasn't one of those normal situations, I got to the end and if all of the characters had died... I wouldn't have even blinked. All I wanted to do was find some mind bleach, or perhaps a portal to take me back in time.

I wish I could tell you what I didn't like about it. There wasn't anything terrible in it, just as there wasn't anything spectacular. The characters had some potential in them that I feel just wasn't tapped.

Now... this is the only time I will ever say this [hopefully, really hopefully, I don't want another book to be this disappointing]... If you have the time to spare to read the book... watch the film. I know I know, what am I saying!? They cut loads of stuff out of the films. In this instance the jiggle with the book isn't as offensive as they usually are. There are some nice ideas in the book that it was obviously a shame were left out but all in all you get a slightly better enjoyment than the book, and in a fraction of the time.